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News & Notes
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!
— USA Hockey’s NTDP (@USAHockeyNTDP) January 13, 2021
Absolute robbery with the blocker from Moose! 🦌 pic.twitter.com/EXAwMkUOoH
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.
2020-21 Statistics
| Player | NZ** Stars | Team | League | GP | Goals | Asst | Pts | PIM | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 Commits | |||||||||
| Robert Cronin* 8/15/00 (F) | 4.0 | Dubuque Fighting Saints | USHL | 31 | 16 | 14 | 30 | 28 | +4 |
| John Evans 4/8/02 (F) | 4.5 | Dubuque Fighting Saints | USHL | 17 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 0 | +2 |
| West Kelowna Warriors | BCHLPre | 13 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 6 | - | ||
| Alex Gagne* 8/12/02 (D) | 4.25 | Muskegon Lumberjacks | USHL | 37 | 3 | 18 | 21 | 14 | +26 |
| Colton Huard 11/27/00 (D) | 4.0 | Chicago Steel | USHL | 41 | 3 | 15 | 18 | 12 | +24 |
| Will Margel* 3/16/01 (F) | 3.75 | Johnstown Tomahawks | NAHL | 19 | 10 | 11 | 21 | 2 | +2 |
| Lincoln Stars | USHL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | ||
| Jack Ring 12/18/00 (F) | 3.5 | New Jersey Titans | NAHL | 35 | 5 | 13 | 18 | 10 | -7 |
| Connor Sweeney* 5/5/00 (F) | 3.5 | Islanders Hockey Club | NCDC | 26 | 1 | 11 | 12 | 10 | - |
| Playoffs | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | - | |||
| Trail Smoke Eaters | BCHLPre | 9 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 6 | - | ||
| 2021 or '22 Commits | |||||||||
| Nicolas Ardanaz* 5/30/02 (D) | 4.25 | West Kelowna Warriors | BCHL Pod | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| BCHLPre | 13 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 2 | - | |||
| Jed Baliotti 2/7/02 (G) | 3.75 | Northern Cyclones | NCDC | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3.82 | .879 | |
| Green Bay Gamblers | USHL | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| Liam Devlin 1/7/01 (F) | 3.75 | Omaha Lancers | USHL | 38 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 79 | -4 |
| Chicago Steel | USHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | ||
| Cade Penney* 3/23/01 (D) | 3.5 | New Jersey Titans | NAHL | 11 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 8 | +3 |
| Omaha Lancers | USHL | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Green Bay Gamblers | USHL | 14 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | +6 | ||
| David Sacco* 1/3/02 (F) | 3.75 | Islanders Hockey Club | NCDC | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 39 | - |
| Playoffs | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | |||
| Waterloo Black Hawks | USHL | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | +1 | ||
| JP Turner* 1/31/03 (F) | 4.25 | Avon Old Farms | NE Prep | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | - | - |
| Sioux Falls Stampede | USHL | 19 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 16 | +1 | ||
| 2022 Commits | |||||||||
| Damien Carfagna* 12/12/02 (D) | 3.75 | Green Bay Gamblers | USHL | 37 | 3 | 11 | 14 | 8 | +14 |
| Cy LeClerc 8/17/02 (F) | 3.75 | Islanders Hockey Club | NCDC | 28 | 11 | 20 | 31 | 10 | - |
| Playoffs | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | |||
| All Star Game | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | - | |||
| Wenatchee Wild | BCHLPre | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| Tyler Muszelik 7/1/04 (G) | 4.0 | US National U17 | USDP | 15 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 4.29 | .865 |
| USNTDP Juniors | USHL | 9 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 5.32 | .851 | ||
| Morgan Winters 12/8/01 (F) | 3.5 | Kenai River Brown Bears | NAHL | 25 | 9 | 15 | 24 | 14 | +4 |
| Tri-City Storm | USHL | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | +1 | ||
| 2022 or '23 Commits | |||||||||
| Brendan Fitzgerald 10/26/03 (D) | 4.25 | Governor's Academy | NE Prep | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Nick Ring 10/26/03 (F) | 3.75 | Boston Advantage | NCDC | 43 | 13 | 8 | 21 | 10 | - |
| Playoffs | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | |||
| All Star Game | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | - | |||
| * = Signed National Letter of Intent | |||||||||
| ** = Neutral Zone 5-Star Rating | |||||||||
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.
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