“MUUUUUUTH” rains down from Acrisure Stadium when Pat Freiermuth makes a catch. Cowboys fans yelled “COOOOOOP” with every Amari Cooper reception. At Conte Forum, Boston College fans boom “DEEEEEEAN” any time Dean Letourneau comes within a loose vicinity of the puck.
“I definitely notice the fans,” Letourneau said. “Every time I’d touch the puck, they start chanting my name.”
Before playing a single game in front of the thousands of Eagles fans that fill up Kelley Rink, Letourneau’s looming presence quickly became known across Boston—probably because he’s pretty hard to miss.
Standing at 6-foot-7 and 228 lbs., Letourneau appeared on the scouting reports of every college and junior program, and even NHL teams. His frame, built for physicality, combined with his rifle of a shot, made him a generational prospect for any spectator to keep an eye on.
Not only were BC fans fixated on him when he hit the ice, but they kept a tight eye on Letourneau across social media, preparing for his first collegiate goal with “#TheGoal”, and nicknaming the Beanpot as the “Deanpot.”
This transformed itself into a mountain of pressure for an 18-year-old kid who was tasked with living up to the first-round hype the cruel New England fans expected him to meet.
“He gets drafted in the first round, and the hype machine starts, so it was always going to be a challenge for him,” David Manning, Letourneau’s prep school coach, said.
What’s worse is that New England fans are known for banking on high expectations being met immediately.
And simply put, the production wasn’t there—his three points freshman year probably surprised even the biggest of his haters.
What started as an expression of fandom and appreciation for a future Boston sports star was quickly being perceived as Letourneau becoming a laughingstock. He was labeled as a bust—a waste of a first-round pick for their beloved Bruins. Only a select few were prepared for the 20-point leap Letourneau would eventually take, less than a year later.
Despite the negative commentary surrounding his play during his freshman season at BC, Letourneau never wavered on his decision to play for head coach Greg Brown.
“Right when I stepped foot on [campus], I kind of noticed right away and knew that this would be the spot for me,” he said.
And Brown never wavered about him either.
But before he was named a Hobey Baker candidate, before having his name called in Las Vegas for the NHL Draft, and even before he committed to BC, another coach bought his stock earlier than anyone else.
He Had How Many Points?!
For the past decade, the No. 1 ranking for Canadian independent prep teams on MyHockey Rankings—the universal site for mathematically-computed rankings of thousands of hockey teams across North America—has belonged to St. Andrew’s College (SAC).
While the best high schools in Massachusetts typically hover around a rating of 93, SAC’s top team consistently produces a squad with ratings upward of 98. The Ontario boarding school has had a hockey program since 1899, cementing itself as a staple of hockey prep schools throughout North America.
Since taking over as head coach of the Saints in 2008, Manning has seen several players become NHL draft picks and secure NCAA commitments. There are only a few players that he could guarantee, even from a young age, would make it to the big stage.
Despite growing up in the Ottawa area, about four hours away from SAC’s 126-acre campus, it was a no-brainer that Letourneau would make the trek west to continue his academic and athletic career. Plus, being drafted later than expected to the Ontario Hockey League, he wasn’t guaranteed meaningful minutes if he were to immediately enter junior hockey.
“I went down for a visit, and I kind of just fell in love with the place,” Letourneau said. “They obviously had a great hockey program with getting guys to the next level and getting guys into the NHL, so I knew I’d be well taken care of there.”
Letourneau’s original commitment was to Northeastern in November of 2022, putting him on the map as recruiting began to heat up with the heart of the season around the corner. That season, Letourneau ended up recording 65 regular-season points, then added on 16 conference and playoff points across 70 total games.
“I saw the flash, and it continued on his second half of his grade 11 year—his dominance level kind of increased,” Manning said. “[I] knew that he would start on the NHL draft list in grade 12.”
Manning was high on Letourneau’s ability even before he committed to St. Andrew’s.
“When you’re [6-foot-3] and 15 on skates, there’s going to be moments where you’re probably a little bit awkward, but I thought he was amazingly athletic and had really good touch,” he said. “There were flashes there where you’re like, ‘Wow, if this kid starts playing big and using his frame to his advantage, we got something.’”
Letourneau was poised for a big senior season—and if he wasn’t on the radar of almost every Division I school in the country by then, he certainly made his name known in his final year in Aurora.
His 127 points in 56 games were the talk of prep hockey. He paired it with 33 points in 17 conference and playoff games, averaging nearly 2.2 points per game. He did so even while playing alongside 10 other DI commits seeking NHL attention—including two who have since been drafted.
“I was kind of relied on to be able to score a lot of goals and help our team win, so every chance I had, I made sure I was able to kind of just do my part,” Letourneau said.
Letourneau doubling his point total from his junior to senior year wasn’t out of the blue. And there’s a reason he’s made such a big leap between his freshman and sophomore years with BC.
“Most people don’t realize it, like, he puts a lot of time into being really good at his craft,” Manning said. “He would put in an extra three, four hours a week doing individual or small group work with our skills coach.”
Letourneau continued to hone in on his shot in order to overpower goalies at the college level, and earned the attention of BC head coach Greg Brown. Letourneau flipped his commitment to play for the Eagles in November of 2023. And by the end of his dominant senior season, the city of Boston just couldn’t wait.
“He came, now, you could probably say, a year too early,” Brown said. “The jump from Canadian prep school to college—nobody makes that jump. There’s always a stop of juniors somewhere.”
Better Get Used to Beantown, Buddy
The 6 a.m. practices with no puck bucket in sight. The wet, damp knee pads after leaving your gear in the car overnight. The rides home with your dad as he breaks down what you could’ve done better on every shift.
For moms and dads, it’s waking up at 5 a.m. to make the drive to the rink. It’s the thousands of dollars for new skates, sticks, and team dues. It’s the misery on their child’s face after a bad game.
But then, it’s all worth it.
All the stress, all the finances, all the rest stops on the highway when everyone just wants to get home after a weekend tournament. It’s worth it for every party when your name is called in front of tens of thousands of hockey fans—and hundreds of thousands more at home—and you step under the brightest lights of them all.
For Letourneau, and for all other hockey players drafted into the NHL, it is surely a moment he will never forget.
“The draft was such a surreal moment,” Letourneau said. “My family, we haven’t been able to go on a vacation, all five of us together, in such a long time. Both my brothers play sports, and my parents are always out traveling, so it was pretty cool to be able to be there with all my family in Vegas.”
While recalling the once-in-a-lifetime moment, though, it’s tough to remember everything.
“I kind of blacked out and didn’t really remember much, but just being able to hear your name called and hug your family that supported you along the way and supported you your whole life is really cool,” Letourneau said.
The Boston Bruins used their 2024 first-round pick on the Prep Hockey Conference phenom, selecting Letourneau 25th overall and turning the heads of BC and Boston sports fans. Come Christmas time, he was becoming a fan favorite, hence the choir of chants at Conte Forum.
“My parents love it,” Letourneau said about his name being chanted. “Every time they come down, and they hear it, they think it’s super funny.”
X runs deep with references to Letourneau, as well, and although he stays off the dangerous depths of social media, he’s kept in the loop.
“Some of my teammates are on [social media], and they told me about it, and some of the guys will start calling me just ‘Pot,’ or they’ll start calling me ‘Deanpot’ and stuff,” Letourneau said. “So I heard about that one.”
In some ways, the seemingly ceaseless jokes can take a weight off the shoulders of an 18-year-old kid tasked with living up to some pretty lofty expectations in one of the most intense sports cities in the world.
At the same time, though, it’s not only New England’s weather that’s harsh—being drafted first round to the city where he committed to play college hockey set Letourneau up for a whirlwind of people saying “drafted too high” or “give him time” from the get-go.
Given his anomalous mixture of size, speed, and touch, along with being touted as the next Tage Thompson, Letourneau had a towering wall to climb to meet first-round-pick standards when he first laced his skates for the Eagles.
After tallying zero goals and three assists his freshman year, some critics suggested it was simply a lack of talent. But others, perhaps rightfully, assumed it was a lack of confidence that was holding Letourneau back.
“I remember watching games late in the season,” Manning said. “I saw a player who was involved, but you could just see his confidence wasn’t there.”
Rather than harp on what the sidelines had to say, Letourneau decided he’s the only one who can forge his path.
Rising Above the Rest
Despite garnering a fair amount of attention early into his freshman year, Letourneau’s fanbase was pretty split on what kind of player he would evolve into.
Only a small portion of Letourneau’s fanbase would believe it if you told them last year he’d be leading the Eagles with 25 points and be a nominee for the Hobey Baker Award alongside star teammate James Hagens, before the beginning of the Beanpot.
Jumping straight into NCAA DI play at 18 years old with no junior hockey experience was not going to be an easy feat, especially for a player learning how to use his big frame at the next stage.
“All the taller kids we’ve had over the years have taken a while to grow into their body to be fully developed,” Brown said at last year’s Beanpot media day. “I think of Kevin Hayes and Brian Boyle—they went on to great pro careers. But if you watched them as freshmen, they weren’t dominating college hockey, and they’re two outstanding players. So, everyone goes kind of on their own timetable, and it usually seems to take the very tall kids a little bit longer.”
It’s easy to give an athlete a hard time from behind a screen. But what the BC community didn’t witness was Letourneau behind the scenes—the times when he mustered three more reps in his last set or sat through late-night sessions with coaches, working through the nitty-gritty details that would help him perfect his craft.
“From my chats with him all last year, from a coaching perspective, he said everything you would want a player to say who was going through that,” Manning said. “He said everything right. As he was struggling through things—and obviously there were some injuries involved that most people didn’t know about—he never complained. Just kind of did his thing.”
Letourneau finally cleared the first-goal hurdle in BC’s third game of the year, sending the Eagles into overtime against then-No. 12 Minnesota as his first collegiate score tied the game in the third period. From there, the floodgates opened.
Letourneau has recorded a point in 16 of BC’s 23 games this season, and he ended with six goals in the Eagles’ last five games of 2025. He’s not only generating scoring chances by finding himself in the right spot at the right time—he’s also made a huge leap in terms of decision-making.
When he has the puck near the top, middle, or bottom of the circles, Letourneau is now picking his corners and utilizing the strength he built over the offseason to fire shots past the reach of goalies. He has the tangible proof to support his confidence, enabling him to rifle pucks through defenders instead of passing up on open looks.
“Last year was a challenging year—you could still see in practice the ability [Letourneau] had, and knew that would come out,” Brown said. “Now you’re seeing the ability and the talent and the hockey IQ come out. It’s great for the team.”
For the future Bruin already stationed in Beantown, the pressure will never go away. It’ll only mount as media attention piles up. It’s not just his talent that must stick around to appease fans—there’s a level of maturity that Letourneau must carry as he progresses as well.
The newly-dubbed “Deanpot” is the next biggest stage for Letourneau to showcase why he deserves to be in the running for the most prestigious award in college hockey.
With the help of Hagens, Teddy Stiga, Jake Sondreal, and others, the Eagles are in a prime position to bring the Heights its first Beanpot title since 2016. And this time around, Letourneau is experienced enough to know how to block out the noise.
“At the end of the day, it’s just hockey, which is what you’ve been playing your whole life,” Letourneau said. “You just kind of gotta be able to not let that other stuff get to you, every time you’re out on the ice. You have a job to do, and just have to be able to fulfill that job.”
