Macklin Celebrini, a center at Boston University in Hockey East, is filing a draft diary for NHL.com this season leading up to the 2024 NHL Draft.
The 17-year-old center (6-foot, 190 pounds) and native of North Vancouver, British Columbia, is No. 1 on NHL Central Scouting's midterm ranking of North American skaters.
Celebrini, the fourth men's player in Hockey East history to be named the league's Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year in the same season (Jack Eichel, 2015; Paul Kariya, 1993; Brian Leetch, 1987), leads Boston University in goals (31) and points (59) in 35 games. He is a top 10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award.
Hello hockey fans.
It's awesome to be named a top 10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award alongside my teammate Lane Hutson. Obviously, Lane is an amazing defenseman, and I wouldn't be where I am without him and the whole team. I'm very fortunate and feel like we have big things in store.
It was a big (4-2) win against Northeastern in the Hockey East quarterfinal round last week. We had a good week of practice, so we had an opportunity to study their game. We played them a lot in the second half this year, so it was a familiar opponent and I feel we just knew how to bear down on all the things that made us successful throughout the season.
We're all looking forward to playing Maine in the Hockey East semifinals. They are a really skilled hockey team and have a lot of really good players that are dangerous offensively. They've got a really good goalie, too, and they battle hard. The two previous games we had with them were close (each a one-goal victory) and they gave us a great challenge. We just need to play our game and stick to the things that make us successful.
We know what's at stake. I think every time you have a chance to win a title or trophy you want to win. I feel like, this year, whether it's Beanpot, or the opportunity we have this weekend, or the national championship ... each time you get to play for something, you want to win. I feel like that's just what we're trying to do here.
It's kind of crazy that I scored my 30th goal of the season when we played Northeastern. Obviously, I entered the season wanting to play as well as I could, and not think about goals or points. It's pretty cool, but nothing I thought about doing at the start of the year.
Having my brother (defenseman Aiden Celebrini) as my teammate and roommate has been great this season. It's awesome just having someone from my family to spend time with and lean on throughout this process. Obviously, we're both freshmen in college so we're just figuring out the balance in this life.
When it comes to chores, I think I take the initiative more than Aiden, but we both do our part for our room. We help each other out.
Finally, my favorite course at BU this semester has been a restaurant management class. I really enjoy it. It's just understanding restaurants, costs, and different areas of how they work. It's something that's been really intriguing so far.
Well, that's all for this month. Thank you for reading; I'll file again next month.
