2023-24 BC Interruption Awards: Male Rookie of the Year: Will Smith

BC Interruption’s Male Rookie of the Year is hockey’s Will Smith, who made the most of his one year as an Eagle with one of the best freshman seasons that we’ve seen in a while.

Smith joined BC with some massive expectations after being drafted fourth overall by the San Jose Sharks in the 2023 NHL draft, and he somehow managed to surpass all of them. Playing on a line with fellow classmates Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perreault, Smith lead both the team and the country in scoring, putting up a ridiculous 71 points in his 41 games. His 25 goals were good for sixth most in the nation (despite being third on his own team) and his 46 assists were good for first, a full five more than Perreault in second place.

While Smith was excellent from pretty much the first game of the season, his most memorable moment was undoubtedly his four-goal performance against BU in the Hockey East Championship game. In a game featuring many of the best players in the country, Smith was the best by a mile, scoring twice in the first period to give BC the lead before putting the game away for good early in the third period.

He continued to shine on the big stage in the NCAA Tournament as well, scoring the first two goals in BC’s 4-0 win against Michigan in the national semifinals to help send the Eagles to the championship game. For the season, he had at least one point in all but five of his games and he recorded two or more points 23 times. He ended his season with a number of accolades, the biggest of which came when he was named a First Team All-American along with teammates Jacob Fowler and Cutter Gauthier.

We won’t be getting a second season of Will Smith at BC, as he has recently decided to make the jump to the NHL with the Sharks, but there’s no doubt that he made a heck of an impression in his one year as an Eagle.

Smith’s teammate Jacob Fowler and football’s Thomas Castellanos also received votes for Rookie of the Year