UNH Recruits Update: Oct-7-2014

Goalie Danny Tirone
Player of the Week

This is the inaugural edition of the "UNH Recruits Update" for the 2014-15 season. With the USHL, BCHL and USPHL in full-swing, most of the UNH recruits have begun their season. The New England Prep School Conference does not begin until November.

A number of UNH recruits have advanced to the next level of competition this season.
2015 Recruits:
~ Joseph Masonius - US National Team Development Program's U17 team --> U18 team.
~ Brendan van Riemsdyk - High School --> USPHL Premiere Division.
2015 or '16 Recruits:
~ Charlie Kelleher - USPHL 18U --> USPHL Premiere Division.
~ Ara Nazarian - High School --> Des Moines Buccaneers in the USHL.
~ Nick Nonis - Prep School --> Powell River Kings in the BCHL.
2016 recruits:
~ Joey Cipollone - USPHL 16U --> USPHL 18U
~ Jake Ryczek - USPHL 16U --> Sioux City Musketeers in the USHL.

Player of the Week - Danny Tirone

As the summer came to a close, UNH recruit Danny Tirone (Pronounced Ti-row-knee) was all set to begin his second season with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders in the United States Hockey League. In his rookie season in the USHL, Tirone had become the RoughRiders' #1 goalie. Tirone played in 44 of their 60 regular season games - the third most games of any USHL goalie. With a record of 26 wins and 13 loses, Tirone had the 5th best Save Percentage in the league (.917) and 8th best Goals Against Average (2.63).

Tirone was on target to enroll at UNH in the Fall of 2015 after senior Casey DeSmith had graduated. However, events over the Labor Day weekend necessitated a change in the UNH goalie plans. DeSmith was arrested by Durham Police and charged with domestic assault and resisting arrest. The University subsequently suspended DeSmith from the UNH hockey team pending further investigation.

With DeSmith's playing future at UNH in doubt, freshman goalie Adam Clark and junior netminder Jamie Regan are competing for the #1 goalie spot. Regan has only played in one NCAA game - the final 6:38 minutes of a game against UMass last November. In addition, UNH currently does not have a third goalie on the active roster - which brings us back to Danny Tirone.

Steps have been taken to accelerate Tirone's admission to UNH for the second semester of the 2014-15 season. Head Coach and General Manager of the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, Mark Carlson, allowed Tirone (his #1 goalie) to come back to the Northeast and play for the Junior Bruins in the USPHL. This puts Tirone in close proximity to his goalie coaches at Goaltending Development Services based in North Andover, MA.

Since Tirone has joined the Junior Bruins, he has made their net nearly impenetrable. He has won all 4 games he has played in and only allowed 5 goals. Tirone's Goals Against Average of 1.09 and Save Percentage of .964 are the best in the USPHL Premiere Division. Needless to say, Tirone is keeping his game sharp as he awaits enrollment at UNH.

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	0	0	0	0	0
Joseph Masonius  (D)	USA U18 Team	NCAA	2	0	1	1	0
		USHL	6	1	2	3	6
		NAHL	1	0	0	0	0
Christopher Miller  (F)	Junior Bruins	USPHL	7	3	1	4	2
Danny Tirone  (G)	Junior Bruins	USPHL	4	4W	0L	1.09	.964
Brendan van Riemsdyk   (F)	Islanders Hockey Club	USPHL	7	6	1	7	16
Marcus Vela  (F)	Langley Rivermen	BCHL	6	1	1	2	2
2015 or '16 Recruits
Liam Blackburn  (F)	West Kelowna Warriors	BCHL	7	6	9	15	4
Liam Darcy  (D)	Berwick Academy	NEPSHC	0	0	0	0	0
Patrick Grasso  (F)	Des Moines Bucs	USHL	3	0	1	1	4
Charlie Kelleher  (F)	Junior Bruins	USPHL	7	3	2	5	4
Aaron O'Neill  (F)	Green Bay Gamblers	USHL	0	0	0	0	0
Ara Nazarian  (F)	Des Moines Bucs	USHL	3	1	1	2	0
Nick Nonis  (D)	Powell River Kings	BCHL	6	0	1	1	4
2016 Recruits
Joey Cipollone  (F)	Selects Academy 18U	USPHL 18U	4	3	8	11	0
Justin Fregona  (F)	St. Andrews College	CISAA	0	0	0	0	0
Jake Ryczek  (D)	Sioux City Musketeers	USHL	3	1	0	1	0
2017 Recruits
Mike Robinson  (G)	Boston Jr Rangers	EHL	4	2	2	3.01	.912
	Lawrence Academy	NEPSHC	0	0	0	0	0
2017 or '18 Recruits
Eric Esposito  (F)	CT Jr Wolfpack	CT HC	17	3	7	10	22
	Loomis Chaffee	NEPSHC	0	0	0	0	0

News & Notes

British Columbia Hockey League:

~ Big news broke last evening with the announcement that BCHL leading scorer Liam Blackburn had committed to the University of New Hampshire. The 18-year-old (DOB: 6-8-96), 5'10", 167 lbs, center for the West Kelowna Warriors has already posted 6 goals and 9 assists in just 7 games this season. He will enroll either in the Fall of 2015 or 2016.

~ 2015 UNH Recruit Marcus Vela (pronounced Vell-a) was identified by the NHL Central Scouting Service as a "Player to Watch" in their Preliminary 2015 list. The CSS project Vela to be a potential 4th, 5th, or 6th round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft next June. Vela was also featured in a piece on Breakfast Television Vancouver.

United States Hockey League:

~ 2015 or '16 recruit Ara Nazarian scored his first USHL goal in the Des Moines Buccaneers' 4-0 victory over the Fargo Force on September 27th.



~ 2016 UNH Recruit Jake Ryczek scored his first USHL goal as the Sioux City Musketeers downed the Sioux Falls Stampede 2-0 on October 4th.



~ 2015 recruit Patrick Grasso of the Des Moines Buccaneers scored his first goal of the USHL season in a shootout against the Tri-City Storm last Saturday night.