The Lone Star Brahmas are proud to announce that defenseman Simon Loof has committed with Merrimack College for the 2017-18 season.
“I’m very excited obviously and I’m just happy to know where I will be going so I can relax a little bit,” Loof said following a phone conversation with Merrimack earlier this week.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for Simon,” Head Coach Dan Wildfong added. “He’s really done well. He had a good start to the season and obviously had a lot of schools interested in him and Merrimack was a good fit.”
The Swedish born defenseman plays an up-tempo style, is one of the best skaters in the South Division and is a strong stick handler through the zones. Loof currently leads the team with 14 assists this season, is second on the Brahmas with a plus-11 rating and runs one of the Brahmas power play units.
“His feet are really good. He has good speed and his offensive ability is high end. You need that to win games,” Wildfong said.
Loof has certainly put on a show through the first third of the regular season, and the scouts have taken notice. With multiple teams talking to him after the NAHL Showcase, Loof finally announced his college decision before the holidays.
“(The recruiting process) was fun. I had a lot of interest. It was a hard decision, but I’m excited to be a Warrior,” Loof said. “It was my goal coming (to Texas) to get a scholarship or commitment, but I didn’t think it would be that quick.”
The 6-foot-2, 185-pound skater will join three former Brahmas (Ludvig Larsson, Alex Carle, and Tyler Drevitch) at Merrimack next fall.
“It seems like we have a connection there, but there were a lot of schools interested in him and I guess Merrimack won the recruiting race,” Wildfong said.
“I face-timed with Alex Carle and I got his thoughts on the school and the team so that helped (me make my decision),” Loof added. “From what I heard, it seems like a good fit. I’m hopefully going to visit next week.”
Loof came to the United States after playing last season in the SuperElit league and spending the previous four seasons winning awards in the Swedish junior leagues. The transition appeared to be a smooth one for Loof whose 15 points rank him fifth in the North American Hockey League amongst defensemen.
With the Brahmas currently sitting atop the South Division and second overall in the NAHL behind Aston, it should be safe to say there will be plenty more commitment news for Lone Star in the future.
“My teammates helped me a lot to get where I’m at right now and I’m going to help them and we are all going to help each other. I feel there are going to be more commitments coming up because we have a really good team,” Loof said.
“I think if we keep doing our team thing, individual things will happen,” Wildfong addressed. “Because we are winning everyone is asking who is really doing well for us. It’s not easy to win in our division.”
Loof has yet to decide which major he will pursue in the northeast, but he mentioned he is considering a business major given his father Jonas owns his own company back in Sweden.