Capitals College Credits – October 2024: Ryan Chesley Made Captain, Records Multi-Goal Game, Cole Hutson Begins Collegiate Scoring


Photo: Bjorn Franke (through Minnesota Golden Gophers)

The Washington Capitals’ seven prospects playing at the collegiate level for the 2024-25 season include Ryan Chesley, Chase Clark, David Gucciardi, Cole Hutson, Brent Johnson, Joaquim Lemay, and Ryan Leonard. Their collegiate seasons are now in full swing. Here is how each of them did during the month of October.

Ryan Chesley — RH Defenseman — Minnesota Golden Gophers – Junior
Drafted in 2022 2nd Round (#37 overall)

October was a month of highlights for Chesley. On October 2, Head Coach Bob Motzko announced that he would be one of the team captains and wear the “C” on his chest along with seniors Mike Koster and Mason Nevers, and fellow junior, Jimmy Snuggerud.

Chesley has been very productive on the offensive front this month. On October 11, he contributed two goals during a 7-1 win against Air Force for the first multi-goal game of his career.

At 7:39, he accepted a tape-to-tape pass from Jimmy Snuggerud and snapped home a shot high over the goaltender’s glove for his first goal and the Gophers’ third goal which increased their lead to 3-1.

He scored his second goal, the team’s seventh, at 2:29 into the third period.

During the weekend home and home series against St. Thomas on October 25 and 26, he scored goals in each game, the first a 7-1 victory at home and the second a 6-2 win at St. Thomas.  On October 25, with the Golden Gophers down 1-0, Chesley ripped a shot from the right circle towards the goal for the equalizer at 11:13.

In their road game against St. Thomas the next day, Chesley did it again. After a faceoff win, he shot towards the goal at 10:42 to tie the game at 1-1. He then assisted on the team’s fifth goal, scored by Aaron Huglen with just over 30 seconds left in second period.

He has already achieved a career-high in goals, with four goals, exceeding his totals from his freshman and sophomore seasons when he had just two goals each season. During October, he also contributed three assists in the six games he has played. He made 16 shots on goal in October and is +10. He has blocked 10 shots and took two penalties for a total of four penalty minutes.

The Golden Gophers are off to a 5-1 start. They have not yet played any of the teams within their conference. Minnesota currently ranks fourth in the USCHO.com rankings for Men’s Hockey.

Chase Clark – Goaltender — American International College Yellow Jackets – Junior
Drafted in 2021 6th Round (#183 overall)

Photo: American International College Hockey

Unlike 2022-23 when, as a freshman with Quinnipiac University, Clark rarely played, and 2023-24, as a sophomore with Sacred Heart University, did not play after late January, Clark is getting plenty of work with his third college program, American International College (AIC).

Clark’s debut game with AIC on October 5 was rough as the team lost 6-0 to Maine at Maine. He played 40 minutes and gave up three goals on 21 shots in 40 minutes. Adam Manji replaced him in goal for the last 20 minutes.

Clark was in net again on October 11. They played the Ohio State Buckeyes on the road and the Yellow Jackets and Buckeyes played to a 3-3 tie before winning in a shootout. Clark made 47 saves out of 50 shots and saved all four shots directed at him in the shootout.

After the game, the head coach of AIC commented. “Anytime you can go on the road and clip a Big Ten team, we’re obviously happy about that. However, we need to be able to close that out in regulation. We are passing up too many scoring opportunities as a team right now,” Head Coach Eric Lang said, before adding “Our PK and Chase Clark were terrific…”.

He played in both games on the weekend of October 25 and 26 against the Air Force Academy. The first, on October 25, was a 2-1 loss in overtime where Clark saved 17 of the 19 shots directed at him.  While the second game, on October 26, was a 4-2 win where he made 26 saves out of 28 shots.

Clark played in four games during October where his record was 1-2-1. He made 108 saves in 118 opportunities for a save percentage of .915.

The AIC Yellow Jackets have struggled as a team and posted a record of 1-4-1 for October and 1-1 within their conference.

David Gucciardi — LH Defenseman — Michigan State Spartans – Senior
Drafted in 2022 7th Round (#213 overall)

Gucciardi played in six games for Michigan State in October. He had the primary assist on the Spartans’ third goal in their game on October 12 against Boston College. The goal, scored by Charlie Stramel, came at 7:32 during the second period and tied the game at 3-3 in a game that Michigan State won 4-3.

That was Gucciardi’s only point during October. For the season, he has played in six games with no goals and one assist. He has made five shots on goal and blocked five shots. He has taken one penalty for two penalty minutes in all. He is -1 for the season so far.

Michigan State is 5-1-0 overall and has not played in any conference games.  They currently rank third in the USCHO.com rankings for Men’s Hockey.

Cole Hutson — LH Defenseman – Boston University Terriers – Freshman
Drafted in 2024 2nd Round (#43 overall)

On October 5, in the season opener which was a 5-2 victory over Holy Cross University, Hutson scored his first collegiate goal. He took an outlet pass from Shane Lachance and skated right past his defender before beating Holy Cross’s goaltender five-hole. This goal came at 8:30 during the second period and staked the Terriers to a 3-0 lead.

On October 12, in a game against Union, Hutson assisted on a highlight reel power play goal by Cole Eiserman at 18:24 during the first period which increased the Terriers’ lead to 3-0. The final score was 4-1.

He assisted on his older brother Quinn’s goal on October 25 during a 7-2 loss to North Dakota. This goal came on a power play at 5:54 during the third period. Cole found his brother open for a one-timer at the point.

That game did not end well for him as he took a major penalty for face masking which also resulted in being assessed with a game misconduct for 15 penalty minutes.

On October 26, the Terriers had a rematch with North Dakota.  This time the game went better for the team, with a 4-3 victory. Hutson assisted on the team’s first goal, a power play goal by Ryan Greene which came at 17:09. Eiserman had recovered the puck, and dished it to Hutson, who then fed Greene at the top of the zone.

For the season, Hutson has played in five games, scoring one goal and recording three assists. He has had 11 shots on goal, blocked 4 shots, and is -1. He has 17 penalty minutes, thanks to one minor penalty, and 15 minutes from October 25. The Terriers are now 4-1-0 and 1-0-0 in their conference.  Boston University currently ranks fifth in the USCHO.com rankings for Men’s Hockey.

Brent Johnson — RH Defenseman — Ohio State Buckeyes – Senior
Drafted in 2021 3rd Round (#80 overall)

Johnson scored his first goal of the season on October 25 against the Bowling Green Falcons in Columbus. The goal came at 12:37 during the first period, putting the Buckeyes ahead 1-0.  They ultimately won the game 3-1. Johnson assisted on the team’s second goal which came at 12:05 during the second period.

The Buckeyes then traveled to Bowling Green for the second half of the home-and-home series. Ohio State won again – this time 2-0. Johnson assisted on the team’s second goal which came at 12:05 during the second period.

For October, Johnson played in five of the team’s six games, scored one goal, and recorded one assist. He had three shots on goal and had blocked 7 shots. He was not assessed with any penalties. He did not play in the team’s game on October 12.

Ohio State is 5-0-1 for the season, with a 2-0-1 record within their conference.  Ohio State University currently ranks 15th in the USCHO.com rankings for Men’s Hockey, a vast improvement over last season.

Joaquim Lemay — LH Defenseman – Northwestern University – Junior
Drafted in 2021 4th Round (#119 overall)

Lemay did not play in any games for Northwestern during October.

Ryan Leonard — Right Wing – Boston College Eagles – Sophomore
Drafted in 2023 1st Round (#8 overall)

Photo: Meg Kelly (through Boston College)

Before the season, Boston College announced that Leonard would be one of the team’s three Alternate Captains.

In the Eagles’ opening game on October 11, a 3-0 win over the Michigan State Spartans, Leonard assisted on the team’s third goal which came near the end of the second period.

They played Michigan State the next day but the results were not as favorable to Boston College as they lost 4-3. Leonard scored the team’s second goal at 18:10 in the first period which put the Eagles up 2-1 at the time, a lead they could not hold.

Leonard was the hero on October 26 when Boston College played Western Michigan. The Eagles had fallen behind 2-0 but battled back to tie the game at 2-2 early in the third period. The game remained tied until Leonard scored at 19:08 (less than a minute left) to put the Eagles up 3-2. He added an empty net goal at 19:37 to ice the 4-2 win.

In four games, he has scored three goals and recorded 1 assist. He has 25 shots on goal and no penalty minutes. As a result of his heroics on Saturday night, he was named Hockey East Co-Player of the Week.

Boston College is 3-1-0 so far and has not played any games within their conference. Boston College currently ranks second in the USCHO.com rankings for Men’s Hockey.

USCHO.com Men’s Division I Poll | Rankings – College Hockey | USCHO.com

By Diane Doyle





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