By Joshua Boyd / NCDCHockey.com
You certainly won’t hear Cameron Lund complaining about anything hockey-wise. It’s been going really well for the ‘04 out of Bridgewater, Mass., for many years now.
He is coming off a fantastic freshman year for Northeastern University, with whom he was named to the Hockey East Association All-Rookie Team. He is an NHL prospect of the San Jose Sharks, who picked him in the second round of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft (34th overall) and a two-time attendee of their annual Prospects Camps. He was also one of the top NCDC talents during the 2020-21 season, half of which was played in Florida as part of the Hub City Tampa initiative, when he was also named as an NCDC All-Star. In between the Boston Junior Bruins and Northeastern, he was also an All-Rookie Selection in the United States Hockey League and played in the prestigious Hlinka-Gretzky Cup in Europe as part of Team USA.
“This past year was a good year for me,” said Lund. “Coming into it as a true freshman, it’s not always easy with school and being one of the younger guys on the team. It was a challenge at first but all the guys were really welcoming, and made it really easy for me and the other freshmen. I learned how strong and physical some of the players wee, so that was one of the biggest things I learned in making the transition from the USHL to the Hockey East.
“I think that wass really cool and awesome, to be on the All-Rookie team,” he added. “I’m looking to build off last year and bring it into this next year.”
In addition to being named as an All-Rookie selection after a 7-16-23 season in 35 games, he helped Northeastern win the Beanpot Championship, the annual “best of Boston” tournament that also includes Boston College, Boston University and Harvard. NU beat Harvard, 3-2, in a shootout to win their fourth Beanpot in the last five years that it was contested (the 2021 event was canceled). The Huskies continue to be one of the strongest teams in the Hockey East the last few years, which include the 2022 regular season championship, the 2019 playoff championship, and trips to the NCAA tournament in 2018, 2019 and 2022. It also happens that Northeastern is a fantastic university to get an education and enjoy life right in downtown Boston.
“I think Northeastern has all the tools you need to be successful whether in the classroom or on the ice,” he said. “You can talk to the professors any time, they’re always there to help. Northeastern’s always one of the best programs.”
And, as aforementioned, they’ve been good lately, but they are not yet National Champions – the closest they’ve come was reaching the Frozen Four in 1982 – so Lund and his teammates are looking to make some new history this year. The road to national glory of course starts right in your conference, and that’s goal No. 1 for 2023-24 – to be Hockey East Champions.
“Going into this year, obviously we fell short and didn’t reach our goal. Hopefully this year, we will reach our goal and make it to the championship,” he added. “Individually, I want to have more of a shooting mentality and hopefully more goals will come from that.”
Florida Days
Cam Lund had traveled great distances with the Junior Bruins organization in the past. He was a Junior Bruins youth player and played with them at Edmonton’s Brick Tournament. So, he knew very well about the Junior Bruins and what they could do for players.
“I was at Cushing Academy for a few weeks when I found out there would be no hockey season there, so I talked to Mike about the Junior Bruins,” said Lund. It was a quick turnaround as Lund was on the ice for the first game of that NCDC season, and he stayed right with the Junior Bruins throughout that tumultuous year dealing with COVID cases and regulations.
He almost couldn’t believe it when the Junior Bruins staff informed the team that, in January of 2021, they would start the games of the new year in Hub City Tampa, a closed community initiative where the USPHL players (which included all of the NCDC and some Premier and Elite teams as well) were provided housing at Saddlebrook Resort – which included meals as well as access to championship golf courses and various pools on the resort – while also playing 21 games per team at nearby AdventHealth Center Ice and other nearby Florida facilities.
“I think it was an awesome great group of guys. Going down to Florida for a month and a half, almost two months, was fun to be down there, just playing hockey, playing with all of these guys on teams and now playing against some of those guys, it was a terrific experience,” added Lund. “The guys were all happy and excited to get down there in good weather.”
Overall on the season, Lund put up a line of 17-17-34 in 40 games for the Junior Bruins, as well as four points in six games as the Junior Bruins reached the Dineen Cup semifinals that year.
Running almost parallel to Lund in terms of career path has been longtime friend Jackson Dorrington, an ‘04 defenseman from North Reading, Mass. They were classmates and teammates at Cushing, they moved over together during the 2020-21 season to the Junior Bruins, and both committed to Northeastern University that year.
They also moved on to the USHL, though with separate teams – the Green Bay Gamblers for Lund and Des Moines Buccaneers for Dorrington. That summer after their USHL seasons, both were drafted at the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, Lund by San Jose and Dorrington by Vancouver.
Now, they’re both at Northeastern and both had fantastic freshman seasons and hope to turn up the temperature even more here in 2023-24.
“Yeah, Jackson and I both had the same situations and now he and I are roommates, and we make a lot of jokes and make each other laugh. We’re good friends,” said Lund.
Shark Bites
Lund continues to remain on the radar for the San Jose Sharks. They have brought him to their last two Prospects Camps, typically held in early summer around the Fourth of July. Lund looks back fondly on the day in 2022 when he was drafted by San Jose. 
“I knew, from talking to them at the Combine, that I had a really good interview with them,” he added. “The whole atmosphere was awesome, and being there and going early – the second pick of the second round – it was crazy to hear your name be called and go up. It’s almost like you just black out and you don’t know what’s going on, then you come back to life.”
Lund regularly keeps in touch with San Jose, and sees their scouts regularly during the season.
“They come to a lot of our Northeastern games, and we text back and forth here and there,” said Lund. “They’ll send me clips of what I can work on sometimes. They do a really good job of keeping in touch with their prospects. They’re a bunch of good people, and that makes going to the Prospects Camp really enjoyable and fun. I always like going there.”
The NCDC congratulates Cameron Lund and Northeastern University for a fantastic season and wish them the best of luck in the upcoming season.
