UNH Recruits Update: Jan-28-2014

2015 UNH Commit Marcus Vela

Player of the Week - Marcus Vela

One of the very youngest players in the British Columbia Hockey League has been playing like a veteran. Last Saturday, 16-year-old Marcus Vela (DOB: 3/3/1997) scored a key goal for the Langley Rivermen in a game against the Cowichan Valley Capitals. Midway through the third period, Vela's power play goal put the Rivermen ahead 2-1. It was his 9th goal of the season. Cowichan eventually tied it up but the Rivermen left town with an important point. With only 6 games remaining in the regular season, Langley is in first place in the Mainland Division of the BCHL. They're 10 points ahead of second-place Prince George.

So far, Marcus Vela has scored 9 goals and 10 assists in his rookie season and his play has been turning heads. Sportsnet of Canada, a nationwide group of regional sports networks, produced a feature video on Vela. Here's a clip from the video which includes comments from Langley Rivermen Head Coach Bobby Henderson:



Vela's size and skill attracted the attention of scouts from the Western Hockey League. In May, 2012, he was drafted in the 7th round of the 2012 WHL Bantam Draft by the Spokane Chiefs. However, he has decided to not play major junior hockey and, instead, pursue a college degree at the University of New Hampshire. In an interview with the blog last November, Marcus said:

"It was an exciting time for my family and I when I was selected to the Spokane Chiefs of the WHL but my plan is to pursue the NCAA route and play for UNH. The coaches and I have targeted for the fall of 2015 for me to attend UNH but the UNH coaches, my family and I will decided if I am ready to go at that time"

NOTE
The statistics for the recruits, presented in the table, are categorized by the year the player and UNH coaches have targeted for enrollment in UNH. For example, the "2014 Recruits" have a target of the Fall of 2014 to begin playing for UNH.

Player	Team	League	GP	Goals	Asst	Pts	PIM
2014 Recruits
Dylan Chanter  (D)	Vernon Vipers	BCHL	8	0	0	0	4
	Dubuque Fighting Saints	USHL	14	1	1	2	21
Adam Clark  (G)	Salmon Arm SilverBacks	BCHL	30	14W	14L	2.87	.911
Shane Eiserman  (F)	Dubuque Fighting Saints	USHL	27	9	13	22	56
Warren Foegele  (F)	St. Andrews College	CISAA	9	11	2	13	13
	St. Andrews College	MPHL	13	12	17	29	14
John Furgele  (D)	Jersey Hitmen	USPHL	32	6	23	29	12
Cameron Marks  (D)	Coquitlam Express	BCHL	46	4	19	23	12
Michael McNicholas  (F)	Vernon Vipers	BCHL	46	20	37	57	14
Andrew Poturalski  (F)	Cedar Rapids RoughRiders	USHL	35	11	24	35	10
Jason Salvaggio  (F)	Indiana Ice	USHL	31	11	8	19	16
2015 Recruits
Rich Boyd  (D)	Cushing Academy	NEPSHC	22	9	22	31	-
Jason Kalinowski  (F)	Cedar Rapids RoughRiders	USHL	34	5	18	23	50
Charlie Kelleher  (F)	Junior Bruins 18U	USPHL 18U	15	3	6	9	2
Joseph Masonius  (D)	USA U17 Team	USHL	16	0	0	0	26
Chris Miller  (F)	Junior Bruins	USPHL	22	5	5	10	8
Danny Tirone  (G)	Cedar Rapids RoughRiders	USHL	23	14W	8L	2.75	.913
Marcus Vela  (F)	Langley Rivermen	BCHL	47	9	10	19	35
2015 or '16 Recruits
Liam Darcy  (D)	Berwick Academy	NEPSHC	16	5	15	20	-
Patrick Grasso  (F)	Des Moines Bucs	USHL	35	6	5	11	4
Aaron O'Neill  (F)	Green Bay Gamblers	USHL	20	0	1	1	0
Ara Nazarian  (F)	Malden Catholic	Mass HS	11	12	14	26	-
Nick Nonis  (D)	Governor's Academy	NEPSHC	17	5	0	5	-
2016 or '17 Recruits
Brendan van Riemsdyk   (F)	Jersey Hitmen 18U	USPHL 18U	8	5	8	13	2
	Christian Brothers	Jersey Prep	7	9	11	20	-

News & Notes

Prep School Hockey:

~ As I described in a post yesterday, Warren Foegele has accelerated his enrollment to UNH to the Fall of 2014. Last weekend, Foegele and the St. Andrew's College Saints wrapped up their regular season in the Midwest Prep Hockey League with victories over Ridley College, Rice Memorial, the Edge School, and Stanstead College. Over the 4 games, Foegele registered 6 goals and 2 assists. St. Andrew's won the MPHL regular season title with a record of 12-0-1 and Foegele was the league's leading scorer with 12 goals and 17 assists.

~ 2015 UNH recruit Rich Boyd continues to pile up points for Cushing Academy. In three games last week, the senior defenseman and team captain scored 2 goals and 2 assists. His 31 points is tops among all defensemen in New England Prep School Hockey.

~ Last Wednesday, defenseman Nick Nonis and Governor's Academy won their third game of the season. Nonis scored the game-winning goal on a power play in the 4-1 victory over Lawrence Academy. On Friday, Nonis scored Governor's only goal in a 2-1 loss to Buckingham Browne & Nichols. Nonis is the leading goal-scorer on the Governor's team with 5 goals.

United States Premier Hockey League:

~ Last Thursday, John Furgele was named USPHL Defensive Player of the Week. He is committed to UNH for 2014.