There’s a strong temptation to label Boston College’s 2026-27 season a reset. After all, the Eagles lost the familiar names that powered their national tournament runs, watched the roster churn again, and brought in 12 newcomers over the offseason.
But Greg Brown isn’t treating this as a teardown.
The BC head coach sees the next step as part of the same build - one that keeps moving, keeps changing, and keeps asking new players to fit into a standard that’s already been set.
“Even over our first couple of weeks, you can see the quick development of all of our new guys,” said head coach Greg Brown. “It's always going to be an adjustment, going from junior hockey to the speed of college hockey.
We're fortunate to have a few players that can really pick up the pace, so week-over-week, you can really see how they got more comfortable to the speed and to the processing that has to go on at that speed. It's been encouraging so far.”
That message matters because last season already showed how complicated a “rebuild” can be at BC.
The Eagles opened without the top-line stars who had left for the NHL, with Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perreault gone after taking their rookie laps with professional franchises. Jacob Fowler’s signing also removed the team’s established backstop. James Hagens, Teddy Stiga, Andre Gasseau, Brady Berard, Lukas Gustafsson, Aram Minnetian, Oskar Jellvik and others were still there, but their jobs changed fast, and many of those roles were brand new.
BC still won 20 games. Still finished fourth in Hockey East.
Still had a shot at the NCAA Tournament before falling to Connecticut in the Hockey East postseason semifinal and landing on the wrong side of the NPI math in the No. 18 spot. It was a season that produced two very different readings: disappointment because the Eagles missed the national tournament, and encouragement because a supposedly transitional year still came with a Beanpot title and enough quality hockey to stay in the mix.
Brown pointed to the late-season margin for error as the lesson.
“You have to learn [from changes]," said Brown. "If you look at some of our games down the stretch, those should have been wins, and we didn't score enough.
Analytics would say that you played well, but you have to get wins, and we weren't able to get as many as we needed. At the same time, we remembered that we didn't need a complete overhaul.
There was a lot of good hockey there, so I guess you just pay even more attention to the detail of it.”
That’s why this season looks less like a restart and more like another turn of the wheel.
BC added 12 newcomers, but the real storyline is how the roster evolves around them. Dean Letourneau, Ryan Conmy, Teddy Stiga and Will Vote all have new openings in the lineup.
Jake Sondreal joins Stiga as an alternate captain, with Vote wearing the main letter. Will Moore, who scored the game-winning goal against Minnesota, now carries a full year of college experience.
There’s also a different physical edge to this group. Freshmen Teddy Mutryn and Casey Mutryn bring more thump than last year’s roster had.
Alex Pelletier offers a smaller, quicker skating style. Mathias Vanhanen, a second-round pick for the New Jersey Devils, is in the mix.
Olivers Murnieks, a fourth-round pick by Buffalo, is too. Oscar Hemming, a first-round pick, joined the roster halfway through last season.
For Brown, the early challenge is straightforward: get the non-conference games right, then stay sharp when the schedule tightens.
“You have to be able to have a good start in the non-conference games, and you just have to execute down the stretch," said Brown. "We played pretty well in a lot of those games.
Not all of them, but a lot of them. And we have to make sure that we're ready to go every night.
Really, that's what you take from it. There are not enough games to go through bad spells.
It's a short, 34-game regular season. You have to be dialed in for the whole time.”
That’s the task now for BC: not to start over, but to keep building.
In Other News...
Boston College Fans Get An Early Read On Saturdays Lineup Shift
Boston College heads to Dallas on Saturday to face No. 21 SMU with a 2-2 record and an early ACC test still in front of it, and the latest official depth chart offers the first real look at how the Eagles are lining up for the matchup. The chart spans offense, defense and special teams, giving a clearer sense of who is in the mix as the season settles in and the stakes rise against an SMU team that is 3-1 overall and already has a conference win.
The most interesting part for BC fans is less the opponent than the movement within the lineup itself, where the staff is signaling how it wants to sort through the next stretch of the season. There are also a few spots on the chart that suggest the Eagles are still sorting out roles in key areas, which makes this week's reveal worth watching even before the first snap in Dallas. [Read more 🡒]
Boston College Faces A Brutal Test After That Virginia Tech Collapse
SMU and Boston College are heading into a familiar sort of ACC clash in Dallas, where the programs will meet for the fourth time in their recent series and the Mustangs carry a 3-1 edge. For Boston College, it is another chance to steady itself after the Virginia Tech collapse, with the Eagles trying to put the focus back on execution and the adjustments that coaches have been talking through all week. SMU, meanwhile, brings one of the leagues most productive offenses into the matchup, with quarterback Kevin Jennings giving the home side a steady edge in the league-wide conversation.
Boston College has enough of its own offensive firepower to make this interesting, and Mason McKenzie remains a key part of that picture after ranking sixth in the ACC. The bigger question is whether the Eagles can clean up the things that have been hurting them in recent weeks and match SMUs tempo without letting the game get away from them early. Both staffs have already spent time discussing recent performances and what needs to change, which makes this one feel less like a simple rematch and more like a test of which team can actually absorb the lessons from last week. [Read more 🡒]
Boston College Faces Two Huge Obstacles To Pull Off The Upset
Boston College heads into a road test at No. 21 SMU knowing the matchup brings a clear challenge on both sides of the ball. The Eagles have spent the week trying to find ways to bother senior quarterback Kevin Jennings, whose arm drives a passing game that can punish any lapse in coverage, while also looking for more consistency from an offense still trying to build under coordinator Bill O'Brien.
For BC, the margin for error looks thin because the passing game has already been slowed by injuries and uneven production, leaving the Eagles searching for longer drives and more reliable rhythm. The task is made even more difficult by the need to keep pace with an SMU team that can force a game into a shootout, which is why Boston College's ability to pressure Jennings and get its own offense moving will shape whether this one stays interesting deep into the afternoon. [Read more 🡒]