Dalen Hedges Will Not Return for Senior Season

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Hedges in 2014.  Credit Richard Gagnon, Getty Images.

 

News broke today from Jeff Cox (@JeffCoxSports) and SBN College Hockey that Northeastern center Dalen Hedges is not returning to the hockey team. Hedges, who would have been a senior for the Huskies this season, has spent the last ten months recovering from a brutal leg injury with the hopes of returning to the ice for the Huskies. The injury originally occurred in Northeastern’s Hockey East series at Notre Dame last November and caused Hedges to miss the remainder of the season. There had been speculation that Hedges would petition the NCAA for a medical redshirt and an additional year of eligibility, but that is obviously no longer the case. Hedges ends his Northeastern career having scored 59 points for the Huskies over three seasons, with the final 3 coming during his brief junior campaign.

Dalen Hedges was a member of the 2013 incoming class which was among the most heralded in school history. The class included Hedges, John Stevens, Zach Aston-Reese, Matt Benning, and Mike Szmatula, among others, and ranked third in the NCAA with 125 points as freshmen in 2013-14.  Hedges contributed 22 points in his first year, second to Szmatula among freshmen, and was named Hockey East Rookie of the Week on November 22nd. He was the first Husky since 1988-89 to tally 4 game-winning goals in a single season. In addition to his stellar debut on the ice, Hedges also earned a place on the  2014 Hockey East All-Academic Team.

As a sophomore, Hedges did nothing but improve, increasing his total to 34 points in 36 games and tallying 25 assists while providing dynamic playmaking abilities on the Huskies’ first line alongside Kevin Roy. Beyond finishing as the second leading scorer on the team after Roy, and sixth overall in Hockey East conference scoring, Hedges was  awarded the Len Ceglarski Award at the end of the season as the player most exemplifying the qualities of sportsmanship on the ice. Hedges won the award after being penalized just once all season while playing in every game for the Huskies. Going into his third season,  Hedges had scored 56 points and established himself as the top scoring forward on the Huskies not named Roy, with a point total 11 greater than that of John Stevens, 16 more than Aston-Reese, and 7 more than Mike McMurtry, despite McMurtry having played an additional season for the Huskies.

We wish Hedges the best of luck in whatever life after college hockey may bring him, and in completing his college degree. Dalen will always be a member of the Northeastern hockey family.