UNH Recruits Update: Feb-19-2015

Liam Blackburn West Kelowna Warriors

Justin Fregona St. Andrew's College

Joey Cipollone Selects Academy U18

Player Spotlight - Liam Blackburn

In his second full season in the British Columbia Hockey league, 18-year-old Liam Blackburn has set the West Kelowna Warriors' single-season record for most assists. Blackburn's record-breaking assist, his 48th of the season, came with a minute left in regulation in a game against the Trail Smoke Eaters last Friday night. Blackburn's wrist shot was kicked out by the Trails' goalie but the rebound was banged home by Jason Cotton, a Northeastern University recruit. Here's a video of the goal - Blackburn is #26 in the black jersey:



Liam Blackburn's 48th assist of the season was his 113th point as a West Kelowna Warrior. He is now #9 on the Warriors' all-time scoring list. Current UNH senior Grayson Downing is 5th on the list with 129 points. Downing played three seasons with the Warriors before coming to UNH. In his final season with West Kelowna, Downing scored 34 goals and 36 assists in 52 regular season games. So far this season, Blackburn has 22 goals and 48 assists in 54 games. The Warriors have 4 games remaining in the regular season.

In November, Liam Blackburn signed a National Letter of Intent to attend UNH and play for the Wildcats. He will enroll either next fall or in the fall of 2016.

Player Spotlight - Justin Fregona

Justin Fregona is a 17-year-old senior at St. Andrew's College - Warren Foegele's alma mater. For the third season in a row, St. Andrew's College finished in first place during the regular season of the Conference of Independent Schools Athletic Association. Fregona's 8 goals and 12 assists in 16 conference games made him the second-leading scorer in the CISAA. Last season, Foegele lead the league with 17 goals and 6 assists in 14 games.

St. Andrew's also played many nonconference games against some of the top prep schools in the United States. Justin Fregona scored 21 goals and 23 assists in 31 nonconference games. When all CISAA and nonconference games are considered, Fregona was St. Andrew's leading scorer with 29 goals and 35 assists in 47 games. Fregona is on track to enroll at UNH in the Fall of 2016.

Player Spotlight - Joey Cipollone

The Selects Hockey Academy at the South Kent School Under-18 team is having a remarkable season. At present, they are the 6th-ranked Midget 18U team in the nation with an overall record of 48-8-6. 2016 UNH recruit Joey Cipollone is the captain of the Selects Academy 18U squad.

The Selects Academy's primary affiliation is with the United States Premiere Hockey League 18U Division. They just completed the regular season in first place in the USPHL 18U with a record of 26-2-0. Cipollone, the team's first line center, scored 18 goals and 33 assists in 24 games and was the second-leading scorer in the league. Five of his goals were game-winners. The Selects Academy 18U team begin the USPHL Playoffs on Saturday against the NH Junior Monarchs.

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)	Bloomington Thunder	USHL	30	0	7	7	40
	Cedar Rapids RoughRiders	USHL	5	0	0	0	4
Joseph Masonius  (D)	USA U18 Team	NCAA	18	5	5	10	14
		USHL	11	0	4	4	33
		NAHL	1	0	0	0	0
		Int'l.	8	0	4	4	18
Christopher Miller  (F)	Junior Bruins	USPHL	32	8	11	19	10
2015 or '16 Recruits
Liam Blackburn  (F)	West Kelowna Warriors	BCHL	54	22	48	70	32
Liam Darcy  (D)	Berwick Academy	NEPSHC	22	2	4	6	-
	Islanders Hockey Club 18U	USPHL 18U	4	0	0	0	0
Frankie Cefalu  (F)	Walpole Express	EHL	42	17	41	58	46
Patrick Grasso  (F)	Des Moines Bucs	USHL	43	7	20	27	10
Ara Nazarian  (F)	Des Moines Bucs	USHL	43	7	9	16	14
Nick Nonis  (D)	Powell River Kings	BCHL	52	1	6	7	41
Brendan van Riemsdyk   (F)	Islanders Hockey Club	USPHL	45	29	12	41	55
Marcus Vela  (F)	Langley Rivermen	BCHL	46	14	24	38	55
2016 Recruits
Joey Cipollone  (F)	Selects Academy 18U	USPHL 18U	24	18	33	51	30
		Non-League	30	7	20	27	-
Justin Fregona  (F)	St. Andrews College	CISAA	15	8	12	20	6
		Non-Conf	31	21	23	44	36
Charlie Kelleher  (F)	Junior Bruins	USPHL	36	11	20	31	26
Aaron O'Neill  (F)	Green Bay Gamblers	USHL	25	1	1	2	8
Jake Ryczek  (D)	Sioux City Musketeers	USHL	43	3	8	11	22
2017 Recruits
Mike Robinson  (G)	Lawrence Academy	NEPSHC	22	7W	13L/2T	3.00	.913
	Boston Jr Rangers	EHL	8	4W	4L	2.35	.937
2017 or '18 Recruits
Eric Esposito  (F)	Loomis Chaffee	NEPSHC	23	15	14	29	-
	CT Wolfpack U16 Split	CT HC	34	17	15	32	44
Jason O'Neill  (F)	Skipjacks Hockey Club 18U	USPHL 18U	29	16	24	40	39
		Non-League	9	4	2	6	-
2018 Recruits
Joel Farabee  (F)	Selects Academy 16U	USPHL 16U	28	8	25	33	16
		Non-League	31	6	10	16	-

News & Notes

Team USA:

~ During the first week in February, Joseph Masonius and the US National Team Development Program U-18 team competed in the 2015 Five Nations Tournament in the Czech Republic. Team USA defeated Finland, Sweden and the Czech Republic but lost to Russia 4-5. Masonius had an assist in three out of the four games. Team USA won the silver medal. Masonius is on track to enroll at UNH next fall.

British Columbia Hockey League:

~ 2015 or '16 recruit Marcus Vela has scored 5 goals in his last 6 games and is tied for 3rd in scoring on the Langley Rivermen.

United States Premiere Hockey League:

~ Brendan van Riemsdyk has scored 29 goals in 45 games and is tied for 3rd in goal-scoring in the USPHL Premiere Division.

~ Jason O'Neill (16G, 24A) of the Skipjacks Hockey Club finished the regular season of the USPHL U18 Division tied for 5th in scoring.

~ Joel Farabee (8G, 25A) was the 5th leading scorer on the Selects Hockey Academy U16 team during the regular season. They are currently the 14th-ranked Midget 16U team in the nation with an overall record of 47-13-4.

New England Prep School Hockey:

~ With just 3 games remaining in the regular season, Eric Esposito and the Loomis Chaffee School are ranked #2 in the US Hockey Report Prep School Poll. The sophomore has posted 15 goals and 14 assists in 23 games and is the 2nd-leading goal scorer on the Loomis Chaffee squad.