“Most of the top players are committing to colleges and playing in this tournament, and I couldn’t even make my district team,” he said. “I was too small. I didn’t even want to try out again when I was 18. But the coaches at Northeastern said I should.”

At that 2010 tournament, he had his coming-out party. York remembered seeing a pint-size whirling dervish and wondering: “Where did he come from? I had never seen him before.”

U.S. Hockey Report rated Gaudreau the No. 1 forward in the tournament, adding, “Gaudreau was the show here.” By that time, Gaudreau had made the decision to spend his senior year of high school playing for Dubuque of the U.S.H.L. He was named the league’s rookie of the year, and expected to head off to Northeastern.

But in June 2011, Northeastern Coach Greg Cronin left to join the Toronto Maple Leafs. His assistant, O’Connell, left to take a similar position at Harvard. Gaudreau asked Northeastern to release him from his letter of intent, and the university complied. In early August 2011, after a whirlwind recruiting visit to five New England universities, Gaudreau chose Boston College. Matthew Gaudreau joined him this year and appeared in six games as a freshman.

In the summer of 2011, the Calgary Flames drafted Johnny Gaudreau in the fourth round, with the 104th overall pick. He was stunned by the news. He had decided to skate with some friends at a local rink rather than watch the draft, convinced he would be drafted much later, if at all.

“I was ranked 204,” he said. “I didn’t want to watch the draft and then not get drafted.”

Gaudreau is now wrestling with what to do at the end of this season. He enjoys college life and playing with his brother, but has little left to accomplish at the collegiate level, especially if Boston College wins another national championship.

The Flames are telling Gaudreau to focus on the coming tournaments and then make the decision. Gaudreau’s mother would like to see her son finish college and graduate, and he said his mother usually prevailed in these kinds of things.