by Danny Karmin | AHL On The Beat
On a Friday night in March of 2024 in Orono, Maine, Bradly Nadeau’s University of Maine Black Bears faced off against Scott Morrow’s UMass-Amherst Minutemen squad.
Nadeau, a freshman selected in the first round (30th overall) by the Carolina Hurricanes in the NHL Draft nine months previous, had a sizeable lead in the Black Bears’ scoring race, all while being one of the youngest players (18) on the team and in the nation.
Morrow, a third-year defenseman (then 21) and a second-round selection (40th overall) by Carolina in the 2021 NHL Draft, was leading all Minutemen skaters in assists (14) and points (16) in 24 conference games.
The promising high-end prospects, who are now enjoying their rookie seasons together with the Chicago Wolves, were about to experience together the successes and failures that go along with being professional athletes.
The young stars were familiar with each other’s talents but had yet to really get to know each other.
That soon changed.
“The University of Maine was a great team,” Morrow said. “(Nadeau) killed it there and was somebody we had to always watch out for.”
Nadeau’s Black Bears got the better of Morrow and UMass that night, with Nadeau scoring a goal in Maine’s 2-1 victory — one of three Maine wins over UMass last season.
“Those games were a lot of fun,” Nadeau said. “It was great to battle against him and their team and come out on top in the end.”
Morrow, a 6-foot-2, 194-pound blueliner, could have signed with Carolina after his sophomore season, but decided to stay for his junior season to continue his fast-growing trajectory at Massachusetts.
“I wasn’t afraid to stay three years (at UMass) because I recognized it was a good spot for my development,” Morrow said. “My body changed a lot, too, since I was there. I got a lot stronger and spent a lot of time in the weight room.
“When I first got to college, the things I needed to work on were kind of just refining my defensive game and my skating,” he continued. “UMass plays a really defensive style and plays on the big rink. Those were the two biggest areas in my game I needed to improve.”
Morrow, a native of Darien, Conn., had lived away from home previously, attending Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in Minnesota. He credits the time on his own with maturing and learning to be self-sufficient.
“You have to fend for yourself, cook for yourself and prepare yourself,” Morrow said. “So, it was good from that standpoint. Being on your own definitely forces you to mature.”
At UMass, Morrow had to manage the daily life of being a college athlete, accommodating free time for himself outside of the rink, including classes and homework. Morrow, who studied sport management at UMass’s Isenberg School of Management, said he enjoyed the academic side of college and was able to graduate in three years.
“I had to take a pretty heavy workload,” he said. “My last year especially was pretty grueling.”
The 5-foot-11, 175-pound Nadeau took a different path to the pros as a skilled and dynamic forward. A native of St-Francois-de-Madawaska, New Brunswick, Nadeau played his draft-eligible season in the British Columbia Hockey League, a junior league not traditionally known for developing NHL players.
Turns out Nadeau got his development – and then some. He registered 113 points (45 goals, 68 assists) in 54 BCHL games with Penticton in 2022-23 and was named the league’s most valuable player after leading all BCHL skaters in goals, assists and points.
After two years in the BCHL, Nadeau went the NCAA route by attending Maine in 2023-24. The play on the ice translated easily, but the work away from it took some time. Adjusting to a college hockey schedule is no easy task, even for someone as talented as Nadeau.
“The shorter season comes with its challenges,” Nadeau said. “We’re lifting more during the week and everybody is already so strong and way bigger. So, you have to get stronger every day and work hard. Every game is a hard-fought game and it was a good thing for me to go up against older and stronger players.”
After spending one year at Maine, Nadeau turned professional and signed his three-year, entry-level contract with Carolina in April 2024, joining Morrow and the Wolves. They had met previously at Carolina’s development camp in 2023 but didn’t spend much time together until eight months later.
That’s when they became almost inseparable. Wherever Morrow went, Nadeau followed. Whenever Morrow spoke, Nadeau listened. Although they are both pro rookies, Nadeau is three years younger and looks up to Morrow, absorbing as much knowledge as possible.
“He’s obviously a great player so I can learn a lot from what he does, like at the rink and outside the rink,” Nadeau said. “He’s a bit older, so he’s got more experience and is a really good person.”
The duo, joined by 22-year-old Wolves defenseman Ronan Seeley, spent a considerable amount of time living together in Carolina during the summer, training and getting acclimated to their new realities.
Not unlike their time in college, the young stars gained as much independence as possible while navigating their lives away from home.
“I think it (the independence) prepares you for what’s next,” Nadeau said. “I learned how to cook and be away from everyone and how to do things on your own. It was really good.”
Between Morrow, Nadeau and Seeley, there were no star chefs in the household, making it more of a team effort and learning-on-the-fly type of kitchen.
“Seeley was definitely the most mature out of the three of us,” Morrow said with a laugh. “Bradly and I took some things from him in the kitchen.”
While their potential will likely put them on a career path to the NHL, for now they are developing and thriving with the Wolves. On Nov. 30, Morrow became just the third Wolves defenseman in history to record a hat trick. Nadeau’s 11 points trail only Morrow (12) and Ryan Suzuki (13) on the Wolves roster.
Each admitted that it took time to get acclimated to the AHL. Over the first quarter of the season, there is already a huge change in their on-ice confidence.
“There are more games (in the AHL) and we have some stretches of three-in-three,” Nadeau said. “You don’t really do that in college so that was a big adjustment. Everyone is older, stronger and faster and they think the game fast as well.”
The rookies share another thing in common: their youthful passion for the game. Catch a Wolves practice and Nadeau and Morrow are often the two last players on the ice working on their skills and feeding each other one-timers.
They motivate each other to be better and have benefitted immensely often by simply talking hockey.
“He’s a lot of fun to be around because of that,” Morrow said about Nadeau. “It’s really cool to have somebody else who’s just as passionate about the game and just coming into the pros at the same time.”
While Morrow and Nadeau are excelling in the AHL, they can reminisce about their time playing college hockey and how those experiences helped change the trajectories of their careers.
“Everything in college kind of prepared me for this moment,” Morrow said.
