FINAL UPDATE 4:50PM: Josh Couturier tweeted out from his personal Twitter account (@JoshCouturier24) that he will be finishing his collegiate career at UMass-Amherst. UMass is now the third collegiate team Couturier has pledged to, and he will be eligible to play beginning in 2017-18. UMass will graduate two defensemen after this season, so Couturier could fight for playing time in the spots they open up.
UPDATE 1:40PM : Reports from The Boston College Hockey Blog and Mike Lowry of the UNH Hockey Blog both state that Couturier is not transferring to UNH. Lowry is quoted on Twitter (@UNHRecruitsCHC) saying “Am hearing there are no players transferring to UNH..” We will update this post when we get more information regarding the final destination of Couturier.
Josh Couturier, a rising sophomore defenseman at Boston College, is transferring from The Heights and looks to be headed to the University of New Hampshire, according to SBN’s Jeff Cox (@JeffCoxSports). Couturier, a ’95 birth year and left shot defenseman, is a former Northeastern commit, making UNH the third college hockey team he has pledged his services to.
Couturier played in 33 games for the Eagles last season, including 19 Hockey East regular season games, however he was a noticeable absentee from the lineup in the Hockey East Semi-finals matchup with Northeastern. He scored 2 goals, one against Northeastern at Matthews Arena that pinged off the post and in during the Eagles’ comeback, in addition to 4 assists for a total of six points. Those six points would have been the third-highest point total of a returning Eagles defenseman- their struggles in player retention have been well documented this offseason and will be further talked about in our BC season preview in the coming weeks.
The move in an interesting one- Couturier seemed to have an unobstructed pathway to playing time this season, but with BC bringing in 4 freshman defensemen, and the pipeline of BC recruits filled with high-end and well-regarded recruits, competition for playing time over the next couple seasons may have made his choice easier. BC now returns only three defensemen, one of whom only joined the team in the second semester of last season.
UNH, other the other hand only graduates one senior from last season. They are returning 5 of their top 6 defensemen, but graduate two more next season. Couturier’s 6 points would have been the 5th highest on UNH last season.
Couturier will have 3 years of eligibility beginning in 2017-18.