The third of three players who will be transferring to Northeastern, as we broke on Sunday afternoon, is Cristophe Tellier (pronounced TELL-yay), who comes to Northeastern after three seasons at Quinnipiac.
Tellier is a 6-foot-1 left shot left winger who hails from Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. He recently completed his third season at Quinnipiac, where he put up a career-best 26 points (7 goals). The year prior, he won a National Championship with the Bobcats, putting up 22 points (8 goals). For the past two seasons he has been a fixture on the Quinnipiac powerplay, putting up ten powerplay points in that time. He’s also seen his shot total increase each of the last three seasons, showing an increased propensity to throw the puck at the net rather than pass first, however his playmaking and passing are his calling card. In the last two seasons he’s only taken nine minor penalties and he played 66 games, so fans can rest assured that he will be on the ice as much as he feasibly can be. Prior to Quinnipiac, he played for Muskegon in the USHL, putting up 54 points in 53 games and was teammates with current Husky Jack Williams, and with Surrey and Wenatchee in the BCHL before that.
Tellier has had the a reputation of an elite playmaker since his days in junior hockey. Mike McMahon of College Hockey Insider and The Mack Report states that “Tellier is one of the best playmakers in college hockey. He’s the type of player who makes those on his line better. He has elite vision and elite passing ability, and he drives plays. Whoever he plays with next season should see their goal total improve.” Tellier himself when asked about his game points to his “play-making instinct” and “pretty good stick-handling abilities.”
Tellier is the type of addition that elevates the status of Northeastern’s program both on and off the ice. Having been to the mountaintop of the sport, Tellier knows what it takes to reach the heights Northeastern players, coaches, and fans aspire to see the Huskies reach. He comes from a Quinnipiac program that has been built into one of the perennial college hockey forces, and you can trust that the habits, the details, the work ethic that Tellier brought to the Bobcats will also show up for the Huskies, and set an example that his teammates should strive to mimic.
We expect Tellier to immediately slot into the top six for Northeastern, potentially filling in the vacated LW1 role after Alex Campbell’s departure. The elite playmaker could potentially thrive feeding pucks to finishers like Jack Williams or Cam Lund. I can envision him on the half-wall setting up the powerplay as well, similar to what Dylan Sikura and Kevin Roy did in previous iterations of Northeastern powerplays. Wherever he gets placed, you can bank on the fact that Tellier will be one of the better players on the ice, will make his teammates better around him, and will make the Huskies more competitive when he is playing.
If you cannot tell, I am jacked up for Cristophe Tellier to be a Northeastern Husky. Welcome Cristophe to the program!
As always, go Huskies!