Even though he grew up in Westbrook and played in the Portland-area Casco Bay youth hockey program, Carter Amico said he recalls playing at the University of Maine’s Alfond Arena in Orono only once.
“I was a little kid,” recalled Amico, a freshman defenseman who will venture north this weekend with his Boston University teammates to take on the University of Maine’s Black Bears in a Hockey East series on Friday and Saturday nights.
Amico is looking forward to returning to Alfond Arena and said that “over 30” family members and friends will be cheering him on.
“It’s a really loud place to play and being the enemy is going to be different,” said the 18-year-old Amico, a second round draft pick (38th overall) of the Philadelphia Flyers this past June. “But I’m super excited to be back in my home state.”
The 6-foot-5, 225-pound Amico has played in all seven games for the fifth-ranked Terriers. Amico has blocked five shots and will be looking for his first point as a Terrier this weekend.
“I can’t wait. I don’t know if they will be cheering more for me or against me,” Amico said. “It doesn’t matter. It’s going to be fun.”
He never played high school hockey in Maine, opting to attend Mount St. Charles Academy in Rhode Island for a year “because the competition was a little better down there.”
He had spent the previous season at the Seacoast Performance Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire.
After attending Mount St. Charles Academy, he moved on to spend two seasons in the United States National Team Development Program with the Under-17 and Under-18 teams.
He played in only 13 games for the Under-18s last year due to a fractured kneecap that required surgery. He said the leg is fine now.
Amico said there has been an adjustment period in college hockey but things have gone well so far.
“It’s definitely different. Step by step progress. But I just have to stay positive and one game at a time for me and that has helped me out so far,” Amico said. “You have to react a little bit quicker. Your time and space kind of goes away.”
He is having fun and feels comfortable on the ice, he said.
The Elite Prospects 2025 NHL Draft Guide said Amico is an “aggressive, agile defenseman whose range is nearly unmatched.
“When he surfs into opponents, he completely erases the middle and then crushes the opponent into the wall,” the draft guide continued. “He clears the front of the net with vitriol and then gets play moving the other way. He fakes forecheckers with his edges and then looks into or across the middle for a high-value breakout play.”
He said it was a “dream come true” to be selected in the second round of the NHL draft.
“Knowing all the hard work off the ice, for my parents and I, finally worked out. It was such an honor,” Amico said. “Super excited for that.”
Amico was first introduced to skating when he was four years old by his grandfather, Glenn Amico.
He said he felt a little extra pressure in the beginning after being drafted that high.
“It has to become the new you. You just have to play,” Amico said. “There is unspoken pressure but you have to get better, no matter what, where you’re drafted or not. You’re always trying to get better on and off the ice.”
BU is 3-3-1 overall this season and 1-1 in Hockey East while UMaine is 3-2-1 and will be playing its first Hockey East contests.
Both teams lost a lot of key players off last year’s NCAA Tournament teams. BU lost six of its top nine scorers and UMaine lost three of its top six point-getters.
BU has 12 freshmen and UMaine has 11.
BU has 19 NHL draft picks on this year’s team including three first round selections, seven second-rounders and four third-rounders.
UMaine has five but no first or second rounders and just two third round picks.
BU has a string of three straight appearances in the Frozen Four including last year’s 6-2 loss to Western Michigan in the NCAA championship game.
“We’re two young teams and it’s going to be a good test for both of us to see what we’re made out of,” Amico said. “Maine is hard and heavy and I know they’re going to forecheck fast.
“They have a big home ice advantage,” he added.
But he feels his team is very capable of having a productive weekend.
“We’re very skilled and we work hard,” Amico said. “And you put those two things together, good things will happen.”
Sophomore defenseman Cole Hutson, the national and Hockey East Rookie of the Year and a first team All-American, shares the team lead in scoring with sophomore left wing Cole Eiserman with eight points apiece. Hutson has two goals and six assists and Eiserman has six goals and two assists.
Freshman right wing Ryder Ritchie (2 goals, 5 assists) and senior left wing Owen McLaughlin (3 & 4) have seven points apiece.
UMaine is led by freshman left wing Justin Poirier (5 & 3), senior left wing Thomas Freel (3 & 2), freshman center Jaden Lipinski (2 & 3) and junior center Max Scott (1 & 4).
Junior right wing Josh Nadeau missed last weekend’s series with Colgate due to a shoulder injury but has been practicing with the team this week in an orange (no-contact) jersey.