Originally I had planned to write something about Greg Mauldin for my View From Section U feature but I think I’ll put that off for the time being and focus on relaying some information on UMass’ newest commitment.  Plus, I want to get a jump on my weekend preview tonight as well since I might not have time tomorrow due to potentially being busy with an important appointment (Blue Hills Brewery event at Union Brewhouse).

Chris Heisenberg brought news that UMass picked up a commitment from Stephen Mastalerz, a 6’1″ 200 lb goaltender currently playing for Kimball Union in the New England Prep League.  The North Andover native will be coming to Amherst this fall.  Kimball Union is 23-5-4 on the season with Mastalerz getting most of those wins behind a .928 save percentage.  Sorry for the lack of complete stats, but USHR continues to be outside my budget.  Last year Mastalerz backed up current Maine goaltender Martin Ouellette.

Other than that, I can’t find too much on Mastalerz.  He wasn’t even listed on Heisenberg’s site before this and he’ll usually have most of the college bound players before they’re committed.  That’s not saying Mastalerz isn’t a DI goaltender however.  He could just be a late bloomer plus playing behind an NHL draft pick doesn’t make it easy to get noticed early.

To me this looks like an insurance policy in case Jeff Teglia  and/or Kevin Boyle don’t develop into everyday players, either due to performance or injury.  In any case a little competition at the goaltender position never hurt anyone and will require all three players to play their hardest in order to see the ice.  What this means for current third string goaltender and fan favorite Kevin Moore, I can’t tell you.  Coach Cahoon did have four goaltenders on the roster last year with Paul Dainton, Dan Meyers, Moore, and Randy Wolcott.  Maybe he does that again.  At the same time while Moore is a junior in terms of eligibility, he may be further along academically and perhaps could be graduating early anyway.  Time will tell.

Heisenberg hasn’t updated his site to show Joseph Manno to UMass yet.  Not sure if the news hasn’t reach him yet or if I got fed some bad info.  Time will tell on that one as well.

Someone had asked me recently if the coaching staff had offered a scholarship to Malden Catholic’s Brendan Collier who recently committed to BU.  I can tell you that they did in fact.   But so did the rest of Hockey East.

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Dick Baker profiles Peter DeAngelo and Kevin Moore in his most recent blog post.