“Personal and mental” struggles cause Bruins prospect to step away from hockey

In a surprising turn of events, Boston Bruins prospect Cole Spicer is departing the University of Minnesota Duluth and has indicated that he's finished playing hockey "for the foreseeable future". 

Spicer was declared academically ineligible in the second half of last season, and has been removed from the Bulldogs roster; he had previously played in 17 games and scored four goals with five assists. The North Dakota native was selected by the Bruins with the 117th pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. 

When discussing his reasoning behind stepping away from the game, Spicer indicated that there were "personal and mental stuff" that he needs to get worked out. 

“I need to figure out some personal and mental stuff first,” Spicer said. “Right now I need to take a step away and figure a couple things out.”

“I love those guys. They’re family to me,” Spicer said of staying at UMD. “We basically do everything together all season. For sure the hardest part of this is leaving that group of guys.”

While participating in the Bruins' development camp earlier this month, Spicer spoke glowingly about this "second home" and gave every indication that he was returning to action. 

“I love Duluth with my entire heart,” Spicer said. “They have such a great staff. We have the best teammates there. Truly, I just love the spot. I don’t want to leave it. I feel like it’s my second home. To be able to go back and play there really does mean something special to me.”

We hope everything is okay with this young man and that he can get his personal affairs in order and be able to return to hockey.

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