Nicholas Abruzzese (born June 4, 1999) is an

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professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

center currently playing for the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL). Growing up in New York, Abruzzese played for numerous junior hockey teams before joining the Chicago Steel in the

United States Hockey League The United States Hockey League (USHL) is the top junior ice hockey league sanctioned by USA Hockey. The league consists of 16 active teams located in the midwestern United States, for players between the ages of 16 and 21. The USHL is strictly ...

(USHL) from 2017 to 2019. During his time with the Steel, Abruzzese thrived under new coach Greg Moore and led the league in scoring with 80 points in 69 games. As such, he was named to the 2018–19 All-USHL First Team and was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the

2019 NHL Entry Draft The 2019 NHL Entry Draft was the 57th NHL Entry Draft. The draft was held on June 21–22, 2019 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia. The first three selections were Jack Hughes going to the New Jersey Devils, Kaapo Kakko being select ...

. Following the draft, Abruzzese joined the

Harvard Crimson men's ice hockey The Harvard Crimson men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents Harvard University. The Crimson are a member of ECAC Hockey. They play at the Bright Hockey Ce ...

team from 2020 to 2022 while majoring in psychology. His freshman season was the best under coach Ted Donato as Abruzzese accumulated 14 goals and 30 assists for 44 points through 31 games. As a result of his play, Abruzzese was named the ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Year and Ivy League Rookie of the Year. He was also selected for ECAC First All-Star Team, First Team All-Ivy, and All-Rookie Team. In March 2020, Abruzzese was also selected for the AHCA Second Team All-American.

Early life

Abruzzese was born on June 4, 1999, in Slate Hill,

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. His father played hockey in New York growing up and got his son interested in the sport. Beyond ice hockey, Abruzzese also played baseball, lacrosse, and soccer. Abruzzese graduated from Minisink Valley High School in 2017

Playing career

Amateur

Growing up in New York, Abruzzese played with 13U AAA New Jersey Colonials, the 16U AAA New Jersey Avalanche, 16U Westchester Express teams, and the 18U AAA New Jersey Avalanche. He also played with the Mid-Fairfield Yankees in 2014 and scored one goal and three assists to help the team qualify for the Toyota-USA Hockey Tier I Youth National Championships. During the 2015–16 season, Abruzzese tallied 35 points in 24 Atlantic Youth Hockey League games and 17 goals and 30 points in 32

Tier 1 Elite Hockey League The Tier 1 Elite Hockey League (T1EHL), formerly Midwest Elite Hockey League, is located primarily in the Midwest United States and is the premier amateur youth hockey league in the United States. Players from all over the country move to the area ...

games. Following this, Abruzzese joined the

North American Hockey League The North American Hockey League (NAHL) is one of the top junior hockey leagues in the United States and is in its 48th season of operation in 2022–23. It is the only Tier II junior league sanctioned by USA Hockey, and acts as an alternati ...

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for the 2016–17 season. During this time, he attended Minisink Valley and committed to play Division 1 ice hockey for the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is amon ...

. Following his commitment to the University of Vermont, Abruzzese played junior hockey with the Chicago Steel in the

(USHL) from 2017 to 2019. In his rookie season with the Steel, Abruzzese posted 13 goals and 36 points through 56 games but remained undrafted in the

(NHL). During his second USHL season, Abruzzese changed his collegiate commitment and decided to join the

team for the 2019–20 season. He improved offensively during the 2018–19 season under new coach Greg Moore and led the league in scoring with 80 points in 69 games. As a result of his impressive season, Abruzzese was named to the All-USHL First Team. He was also selected 124th overall by the

in the

Collegiate

Following the NHL Entry Draft, Abruzzese began his collegiate career with the Harvard Crimson in the

ECAC Hockey ECAC Hockey is one of the six conferences that compete in NCAA Division I ice hockey. The conference used to be affiliated with the Eastern College Athletic Conference, a consortium of over 300 colleges in the eastern United States. This relati ...

Conference while majoring in psychology. He recorded his first collegiate goal and added two assists on November 1, 2019, in a 7–3 win over Dartmouth. By December, he had accumulated 16 points through 14 games to lead all NCAA first-years in scoring per game with 1.14 points per contest. As such, he was recognized by the ECAC Conference with their ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Month Award for the month of December. Later in January, Abruzzese notched his first multiple-goal game and was named a nominee for the

Hobey Baker Award The Hobey Baker Award is an annual award given to the top National Collegiate Athletic Association men's ice hockey player. It has been awarded 41 times. It is named for Hall of Famer Hobey Baker, who played college hockey at Princeton University ...

as the top NCAA men's ice hockey player. He finished the month of February tied amongst skaters and leading all freshmen with 12 points. Abruzzese also led the league in points per game with 1.34, and he accumulated 39 points overall. As such, he received his third ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Month honor. At the conclusion of his freshman season, Abruzzese had accumulated 14 goals and 30 assists for 44 points through 31 games which was the best freshman season under coach Ted Donato. As a result of his overall play, Abruzzese was named the ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Year and Ivy League Rookie of the Year and was selected for ECAC First All-Star Team, First Team All-Ivy, and All-Rookie Team. In March 2020, Abruzzese was also selected for the AHCA Second Team All-American. However, following his successful freshman season, Harvard — along with the rest of the ECAC's Ivy League schools and Union — didn't play during the 2020-21 NCAA season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. As such, Abruzzese returned home to New York to complete online classes and underwent hip surgery at the

Hospital for Special Surgery Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) is a hospital in New York City that specializes in orthopedic surgery and the treatment of rheumatologic conditions. Founded in 1863 by James Knight, HSS is the oldest orthopedic hospital in the United States ...

. Once collegiate hockey resumed for the 2021–22 season, Abruzzese returned to Harvard as their team co-captain alongside Casey Dornbach. In this role, he contributed 33 points through 28 games. Before leaving for the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...

, Abruzzese was one of Harvard's top point producers with 21 points through 17 games. He also ranked 10th in the country with an average of 1.24 points per game. After returning from the Olympics, Abruzzese helped guide the team to the NCAA regional semifinal by scoring the game-tying goal in an eventual win over the

Clarkson Golden Knights men's ice hockey The Clarkson Golden Knights men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents Clarkson University. The Golden Knights have been a member of ECAC Hockey since 1962, an ...

team in the ECAC Semi-Finals. Upon reaching the NCAA Albany Regional semifinals against Minnesota State, the Crimson fell 4-3 and were subsequently eliminated. Following the elimination, Abruzzese was named to the 2021-22 NCAA ECAC First All-Star Team.

Professional

Abruzzese ended his collegiate career by signing a two-year, entry-level contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 26, 2022. He made his NHL debut on April 4, 2022, in a game against the

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Wells ...

where he skated for nine minutes through 15 shifts.

International play

During his junior year at Harvard, Abruzzese and teammate

Sean Farrell Sean, Shaun or Shawn Farrell may refer to: *Sean Farrell (American football) (born 1960), American football player *Sean Farrell (ice hockey) (born 2001), American ice hockey player *Sean Farrell (footballer) (born 1969), former association football ...

were named to Team USA's men's national ice hockey team for the

. He scored the game-tying goal in an eventual 3–2 loss to Slovakia that eliminated Team USA from the tournament. Abruzzese ended the tournament with one goal and three assists for four points through four games.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abruzzese, Nick 1999 births Living people AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans American men's ice hockey centers American people of Italian descent Chicago Steel players Harvard Crimson men's ice hockey players Ice hockey players from New York (state) Ice hockey players at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic ice hockey players of the United States Toronto Maple Leafs draft picks Toronto Maple Leafs players Toronto Marlies players