UNH Recruits Update: March-11-2016

Forward Aaron O'Neill
Strong Finish to BCHL Season

Player Spotlight - Aaron O'Neill

By age 15, UNH commit Aaron O'Neill had developed into one of the top hockey prospects to come from the State of Tennessee. He was drafted in the 10th Round of the 2013 Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection but chose to play for the Green Bay Gamblers in the United States Hockey League. Since then, O'Neill's hockey road has been winding and sometimes bumpy.

During the 2013-14 season, at age 16, O'Neill was one of the youngest players in the USHL and he registered a goal and an assist for Green Bay in 32 games. That's when the first bump came along. O'Neill played throughout the second half of the season with a sore shoulder and underwent surgery in May 2014. He did not return to the Green Bay lineup until November, 2014. For the rest of the 2014-15 season, he did not recapture the scoring touch evident during his Tier 1 midget hockey days. In 41 games, O'Neill tallied a goal and an assist.

During the 2015 off season, O'Neill was traded to the Tri-City Storm - the USHL team based in Kearney, Nebraska. However, when the season began, O'Neill was placed on the injured reserve list with a lower body injury. He was out of the Storm's lineup throughout September and October. In the final game of October, he returned to action as the center on Tri-City's second line. O'Neill played just 8 games with Tri-City and was transferred to the Chilliwack Chiefs of the British Columbia Hockey League on December 10, 2015.

Aaron O'Neill scored a goal in his first BCHL game and as the regular season wound down, he appeared to be settling into a comfort zone. Over the final two games, O'Neill scored 3 goals for Chilliwack. On February 27th, he potted 2 goals in the Chiefs' 8-4 win over the Coquitlam Express and earned the #2 Star of the Game. Chilliwack finished the regular season with the second most points in the BCHL and in first place in the Mainland Division.

All indications point to Aaron O'Neill being back on track. In the opening round playoff series against the Coquitlam Express, O'Neill was the starting center for the Chilliwack Chiefs. He plays with Kohen Olischefski, a Denver commit, on his right wing and Jesse Lansdell, a Notre Dame commit, on his left wing. He also plays on Chilliwack's second power play and penalty kill units.

After winning Game 1, Chilliwack jumped on top in Game 2 thanks to a nifty goal by Aaron O'Neill early in the 1st period. Just 5 minutes later, O'Neill put the Chiefs ahead 3-0 on his second goal of the game. This video highlight of O'Neill's goals shows his ability to get to the front of the net and quick puck control:



O'Neill also picked up an assist in Game 2 of the playoffs and earned the #3 Star. Chilliwack swept Coquitlam in four games and advanced to the BCHL Mainland Division championship round. When Aaron O'Neill committed to UNH in September, 2013, he hoped to enroll as early as the Fall of 2015. However, given the setbacks he's endured, he is now expected to enroll in Fall 2017.

NOTE
The statistics for the recruits, presented in the following table, are categorized by the projected year they will enroll in UNH. For example, the "2016 Recruits" are projected to begin playing for UNH in the Fall of 2016. I have based these projections on a number of factors including:
~ If a National Letter of Intent has been signed.
~ The year the recruit and UNH coaches originally targeted for enrollment in UNH.
~ How old the recruit would be upon admission.
~ Number of years in junior hockey prior to admission.
~ The recruit's performance in recent seasons as well as injuries.
~ Anticipated date of high school graduation.
~ Number of UNH players leaving the team at the end of the previous season and the position they played.

Player	Team	League	GP	Goals	Asst	Pts	PIM
2016 Recruits
Liam Blackburn*  (F)	West Kelowna Warriors	BCHL	58	27	47	74	51
		Playoffs	4	1	2	3	2
Justin Fregona*  (F)	Langley Rivermen	BCHL	51	24	25	49	45
		Playoffs	1	0	0	0	0
Patrick Grasso*  (F)	Des Moines Bucs	USHL	49	15	16	31	12
Nick Nonis  (D)	Powell River Kings	BCHL	54	2	8	10	58
		Playoffs	5	0	1	1	2
Brendan van Riemsdyk*   (F)	Islanders Hockey Club	USPHL	43	20	27	47	50
		Playoffs	6	1	5	6	4
Joe Sacco  (F)	Vernon Vipers	BCHL	56	10	9	19	16
		Playoffs	4	0	0	0	0
Anthony Wyse  (D)	Lincoln Stars	USHL	48	2	14	16	18
2016 or '17 Recruits
Charlie Kelleher  (F)	Junior Bruins	USPHL	38	17	36	53	40
		Playoffs	4	1	4	5	0
Mike Robinson*  (G)	Junior Bruins	USPHL	12	7W	5L	2.97	.910
		Playoffs	1	-	-	0	1.00
2017 Recruits
Joe Cipollone  (F)	Tri-City Storm	USHL	40	6	3	9	14
	Vernon Vipers	BCHL	12	4	3	7	2
Liam Darcy  (D)	Islanders Hockey Club	USPHL	34	2	11	13	2
		Playoffs	6	0	3	3	0
Eric MacAdams  (F)	Sioux Falls Stampede	USHL	40	6	8	14	70
Aaron O'Neill  (F)	Chilliwack Chiefs	BCHL	20	7	0	7	8
		Playoffs	4	2	1	3	0
	Tri-City Storm	USHL	8	0	1	1	2
2017 or '18 Recruits
Eric Esposito  (F)	Youngstown Phantoms	USHL	39	1	6	7	32
Jason O'Neill  (F)	Langley Rivermen	BCHL	47	7	14	21	2
		Playoffs	4	1	1	2	4
2018 Recruits
Corson Green  (D)	Northern Cyclones	EHL	16	3	6	9	20
		Playoffs	6	0	4	4	14
	Northern Cyclones 16U	EJEPL	17	12	5	17	55
* = Signed National Letter of Intent

News & Notes

United States Premiere Hockey League Playoffs:

~ UNH Commits Brendan van Riemsdyk, Liam Darcy and the Islanders Hockey Club defeated the Rochester Junior Americans and South Shore Kings in the first two rounds of the 2016 USPHL Playoffs. The IHC lost the championship series to the Jersey Hitmen in a two-game sweep. BvR posted a goal and 5 assists in the 6 playoff games, good enough for a tie for 3rd in assists among all USPHL playoff players and a tie for 4th in scoring. Liam Darcy dished out 3 assists in the 6 games.

~ UNH Commits Charlie Kelleher, Mike Robinson, and the Junior Bruins defeated the Philadelphia Flyers in the opening round of the USPHL Playoffs but lost to the Jersey Hitmen in the second round. Kelleher scored a goal and 4 assists, including 2 power play assists, in 4 games. This placed him in a tie for 4th in assists, T-2 in power play assists, and T-5 in scoring. Robinson only played in goal for 8 minutes in the first game against the Hitmen.

Eastern Hockey League Playoffs:

~ UNH commit Corson Green and the Northern Cyclones defeated the Valley Junior Warriors in the best-of-three, opening round of the EHL Playoffs. The Cyclones were defeated 2 games to 1 by the New Hampshire Junior Monarchs in the second round. Defenseman Corson Green posted 4 assists in 6 playoff games.

British Columbia Hockey League Playoffs:

~ All 6 UNH Commits who play in the BCHL - Liam Blackburn, Justin Fregona, Nick Nonis, Joe Sacco, Aaron O'Neill, and Jason O'Neill - are participating in the opening round of the 2016 BCHL Playoffs. A full report on their progress will be included in the next "UNH Recruits Update".