UNH Recruits Update: March-11-2014

2015 or '16 UNH Recruit Ara Nazarian

Player of the Week - Ara Nazarian

Last season, as a sophomore at Malden Catholic, Ara Nazarian lead the Lancers to their third consecutive Super 8 Massachusetts High School Championship. Nazarian scored 9 goals and 5 assists in the playoffs and earned the Mr. Hockey Award as the best high school player in Massaschusetts.

The 2014 Super 8 Tournament is underway and Malden Catholic is the #2 Seed. In the opening round, a best-of-three series, the Lancers faced perennial contender Catholic Memorial (West Roxbury). In the first game, held at TD Bank Garden, Malden Catholic held on to win 4-3. 17-year-old Nazarian, now a junior at Malden Catholic and the team's Alternate Captain, assisted on the Lancers' 1st and 3rd goals. In the closing minute, Catholic Memorial gained a 2-man advantage as a result of a power play and pulling their goalie. Nazarian came up with the defensive play of the game as described by ESPNBoston.com:

"While it was a “quiet” two-assist game for MC captain Aza Nazarian, it was a play in his defensive zone with time winding down that won’t show on the score sheet. With the goalie pulled and C-M making their final push on a power play in the final minute, Anthony Pannagio had the puck on his stick, cocked and ready to fire into an open side, when Nazarian got his stick in the shooting lane and deflected the attempt wide of the net. For a player known so much for his offensive ability, his subtle play on the defensive end saved his team from facing overtime."

The scene for Game 2 shifted to the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell. Catholic Memorial built a 4-2 lead early in the second period but Malden Catholic responded with 4 unanswered goals. The Lancers came out on top 6-4 and Nazarian assisted on 3 of the goals including the game-winner by Tyler Sifferlin, a UMass-Lowell recruit. Jeff Cox of SB Nation had this to say about Nazarian's performance:

"The Boxford, Mass. native showed everyone in attendance, including his future college coaching staff, why he's so highly sought after and why he'll likely hear his name called in the 2014 NHL Draft. He was strong on pucks, drove hard to the net and showed his offensive creativity on more than one occasion. He's only five-foot-10, but when he turns on the jets, he plays a bigger game. As he's been so often over the past couple seasons, he was absolutely dynamic and dominant Wednesday."

With the victory, Malden Catholic advanced to the Super 8 semifinals. They will play Springfield Cathedral this Thursday, 6:00 at the Tsongas Center. The game was originally scheduled for Wednesday but has been moved because of an impending winter storm. Austin Prep faces BC High in the other semifinal game at 8:00.

After the first two games of the Super 8 Tournament, Nazarian is tied for second in scoring with 5 assists. He will turn 18 on June 1st and is eligible for the 2014 NHL Draft to be held on June 27-28 in Philadelphia. To date, he has not been identified by the NHL Central Scouting Service on any of their lists of likely draft picks. For now, he is focused on helping Malden Catholic win their 4th straight Super 8 Championship. Nazarian committed to UNH last April and is on target to enroll in either the Fall of 2015 or 2016.

NOTE
The statistics for the recruits, presented in the table, are categorized by the year the player and UNH coaches have targeted for enrollment in UNH. For example, the "2014 Recruits" have a target of the Fall of 2014 to begin playing for UNH.

Player	Team	League	GP	Goals	Asst	Pts	PIM
2014 Recruits
Dylan Chanter  (D)	Vernon Vipers	BCHL	19	0	0	0	16
	Playoffs	BCHL	5	0	1	1	4
	Dubuque Fighting Saints	USHL	14	1	1	2	21
Adam Clark  (G)	Salmon Arm SilverBacks	BCHL	30	14W	14L	2.87	.911
Shane Eiserman  (F)	Dubuque Fighting Saints	USHL	42	12	20	32	69
Warren Foegele  (F)	St. Andrews College	CISAA	14	17	6	23	15
	Playoffs	CISAA	5	5	4	9	10
	St. Andrews College	MPHL	13	12	17	29	14
	Playoffs	MPHL	3	6	5	11	2
John Furgele  (D)	Jersey Hitmen	USPHL	44	8	29	37	16
	Playoffs	USPHL	4	0	3	3	0
Cameron Marks  (D)	Coquitlam Express	BCHL	57	4	24	28	12
	Playoffs	BCHL	5	0	0	0	2
Michael McNicholas  (F)	Vernon Vipers	BCHL	56	23	46	69	20
	Playoffs	BCHL	5	0	1	1	4
Andrew Poturalski  (F)	Cedar Rapids RoughRiders	USHL	50	17	30	47	16
Jason Salvaggio  (F)	Indiana Ice	USHL	43	13	10	23	29
2015 Recruits
Rich Boyd  (D)	Cushing Academy	NEPSHC	31	10	30	40	-
	Elite 8	NEPSHC	1	0	0	0	-
Jason Kalinowski  (F)	Cedar Rapids RoughRiders	USHL	47	6	21	27	58
Charlie Kelleher  (F)	Junior Bruins 18U	USPHL 18U	22	4	11	15	2
	Playoffs	USPHL 18U	2	1	2	3	0
	Junior Bruins Premiere	USPHL Premiere	2	2	2	4	0
Joseph Masonius  (D)	USA U17 Team	USHL	19	0	1	1	26
Chris Miller  (F)	Junior Bruins	USPHL	31	5	10	15	10
	Playoffs	USPHL	4	0	0	0	2
Danny Tirone  (G)	Cedar Rapids RoughRiders	USHL	34	20W	10L	2.65	.914
Marcus Vela  (F)	Langley Rivermen	BCHL	54	11	11	22	41
	Playoffs	BCHL	5	1	3	4	4
2015 or '16 Recruits
Liam Darcy  (D)	Berwick Academy	NEPSHC	19	6	17	23	-
Patrick Grasso  (F)	Des Moines Bucs	USHL	49	8	9	17	9
Aaron O'Neill  (F)	Green Bay Gamblers	USHL	29	0	1	1	4
Ara Nazarian  (F)	Malden Catholic	Mass HS	20	20	27	47	-
	Super 8	Mass HS	2	0	5	5	-
Nick Nonis  (D)	Governor's Academy	NEPSHC	26	6	1	7	-
Brendan van Riemsdyk   (F)	Jersey Hitmen 18U	USPHL 18U	8	5	8	13	2
	Playoffs	USPHL 18U	3	0	1	1	12
	Christian Brothers	Jersey Prep	12	17	13	30	-
	Playoffs	Jersey Prep	3	2	5	7	-
2016 Recruits
Justin Fregona  (F)	St. Andrews College	CISAA	15	7	6	13	24
	Playoffs	CISAA	5	4	1	5	8
	St. Andrews College	MPHL	13	9	12	21	16
	Playoffs	MPHL	3	3	4	7	6

News & Notes

British Columbia Hockey League:

Four UNH Recruits are playing in the 1st Round of the BCHL Playoffs:
~ Dylan Chanter and Michael McNicholas with Vernon Vipers.
~ Cameron Marks with Coquitlam Express.
~ Marcus Vela with Langley Rivermen.

Here's where the best-of-seven series stand:
Vernon Vipers, 3 Wins vs West Kelowna Warriors, 2 Wins.
Coquitlam Express, 3 Wins vs Prince George Spruce Kings, 2 Wins.
Langley Rivermen, 3 Wins vs Surrey Eagles, 2 Wins.

United States Premiere Hockey League:

~ John Furgele and the Jersey Hitmen will face Chris Miller and the Junior Bruins in the Premiere Division Championship. The best-of-three series is scheduled for March 12-14 at the New England Sports Center in Marlborough, MA.

United States Hockey League:

~ Andrew Poturalski, Jason Kalinowski, Danny Tirone, and the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders are battling for a playoff berth in the Eastern Conference of the USHL. They are currently in third place, one point behind the Dubuque Fighting Saints. The top four teams in each Conference, at the end of the regular season, advance to the USHL Playoffs. Poturalski is in the midst of a 6-game scoring streak. He has scored 4 goals, including a game-winning goal, and 3 assists during the stretch. Poturalski is 9th in scoring in the USHL and tied for 7th in assists.

New Jersey Non-Public High School Championship:

~ 2015 or '16 UNH Recruit Brendan van Riemsdyk and Christian Brothers Academy faced Morristown-Beard in the NJ State Championship game last Sunday. Following three periods plus an overtime period, the game ended in a 4-4 tie and both teams were named the Co-Champions. After falling behind 4-1 in the first period, Christian Brothers stormed back with 3 unanswered goals. BvR assisted on CBA's second goal. Overall, van Riemsdyk scored 2 goals and 5 assists in CBA's three playoff games and was named to the New Jersey Devils All-Tournament Team.