By: Mike Davis
Mike Davis is the leader of the Northeastern hockey student section known as “The Doghouse.” He will be a contributor to WRBB Sports throughout the coming season. You can follow Mike on Twitter at @spellinwithmike.
Jerry Keefe, Jim Madigan, Jason Smith, and the Northeastern Men’s Hockey program continued their momentum on the recruiting trail, picking up verbal commitments from two regional defensemen in the last three weeks. ’98 right shot defender Collin Murphy committed on September 22nd for the 2017-18 season, and ’99 RD Julian Kislin committed on October 3rd for the 2018-19 season.
Murphy is a local kid from Wilmington, MA, and played his last two seasons at Austin Prep High School in Reading, MA, posting a line of 3-9-12 in 43 games played. Austin Prep has produced a bevy of hockey talent, including Bobo Carpenter (freshman at Boston University), Elijah Harris (standout goalie committed to Brown), and Tom Fitzgerald (former NHL’er and father to two current Boston College players). Already standing at six-foot two inches and weighing in at 185 pounds, Murphy projects to be a shut-down defenseman who can control gaps well and lay the body onto opposing forwards. According to Jeff Cox of SB Nation, Murphy has a good reach with his stick, and is tough to beat one-on-one. Cox also reports that Murphy had multiple others offers from Hockey East, ECAC, and Ivy League schools.
Kislin comes to Northeastern out of New Jersey, where he has played with Team Comcast 16U and the New Jersey Jr Titans 16U teams the last two seasons, posting a composite scoring line of 6-20-26, although most of that was with Team Comcast. Kislin is another tall player standing at six-foot two and weighing in at 170 pounds. A raw, right shot defenseman, he gained notoriety thanks to an assist he had on a play in which he did a spin-o-rama around an opponent, deked around a second, and dished a pass through a third’s legs to set up a goal. The play was featured on SportsCenter‘s Top 10. Kislin is eligible for the 2017 NHL Draft, and will be a prospect that bears watching as he develops his play and hones his craft over the next few seasons.
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