UNH Recruits Update: March-25-2014

2014 UNH Wildcat
Michael McNicholas

Player of the Week - Michael McNicholas

In the just completed 2013-14 UNH season, the four senior forwards - Kevin Goumas, Nick Sorkin, Jeff Silengo, and Dalton Speelman - scored a total of 54 goals and 71 assists. That's a hefty amount of offensive output that will need to be replaced. Fortunately, the 2014 recruiting class includes several high-scoring forwards who could help fill the gap as freshmen next season. 20-year-old Michael McNicholas is one of them.

#11 Michael McNicholas

In his final season with the Vernon Vipers of the BCHL, McNicholas has proven to be a high quantity and high quality scorer. McNicholas was the 5th highest scorer (69 points) in the BCHL regular season and was tied for third in assists (46 assists). Three of his 23 goals were game-winners. In the Vipers' quest to win the Fred Page Cup in the BCHL Playoffs, McNicholas is stepping up again.

Vernon eliminated the West Kelowna Warriors in the opening round of the Playoffs and faced the Penticton Vees in the second round. After the Vipers fell behind the Vees two games to one in the best-of-seven series, McNicholas lead the team to a series win. In Game 4 last Tuesday night, fellow UNH Recruit Dylan Chanter set up McNicholas for the game-winning goal.

The Vipers won a tightly-contested Game 5 last Thursday. McNicholas tied the game 1-1 on a first period goal. After Vernon fell behind 2-1, McNicholas assisted on the game-tying and game-winning goals. The Vees tied the series 3-3 on Friday night setting up an exciting Game 7.

Penticton lead Vernon 3-1 entering the final period of Game 7. McNicholas helped the Vipers draw to within a goal by setting up Colton Sparrow with a precise cross-slot pass:



At the end of regulation, Vernon and Penticton were tied 3-3. Just over two minutes into overtime, Michael McNicholas one-timed an errant clearing effort past the Vees goalie. Scoring a game-winning goal in overtime of a Game 7 is a rare achievement:



For his accomplishments in the playoff series, McNicholas was named the BCHL Player of the Week. It was the second time this season he has earned the honor. With their victory, the Vipers have advanced to the BCHL Semifinals - a Round Robin series with the Coquitlam Express and Victoria Grizzlies.

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	13	2	2	4	10
	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	48	14	23	37	71
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	6	0	5	5	0
Cameron Marks  (D)	Coquitlam Express	BCHL	57	4	24	28	12
	Playoffs	BCHL	12	0	5	5	2
Michael McNicholas  (F)	Vernon Vipers	BCHL	56	23	46	69	20
	Playoffs	BCHL	13	4	9	13	6
Andrew Poturalski  (F)	Cedar Rapids RoughRiders	USHL	56	24	34	58	20
Jason Salvaggio  (F)	Indiana Ice	USHL	47	14	10	24	33
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	53	7	22	29	62
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	6	1	0	1	2
Danny Tirone  (G)	Cedar Rapids RoughRiders	USHL	40	24W	12L	2.64	.916
Marcus Vela  (F)	Langley Rivermen	BCHL	54	11	11	22	41
	Playoffs	BCHL	12	1	4	5	6
2015 or '16 Recruits
Liam Darcy  (D)	Berwick Academy	NEPSHC	19	6	17	23	-
Patrick Grasso  (F)	Des Moines Bucs	USHL	54	8	13	21	9
Aaron O'Neill  (F)	Green Bay Gamblers	USHL	31	1	1	2	4
Ara Nazarian  (F)	Malden Catholic	Mass HS	20	20	27	47	-
	Super 8	Mass HS	4	1	8	9	-
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:

~ As I mentioned above, 2014 recruit Dylan Chanter assisted on Michael McNicholas' game-winning goal in Game 4 of the Vernon-Penticton playoff series. Tyler Lowey of the Vernon Morning Star described it as "a gorgeous Sedin-like slap-pass". Lowey also described one of defenseman Chanter's body-checks from earlier in the period:

"Dylan Chanter delivered the biggest hit of the night. Serratore got caught with his head down in the neutral zone. Chanter stepped up and obliterated him. That crushing blow energized a mellow Viper crowd."

The 6'3", 213 lbs. Chanter has scored 2 goals and 2 assists in the BCHL playoffs so far.

~ 2014 recruit Cameron Marks and the Coquitlam Express eliminated Marcus Vela and the Langley Rivermen from the BCHL Playoffs last Friday night. In the 5-3 victory in Game 6, Marks assisted on two goals including the game-winner. The 6'0", 175 lbs. defenseman has tallied 5 playoff assists.

~ 17-year-old Marcus Vela, a 2015 recruit, finished his first ever BCHL playoffs with a goal and 4 assists in 12 games.

United States Hockey League:

~ Andrew Poturalski is another one of the high-scoring forwards coming to UNH next fall. Last week, he continued his torrid scoring pace and helped the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders clinch a berth in the USHL Playoffs. Over the last 5 games, Poturalski has scored 7 goals and 3 assists.

Last Wednesday, Poturalski scored two goals, including the game-winner, and added an assist in the 7-3 win over the Chicago Steel. On Saturday night, the RoughRiders clinched a playoff berth by downing the Dubuque Fighting Saints 3-1. Poturalski scored Cedar Rapids' 3rd goal and assisted on the game-winning goal. With 4 games remaining in the regular season, Poturalski is tied for 5th in USHL scoring (58 points) and tied for 6th in goals (24).

~ Cedar Rapids goalie Danny Tirone has been a key to the RoughRiders' success. He has won 24 games overall and 4 out of his last 5 games down the stretch run. Tirone is on target to come to UNH in the Fall of 2015.

~ Another productive forward coming to UNH next season is Shane Eiserman. On Sunday night, Eiserman assisted on the Dubuque Fighting Saints' game-winning goal against the Fargo Force. The 2-1 victory clinched a playoff berth for the Saints.

~ 2015 or '16 recruit Aaron O'Neill scored his first USHL goal Saturday night as the Green Bay Gamblers topped the Tri-City Storm 5-2. O'Neill appeared to score a second goal at the end of the first period but the clock had just barely run out. Green Bay is battling the Muskegon Lumberjacks for the 4th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference of the USHL. With 5 games remaining, the two teams are tied.