UNH Recruit Ara Nazarian Signs National Letter of Intent

Ara Nazarian Signs
NLI with UNH

18-year-old Ara Nazarian from Boxford, Massachusetts has signed a National Letter of Intent (NLI) to enroll at the University of New Hampshire and play for the Wildcats' hockey team. Some of the key provisions of the NLI are:

"By signing a National Letter of Intent, a prospective student-athlete agrees to attend the designated college or university for one academic year. Pursuant to the terms of the National Letter of Intent program, participating institutions agree to provide athletics financial aid to the student-athlete, provided he/she is admitted to the institution and is eligible for financial aid under NCAA rules.
An important provision of the National Letter of Intent program is a recruiting prohibition applied after a prospective student-athlete signs a Letter of Intent. This prohibition requires participating institutions to cease recruitment of a prospective student-athlete once a National Letter of Intent is signed with another institution.
At the time the prospective student-athlete signs the NLI, he must receive a written offer of athletics financial aid for the entire 2015-16 academic year from the institution named in the document. The offer must list the terms, conditions and amount of the athletics aid award."

Nazarian, a forward, recently completed his rookie season in the United States Hockey League. He scored 12 goals and 16 assists in 60 regular season games with the Des Moines Buccaneers. Before he joined the Bucs, he was a prolific scorer for Massachusetts powerhouse Malden Catholic High School. The Lancers won the Massachusetts Super 8 Championship in Nazarian's freshman, sophomore and junior seasons and he compiled 70 goals and 76 assists in 71 games. After his sophomore year, ESPNBoston.com selected Nazarian as the Mr. Hockey Award winner. Here are a couple highlights of Nazarian in his final season at Malden Catholic:



In two months, Nazarian will graduate from high school and turn 19. There are similarities between Nazarian and Andrew Poturalski who also played in the USHL. Andrew just finished his first season at UNH and he was the Wildcats' fourth-leading scorer with 14 goals and 14 assists. In Poturalski's first full season with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders in the USHL, he turned 19 in January and scored 12 goals and 21 assists in 53 games. By comparison, Nazarian was 18 throughout his rookie season and he tallied 12 goals and 16 assists in 60 games. Both Nazarian and Poturalski primarily played center in the USHL. Here's a video clip of Nazarian's first goal in the USHL:



Here are player statistics and background information for Ara. It includes 2 informative links. Click on his name and a link to his statistics comes up on a separate screen. Click on the date next to "Commit to UNH:" for a link to an article which announced his verbal commitment to UNH.

Ara Nazarian Des Moines Buccaneers United States Hockey League DOB: 6-19-1996 Hometown: Boxford, MA Forward, 5'8", 183 lbs. Shoots Left Commit to UNH: 4-2-2013 at Age 16 years, 10 months. "UNH is the best fit for me and how I play, as well as academically. I feel very comfortable being up there and being at the campus. There were a couple other Hockey East, ECAC, and a mid west school opportunities I was considering."

Player	Year	Team	League	GP	Goals	Asst	Pts	+/-	PIM
Ara Nazarian  (F)	2014/2015	Des Moines Buccaneers	USHL	60	12	16	28	-17	16
	2013/2014	Malden Catholic	Mass. HS	20	20	27	47
		Super 8	Mass. HS	4	1	8	9

Scouting Reports

From Elite Hockey Prospects :

"This smart, skilled forward with creative hands can have moments where he looks disinterested in the play but when he sniffs out an offensive chance he becomes hard to handle and aggressive offensively. Has a quick release on a real dangerous shot selection.”

From Kirk Luedeke, New England Hockey Journal:

"ESPN Boston’s inaugural Mr. Hockey isn’t a dynamic skater but he’s got outstanding hands and a lot of vision and creativity. He’s been on area watch lists for years."