UNH Commits Update 1-13-18: Spotlight on Tim Stützle, Jackson Pierson

Tim Stützle 2020 UNH Commit

Jackson Pierson 2018 UNH Commit

Player Spotlight - Tim Stützle

Rising German star Tim Stützle, who turns 16 on January 15th, continues to rack up points against older players in the U19 German Development League (DNL). The 2020 UNH Commit plays for the first-place Mannheim Junior Eagles U19 (Jungadler Mannheim). In Stützle's first 16 games of the 2017-18 DNL season, the 5'9", 159 lbs. left-shot, left-winger has scored 13 goals and 18 assists. He is the third leading scorer in the DNL, has the third most assists, and is tied for third in goals.

In the first of these video clips from two Mannheim victories last weekend, Stützle, who wears #8, starts the scoring play with a nifty backhand pass from below the goal line. He then dishes a soft, backhand pass for his 16th assist of the DNL season. In the second clip, he hops over the boards, cruises below the faceoff circle, and lifts a one-timer into the top corner for his 13th goal of the season.



In the last week of December, Tim Stützle made his debut with Team Germany U18 at the 5-Nations Tournament in Zuchwil, Switzerland. In the opening game against Switzerland, Stützle scored 2 goals, including the game-winner. He also played in Game 2, the 4-3 win over the Czech Republic but missed the final two games with the flu. Team Germany also defeated Slovakia but lost the final game to Finland 3-4.

At the end of January, Stützle and the Mannheim Young Eagles will travel to St. Andrews College in Ontario for the annual MacPherson Tournament. They will compete against prep school teams from Canada and the United States. Live streaming of the games will be available on the St. Andrews College website.

Player Spotlight - Jackson Pierson

2019 or '20 Commit Jackson Pierson (DOB: 9/10/1999) and the Culver Academy Eagles just completed a stretch of 10 away games which included two tournaments and a showcase. In competition against top New England Prep School teams, they finished runnerup in the Groton/Lawrence Tourney and won the 2017 Edward G. Watkins Invitational Tournament at Cushing Academy. Last weekend, they won all three games in the Alliance Showcase at St. Andrews College in Ontario. Culver Academy improved its record to 23-1-0. They moved back to #1 in the national rankings for USA Midget 18U Tier 1 hockey.

Pierson, who is the starting center for Culver, scored a total of 7 goals and 15 assists in these 10 games. In addition, he was named the Most Valuable Player in the Watkins/Cushing Tournament. Overall, Pierson has tallied 24 goals and 31 assists in 24 games this season. Here are video highlights of two assists he distributed at the St. Andrews Showcase:

2017-18 Statistics

NOTE
The statistics for the commits, presented in the following table, are categorized by the projected year they will enroll in UNH. For example, the "2018 Commits" are projected to begin playing for UNH in the Fall of 2018. I have based these projections on a number of factors including:
~ If a National Letter of Intent has been signed.
~ The year the commit and UNH coaches originally targeted for enrollment in UNH.
~ How old the commit would be upon admission.
~ Number of years in junior hockey prior to admission.
~ The commit'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
2018 Commits
Joey Cipollone*  (F)	Junior Bruins	NCDC	32	15	21	36	16
Angus Crookshank*  (F)	Langley Rivermen	BCHL	28	14	16	30	20
	Team Canada West	WJAC	5	2	3	5	2
Eric Esposito*  (F)	Youngstown Phantoms	USHL	28	7	4	11	83
Corson Green  (D)	Central Illinois Flying Aces	USHL	7	1	0	1	24
	Sioux Falls Stampede	USHL	19	1	3	4	39
2018 or '19 Commits
Ryan Verrier*  (D)	Green Bay Gamblers	USHL	25	3	6	9	20
2019 Commits
Lucas Bahn  (D)	Sioux City Musketeers	USHL	27	1	5	6	17
Nolan McElhaney  (D)	Cushing Academy	NE Prep	17	10	16	26	16
Chase Stevenson  (F)	West Kelowna Warriors	BCHL	30	7	11	18	23
2019 or '20 Commits
Jackson Pierson*  (F)	Culver Academy	Prep	24	21	31	52	-
	Green Bay Gamblers	USHL	2	0	0	0	0
Connor Sweeney  (F)	Lawrence Academy	NE Prep	13	2	5	7	6
Marek Wazny  (F)	Burlington Cougars	OJHL	21	5	13	18	8
	Brookings Blizzard	NAHL	7	0	0	0	0
2020 Commits
Tim Stützle  (F)	Mannheim Young Eagles	DNL U19	16	13	18	31	8
	Team Germany U18	Intl	2	2	0	2	4
	Team Germany U16	Intl	6	4	3	7	-
* = Signed National Letter of Intent

News & Notes

British Columbia Hockey League:

~ 2019 Commit Chase Stevenson sustained a lower body injury during the Canada West tryout camp for the World Junior A Challenge. He hopes to return to the West Kelowna Warriors' lineup in about 3 weeks.

National Collegiate Development Conference:

~ 2018 Commit Joey Cipollone was named to the NCDC All-Star Game which takes place this Monday at Merrimack College. Cipollone (32GP 15G 21A) is tied for 6th in NCDC scoring.

~ Liam Darcy will not be playing hockey for UNH in the future. It's highly likely the NCDC All-Star will play for some NCAA team. I wish him the best of luck!

Prep School:

~ 2019 UNH Commit Nolan McElhaney, scored his 10th goal of the season in a 3-6 loss to Salisbury earlier this week. The Cushing Academy senior leads all New England Prep School defensemen in scoring (1.53 Points Per Game).