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Friday, March 26, 2021
A Glimpse Into the Future: Robert Cronin Faces Tyler Muszelik
Robert Cronin2021 UNH Commit
Tyler Muszelik2022 UNH Commit
Winning college hockey championships requires goal scorers and an elite goalie. Looking down the road, UNH hopes to have both. Next August, right shot forward ROBERT CRONIN will turn 21 and enroll at the University of New Hampshire. In his second season with the Dubuque Fighting Saints, Cronin is one of the top goal scorers in the United States Hockey League. His 18 goals in 35 games puts him in a tie for 6th in USHL goal-scoring. Six of the goals have come on the Fighting Saints' power play, good enough for a tie for 5th in USHL power play goals.
If all goes according to plan, the 2022-23 season will see the arrival of TYLER MUSZELIK, the first goalie from the elite United States National Team Development Program (NTDP) to play for UNH. The 6'2", 187 lbs., left-catch goalie from Long Valley, New Jersey, who turns 17 in July, has played in roughly half of the NTDP U-17 games. The U-17's play a total of 30 games against United States Hockey League opponents. The average age of USHL players is 18 and 1/2 years old. In 11 USHL games to date, Muszelik has posted a 5-5-1 record. His goals against average in USHL games is 4.82 with a save percentage of .860. These stats are comparable to the other two U-17 goalies.
Last night was a rare opportunity to watch Robert Cronin and the Fighting Saints face Tyler Muszelik and the NTDP U-17 (Team USA). The teams were tied 4-4 after regulation and after the 5-minute, 3-on-3 overtime period. Cronin had 3 shots on goal but no points and Muszelik faced 38 shots on goal and made 34 saves. Up for grabs were 2 points for a shootout win.
Lane Huston (BU commit) struck first for Team USA. Then came Robert Cronin with a head-to-head matchup against Tyler Muszelik. Cronin snapped a wrister over Muszelik's blocker to tie it up.
Maddox Fleming (Notre Dame commit) put Team USA back in front. That set the stage for Muszelik to face Matthew Savoie, Dubuque's leading scorer (14G, 11A, 22Games, 1.14Pt/Game). Neutral Zone scouting service rates Savoie a 5-Star prospect, their highest possible rating. As the video highlight shows, Muszelik moved laterally to his right preventing a straight on shot from Savoie then knocked away his backhand attempt.
Cutter Gauthier, a Boston College commit, sealed the win for Team USA with the third straight shootout goal. The U-17 and U-18 NTDP teams each play 30 USHL games. Overall, Team USA is the 4th place team in the USHL's Eastern Conference and Dubuque is 10 points behind in 5th place. The teams play a rematch tonight.
United State Hockey League:
~ ROBERT CRONIN has regained his scoring touch. As a senior at The Gunnery two seasons ago, Cronin tallied the second most points (19G 35A 54Pts 31Gms) in New England Prep Hockey. Last season, his first for the Dubuque Fighting Saints in the USHL, Cronin's scoring tailed off to 8 points in 44 games. Now, he's a point-per-game player in his second USHL season. On a Saints squad with some high-end forwards such as Stephen Halliday (former North Dakota commit) and Connor Kurth (Minnesota commit), Robert Cronin has scored the most points - 16 goals, 14 assists in 31 games. 5-Star phenom Matthew Savoie, who left the WHL and joined the Saints in mid-January, has more points per game than Cronin (1.12 vs. 0.97).
Five of Cronin's goals have come on the power play and he is tied for 6th in power play goals in the USHL. Here's a sampling of Cronin's goals from February and March:
Cronin's improved play this season has been acknowledged by Neutral Zone scouting service which raised his rating to a 4-star prospect. Here's a Neutral Zone scouting report from January 29, 2021:
"Cronin is a skilled player for Dubuque that is dangerous on the rush and navigates the neutral zone well. He is smooth entering the offensive zone with the puck on his stick and takes advantage of any extra space defenders give him. The UNH commit has great vision and does an excellent job of finding teammates through seams. Cronin also has good one on one skill, which he used to beat a defender cleanly one time but missed the net with a close shot. Overall, he has smooth hands and is most dangerous when he gets room to work crossing over the offensive blueline."
~ DAMIEN CARFAGNA has made a smooth transition from New England Prep School hockey to the United States Hockey League. The 18-year-old, rookie for the Green Bay Gamblers has been the starting left defenseman in 4 of the 6 games in March. At 5'11", 168 lbs, Carfagna is an agile, mobile defenseman with offensive upside. In 37 games, he has scored 3 goals and 11 assists. Carfagna's +/- rating of +14 is the second best among all USHL rookie defensemen.
On Tuesday night, Carfagna lead the Gamblers with 2 goals and an assist in a 6-4 win over Dubuque. His second goal, an empty-netter, iced the game and he was awarded the #1 Star. Here are both of Carfagna's goals and another one from March 5th:
The NHL Central Scouting Service included Carfagna on their January Players to Watch list. He's rated a "C" prospect meaning a candidate to be drafted in the 4th, 5th, or 6th round of the 2021 NHL Draft
~ ALEX GAGNE's +/- rating of +26 is the best among all USHL defensemen and 2nd best overall. This achievement is particularly noteworthy since Gagne plays on the Muskegon Lumberjacks #1 penalty kill unit and only occasionally plays on the power play. The 6'3", 207 lbs., left-shot defenseman, who turns 19 in August, is in his second season in the USHL.
In the offensive zone, Gagne has nearly tripled his production since last season. In 37 games with the third place Lumberjacks, he has scored 3 goals and distributed 18 assists. As these highlights from February and March show, Gagne's offensive contributions include an accurate wrist shot and the ability to join the rush and make a tape-to-tape centering pass:
TYLER MUSZELIK, the 16-year-old goalie for the United States National Team Development Program (NTDP), committed to the University of New Hampshire last week. The 6'2", 187 lbs., left-catch goalie from Long Valley, New Jersey, is the first NTDP goalie ever to commit to UNH. Look for an interview with UNH's newest commit coming soon on the blog. Here's just one example of Muszelik's goaltending skills:
It's Tyler Muszelik (@TMuszelik) checking in with the latest @kroger Great Save!
National Collegiate Development Conference:
~ CONNOR SWEENEY, a 2021 UNH Commit, joined the Islanders Hockey Club (IHC) in mid-January. Sweeney played for the Trail Smoke Eaters during the BCHL preseason but that league has been idle due to the COVID pandemic. Earlier this week, Sweeney and the Islanders won the first round matchup against the South Shore Kings in the 2021 NCDC Playoffs. Fellow UNH Commits David Sacco and Cy LeClerc also play for the IHC. Sweeney scored this game-winning goal late in the deciding third game:
British Columbia Hockey League:
~ Due to the COVID-19 pandamic, there has not been a single regular season game played in the BCHL to date. The current plan is for a much abbreviated season beginning in the first week of April. Consequently, UNH commit Nick Ardanaz has missed nearly an entire season of competition in what would have been his second year with the West Kelowna Warriors.
NOTE
The statistics for the commits, presented in the above table, are categorized by the projected year they will enroll in UNH. For example, the "2021 Commits" are projected to begin playing for UNH in the Fall of 2021. I have based these projections on the following factors:
~ Number of UNH players leaving the team at the end of the previous season and the position they played.
~ 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.
UNH Coach Souza Reacts to Season-Ending Playoff Loss
Mike Souza UNH Head Coach
After Boston College scored three unanswered goals in the first period of the 2020-21 Hockey East Quarterfinal round, UNH stormed back with goals by senior Eric MacAdams and freshman Luke Reid in the second period. Despite several grade A scoring attempts, over the final two periods, UNH fell just short losing to #1-Ranked BC 3-2.
In the postgame press conference from Conte Forum, UNH Head Coach Mike Souza talked about the game, the challenges of the season, and his appreciation of the senior class. Here are some excerpts:
Mike Souza (UNH Head Coach): Clearly, they're (BC) a scary team; it's three nothing and I'm like "oh boy", but we never thought we were playing poorly. By our staff's count, our 5-on-5 scoring chances were even after one period. So we said "boy fellas, there's nothing we can do, it's three nothing, trust the process", all the boring coach talk but we talk about it all the time.
I thought we had so many good efforts by so many players. It's heart breaking for these guys. It's been a long arduous year, for a lot of programs. I'm just thankful we had an opportunity to compete this year when others didn't.
I feel for the seniors. It's a surreal feeling when you go in after the end of the season and see guys crying their eyes out, it's...(pause) all of us coaches have been there at some point and it's hard. You want more for these guys, you want them to keep playing. I think in a trying year...you get to Wednesday (win over Maine in opening round) and we really saw something to build on...it's disappointing.
Mike Lowry (The UNH Men's Hockey Blog): Speaking of the seniors, would you comment on, as a group and individually, how the seniors played in what might be their last game for UNH, for some or all of them?
Coach Souza: You know, we had one guy in a shoulder harnass, he could barely lift his arm...We had another guy who really, really fought through a difficult injury all year, in Charlie Kelleher.
You know, you love those kids. I've been around them for the whole time here and you see them grow as players, but for me, more importantly, you see them grow as people. A kid like Charlie Kelleher, who's been around the program for, seems like forever, 10 years or something, when his brother (Tyler) was here. The Kelleher family has invested so much...I'm optimistic Charlie's going to be back next year.
You see Eric MacAdams tonight, he wears his heart on his sleeve all the time and I thought he was outstanding tonight. I thought (Kohei) Sato played hard. (Mike) Robinson, I thought, competed...you know, it's the crazy thing about college sports, you get attached to these kids and they move on...it's hard. Hopefully, we'll see some of them back in Durham again.
UNH's convincing 7-2 victory over perineal rival Maine in the opening round of the Hockey East Tournament was Mike Souza's first playoff win as a head coach. In the postgame press conference, Coach Souza reflected on the team's performance.
Mike Souza (UNH Head Coach): We're really excited. I thought that was the best team win of the year. I thought our special teams came through when they had to, made saves when they had to, made plays when we had to.
They (Maine) play hard, they're a big heavy team and physical. Our guys did a really good job tonight playing in a building that's not easy to play in, whether there's fans here or not, it's still a tough place to play. I'm very proud of the way our team competed for 60 minutes. We got contributions from everyone. Our best team win of the year.
Mike Lowry (The UNH Men's Hockey Blog): Congratulations coach on your first Hockey East Playoff win at the University of New Hampshire as the head coach.
Coach Souza: Thanks Mike.
Mike Lowry: Maine came in with the 9th best power play team in the country. What adaptations did you make in the penalty kill to effectively shut them down?
Coach Souza: Well, I think it's no secret to anyone that we've struggled killing penalties this year. We made some adjustments on what we were going to do. That was one of the added benefits of having the extra time off, extra practice time. So, we made some adjustments, the kids adjusted.
It was nice to get a shorthanded goal. There hasn't been a lot of shorthanded goals by way of the Wildcats the last several years. That was a huge play by (Tyler) Ward and (Filip) Engarås. They executed what they were asked to execute and I'm proud of the guys and their effort.
Hayden Choate (The Portsmouth Herald):(Mike) Robinson made 38 saves. How important was it for him to be solid tonight?
Coach Souza: I didn't realize he made that many saves. I thought we defended well. We did a good job playing inside the dots defensively. Michael (Robinson) made saves when he needed to. I was happy for him. He had a great week of practice in preparation and carried it over into tonight's game.
Jim Wrobel (UNH Athletic Communications): Just a note on Mike Robinson. He now has over 2,000 career saves. He went over that today.
Mike Lowry: Could you comment on the job that your defensive core did with Benton (Maass) down and no extra defenseman in the lineup tonight?
Coach Souza: That was one of my comments to the guys after the game. I thought the D-core stepped up. Hope to have Benton back for Sunday, but you never know.
It's one of those things I always wrestle with - always having an extra defenseman in the lineup. We dressed the extra forward (Carsen Richels) for a particular reason tonight. It almost came back to bite us a little bit, but the guys stepped up.
It's hard to single out one of the five guys, that played the bulk of the minutes, but the players recognized Luke Reid after the game, with the game ball. I thought that was very apropos.
Because of the single elimination format, UNH's victory ended Maine's season and advanced the Wildcats to the Hockey East Quarterfinals. They will face Boston College, currently ranked #1 in NCAA Division I hockey, on Sunday, 4:30 at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA. The game will be covered by NESN and live streamed on Hockey East on CBS. In early January, UNH played two games against Boston College. Both ended in overtime with UNH winning 4-3 at Conte Forum and BC winning 3-2 at the Whittemore Center.
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