Roger McQueen Looms as Major Threat in BC Men's Hockey's Showdown With Providence
This weekend, the Boston College men’s hockey program is scheduled to face Providence in a home-and-away series beginning on Friday night at Conte Forum. The Eagles (No. 12) and the Friars (No. 14) are two of just three teams from the Hockey East ranked in the top-15 of the latest USCHO Division I men’s hockey poll. UConn is the third at No. 11.
Although BC is coming off a dominant 10-game stretch in which it captured eight wins and outscored opponents 43-23 — excluding an 8-2 exhibition defeat of Stonehill last Friday — Providence enters the pair of conference matchups on a two-game win streak after outscoring Maine, 9-1, in a two-game series last weekend.
And if there is one player BC’s fanbase should be well aware of before the series, it is Roger McQueen, a freshman forward for the Friars who was selected No. 10 overall in the 2025 National Hockey League (NHL) Draft by the Anaheim Ducks.
McQueen is as dangerous as players in the Hockey East come, and what makes the Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, native so elite is his understanding of how to aptly utilize his 6-foot-6 frame.
For most hockey players over the 6-foot-4 threshold, such as BC’s Dean Letourneau (6-foot-7), the adjustment period to the collegiate level is typically longer due to quicker pace on the ice, which is much less forgiving than junior professional hockey.
That is even more true for forwards, because there is inherently less room to operate in front of the net and down low in the corners as opposed to on the point. At McQueen and Letourneau’s height, the body’s reaction time and capacity to change direction on a dime is naturally slower.
But McQueen has shown no sign of his size being a detriment to his game.
The former Brandon Wheat Kings (Western Hockey League) forward, who totaled 86 points on 35 goals and 51 assists in 127 career games prior to his collegiate career, leads Providence in points with 18 (8 goals, 10 assists), good for 11th in the conference and tied with BC’s James Hagens.
Just take a look at McQueen’s latest goal, in a 6-1 triumph against the Black Bears last Friday, as an example of how he skillfully maneuvers the puck in the low offensive zone to find room in the slot and capitalize.
Capped the night off with a beauty 🤌 pic.twitter.com/tbX08bKa33
— PC Men's Hockey (@FriarsHockey) January 10, 2026
After executing a three-way cycle in the corner to perfection, McQueen skated to the top of the circle with his head on a swivel before sweeping the puck to his backhand and pushing off the defender with his hip and arm.
McQueen opened up a clear lane to the net with the nifty deke, and he proceeded to rifle the puck to the far post and in for his second goal of the night.
McQueen is certainly not the only Friar that could potentially cause problems for the Eagles and freshman goaltender Louka Cloutier — who was named to the Mike Richter Award Watch List this week — but he is arguably the most likely to do something lethal to BC over the weekend.
Graham Dietz is a 2025 graduate of Boston College and subsequently joined Boston College On SI. He previously served as an editor for The Heights, the independent student newspaper, from fall 2021, including as Sports Editor from 2022-23. Graham works for The Boston Globe as a sports correspondent, covering high school football, girls' basketball, and baseball. He was also a beat writer for the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League in the summer of 2023.
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