BC Hockey Forward and Former Bruins’ First Round Pick Opens up About Rookie Struggles

Boston College men’s hockey forward Dean Letourneau, the Boston Bruins’ 2024 first-round draft pick, hopped on the “Bruins Beat” Youtube show on Friday, hosted by Evan Marinofsky, and opened up about what brought the 6-foot-7 forward to Chestnut Hill, Mass., in the first place, and what expectations Letourneau has for himself for the 2025-26 season.

Letourneau originally planned on playing in the United States Hockey League (USHL) for Sioux Falls before deciding to commit to the Eagles’ men’s hockey program during the 2024 NHL Combine, he revealed to Marinofsky on the show.

“Ever since my season ended with St. Andrew’s [College], I was fully committed to going to Sioux Falls, I had plans with the billets and stayed with the billet in December,” Letourneau said. “I think it was halfway through the combine, so I already had half my interviews done and I told all those teams I was going to Sioux Falls. And then I get a call from coach [Greg] Brown.”

Letourneau said it was hard to deny Brown’s offer to send him straight to the NCAA hockey landscape for the 2024-25 season, and he finished the combine with a different answer for teams wondering what his next steps were going to be—whether he was going to develop a year in the USHL or go straight to the NCAA for the reigning Frozen Four National Championship runners-ups. 

“It was pretty late,” Letourneau said. “I think when he asked me what number I wanted to be they only had like three options.”

Although Letourneau decided to take his talents to the Heights, his production as a freshman did not live up to what is typically expected of a first-round NHL Draft pick.

Letourneau did not register a single goal all season and tallied just three assists. The Arnprior, Ontario, native saw his ice time increase toward the end of the 2024-25 season, especially following the 2025 Beanpot, but it failed to climb up to the hype that Letourneau entered BC’s program with.

In his last season at St. Andrew’s College prior to his arrival at the collegiate ranks, Letourneau amassed 127 points over 56 games with 61 goals and 66 assists.

There is still plenty of time left for Letourneau to develop in college—he could play at BC for another three or four years if he wished to—and BC head coach Brown has harped constantly on the fact that it takes taller skaters like Letourneau a longer time to adjust to the faster-paced game at the NCAA Division I level.

“Yeah, it’s just kind of knowing my own abilities, and knowing what I’m capable of,” Letourneau said. “Just trying not to stay focused to that outside world and what they’re saying on social media. I know what I’m capable of and what I’m able to do, so like I said before, that mental reset. Getting all that bad stuff out. … Show ‘em what you got.”

Here’s the Rundown for Saturday, August 23, 2025:

There are no games scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 23.

Women’s Soccer: Boston College 0, Cornell 0.

7 days. Officially one week away!

– Bob Coosie after taking over in 1987

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