Boston University freshman forward Macklin Celebrini has been named the recipient of the 2024 Tim Taylor Award, bestowed annually upon the best first-year player in NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey, the Hockey Commissioners’ Association announced today.

He is the fifth BU player to win this award. The others: goaltender Kieran Millan in 2009, forward Jack Eichel in 2015, forward Clayton Keller in 2017, and forward Joel Farabee in 2019.

The award is voted on by the nation’s assistant coaches and is named for the former Yale University and U.S. Olympic Team head coach.

A native of Vancouver, British Columbia, Celebrini brought a line of 32-32-64 into the semifinals of the NCAA Frozen Four, ranking second in the nation in both goals per game and points per game. He was named Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Regionals in Sioux Fall, SD. Celebrini had multipoint games in each of the 6-3 BU wins (over RIT and Minnesota). He was the just the fourth player in Hockey East history to earn Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year honors in the same season.

Tim Taylor, for whom the award is named, spent 28 seasons at Yale and became the school’s winningest head coach as he collected 337 victories. His tenure spanned from 1976-2006, while taking two years on leave to coach the U.S. Men’s Olympic Ice Hockey Team as an assistant coach in 1984 and as the head coach in 1994. Taylor was captain of the Harvard University men’s ice hockey team before he graduated in 1963. He began his coaching career at his alma mater, serving as an assistant coach on the Crimson staff under Ralph “Cooney” Weiland and Bill Cleary before beginning his time with the Bulldogs in New Haven, Connecticut.

The Hockey Commissioners Association sponsors this award which results from a ballot containing each NCAA Division I ice hockey conference’s Rookie of the Year. The runner-up for this year’s Tim Taylor Rookie of the Year Award was the University of Denver’s Zeev Buium, a freshman defenseman from San Diego, CA.