{"id":320999,"date":"2025-12-01T17:44:03","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T17:44:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/320999\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T17:44:03","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T17:44:03","slug":"islanders-prospect-cole-eiserman-born-to-be-a-hockey-player","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/320999\/","title":{"rendered":"Islanders prospect Cole Eiserman born to be a hockey player"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eventually, Cole Eiserman<\/a> expects UBS Arena to be his NHL stage as an Islanders first-round pick in 2024. But playing at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night certainly gave the Boston University sophomore a peek into his expected future life. <\/p>\n

He scored the third-period winner and set up a first-period power-play goal by Kamil Bednarik<\/a>, an Islanders second-round pick in 2024, as Boston University topped Cornell, 2-1, before a packed crowd that included Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche and assistant GMs Ryan Bowness, Steve Pellegrini and Matt Martin. <\/p>\n

\u201cI make jokes for the guys all the time about the Herb Brooks stuff, \u2018You\u2019re born to be a hockey player,\u2019 \u201d said Eiserman, selected 20th overall. \u201cI take that to heart. I think I was put on this Earth to be a hockey player, be under these big lights, be in the big moments. It\u2019s what I want to do. There\u2019s nothing like a sold-out Madison Square Garden, being able to play hockey with your best buddies, being able to battle. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely something I take a lot of pride in, and I wake up every day knowing I\u2019m very grateful to be a hockey player.\u201d <\/p>\n

The sharpshooter from Newburyport, Massachusetts, has seven goals and three assists in 11 games despite missing four games with a lower-body injury suffered on Oct. 25. Eiserman said the setback did not hinder his development but sapped some of his confidence. His performance on Saturday helped restore that. <\/p>\n

Bednarik has three goals and four assists in 14 games. He has a more complete 200-foot game than Eiserman, whose defense is still a work in progress. Bednarik also plays on the penalty kill. <\/p>\n

\u201cI learned a lot from my freshman season, just how I can play,\u201d said Bednarik, who is from Elk Grove Village, Illinois, and was drafted with the 61st pick. \u201cI built a bit more confidence coming from my freshman year. Sometimes in my freshman year, I got a little too into my head. That hindered me a little bit.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a really reliable player,\u201d said Boston University coach Jay Pandolfo, who played 62 games for the Islanders<\/a> in 2011-12 after 13 seasons and two Stanley Cups with the Devils. \u201cI have a lot of trust in Kamil. Very good details. He does things the right way. He helps you win hockey games.\u201d <\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s Eiserman and his offensive potential \u2014 because of his shot, which can be heavy or whip-like-quick \u2014 that is so intriguing to the Islanders\u2019 future<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Eiserman and Bednarik said they are in frequent communication with the Islanders\u2019 development staff \u2014 members are at many of BU\u2019s games \u2014 and Darche said he met with Eiserman and his representative when the Islanders played in Boston on Oct. 28. But both said there is not a timeline yet for signing their entry-level contracts. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re so comfortable with Coach Pandolfo,\u201d Eiserman said. \u201cI think it\u2019s just a whenever-they-think-the-time-is-right thing.\u201d <\/p>\n

Being injured did give Eiserman more time to watch how the Islanders are playing this season under coach Patrick Roy. He believes he\u2019d fit in well with that up-tempo style. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest thing I\u2019ve seen is giving guys chances,\u201d Eiserman said. \u201cA lot of young guys. [No. 1 overall pick Matthew] Schaefer is just different. But when you get [Laurel Hollow\u2019s] Marshall Warren up there and Cal Ritchie and they\u2019re playing them, it\u2019s awesome for me as a young guy.\u201d <\/p>\n

Darche said Eiserman\u2019s play will dictate his timeline, just as it did for Schaefer. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he comes in and plays pro games, it\u2019s how he plays and how he reacts to those,\u201d Darche said. \u201cWe can project how we feel they\u2019re going to play pro. Until they actually play, you never know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Andrew<\/p>\n

\n\tAndrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John\u2019s and MLB.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eventually, Cole Eiserman expects UBS Arena to be his NHL stage as an Islanders first-round pick in 2024.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,5791,575,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-320999","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-new-york-islanders","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}