NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, TX – After two full seasons playing in the North American Hockey League, the Lone Star Brahmas currently have 29 alumni playing NCAA DI and DIII hockey and a handful of other players still competing across the country.
Each month, LoneStarBrahmas.com will help the fans keep tabs on our alumni. In this edition of Brahmas Alumni Update brought to you by Thumbtechs, we take a look at the upcoming playoff pictures across the board.
NCAA
Forward Pat Egan (SUNY-Plattsburgh) and the top-seeded Cardinals will host third ranked SUNY-Geneseo for the SUNYAC Championship on Saturday, March 5. Egan is third among conference freshman in scoring, totaling 26 points this year.
St. Norbert is still ranked number one in the nation in DIII hockey and will be one of the 12 teams competing for the National Championship starting March 12. St. Norbert should have a first round bye with its 23-2-2 overall record.
Roman Uchyn (St. Norbert) finished second on the team with 13 goals during the regular season. He had 19 total points and teammate Storm Wahlrab was just behind him with 12 points in his freshman campaign. TJ Black (St. Norbert) was impressive during his first collegiate season, finishing with a 9-1-1 overall record, a 1.30 goals against average, and .937 save percentage.
Shane Joyce (Saint Anselm) wrapped up a strong sophomore season in net. He won 10 games, posted a 2.28 goals against average, amassed a .908 save percentage, and two shutouts. Second ranked Saint Anselm was supposed to compete for the Northeast-10 Championship this past weekend, but due to health concerns with the team and the upcoming school schedule, the game was postponed and ultimately cancelled. No.1 Stonehill College was deemed the Champions since the game could not be made up in the future.
Playing for the No.1 team in NCAA DI, Thomas Aldworth (Quinnipiac) will look to keep his team on track heading into the post-season. The Bobcats will play in the ECAC Quarterfinals starting March 11. Aldworth added three assists and three blocked shots in six February games, finishing with 12 points at the end of the regular season.
Union College drew Cornell in the opening round of ECAC action. Sebastian Vidmar was second on the team with a plus-5 rating and he netted six goals in his freshman campaign. Jake Kupsky only played in two February games, suffering one loss.
Oskar Andren (Boston) wrapped up the regular season scoring five points over 16 games. He will play University of Massachusetts in the opening round of the Hockey East Tournament this weekend.
Ludvig Larsson and Alex Carle (Merrimack) will play New Hampshire in round one of the Hockey East Tournament. Larsson scored a power play goal and added an assist in six monthly games while Carle finished with two assists and a plus-2 rating in three February appearances.
Derek Barach (Mercyhurst) finished first on the team in scoring (31 points) and the Lakers will take on Rochester Institute of Technology in the Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinals. Mercyhurst just swept RPI this past weekend as Barach recorded two assists and won just over 50 percent of his face-offs.
Russian defenseman Alexey Solovyev (Bentley) scored his first NCAA goal and he had four total points in February, his best month of the season. Bentley will host Sacred Heart in the opening round of the Atlantic Hockey Tournament.
Chad Guderian (Johnson & Wales) also scored his first collegiate goal this month in the team’s 4-1 loss to Salve Regina in mid-February.
Both Matt Lison (Bowdoin) and Todd Koritzinsky (Wisconsin Eau-Claire) finished well down the stretch. In Lison’s last seven games of the season, he registered seven goals and four assists while Koritzinsky tacked on four apples in six February games. UW Eau-Claire Blugolds should make the NCAA DIII post-season in a few weeks.
USHL
Center AJ Vanderbeck scored two goals in nine February games for the Sioux Falls Stampede heading into the final month of regular season action. One of his goals include a game-winning power play goal against the Fargo Force on February 20. Vandy did not commit a penalty in the month.
Like Vanderbeck, defenseman Johan Steen scored a goal against Fargo and he has registered at least one shot on goal in his last ten games played for Omaha.
Just one game separates the Sioux Falls Stampede from the Omaha Lancers for the number four spot in the tight Western Conference.
Current Brahmas defenseman Sean Giles is skating with the Youngstown Phantoms this week since Lone Star is enjoying their last free week of the season. Giles will return to Brahmaland on Thursday, March 3.
NAHL
Liam Stirtzinger (Fairbanks) is heading to the Robertson Cup Playoffs with the Ice Dogs. Fairbanks ranks first place in the North American Hockey League (NOTE: the Brahmas are 3rd overall), winning nearly 80 percent of their games. Stirtzy scored two goals and an assist through eight February games. He also added a shootout goal for good measure and led the team with ten penalty minutes over that stretch.
Eric Carreras has played well since being traded to the Aston Rebels. The Pennsylvania forward scored three times and had five total points in seven February games. Like Stirtzinger, Carreras also scored a shootout goal. Goaltender Darion Hanson (Aston) made three appearances, going 1-2-0 but his goal against average stands at an impressive 1.69. He made 56 saves last month.
Gunner Rivers (Minot) saw the majority of starts for the Minotauros, going 2-1-1 with a shutout, 94 save percentage and 1.96 goals against average. Rivers was awarded the NAHL’s Central Division Star of the Week on February 1st, his first weekend in the Dakotas.
Nick Ford (Brookings) was second on his team in points (5) and penalty minutes (21) in eight February games. Connor Hutchins (Brookings) added just one assist this month, his lowest point production this season.
PRO
Defenseman Anton Santesson is playing professional hockey for Helsingborgs HC, a member of the highest division in Sweden. Santesson has 14 assists and 16 points in 32 games.