UNH Recruits Update: Oct-28-2014

BCHL Leading Scorer
Liam Blackburn

Player of the Week - Liam Blackburn

Since West Kelowna Warriors' forward Liam Blackburn committed to UNH on October 7th, he has played in 7 BCHL games, scored 2 goals and added 10 assists. He now sits atop the BCHL scoring race with 28 points in 14 games. His 20 assists are also the best in the league.

Last weekend, West Kelowna played away games on three consecutive nights, won 2 and tied the other (losing in overtime to Cowichan Valley). On Friday in Nanaimo, Liam Blackburn scored the game-tying goal, the game-winning assist, added another assist, and was awarded the #1 Star of the Game. Blackburn posted 2 more assists the following night in Cowichan Valley and added 2 more, including the game-tying assist, on Sunday in Victoria.

When I interviewed Liam earlier this month, he indicated the target date for enrollment at UNH was either the Fall of 2015 or 2016. In an interview with the local press in Kelowna, he said:
"An extra year of junior would be really nice to develop physically but I think I’m ready mentally to make that jump (in Fall 2015)."
Blackburn will turn 19 in June. If he continues his torrid scoring throughout this season, he may come to UNH sooner rather than later.



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 "2015 Recruits" have a target of the Fall of 2015 to begin playing for UNH.

Player	Team	League	GP	Goals	Asst	Pts	PIM
2015 Recruits
Jason Kalinowski  (F)	Cedar Rapids RoughRiders	USHL	4	0	0	0	2
Joseph Masonius  (D)	USA U18 Team	NCAA	6	1	1	2	4
		USHL	7	1	2	3	6
		NAHL	1	0	0	0	0
Christopher Miller  (F)	Junior Bruins	USPHL	12	3	4	7	6
Danny Tirone  (G)	Junior Bruins	USPHL	10	7W	3L	2.33	.929
Brendan van Riemsdyk   (F)	Islanders Hockey Club	USPHL	15	14	4	18	30
Marcus Vela  (F)	Langley Rivermen	BCHL	13	1	6	7	14
2015 or '16 Recruits
Liam Blackburn  (F)	West Kelowna Warriors	BCHL	14	8	20	28	10
Liam Darcy  (D)	Berwick Academy	NEPSHC	0	0	0	0	0
Patrick Grasso  (F)	Des Moines Bucs	USHL	9	2	4	6	6
Charlie Kelleher  (F)	Junior Bruins	USPHL	15	8	10	18	8
Aaron O'Neill  (F)	Green Bay Gamblers	USHL	0	0	0	0	0
Ara Nazarian  (F)	Des Moines Bucs	USHL	9	2	1	3	0
Nick Nonis  (D)	Powell River Kings	BCHL	15	0	1	1	12
2016 Recruits
Joey Cipollone  (F)	Selects Academy 18U	USPHL 18U	7	4	10	14	0
	CT Wolfpack U16 Full	AYHL	25	15	19	34	24
Justin Fregona  (F)	St. Andrews College	CISAA	0	0	0	0	0
Jake Ryczek  (D)	Sioux City Musketeers	USHL	10	1	0	1	2
2017 Recruits
Mike Robinson  (G)	Boston Jr Rangers	EHL	6	3W	3L	2.75	.924
	Lawrence Academy	NEPSHC	0	0	0	0	0
2017 or '18 Recruits
Eric Esposito  (F)	CT Wolfpack U16 Split	CT HC	27	14	13	27	34
	Loomis Chaffee	NEPSHC	0	0	0	0	0
Jason O'Neill  (F)	Skipjacks Hockey Club 18U	USPHL 18U	10	5	6	11	9

News & Notes

United States Premiere Hockey League:

~ 2015 recruit Brendan van Riemsdyk got a taste of playing on the big sheet of ice at the Whittemore Center in the Beantown Fall Classic last Friday. BvR scored the overtime, game-winning goal as the the Islanders Hockey Club downed the Springfield Pics 4-3. Van Riemsdyk is now tied for 3rd in goal-scoring (14) in the Premiere Division of the USPHL. He has played in 3 fewer games than the other leading scorers.

~ Charlie Kelleher (younger brother of UNH sophomore Tyler Kelleher) nearly doubled his point total last week. He scored 2 goals and 5 assists in 3 games with the Junior Bruins Premiere team. Kelleher is now tied for 9th, along with Brendan van Riemsdyk, in USPHL scoring (18 points)

Under 16:

~ 2017 or '18 recruit Eric Esposito plays fall hockey with the Connecticut Wolfpack U16 Split Season team. Last Saturday, Esposito scored the hat trick and added 2 assists as the Wolfpack downed the MidFairfield Yankees 7-1. On Sunday, Esposito added 2 more goals and an assist to his totals in the Wolfpacks' 7-0 win over West Haven T1. Beginning next month, Eric will play for the Loomis Chaffee School in the New England Prep School Hockey Conference.