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Northeastern hopes hard-working Cam Lund can help it get back to the NCAA men’s hockey tourney
“He’s got the ability to be the best player on the ice.”
There’s plenty to like about Cam Lund’s game. The Bridgewater native brings size (6 feet 2 inches, 195 pounds), skill, and speed as he enters his junior year with the Northeastern men’s hockey team. The forward has shown progress in each of his first two seasons while missing just one game.
As a freshman, he posted 7 goals and 16 assists and was named to Hockey East’s All-Rookie team. He followed that up with 11 goals and 19 assists in his sophomore campaign.
What the Huskies would like to see is more consistency and a strong finish. He had 10 goals in the first 22 games last season, including a hat trick at Boston College, but scored just once over the last 13 games.
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He’s off to a good start, tallying a goal in each of Northeastern’s games at Denver last weekend, a series the defending national champions swept as the Huskies fell to 1-2.
“He’s got the ability to be the best player on the ice,” said Northeastern coach Jerry Keefe. “He’s doing some really good things. I like his practice habits right now. He’s practicing really well.”
Those practice habits are part of the reason why Lund is part of the leadership group for the team — he was named an assistant captain before the season.
“His work ethic off the ice, he’s so committed,” said Keefe. “He’s a really well-liked guy in the locker room. He’s got a good personality, and his practices have been great. That’s a good thing for our younger players to see, when one of your most skilled players is working his butt off.”
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Lund’s route to Huntington Avenue was an interesting one. He spent the 2019-20 season at Cushing Academy, but joined the Boston Junior Bruins of the National Collegiate Development Conference the following year during the COVID pandemic. He verbally committed to Northeastern in November 2020.
“Being a local guy, playing in the Beanpot and in the city is something I’ve always wanted,” said Lund, who attended the tournament as a fan. “I thought Northeastern would be the best fit for me.”
Before taking the ice at Matthews Arena, he moved on to the Green Bay Gamblers for the 2021-22 season, posting 25 goals and 25 assists in 62 games, after which he was selected in the second round of the 2022 NHL Draft by the San Jose Sharks with the 34th overall pick.
\This past summer, he participated in his third development camp with the Sharks, competing with former Hockey East foes Will Smith (Boston College) and Macklin Celebrini (Boston University), both of whom signed with San Jose last summer.
He spent the offseason focusing on the weight room, working on being harder on pucks and stronger in the defensive zone. It’s all part of an effort to take his game further, as well as the program. Having won the Beanpot each of the last two years, Lund and his teammates are aiming higher, looking to get back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2022.
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“That’s the ultimate goal,” said Lund. “Not just winning the Beanpot, but ultimately getting to the national championship.”
Last year, Northeastern was done in by a rough start. After opening the season with a pair of wins, the Huskies endured an eight-game winless streak as injuries mounted, going 0-7-1. They would turn things around to capture their fifth Beanpot in the last six tournaments (it was canceled in 2021 because of the pandemic), but could only climb to seventh in Hockey East and ultimately had their season come to an end with a loss to BU in the conference quarterfinals.
They open conference play this weekend when they host No. 6 Maine for a pair of games. Northeastern is 16-3-1 in its last 20 meetings with the Black Bears.
Weekend plans
No. 3 Boston University will hit the road for a top 10 showdown at No. 7 North Dakota in a battle of unbeaten teams. It will mark coach Jay Pandolfo’s first time facing the Fighting Hawks as a visitor, as the Terriers did not travel to Grand Forks in his four seasons as a player from 1992-96. “I have never been there, unless I have a really bad memory, which is possible,” Pandolfo joked. “I’m saying this is my first time, so I’m sticking with that.” … There will be a top 20 matchup at Conte Forum when No. 2 Boston College hosts No. 14 Western Michigan, which is 3-0, Saturday night … No. 13 Providence opens conference play with a pair of games at Vermont … No. 15 UMass also kicks off league play with a home-and-home series with UConn beginning Friday in Amherst. Minuteman forward Cole O’Hara is tied for the national lead in points with 9 on three goals and six assists … New Hampshire and No. 11 Quinnipiac will play a home-and-home series beginning Friday at Hamden, Conn., and UMass Lowell will head to North Andover for a league tilt at Merrimack Saturday.
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