Two BC Men's Hockey Sophomore Forwards Nominated for 2026 Hobey Baker Award

The Eagles had one Hobey Baker Award finalist in 2025, Ryan Leonard (Washington Capitals).

Boston College men's hockey (@BC_MHockey) via X.

Boston College men’s hockey sophomore forward James Hagens and Dean Letourneau have been nominated for the 2026 Hobey Baker Award, the most prestigious honor in NCAA Division I men’s college hockey, given annually to the nation’s top player.

James Hagens and Dean Letourneau have been named nominees for the Hobey Baker Award!

🗳️ https://t.co/mKInXegcFt
📰 https://t.co/vCqxCmqh2q pic.twitter.com/zebWFqvi9A

— BC Men's Hockey (@BC_MHockey) January 21, 2026

Only three players from BC have won the award, senior forward David Emma in 1991, senior defenseman Mike Mottau in 2000, and junior forward Johnny Gaudreau in 2014. In 2025, Ryan Leonard (Washington Capitals) was named a finalist for the award but ended up falling short to Michigan State's Isaac Howard.

Hagens, the Boston Bruins’ 2025 first-round draft selection (No. 7 overall), leads the Eagles in points this season with 21 on 10 goals and 11 assists in 18 games played. The United States National Team Development Program (USNTDP) product has posted five multi-point games this year, including a pair of three-point outings.

On Nov. 28, 2025, in a 5-3 triumph over Notre Dame, the Hauppauge, N.Y., native tallied his first collegiate hat trick. In BC’s most recent contest, a 4-3 loss to Providence on the road on Jan. 17, he generated a career-high three assists.

Letourneau leads the Eagles in scoring this season with 11 goals — which is tied for third in Hockey East — and has recorded nine assists for 20 total points. Letourneau’s game has transformed drastically since the 2024-25 season, in which he received little ice time and manufactured just three assists with zero goals.

The 6-foot-7 forward, also a Bruins’ first-rounder (2024, pick No. 25), came into 2026 on a five-game goal scoring streak, totaling six goals across those matchups. He had his first career multi-goal game in BC’s 3-1 road defeat of UMass Lowell on Dec. 5, 2025.

The initial list, announced by the Hobey Baker Memorial Award Foundation on Wednesday afternoon, consists of 86 players. That will be trimmed down to the Top 10 in March, and the winner will be announced during the Frozen Four in April.

Ranked No. 15 in the latest USCHO Division I men’s hockey poll, on Jan. 19, the Eagles are coming off of two straight losses to No. 11 Providence, including an overtime loss which gained them a point in the Hockey East standings.

BC is tied with Northeastern for fourth place in the conference with a 7-5-0 record. Its overall record is 11-8-1.

This weekend, the Eagles will host New Hampshire on Friday at 7 p.m. ET before taking a road trip to Durham, N.H., to face the Wildcats again at 7 p.m. ET.

Next Friday, Jan. 30, BC is set for a Battle of Commonwealth Avenue showdown against crosstown rival Boston University at Agganis Arena. The Terriers are currently ranked No. 18 in the nation.

On Feb. 2, the first round of The Beanpot at TD Garden will commence. The Eagles play Harvard in their initial matchup at 5 p.m. ET and will take on BU or Northeastern, depending on the outcome of that first-round matchup, in either The Beanpot Championship or the third-place game.