Boston University is the No. 1 team in college hockey. A trio of Flyers prospects are a big reason why

For the Flyers, it’s more than a feeling; they can begin dreaming of a bright future. And some of it will shine this weekend in Boston.

Five members of the organization’s pipeline will battle it out at Boston University’s Agganis Arena for a two-game set beginning on Friday when the school hosts Michigan State (7 p.m. on ESPN2). Although eyes will be on 2025 picks Porter Martone (sixth overall) and Shane Vansaghi (second round) for the No. 3 Spartans, it’s a trio of players for the Terriers — the No. 1 team in this week’s USCHO and USA Hockey polls — who could set the tone.

Meet the three Flyers prospects lacing them up at Boston University.

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There was a big question mark about Carter Amico starting the season on time for BU. Selected 38th overall by the Flyers, he did not participate in development camp in July as the defenseman spent his summer rehabbing a fractured kneecap that required two surgeries to be corrected.

“He was high on our list,” Flyers amateur scout Shane Fukushima said after the draft. “He’s a massive body that missed the majority of the year; I think if that had not happened, he would have been selected higher in the draft. We feel that the upside is high and he’s just scratching the surface.”

At 6-foot-5 and 218 pounds, the Maine native certainly has upside as the Flyers aim to get bigger on the blue line. But it’s not just his size that’s appealing; he’s a strong skater and plays a physical game.

“He’s a guy that we’re real excited about,” BU coach Jay Pandolfo said in mid-August. “Unfortunately, he’s coming off a pretty significant injury, but right now he’s in a really good spot. He’s done an excellent job with rehab. He’s back on the ice.”

“We’ll manage it, ease him back into it, but I think he’s going to be a really good player,” he added. “He’s got great size. He’s going to really help us.”

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At the time, Pandolfo wasn’t sure if Amico would be a full participant when the Terriers started practicing in September. But there he was in the season opener against Long Island University on Oct. 4 playing almost 10 minutes.

Amico has played in three of the Terriers’ first four games, throwing hits and blocking three shots. In his second game, he was bumped up to the second pair, skating with 2025 first-rounder Sascha Boumedienne. He stayed alongside the Winnipeg Jets prospect for his second game against Colgate, too.

Jack Murtagh didn’t sleep well the night between the first and second rounds of the NHL draft. But he was up by 8 a.m. and ready to see what the day would hold for him at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. He didn’t have to wait too long because two spots after Amico went — they both played in the United States National Team Development Program — Murtagh was taken by the Flyers.

“When I was with my family, it was a pretty surreal moment,” he said in July. “But, yeah, I’m still letting it sink in. I think after this whole camp and stuff, I’ll really realize what really happened.”

What really happened was that the forward was drafted by a team about 3½ hours south of his home near Albany, N.Y. Sporting a Saratoga hat — the famous race track he goes to often in the summers — he told The Inquirer that he thought Philly was farther from home until his brother, Michael, who plays at UConn, said he’d pick him up after development camp.

Murtagh ended up flying home before heading to Boston, where the communications major worked out, met all the guys, and even took a summer course — Introduction to Hospitality. But it was in Philly where he left an impression.

“His speed, his shot, but also his compete level, he has a tremendous work ethic,” Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr said in July. “He can play a lot of different ways; if he’s not scoring, he can impact games by forcing turnovers, pressuring up ice, finishing checks, going to the net.”

Pandolfo noticed this, too, that he has a “skill set where he impacts the game without necessarily always ending up on the score sheet.” Pandolfo, who played 13 of his 15 years as an NHL forward for the New Jersey Devils, picked up on it when they started tracking him as a 15-year-old playing for national powerhouse Bishop Kearney.

“We were just watching him, and we just liked, kind of the way he played the game,” Pandolfo said. “Felt like he had an identity to the way he played. He liked to get to the inside, liked to go to the net, a power forward type player that we like. Thought he was smart. He just had an impact on the game. And I think getting to know him as a kid, too, really good kid.”

Murtagh entered college knowing that “nothing’s really given” and has to “work for my spot.” But the kid who liked watching J.T. Miller play has suited up in each of the Terriers’ first three games and has already made an impact.

And it was in the last game that it felt like an earthquake.

With Boston University trailing by 2-1, he stole the puck as Colgate was trying to break out. The 18-year-old skated in alone on the goalie, pump-faked, and slid the puck around an outstretched pad on the backhand.

“I think he’s added layers to his game. I think his shot has gotten better. ... His 200-foot game is much better. And I think for us, we are looking for him to come in and make an impact right away,” Pandolfo said of Murtagh, who will face his brother in a home-and-home next weekend.

“And it’s not always easy for true freshmen in college hockey. We’ve had success with our younger guys coming in and having immediate impacts, and we do feel like Jack is going to have that because of the way he plays.”

Indeed.

The elder statesman of the three, Owen McLaughlin, was a seventh-round pick of the Flyers in 2021.

“It’s obviously surreal every time you get to put the logo on and think of all the times you were younger and watching the team and watching the games, rooting for guys, and now you get to see a lot of them around the rink,” McLaughlin told The Inquirer at development camp. “It’s really cool and it’s kind of hard to put into words.”

The forward hails from Spring City, Chester County, and lists Flyers general manager Danny Brière as one of his favorite players growing up. He would spend his days skating at Oaks Center Ice and West Chester’s Ice Line and played several years for the Valley Forge Minutemen.

And, after spending a few years out west, he’s excited to be back east. He transferred to BU this summer after collecting 20 goals and 84 points in 114 games for North Dakota across three seasons. After posting 39 points in 39 games as a sophomore, he dipped to 30 in 38 last season.

“I think, if you talk to him, he had an off-year last year,” Flahr said. “I thought he got away from what got him success, which was — as you can see out there — he can skate, he has skill, he has vision, playmaking ability. But I thought a lot of his game became too perimeter, and when you’re that far, you’re not going to score goals."

Flahr said he has a long way to go, including gaining strength and weight after losing 10 pounds from illness at the beginning of last season. “He’s got a lot of work to do every day, as far as eating and forcing himself to eat when he doesn’t want to eat in order to put on weight and get stronger. He doesn’t have a scout’s metabolism, unfortunately,” Flahr joked.

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He’ll have a chance to do that at BU, which dropped the NCAA final last season to Western Michigan and jumped at the chance to snag McLaughlin when he entered the transfer portal after playing against him the past two seasons.

The Terriers were losing Ryan Greene to the Chicago Blackhawks and Flyers prospect Devin Kaplan — whom McLaughlin is tight with — and felt the forward could “help fill in for some of that production that we’re losing.”

And the one thing that should bring a twinkle to fans of the Orange and Black — “We’re going to move him back to center,” Pandolfo said of McLaughlin, who played wing last year after spending his sophomore year down the middle alongside Carolina Hurricanes winger Jackson Blake.

“I think he certainly can play that position,” Pandolfo said. “He makes a lot of plays. He’ll have the puck on his stick a lot in our system, and that’s what we want. We want guys who can make plays to have the puck a lot, and he’s a guy who is capable of doing that. So we plan on putting him in the middle of the ice and see where it goes from there.”

McLaughlin has played center in all three of BU’s game and centered snipers Cole Eiserman and Ryder Ritchie in last weekend’s series with Colgate. He has three assists and has won 45% of his faceoffs thus far.