UNH Commits Update 3-23-18: Playoff Champs Stützle, Pierson & Sweeney

Tim Stützle DNL U19 Champ

Jackson Pierson MidAm 18U Champ

Connor Sweeney NE Prep Champ

2018 Playoffs

The current crop of UNH Commits are spread out over a variety of leagues from the British Columbia Hockey League to New England Prep and everywhere in between. For the first time in the history of the UNH men's hockey program, there is even a commit playing in a European junior league. All of these leagues, except for the United States Hockey League, are either in the midst of their playoffs or have recently finished postseason play. As the 2017-18 statistics table shows (see below), some UNH Commits and their team qualified for the playoffs while a few did not. This article focuses on the playoff performances of the commits.

Player Spotlight - Tim Stützle

Tim Stützle's first season in the Under 19 German Development League (DNL) was extraordinary. When Stützle began the season with the Mannheim Young Eagles (Jungadler Mannheim) last October, he was a 15-year-old forward playing against guys 2 and 3 years older. By the end of the regular season, he had scored 18 goals and 29 assists in 25 games and he was one of the top 3 scorers in the league.

Mannheim won the regular season title and began the DNL Playoffs against the 4th-place Dusseldorf team on March 7th. The Young Eagles swept the series 2-0 and Stützle scored 2 goals in the decisive game including the game-winner.

Tim Stützle GWG

In the DNL championship round, Mannheim and the Berlin Junior Polar Bears split the first two games. Stützle distributed 4 assists in the Game 2 victory including the game-winning assist. In the final game, Berlin jumped out to a 3-1 lead after one period. Stützle sparked the Junior Eagles' comeback with his third goal of the playoffs early in the middle stanza. As the video highlights show, Stützle (#8 blue jersey) pounced on a loose puck in the top of the slot and blasted a slap shot over the goalie's glove.

Tied 3-3, the teams battled throughout the opening minutes of overtime. With less than 3 minutes remaining, Stützle received a pass just past the blueline and carried the puck through the neutral zone and into the Polar Bears' zone. At the top of the faceoff circle to the goalie's left, he quickly accelerated around a defender into the slot and wristed the game-winner over the goalie's blocker. Although the video coverage did not quite capture the moment of the shot, the picture on the right does.



Tim Stützle finished this season as the second-leading scorer in the U19 German Development League. His 22 goals in 30 games was the 4th highest in the league and the 29 assists were the 3rd highest. Stützle compiled a remarkable +/- rating of +34. He currently is a 5'9", 159 lbs. left-shot, left-winger. For next season, Stützle (DOB: 1/15/2002) has a variety of options including a return to the Mannheim Jungadler U19 team. He is a sophomore in high school and on track to graduate in the spring of 2020.

Player Spotlight - Jackson Pierson

Tim Stützle isn't the only UNH commit who scored a game-winning goal in a championship game for a dominant team. 2018 commit Jackson Pierson (DOB: 9/10/1999) and the Culver Academy Eagles (Indiana) finished the season as the #1 18U Tier 1 team in the United States. In 39 regular season games, Pierson tallied 24 goals and 50 assists. The senior captain's scoring average of 1.90 points per game tied him with Connor Merrill (uncommitted) as the team's leading scorer. Last season, as a junior at Culver Academy , Pierson compiled 28 goals and 34 assists in 36 games (1.72 PPG).

After the end of the regular season, Culver Academy competes in the USA Hockey Mid-American Regional Tournament. In 2016 and 2017, the Eagles won the Mid-Am tourney and advanced to the U18 USA Hockey National Championship Tournament. They were a semifinalist at the 2016 Nationals and runnerup last season.

During the second weekend in March, Pierson and Culver Academy won their first three games in the Mid-Am Tournament held at the Lemieux Sports Complex outside Pittsburgh. In the Championship game against the Esmark Stars, Culver only lead 1-0 at the end of the first period. On the first shift of the second period, Jackson Pierson - the starting center for the Eagles - sent a pass out to the right point, circled toward the net, and banged home a rebound for a 2-0 lead. Midway through the second period, Pierson scored the eventual game-winner. He received a pass at the faceoff dot to the right of the Esmark goalie and snapped a one-timer between the goalie's pads. Culver defeated Esmark 7-3. Here are the video highlights of Pierson's (#18 in white jersey) two goals:



Jackson Pierson will finish his senior season at Culver with another opportunity to win the 18U National Championship. The tourney will be held from April 5-9 outside Philadelphia. Pierson signed a National Letter of Intent with UNH last November. At the recent press conference following the ceremony introducing Mike Souza as the 13th UNH Men's Hockey head coach, Souza announced that Pierson will enroll at UNH next fall.

Player Spotlight - Connor Sweeney

Last season, as a sophomore at the Pingree School, 2019 or '20 UNH Commit Connor Sweeney (DOB: 5/5/2000) was the leading goal scorer in New England Prep School hockey. He scored 31 goals and 12 assists in 29 games. This season, Sweeney transferred to Lawrence Academy for his junior year. In 29 regular season games with the Spartans, Sweeney posted 8 goals and 14 assists. He primarily played center and left wing on Lawrence's second line.

In Neutral Zone's final poll on February 20th, Lawrence fell just outside the top 10 New England Prep schools. The Spartans finished the regular season with a record of 18-10-1. Although they did not qualify for the Elite 8 New England Prep Tournament, they were the #3 seed in the Small School Tournament. After defeating St. Marks 6-2 and Gunnery 3-2 in overtime, Lawrence advanced to the Small School Championship game against the New Hampton School.

In a seesaw battle, Lawrence Academy and New Hampton were tied 3-3 at the end of two periods. On his first shift of the third period, Connor Sweeney scored one of the most important goals of the season. He and linemate Sam Colangelo (Northeastern commit) exchanged tape-to-tape passes as they broke out of the their own zone and through center ice. With a burst of speed and the puck on his stick, Sweeney split the two New Hampton defenders, skated down the slot, and beat the goalie between his pads. The goal gave Lawrence a 4-3 lead. New Hampton bounced back with the game-tying goal 6 minutes later and the teams went into overtime. Gunnar Fontaine, an RPI commit, scored the game-winner for Lawrence Academy in overtime. Here's a video of Connor Sweeney's big goal:



In May, 2016, Sweeney was drafted by the Muskegon Lumberjacks in the 7th round of the USHL Phase I Futures Draft. He chose not to try out for the Lumberjacks last summer and focused instead on his junior year at Lawrence Academy. He is ranked #217 among North American skaters on the NHL Central Scouting Service midterm rankings.

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* 3/29/97 (F)	Junior Bruins	NCDC	49	25	30	55	44
		Playoffs	3	3	0	3	2
Angus Crookshank* 10/2/99 (F)	Langley Rivermen	BCHL	42	22	23	45	34
		Playoffs	6	3	4	7	6
	Team Canada West	WJAC	5	2	3	5	2
	Team West Prospects	CJHL	1	0	1	1	0
Eric Esposito* 8/24/98 (F)	Youngstown Phantoms	USHL	52	15	8	23	101
Corson Green 3/4/99 (D)	Central Illinois Flying Aces	USHL	25	1	1	2	46
	Sioux Falls Stampede	USHL	19	1	3	4	39
Jackson Pierson* 9/10/99 (F)	Culver Academy	Prep	39	24	50	74	-
		MidAm Tourney	4	3	4	7	-
	Green Bay Gamblers	USHL	2	0	0	0	0
Ty Taylor 7/5/99 (G)	Vernon Vipers	BCHL	31	23W	5L	1.87	.931
		Playoffs	8	6W	2L	2.33	.927
Ryan Verrier* 11/19/98 (D)	Green Bay Gamblers	USHL	46	4	12	16	56
2019 Commits
Lucas Bahn 9/11/99 (D)	Des Moines Buccaneers	USHL	6	0	0	0	0
	Sioux City Musketeers	USHL	32	1	5	6	17
Nolan McElhaney 4/22/99 (D)	Cushing Academy	NE Prep	31	13	34	47	32
		Playoffs	1	0	0	0	2
Chase Stevenson 1/13/99 (F)	West Kelowna Warriors	BCHL	40	12	11	23	25
		Playoffs	4	1	0	1	2
2019 or '20 Commits
Connor Sweeney 5/5/00 (F)	Lawrence Academy	NE Prep	29	8	14	22	10
		Playoffs	3	1	2	3	0
Marek Wazny 2/21/00 (F)	Burlington Cougars	OJHL	37	7	17	24	28
	Brookings Blizzard	NAHL	7	0	0	0	0
2020 Commits
Zack Jones 3/31/01 (F)	Boston Bandits	USPHL 16U	26	22	31	53	20
		Playoffs	1	0	1	1	0
		NCDC	10	1	0	1	0
Tim Stützle 1/15/02 (F)	Mannheim Young Eagles	DNL U19	25	18	29	47	8
		Playoffs	5	4	4	8	2
		MacPhr	2	1	3	4	0
	Team Germany U18	Intl	2	2	0	2	4
	Team Germany U16	Intl	6	4	3	7	-
* = Signed National Letter of Intent

UNH Head Coach Mike Souza On Recruiting and His Coaching Staff

Head Coach Mike Souza
UNH Men's Ice Hockey

Yesterday afternoon, Mike Souza was officially introduced as the 13th head coach of the UNH men's ice hockey program. In the summer of 2015, Souza was identified as the "heir apparent" to longtime UNH head coach Dick Umile. At the time, Souza left the UConn coaching staff, with the blessing and encouragement of head coach Mike Cavanaugh, and accepted the position of associate head coach with UNH.

The ceremony held at the Whittemore Center began with introductory remarks by Associate Athletic Director of Communications and "Voice of UNH Hockey" Mike Murphy and Director of Athletics Marty Scarano. When it was Head Coach Souza's turn to speak, he articulated what the new job means to him and what he plans to accomplish. A video of the formal proceedings, produced by UNH Wildcat Productions, is available on YouTube.

Following these proceedings, Coach Souza held a press conference. I have included the portions in which Souza described his recruiting strategy and his plans for the coaching staff in his first season at the helm.

Mike Lowry (The UNH Men's Hockey Blog): Your involvement in recruiting since you've been here has involved thousands of miles of travel to hockey rinks all over North America. Do you see yourself adjusting your role in the recruiting process now that you're the head coach?

Mike Souza (UNH Head Coach): One thing I'd like you guys to take note of - and I was remiss in not mentioning - is one person in particular. Glenn Stewart (Associate Head Coach) has been a tireless recruiter and done an incredible job working here. He's been back and forth to the west coast two times in the last three weeks. Glenn has done a tremendous job for us and I don't anticipate that to change.

I believe the head coach has a responsibility to be an integral part of the recruiting process. Maybe that doesn't mean the first eyes on a recruit but you need to be willing to hop on a plane and go meet with a kid, or do a home visit, whatever it takes to get top talent to want to come to the University of New Hampshire. I'm willing to do that.

I enjoy recruiting, as people that know me well know. I love watching games. I love the interactions with the players. Recruiting is all about relationship building and I'm happy to tell anyone what it's like to play hockey at UNH.

It takes a certain kid that that resonates with. I think we've been fortunate enough to find kids that are really excited about coming to play here at UNH. I'm really excited about the opportunity to coach them.



Al Pike (fosters.com): You must have some contacts overseas and guys who can extend recruiting that far?

Head Coach Souza: Ya, I think that's no secret. There are players everywhere and we will leave no rock unturned. We've been over there several times already. There's good players in Europe, there's good players in New Hampshire. It's just a matter of identifying them and hoping they'll fit into what we want to do and recognize what we can do for them. We'll leave no stone unturned when it comes to recruiting



Mike Lowry: Do you have a rough timeline on when your replacement will be identified and selected?

Head Coach Souza: We've been thinking about this for three years and there's some people in mind. Probably sooner rather than later, to be honest, I don't want to get into too much right now, but sooner rather than later. I think it's integral to our push forward in terms of recruiting to have someone in place as soon as we can.



Joshua Sequin (College Hockey News): So is Stewart staying on the staff for you? Is that the plan?

Head Coach Souza: Ya, absolutely. I want Glenn here as long as Glenn wants to be here. I hope he aspires to take the Merrimack job. I'd love to see him get a head coaching job. My aspirations are similar to what Mike Cavanaugh's (UConn Head Coach) were for me. I don't think there's any greater compliment a guy could have as a head coach in terms of the coaching tree he can develop. My goal for all the guys who come work for me is they'll have the opportunity to run their own program one day.

I'd like to make note of the fact that our penalty kill was the #1 penalty kill in our league this year and #3 or #4 nationally and Glenn was responsible for that. He did an outstanding job this year. He's a great guy, a great person, and he's passionate about UNH.

Unless he has plans that I don't know about (laughter).

Zack Jones: 16-Year-Old Forward Commits to UNH

Zack Jones
2020 UNH Commit

"Quick and fast with excellent agility to create and pursue. Makes plays at top speed. Provides energy and enthusiasm and can help his team win without scoring. Prepared and tough to play against." Neutral Zone

Last week, UNH received its first commitment from a player born in 2001. 16-year-old Zack Jones (DOB: 3/31/2001), a 5'9", 155 lbs., left-shot forward from Bridgewater, Massachusetts, is on target to enroll at UNH in 2020. The only other 16-year-old committed to UNH is Tim Stützle (DOB: 1/15/2000), a forward for the Mannheim (Germany) Young Eagles, who is currently the third leading scorer (18G, 29A) in the Under-19 German Development League (DNL).

Jones recently completed his third season with the Boston Bandits Under-16 team. He tied for third in scoring in the 16U Division of the United States Premiere Hockey League (USPHL). In 26 regular season games, Jones tallied 22 goals (Tied 6th) and 31 assists (5th Highest).

Before the 2017-18 season began, Zack Jones played in the annual Beantown Summer Classic. He competed against 2000-2002 birth-year players in the Futures Division. The scouts from Neutral Zone** ranked Jones as a "B+" forward and provided this assessment:

"His skating has improved, specifically his straight-line speed. He flew around the ice here. More importantly, he made plays at top speed. However, as skilled as he is 1v1, we felt he tried to do too much at times. He must improve his ability and willingness to move the puck and get to space without it to round out his offensive game. Overall, he worked hard and was tough to play against. Can tell he loves the game."

Rating - 3 1/2 out 5 Stars.

** Reprinted by permission of Brendan Collins, Director of Scouting at Neutral Zone.

Jones jumped out to a quick start scoring 11 goals and 21 assists over the first 15 games of the 2017-18 season. The first goal in the highlight video (see below) is from a Boston Bandits 16U game in early October. Jones accelerates out of the defensive zone, eludes four opposing players through the three zones, and flips a backhand under the goalies glove.

On January 15th, Zack Jones participated in the 2018 USPHL 16U All Star Game held at Merrimack College. Midway through the second period, Jones - wearing #9 in the white jersey - scooped up a loose puck in the corner, slashed to the faceoff circle, and ripped a wrist shot top corner over the goalies glove. This nifty goal is shown in the second clip on the video highlights:



The Boston Bandits lost the opening round of the USPHL 16U Playoffs. Over the course of this season, Jones was called up to play a half dozen games with the Bandits' National Collegiate Development Conference team. With the 16U season over, Jones joined the NCDC team for two games last weekend. On Saturday, Jones centered the Bandits' second line. On his first shift, he raced down the ice on a 2-on-none break and one-timed a nice setup pass from Josh Vertentes (see final clip). As Zack explains in our interview, returning to play for the Boston Bandits NCDC team next season is one option he will consider.

Interview

I had an opportunity to interview Zack Jones, via email, about his hockey career and commitment to UNH:

Mike Lowry ("C-H-C"): Congratulations on your commitment to play for the University of New Hampshire. What are the main reasons you chose UNH?

Zack Jones: The tradition, the big ice surface and the type of game they play fits my style. I also felt very comfortable with the coaching staff.



Mike Lowry: What other college programs were you considering? Which schools did you visit and which ones made an offer to you?

Zack Jones: I spoke with a few other schools, but I have always felt UNH would be a great place to play and a good fit for me. So when they showed interest in me it was easy to make the decision.



Lowry: Have you and the UNH coaches agreed on a target date for you to enroll as a freshman at UNH and join the team?

Jones: Right now, the target date is the fall of 2020.



Lowry: At this stage in your hockey development, what are the strengths of your game? What areas are you trying to improve?

Jones: I feel I am a good skater and offensively I can create and produce. I need to increase strength and continue to work on my complete game.



Lowry: In your first season with the Boston Bandits U16 team, you scored 5 goals in 28 games. Over the last two seasons, your goal-scoring increased to 22 goals in 30 games (2016-17) and 22 goals in 26 games (2017-18). What factors have lead to this big jump in goal-scoring?

Jones: The biggest factor was confidence and also I worked hard in the off-seasons to get stronger and faster.



Lowry: Your Dad, Mark Jones, is the Director of Player Personnel for the Boston Bandits and he was your coach on the U16 team. What's the best piece of hockey advice he's given you?

Jones: He has always pushed me to work hard and be coachable. He reminds me that there is always something to learn and improve on. He is always there for me and we have had a lot of fun. He has taught me to respect the game of hockey.



Lowry: This season, you were called up to play 8 games with the Boston Bandits' National Collegiate Development Conference team. Do you plan to play for them next season?

Jones: It is so early, my season has just ended. I am going to look at all my options and play at the best place I can develop and get better as a player. The Bandits are one of those options for sure.



Lowry: Do you plan to play in either the United States Hockey League or British Columbia Hockey League before you come to UNH?

Jones: Those are options as well but I will find the best fit for me. It's really about where I can become the best player, not about the league. Those are great leagues and I will consider everything over the next few years.



Lowry: Your brother Cooper plays for the Halifax Mooseheads in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. In 2017, Halifax drafted you in the 13th round. Do you have any interest in forgoing the NCAA route and playing major junior hockey in Canada?

Jones: My brother and I have always wanted to play at the highest levels. The CHL and Hockey East are where many of the top players are. So we both considered college and the CHL, but I am committed to UNH and excited for the future.



Lowry: When do you plan to graduate from high school? What are your academic strengths and interests? Have you thought about what you might major in when you enroll at UNH?

Jones: I will graduate in the Spring of 2019. I have not considered a major yet.