Northeastern continues to put the finishing touches on the 2023-24 roster, most recently adding a new member to the goaltender room. News broke Wednesday that Connor Hopkins, most recently a Yale, will be transferring to Northeastern for the upcoming season
Hopkins, a 6-foot 1, 200 pound left-handed catching goalie, is a native of Malden, MA. He was at Yale for three seasons, with his sophomore season getting cancelled as all Ivy League schools cancelled their 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He played in ten games at Yale, posting a 4.69 goals-against-average and .843 save percentage as Yale as a team struggled to keep the puck out of the net. Hopkins comes to Northeastern with a very good pedigree of junior hockey; he had a .905 save percentage with the Tri-City Storm during the 2020-21 season, a .912 save percentage in the offense-first BCHL with West Kelowna in 2018-19 ahead of his enrollment at Yale, and he is an alum of the Belmont Hill School in Massachusetts where he played three seasons, finishing his last season with a .921 save percentage. While with Tri-City, he won USHL Goaltender of the Week one time. He also was a member of the Boston Jr Eagles program, and is an alumni of multiple USA Selects camps as a teenager
Hopkins committed to Yale back in 2016 as a rising sophomore in high school, before the current recruiting rules were in effect. Called an “elite athlete,” Hopkins was a multi-sport player in high school before focusing on hockey, where it’s reported that he has excellent rebound control, puck-playing ability, and good fundamentals. While at Yale he struggled with injuries, including a torn meniscus that cut his freshman season short before it even began. After recovering from the injury, he was faced with the Yale season getting cancelled, went to Tri-City, and came back to Yale for two seasons. His ability to adapt through the adversity, both as a calming presence on the ice and a determined player and leader off the ice, was lauded by his coaches in Tri-City as well as at Stop It Goaltending, the Massachusetts goalie factory that routinely churns out top talent.
Although he just completed his senior year at Yale, it appears that Hopkins has multiple years of eligibility left considering he did not play NCAA hockey his freshman or sophomore seasons. He would be eligible for a redshirt due to his 2019-20 injury but at the very least, he has one year left. With the roster as it currently stands, Northeastern is slated to carry four goaltenders for the first time since the 2020-21 season. If changes come to the roster leading to it being a three goalie room we will report it, however at present it appears that Hopkins will likely compete with Grant Riley for the backup role, as incoming freshman Cameron Whitehead is the presumed starter taking over the spot vacated by Devon Levi signing with the Buffalo Sabres.
Congratulations to Connor and welcome to Northeastern. As news breaks in the offseason for the Huskies, we will be there to report and react.
As always, go Huskies!