Men’s Hockey Lands Commitment From Forward Trevor Kuntar
Photo by: BCEagles.com
Just when you thought the Eagles 2020-21 roster was set, they add another, potentially impactful, player to the mix. Tuesday evening Trevor Kuntar announced he had flipped his commitment from Harvard to Boston College.
One can’t help but assume the last minute switch up was prompted by the uncertainty surrounding Ivy League sports in the 2020-21 academic year. While the Council of Ivy League Presidents is meeting Wednesday to formally announce a decision on fall sports, some Ivy League institutions have already rolled out academic plans that have year-long ramifications for athletics.
At Princeton, freshman and juniors will be on campus in the fall, and sophomores and seniors will be there in the spring. Yale announced that juniors and seniors would be allowed to spend the whole year on campus, while freshman and sophomores would each receive one semester. Harvard will allow 40% of students to return and will conduct all of its teaching remotely.
These plans cast a dark cloud over the possibility of Ivy League athletic events not just in the fall but in the winter and spring as well.
Kuntar, a second-year eligible player, is in prime position to be drafted after a strong season with the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms. He was viewed as a potential late round selection in 2019 but wound up going undrafted, perhaps due to his commitment to Harvard and the Ivies' track record for graduating players who let their draft rights expire.
Nevertheless, following the 2019 draft, Kuntar led all Youngstown players in scoring, putting up 28 goals and 53 points in 44 games while serving as an alternate captain. The 28 goals were good enough for third most in the entire league, putting him in a tie with Northeastern commit and potential top-60 pick Sam Colangelo.
Over his three seasons in Youngstown, Kuntar improved his scoring each season, jumping from four points to 36 and finally to 53. He also finished in the top 20 in the league in penalty minutes each of the last two seasons.
Kuntar, a center from Williamsville, NY, will be a welcome addition to an Eagles team that lost a lot of talent up the middle following the departures of Julius Mattila and Aapeli Rasanen. He is an immediate candidate to center Logan Hutsko’s line. Freshmen Nikita Nesterenko and Colby Ambrosio will also likely vie for the position.