While Jake Thibeault’s journey to one day walk again continues, the efforts to support him are ongoing.
The fifth annual Hockey Day in the ‘Burg will take place Saturday, benefitting Thibeault, a Fitchburg native who was left paralyzed from the waist down after a hockey accident in 2021. This year’s bill of hockey action at the Wallace Civic Center will feature four games with all the proceeds going to Thibeault’s rehabilitation fund.
The action gets underway at noon Saturday, with the Leominster girls hockey team hosting a powerhouse Algonquin Regional squad, followed by Lunenburg/Ayer-Shirley squaring off with Littleton at 2 p.m. After that, Fitchburg State hosts Rivier in a MASCAC clash at 5 p.m., with crosstown rivals Monty Tech and St. Bernard’s capping the day’s action at 7:10 p.m.
Thibeault played for the then-Fitchburg/Monty Tech program in high school before departing for Milton Academy. He and his family are close with both Fitchburg State head coach Dean Fuller and Littleton head coach Kevin Lizotte, who also serves as an assistant coach at FSU.
“Jake’s been a great friend to me and to our program. He’s a great kid,” Fuller said Wednesday. “We’ll do anything we can for him.”
A collision on the ice during a Labor Day weekend tournament in 2021 sent Thibeault head-first into the boards, leaving him unable to walk.
Currently in his senior year at Babson College, Thibeault has returned to the Wallace Civic Center for the last four years for Hockey Day in the ‘Burg. His current school and Fitchburg State opened the collegiate season in October with a home-and-home series.
Trio commits to Falcons
Even with the 2025-26 campaign ongoing, the FSU coaching staff always has an eye on the future. And with four defensemen set to move on following this season, the efforts to replenish the blueline corps is already underway.
Having already secured a commitment from defenseman Collin Foyle, the Falcons received two more on Wednesday, with brothers Jake and Nathan Freelove announcing they’ll be heading to Fitchburg State in the fall.
Both are right-hand shooting defenseman from Tyngsboro who have most recently played for the Islanders Hockey Club. Jake, the older of the Freeloves at 21, is 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds and has eight goals and six assists in 36 NCDC contests this season.
Nathan Freelove, 19, is 5-foot-9 and 145 pounds. He’s notched one goal and four helpers in 22 games with the Islanders this season.
“They’re both very good defenseman,” Fuller said of the Freelove brothers.
Fitchburg State has begun adding to its defensive group for the second half of the season, bringing in Andrey Bondarev (Stockholm. Sweden) after the semester break. A former Islanders Hockey Club skater himself, Bondarev has three assists and is a plus-1 in five games since joining the Falcons.
Fitchburg State is set to lose defensemen Nolan Sargent, Trenton Skaggs, Christian Halbig and Declan Bronte following this season.
In addition to the help on the blue line, the Falcons garnered a commitment from goaltender Brendan Nee of the Boston Jr. Bruins of the NCDC.
The 5-foot-11, 165-pound Arlington native has a 10-4-2 record in 18 games this season, boasting a 2.80 goals against average and a .923 save percentage.
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