A standout off the ice, Bruins defenseman Mason Lohrei continues to grow his game on it
Lohrei made a big jump as a sophomore pro last season, suiting up for 77 games — he played 41 as a rookie, plus 11 in the playoffs — and averaging nearly 20 minutes of ice time.
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It was clear from the latter stages of his first season through training camp that Lohrei's growth had the Bruins excited and that he was part of the plan for 2024-25.
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However, injuries forced the Bruins to give Lohrei several battlefield promotions. His workload and responsibilities grew when the club lost
Hampus Lindholm
to a fractured kneecap in November and then
Charlie McAvoy
to a
Neither top-pair defenseman returned, and it led to an increase in minutes for Lohrei, who also eventually assumed quarterback duties for the club's top power-play unit. Critics will point to Lohrei's minus-43, which obviously must improve, but the experience gained in all situations should prove beneficial over the long haul.
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'First of all, it sucks for our entire group when you lose anybody, but especially the caliber of the players that we did lose for those amounts of time,' said Lohrei, who led Boston defensemen in assists (28), points (33), and power-play points (16).
Lohrei's switch from forward to defense during his days at Culver Military Academy
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'I think being a young guy and being able to step up into those roles, that's the role I want to play in this league and that experience is just so invaluable to be able to go through it and go through the ups and downs of it and just learn and then go into the summer with that hungry mentality to continue to get better and be able to play that role to the best of my ability,' he said.
Though the Bruins went without a playoff berth, Lohrei was able to extend his season with an invite of a different sort. This one came from Uncle Sam.
Lohrei was part of an American squad that won IIHF World Championship gold for the
'My agent first said [officials at USA Hockey] were thinking about inviting me, and then at the end of the year, I was like, 'What's the deal here?' ' Lohrei said. 'Then right before my [Bruins] exit meetings my agent said, 'I don't think it's happening this year. They're like, they appreciate your willingness to go but,' ... And then they called, and they were like, 'Hey, we actually want you to come.' I was like, 'Yeah, let's do it.' '
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Lohrei saw action in five games for the US, collecting a goal and a pair of assists.
'It was a great experience,' said Lohrei, who celebrated with fellow Bruins
Jeremy Swayman
and
Andrew Peeke
. 'Obviously, we won, so it was pretty unbelievable to be over there and be able to wear that jersey for the first time.'
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Lohrei also formed some lifelong bonds while in Denmark and Sweden in May.
'You're together all the time and, we are a young group and obviously all American guys, so we clicked pretty easily,' said Lohrei. 'Just a lot of similarities and a lot of the guys knew each other already just previously playing together, but I only knew Peeker and Sway, but really by the end, I had friendships with all those guys. They're awesome. I still keep in contact with a lot of them.'
Lohrei said new Bruin winger
Shortly after returning from Europe, Lohrei signed a
'Honestly, I wasn't super hands-on with [negotiations] or anything,' he said. 'I talked to my agent, I don't know, probably three times and just going back and forth and stuff and I have a lot of trust in them. They do a great job and we got it done and I'm just super happy and excited to be here for another two years.'
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Lohrei has quickly gone from a fresh-faced rookie to a stable and steady presence in the locker room.
'I think with my personality and stuff, I get kind of comfortable pretty early. Even last year I was really comfortable just around the group and walking into the rink and stuff,' he said. 'It feels like home now.'
A diehard Milwaukee Brewers fan — 'They're hot right now' — Lohrei's summer schedule has included a lot of skating.
'I've been trying to challenge my feet a lot. Skating and explosiveness and a lot of that stuff helps with one-on-one defending against all the best players,' he said. 'It's such a great skating league and guys are so quick and so I've been able to do all that as a reaction. I've been working on that stuff and then just getting stronger and then obviously that helps everywhere with all the battles. And then obviously I still love to work on all the offensive stuff, whatever it's stickhandling and shooting and working on my scoring touch a little bit.'
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Lohrei will be on his third coach after learning under
Jim Montgomery
and
Joe Sacco
. He's had minimal contact with
Marco Sturm
— the coach called Lohrei shortly after he was hired — but has gotten some info from other sources.
'One of my best buddies in college [
Tate Singleton
] played for Coach Sturm last year in Ontario a bit and he had great things to say,' said Lohrei. 'And then another,
Jake Wise
, he's in Colorado now with the Eagles, but he was with LA in Ontario for their training camp. And same thing, he said, 'This guy's awesome, you guys are going to love him.' So, we had a good conversation. I'm excited to have him here.'
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Lohrei made a big jump as a sophomore pro last season, suiting up for 77 games and averaging nearly 20 minutes of ice time.
Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff
LONG HAUL
Bruins good fit
for Bancroft
Dalton Bancroft's
first professional road trip is one he'll never forget.
Not long after Cornell was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament in March, Bancroft, a big man on campus for the Big Red, had a decision to make. Should he stay or should he go pro?
Bancroft chose to leave school and
Then came the roadie to remember.
'We got back from the regional [in Ohio] on, I think it was Sunday, and I was in a five-hour Uber ride down to Providence on Thursday,' Bancroft said after wrapping up Bruins development camp last month.
A quick price check last week revealed a trip from Lynah Rink in Ithaca, N.Y., to Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence runs just short of $500 — before tip.
'It was three [games in] three days that weekend for Providence,' said Bancroft. 'So, it was a quick schedule change than what we're used to in college, but I think that's the best way to learn is to get thrown into the mix of things and then you'll know what to expect. And I think it's a little bit of a head start going into next year, the pace and the people you're playing with, stuff like that.
'It was really cool for them to do that for me.'
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Bancroft, who turned heads at Boston's Development Camp last year, signed a one-year entry-level deal with a $950,000 salary cap hit and played five games for AHL Providence, scoring one goal.
'I think they preach the blue-collar mentality here. That's kind of the same thing we had going at Cornell. We were never going to be the highest skilled team in the NCAA, but we were going to be teams with grit and physicality. And that kind of played right into the way I play,' said Bancroft, explaining his decision to sign with the Bruins.
At 6 feet 3 inches, 207 pounds, Bancroft is a physical player who showed steady improvement at Cornell, where he collected 36 goals and 79 points in 103 games. He acknowledged
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Prior to his time at Cornell, Bancroft was MVP of the Ontario Junior Hockey League in 2021-22, when he amassed a league-high 92 points (37 goals) for Trenton.
Bancroft has good instincts and uses his frame and strength to shield the puck and beat opponents one-on-one. He does a nice job anticipating the play, delivering soft passes and deceptively stinging one-timers.
'I'd say probably the best part of my game would be my physicality. I have the goal scoring touch, too, I like to think. Maybe not as much as some of the higher skill players, but I think that's kind of the big reason they brought me in was I have that mentality, the gritty physical, not afraid to get in there and get my nose dirty,' said Bancroft. 'I think this was kind of the perfect fit.'
If the Bancroft name sounds familiar, diehards might remember his dad,
Steve
, who played for the Calder Cup-winning Providence Bruins in 1998-99.
'Obviously I lean on him a lot for advice. He had an extremely long career,' said Dalton, whose Dad played almost exclusively in the minors from 1990-2006. 'Also, it's kind of fun now too, he might tell me some of the stories that he wasn't allowed to tell me when I was a bit younger.'
Bancroft collected 36 goals and 79 points in 103 games at Cornell.
Adrian Kraus/Associated Press
ETC.
Players in limbo
after acquittal
The fate of the five players
Although
Michael McLeod
,
Carter Hart
,
Alex Formenton
,
Dillon Dube
, and
Callan Foote
are officially unrestricted free agents, they have yet to be cleared to resume their NHL careers.
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McLeod, Hart, Dube, and Foote were active NHLers when they were arrested in 2024. Formenton has not been in the league since 2022.
'The allegations made in this case, even if not determined to have been criminal, were very disturbing and the behavior at issue was unacceptable,' the NHL said in a statement. 'We will be reviewing and considering the judge's findings. While we conduct that analysis and determine next steps, the players charged in this case are ineligible to play in the league.'
Not surprisingly, the players' union disagrees and is pushing back.
'After missing more than a full season of their respective NHL careers, they should now have the opportunity to return to work,' the NHLPA said in a statement. 'The NHL's declaration that the players are 'ineligible' to play pending its further analysis of the court's findings is inconsistent with the discipline procedures set forth in the CBA. We are addressing this dispute with the League.'
It'll be interesting to see if the league makes a decision before NHL camps open next month.
Loose pucks
Quiz time: With
Zdeno Chara
set to enter the
Cole Spicer
, who was originally set to play for Arizona State this season but instead will not play for the Sun Devils, according to a report from the Grand Forks Herald. A Bruins fourth-round pick in 2022, Spicer played two seasons at Minnesota Duluth before playing for Dubuque of the USHL last season. Spicer, a physical forward with a penchant for finishing his checks, has dealt with concussions and wrist injuries. It's unclear why he is not moving forward with his commitment to ASU ... If you're feeling pretty good about your golf game, don't chat up Islanders forward
Mathew Barzal
because his summer on the links has been better than pretty good. Barzal buried his first two holes-in-one
Marat Khusnutdinov
, who
Brad Marchand
hosted a Stanley Cup party this past week and it sure looked like fun. A lot of
Adam McQuaid
and
Chris Kelly
as well as fellow Nova Scotian stars
Sidney Crosby
and
Nathan MacKinnon
.
Trey Daerr
, who
Bobby Orr
was inducted in 1979 at 31 years old. Oh, what could have been.
Jim McBride can be reached at
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There in Vaudoise Arena, the American roster included bonafide stars like BYU signee AJ Dybantsa, the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2025 recruiting cycle; Louisville signee Mikel Brown Jr., the No. 8 overall prospect; and Arizona signee Koa Peat, the No. 9 overall prospect. All of them future first-round talents. And yet the player who outscored them all — the one whose highlights quickly began circulating the internet to enliven Huskies fans several thousand miles away — was a far less recognizable combo guard for the Australians named Jacob Furphy, a product of the NBA Global Academy. Though his team wound up losing by double digits, Furphy poured in a game-high 24 points on 9-for-18 shooting to set social media ablaze, at least within the college basketball sphere. 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Slowly but surely, and with more than a few nudges from Murray, who is regarded as one of the keenest offensive minds in college basketball, Hurley availed himself to the possibility that junkyard defense and unflinching toughness weren't the only traits needed to win at the highest levels. He followed Murray down the rabbit hole of complex offensive actions, high-powered analytics and the pursuit of players with more holistic understandings of the game, the kind who can make complex reads in real time by enacting a set of well-drilled principles. "My mental health is much better embracing offense," Hurley told me back in 2024, two months before winning his second consecutive national title with a team that finished No. 1 in the country for offensive efficiency. 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With several years of national team experience under his belt, Reibe, who flitted back and forth between a four- and five-star ranking, now comes to Storrs as the primary backup for starting center Tarris Reed Jr., the former Michigan transfer. "Coach Murray watches a lot of EuroLeague and tries to implement some stuff from there and then combine it with the stuff from [the United States]," Reibe said. "They kind of mix it together, and I see a lot of similarities." McDonald's High School All-American Eric Reibe (22) poses during a photo shoot. (Photo by Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) Furphy, meanwhile, was born in Tasmania, an island off the southeast coast of Australia, and traveled back and forth to the mainland several times each year as his basketball career progressed. He eventually relocated to the capital city of Canberra, which is smack in the middle of Melbourne and Sydney, to join Basketball Australia's Centre of Excellence and the NBA Global Academy, a program that has produced players like Andrew Bogut, Joe Ingles, Patty Mills and Josh Giddey. As with Reibe, the versatile Furphy has been part of his country's international pipeline for several years and even made his debut with Australia's senior team in the 2025 Asia Cup qualifiers. He, too, recognized the offensive overlap between the kind of basketball he's been taught and the core tenets Murray described to him during recruiting conversations. "That was one thing I talked to my agent about as soon as I found out that UConn was interested," Furphy said. "It's a style that I like playing and I've played pretty much growing up my whole life. That was one of the main attractions for sure." Jacob Furphy of Australia drives to the basket during the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2025. (Photo by Vianney Thibaut/FIBA via Getty Images) This summer, Australia's U19 national team ran much of their offense through Furphy at the FIBA tournament by asking him to come off screens or come through actions and then make the right decisions with the ball in his hands, even if he wasn't technically the team's point guard. Murray was impressed with Furphy's comfort level in a high-usage role and lauded his understanding of how to change speeds as a cutter. Hurley came away from the trip to Switzerland pleased with how Furphy carried himself on the court: He was the first player in and out of every huddle; he was constantly communicating with teammates and coaches; he ran everywhere he went — always a point of emphasis with Hurley. Now, Furphy will be part of a deep guard rotation that includes returner Solo Ball and newcomers Silas Demary Jr. (Georgia transfer), Malachi Smith (Dayton) and Mullins. He projects as a shooting guard or undersized small forward who is capable of sliding over to point guard when necessary. And while his playing time as a true freshman will likely be less than what Furphy was used to with Australia, he's skilled enough to contribute immediately in a reserve role. "We just love his versatility," Murray told me. "He's a screener, he's a cutter, he's an initiator of offense, he's a really good pick-and-roll player. Historically, we haven't been a team that plays a ton out of pick and roll, but he's going to be a guy that we're going to give more freedom to play that way. "He's going to have to continue to get better defensively and get more accustomed to dealing with size and athleticism when he's making his reads as a passer — just getting more accustomed to how that length presents itself on the court, presents itself at the rim when he goes to be a scorer — but yeah, we're super excited about him." That Furphy spent his entire childhood on the other side of the world means the Huskies didn't become aware of him until receiving a tip from a journalist who specializes in covering the NBA Draft. The recommendation sent Murray down another rabbit hole of studying Furphy on tape from his time with both the national team and the NBA Global Academy. Murray liked him enough to ask fellow assistant Tom Moore to visit Atlanta when one of Furphy's teams was competing in the United States last summer. Moore loved what he saw, just as Murray hoped he would, and the Huskies' recruitment of Furphy accelerated once the staff returned to campus and Hurley caught up on the latest film. They convinced Furphy to sign with UConn over Illinois, another program mining international talent at a high level, and have been thrilled with the decision ever since — even if he was ranked outside the top 130 players in the country in the final 247Sports rankings. But fast-forward to this summer and the FIBA tournament became Furphy's formal introduction to the American basketball world. It marked the first time that Hurley watched his incoming freshman play in person, and what a string of performances he and Murray saw. "He doesn't necessarily have the best body, he doesn't have unbelievable length or tremendous athleticism or great speed," Murray said of Furphy. "But that's part of the reason people didn't think [former UConn star] Cam Spencer was that good in high school, you know, or didn't think he was that good at Loyola [before entering the transfer portal]. "So again, I think a lot of it is about fitting stylistically. He may not be a perfect fit for everybody, but he's a perfect fit for us." Michael Cohen covers college football and college basketball for FOX Sports. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? 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