UConn men's hockey prospects preview

UConn men’s hockey still has a few more weeks until it begins the season on Oct. 3 at Colorado College but its future players will kick off the new campaign this week. The USHL opens play on Wednesday, the OHL and QMJHL start on Thursday, while the BCHL and WHL drop the puck on Friday.

At the moment, UConn has 14 commitments spread across those five leagues.

USHL

F Colin Frank — Dubuque Fighting Saints

Frank is entering his third full season with the Fighting Saints and earned an “A” on his sweater for the upcoming year. He had a breakout campaign a year ago, increasing his point total from 15 to 40 while finishing second on the team with 27 helpers.

F Elias Straume Vatne — Sioux City Musketeers

After committing to UConn over the summer, Straume Vatne will come stateside from Norway to play for Sioux City. More than anything, the upcoming campaign will help him get acclimated to life in the United States before he joins UConn next fall.

D Shane Gould — Sioux City Musketeers

For the second time in three seasons, Sioux City will have a pair of future Huskies on the same roster with Gould and Straume Vatne (Ethan Gardula and Kaden Shahan played there together in 2023-24). Gould put up 10 points in 50 games last season at just 17 years old, so he should only improve as he matures physically.

OHL

F Lirim Amidovski — North Bay Battalion

A fourth-round pick of the Minnesota Wild this summer, Amidovski is set for his third full season with North Bay. He tripled his point total last year from 10 to 32 and could be set for another jump in what projects to be his final campaign at the junior hockey level.

F Nathan Amidovski — Windsor 67’s

UConn’s youngest commitment at the moment and the brother of Lirim, Nathan Amidovski had a quiet rookie season with Windsor (4-4—8 in 52 games), though that’s not uncommon. With a year under his belt, he could be in line for a big jump in production.

The two brothers are set to face off four times this season: Friday, Sept. 26; Sunday, Nov. 30; Thursday, Jan. 8; Sunday, Feb. 22.

D Darels Uljanskis — Flint Firebirds

Similar to Straume Vatne, Uljanskis arrived in the United States from Europe and will use a year of juniors to settle into a new country before coming to UConn ahead of the 2026-27 campaign. A native of Latvia, Uljanskis has spent most of his career playing in Sweden’s youth leagues.

F William Schneid — Barrie Colts

UConn’s lone true rookie in juniors this season, Schneid heads to the OHL after putting 121 points in 76 games across all competitions with the Northwood School last season. He’s a strong skater with a high-level shot, though all other facets of the game will be tested in the highly-competitive OHL.

QMHJL

F Samuel Boisvert — Baie-Comeau Drakkar

Like a handful of others last season, Boisvert jumped to major-juniors after the NCAA ruled to allow CHL players into college hockey. The big forward (6-5, 187 pounds) was productive in a limited sample of 38 games last season with Baie-Comeau, piling on 11 goals and 20 assists while totaling just 10 penalty minutes.

F Alexei Vlasov — Victoriaville Tigers

Vlasov is one of the latest players in UConn’s Russian pipeline. The Chelyabinsk native moved up to junior hockey with the USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede last season (11-12—23) but now will suit up in the QMJHL. Molgachev is eligible for the 2026 NHL Draft, so he’ll look to boost his stock with a strong showing in the offense-happy league.

BCHL

F Brendan Giles — Powell River Kings

The BCHL used to be one of UConn’s most fertile recruiting grounds, though it has since been surpassed by the superior CHL circuit. As such, Giles is the only future Husky still playing in the league. He’s also the lone Connecticut native (Ridgefield) currently committed to UConn.

WHL

F Brittan Alstead — Penticton Vees

A native of Minnesota, Alstead made the move from the USHL’s Des Moines Buccaneers to the WHL’s Penticton Vees over the offseason. He had a strong rookie year in Des Moines, putting up nine goals and 14 assists in 54 games.

F Diego Johnson — Penticton Vees

Johnson will suit up alongside Alstead with the Vees, who are in their first season as a WHL franchise after previously competing in the BCHL since 2004. Johnson has made his way around the various North American junior leagues, beginning in the BCHL (2022-23), splitting the 2023-24 campaign between the AJHL and USHL before spending all of last year in the USHL with the Madison Capitals (20-25—40). With college hockey now allowing major-junior players, the Fort St. James, British Columbia native will cut his teeth in the WHL.

F Andrei Molgachev — Calgary Hitmen

UConn’s other Russian commitment, Molgachev will kick off his juniors career in earnest after playing just a single game with the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms a season ago. He spent most of his time with the Little Caesars 16U AAA team last year, where he put up an obscene 153 points in 63 games. A step up in competition will certainly do him good.

Molgachev will face off against Alstead and Johnson just a single time on Saturday, Jan. 17.

D Brady Smith — Regina Pats

Smith spent the 2024-25 campaign with three different teams in the BCHL — and even got traded for the same guy twice — but is now in the WHL. As a 20-year-old, he should be one of the older players in the league and will need to play like it — even with the step up in competition.