Sascha Boumedienne entered his freshman season at Boston University just 17 years old. Even after turning 18 on Jan. 17, he’s the second youngest player in college hockey.
Boumedienne made the jump to BU a year earlier than initially planned — a move that some analysts doubted. He said it was a possibility he discussed with the coaches when he committed in Dec. 2023, but it took a lot of thinking.
“I trusted myself, and I knew that it would be the best for my development,” he said.
Playing against older and bigger players is what Boumedienne wanted to do. It’s a “good thing to do at a young age,” he added.
Most importantly for himself, it’s a decision that — in hindsight — he’s happy with.
That’s not to say that there weren’t speed bumps. Boumedienne admits that the start of the season was difficult and “frustrating at times” when he wasn’t producing.
“I knew it was gonna come,” he said. “Just showing up every day, doing the same thing, and trusting the process.”
He kept a smile on his face the whole time, and slowly, the results started to come.
Boumedienne finished the regular season with two goals and eight assists, playing all 34 games for the Terriers.
“He continues to grow as a player pretty much every game,” head coach Jay Pandolfo said after the Terriers’ 3-0 win over Providence on Feb. 15.
Even though those numbers don’t jump off the page, he’s improved both sides of his game. Offensively, Boumedienne has figured out when to jump in and join the rush and find pockets and space on the ice.
Playing with sophomore Tom Willander has aided his defensive game. Boumedienne and Willander have played on the same defensive pair for much of the season. The two are best friends, Boumedienne said, but the freshman also looks up to his countryman.
They talk off the ice often, with Boumedienne soaking up as much as he can from Willander as a fellow two-way defenseman.
“Just the way he defends. He’s so strong, and the way he uses his stick,” Boumedienne said. “It’s really hard to get by him when he’s using his skating.”
Pandolfo noted that Boumedienne’s “stick has gotten better.”
“I think he’s done a great job,” Willander said earlier in the season. “Also being mature and easy to play with, he’s very smart on the ice.”
Boumedienne is still looking to improve his physicality on the ice. He’s staying focused in the weight room and going hard in the corners at practice.
At 18, Boumedienne is playing against “grown men” — 23 , 24, and even 25-year-olds — while he’s still supposed to be playing at the junior level.
“Just getting bigger and stronger, so I can go into battles and out muscle guys,” he said.
Nothing surprised Boumedienne about college hockey. He knew that it’s a step in the journey to playing in the National Hockey League.
Something he’s learned this season is that “anyone can win.” Even if teams lack high-end talent unlike the Terriers, they still play good team hockey.
“You can’t take a game off,” he said.
Boumedienne is eligible for the 2025 NHL Entry Draft in June and is ranked as the 18th best North American skater by the NHL’s Central Scouting in its mid-term rankings, which were released in January.
He tries not to think about the draft, as it’s still months away — that doesn’t keep him from seeing all the different rankings that are released. But “it’s an exciting time in my life.”
As Boumedienne navigates this journey, he’s grateful to have his father, Josef — who had a 15-plus-year professional career as a defenseman — in his corner. His father is now the assistant general manager for the Sweden men’s national team.
Everything that Boumedienne has gone and will go through, his father already has.
“He’s probably the person I look up to most,” he said. “I want to be just like him.”
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