UNH Recruits Update: Week 25

Player of the Week - Tyler Kelleher

For the third time this season, 17-year-old forward Tyler Kelleher has been named "Player of the Week" among all UNH Recruits. The first time Kelleher earned the honor back in November, he had helped lead the US National Under-17 Team to the Championship of the 2011 Under-17 Four Nations Tournament. In the three victories over Russia, Switzerland, and Slovakia, Kelleher scored 2 goals and an assist.

In mid-January, Tyler Kelleher was named "Player of the Week" for the second time. He lead the U.S. Under-17 NTDP team to back-to-back, away game wins over the Youngstown Phantoms. Kelleher scored a goal each game including the game-winning-goal the second night. At the time, Kelleher was the second leading scorer for Team USA in USHL competition.

Last Saturday night, Tyler Kelleher scored his first hat trick in this, his first season in the USHL. He scored Team USA's first goal in the game against the Chicago Steel. In the second period, Kelleher scored a short-handed goal to tie the game at 3-3. He also scored the team's 4th and final goal but it wasn't enough as Chicago won 6-4.

With 23 points in 31 USHL games, Kelleher maintained his status as the second leading scorer on the U.S. National Under-17 Team. His 14 goals places him in a tie for second in goal-scoring, just one goal behind Anthony Louis (a Miami University commit).

Both the Under-17 and Under-18 NTDP Teams compete in the United States Hockey League. At the end of the USHL regular season, the combined records of the two teams determines Team USA's place in the final standings. If the combined record is good enough to qualify for the USHL Playoffs, the Under-17 team competes in post-season play. As of today, the combined record of Team USA is 25 wins, 25 losses, and 5 overtime loses. Although Team USA has not yet clinched a playoff spot, they are 12 points ahead of the Chicago Steel in the battle for the 6th and final seed in the Eastern Conference.

Last season, Tyler Kelleher was a freshman at Deerfield Academy and scheduled to graduate in the Spring of 2014. Unless he accelerates his schooling, he's on track to enter UNH in the Fall of 2014. If he graduates from high school a year early, he will have played two seasons with the U.S. National Team Development Program. At that point, he would be ready - both academically and in terms of his hockey development - to enroll at UNH in the Fall of 2013.

NOTE
The statistics for the recruits, presented in the table, are categorized by the projected year they will enroll in UNH. For example, the "2012 Recruits" are projected to begin playing for UNH in the Fall of 2012. I have based these projections on a number of factors including:
~ How old the player would be upon admission.
~ Number of years in junior hockey prior to admission.
~ Anticipated date of high school graduation.
~ Number of seniors leaving the team at the end of the previous season.
~ The player's performance in the current season.

Player	Team	League	GP	Goals	Asst	Pts	PIM
2012 Recruits
Dan Correale	Nanaimo Clippers	BCHL	25	9	13	22	14
Maxim Gaudreault	Sioux City	USHL	53	13	11	24	51
Jamie Hill	Waterloo	USHL	47	7	19	26	57
Collin MacDonald	Jersey Hitmen	EJHL	45	27	18	45	14
	Playoffs	EJHL	6	2	1	3	0
Brett Pesce	Jersey Hitmen	EJHL	17	1	5	6	18
Harry Quast	Bay State	EJHL	45	8	24	32	58
	Playoffs	EJHL	2	0	0	0	0
Jamie Regan	Philly Revs	EJHL	25	9W	16L	3.97	.903
Kyle Smith	Junior Bruins	EJHL	43	24	38	62	32
	Playoffs	EJHL	2	1	1	2	0
2013 Recruits
Jordan Masters	Muskegon	USHL	31	5	10	15	39
Matias Cleland	Waterloo	USHL	34	1	7	8	36
Dylan Maller	Tri-City	USHL	39	3	6	9	10
Andrew Poturalski	Buffalo Jr Sabres	OJHL	33	16	22	38	32
	Playoffs	OJHL	8	5	2	7	4
2013 or '14 Recruit
Michael McNicholas	Muskegon	USHL	41	5	4	9	14
2014 Recruits
Dylan Chanter	Merritt Cents	BCHL	53	2	11	13	47
	Playoffs	BCHL	4	1	0	1	0
Shane Eiserman	Cushing Academy	NEPSAC	29	18	26	44	-
	Playoffs	NEPSAC	1	0	0	0	-
Tyler Kelleher	USA U17 Team	USHL	31	14	9	23	16
2015 Recruits
Jason Kalinowski	Salisbury Prep	NEPSAC	25	12	15	27	-
	Playoffs	NEPSAC	2	2	1	3	-

News & Notes

British Columbia Hockey League:

~ 2014 Recruit Dylan Chanter and the Merritt Centennials swept their Semi-Final series agains the Chilliwack Chiefs. Chanter, a 6'3", 195 lbs. defenseman, scored a goal in the third game of the series.

Merritt will now face the Pentiction Vees in the finals of the BCHL Interior Conference beginning on Tuesday, March 27th. Penticton had a record-breaking regular season setting the record for most BCHL wins in a season (54) and the most consecutive wins (42) in Canadian Junior Hockey history. The Vees only lost 6 regular season games. One was to the Merritt Cents back in mid-November. Overall, the Vees won 7 out of 8 games against the Cents during the regular season. Two of Penticton's wins came in overtime while their one loss to Merritt was also in overtime.

United States Hockey League:

~ 2013 Recruit Dylan Maller is out for the remainder of the USHL regular season with an injury. According to the Storm's website, Maller might be available to play in the second round of the USHL Playoffs if Tri-City advances that far.

There are 7 games remaining in the regular season of the USHL. The top 6 teams in both the Western and Eastern Conferences qualify for the USHL Playoffs. If the season ended today, 5 UNH Recruits currently playing for USHL teams would participate in the playoffs:
Jamie Hill & Matias Cleland (3rd Place, Waterloo Black Hawks)
Maxim Gaudreault (5th Place, Sioux City Musketeers)
Dylan Maller (6th Place, Tri-City Storm)
Tyler Kelleher (6th Place, Team USA)
The USHL Playoffs begin the third week in April.