MacAdams, Esposito & Crookshank Sign NLI With UNH

Eric MacAdams 2017 UNH Commit

Eric Esposito 2017 or '18 UNH Commit

Angus Crookshank 2018 UNH Commit

The early signing period of the National Letter of Intent (NLI) program began last Wednesday and ends today. Three players who had previously given a verbal commitment to play hockey at UNH, have signed an NLI during this early signing period. Eric MacAdams, Eric Esposito, and Angus Crookshank now have a binding agreement to enroll at the University of New Hampshire and play hockey for at least one academic year. Two other UNH Commits, forward Charlie Kelleher and goalie Mike Robinson, signed NLI's with UNH last season. Kelleher signed last April and Robinson signed in November, 2015.

Some of the key provisions of the NLI are:
~ The NLI is a binding agreement between a prospective student-athlete and an NLI member institution.
~ The prospective student-athlete agrees to attend the institution full-time for one academic year.
~ The institution agrees to provide athletics financial aid to the student-athlete for one academic year, provided he/she is admitted to the institution and is eligible for financial aid under NCAA rules.
~ A recruiting prohibition is applied after a prospective student-athlete signs the NLI. This prohibition requires member institutions to cease recruitment of the prospective student-athlete once an NLI is signed with another institution.
~ If the student-athlete does not fulfill the NLI agreement, he/she has to serve one year in residence at the next NLI member institution and lose one season of competition in all sports.

In essence, MacAdams, Esposito, Crookshank, Kelleher, and Robinson are now in the UNH fold. Assuming they meet the eligibility requirements of the NCAA Clearinghouse and the admissions standards of UNH, each will become a Wildcat hockey player either next season or the season after. All other NCAA hockey programs are prohibited from recruiting them. If any of these commits do not fulfill the binding agreement, he will not be allowed to play for another college hockey team for a year.

Eric MacAdams

Eric MacAdams (DOB: 4-29-1997), a native of Salem, Massachusetts, is in his second season with the Sioux Falls Stampede in the USHL. The 6'0", 200 lbs. right-shot, right winger has scored 6 goals and 6 assists in 14 games so far this season. He is currently tied for 9th in USHL scoring and tied for 6th in goal-scoring. Last season, MacAdams tallied 10 goals and 8 assists in 54 Stampede games. His 4 game-winning goals tied him for 4th most among all USHL players. Here's a video highlight of an overtime, game-winning goal MacAdams scored 10 days ago against the Lincoln Stars:



Prior to playing for Sioux Falls, MacAdams played three seasons for Austin Prep School in Reading, Massachusetts. In his junior year, MacAdams was named to the Boston Herald All-Scholastic Hockey "Dream Team". Eric verbally committed to UNH last November when he was 18 years old. He will be 20 years old when he enrolls next Fall.

Eric Esposito

Eric Esposito (DOB: 8-24-1998), a native of West Haven, Connecticut, is playing in his second season with the Youngstown Phantoms in the USHL. The 5'11", 182 lbs. right-shot winger has tallied one assist in 11 games this season. This assist was an important one as it set up the Phantoms' game-winning goal which ended the Chicago Steel's 10-game winning streak:



So far this season, Esposito has accumulated 44 penalty minutes and been suspended for 3 games due to fighting. As a USHL rookie last season, Esposito tallied 2 goals and 8 assists in 48 games. Before moving to Youngstown, Ohio to play for the Phantoms, Eric attended Loomis Chaffee School in Connecticut. As a freshman, he tallied 5 goals and 6 assists in 28 games and as a sophomore, he broke out with 17 goals and 14 assists in 26 games.

Eric Esposito was one month shy of his 16th birthday when he committed to UNH in July 2014. At the time, he said his target date for enrolling at UNH was either the Fall of 2017 or 2018. If he enrolls next fall, he will be a 19-year-old, "true" freshman.

Angus Crookshank

This season, 17-year-old Angus Crookshank (DOB: 10-2-1999) was all set to have a big rookie campaign with the Langley Rivermen in the British Columbia Hockey League. Last year, the North Vancouver native had a breakthrough season with the Burnaby Winter Club Hockey Academy Prep team. In 35 regular season games, Angus scored 42 goals and 19 assists and earned the CSSHL Prep Most Valuable Player Award. He was called-up to play 4 regular season games and 1 BCHL Playoff game with the Rivermen. On the first shift of his first game on January 21, 2016, Angus scored this goal:



A week before the start of the 2016-17 season, Langley Head Coach and General Manager Bobby Henderson said “(Crookshank)’s been real good early on and he’s going to be a major contributor to our offence." In the first game of the season against the Chilliwack Chiefs, the 5'10", 177 lbs., left-shot forward centered the Rivermen's third line. On his first shift, Crookshank assisted on Langley's first goal of the season. Unfortunately for Angus, late in the first period, he threw a body check, fell awkwardly and broke his collar bone. He has been out of the lineup for 22 games but is on track to return later this month.

Angus Crookshank verbally committed to UNH last April when he was 16 years old. He is on track to enroll at UNH in the Fall of 2018.