Mike McMahon reported today that UMass has received commitments from forward Mike Iovanna and defenseman Mark Hamilton for the start of the 2013 season.
Iovanna was a junior this past season at Malden Catholic where he was on a line with Brendan Collier (committed to BU) and Ryan Fitzgerald (one time UMass target committed to BC). He had 15 goals and 27 assists for MC, but the biggest goal was his last of the season which gave the Lancers back to back Super Eight championships. Video of the goal and his coach’s comments can be found here. Here’s an article on the big goal. The Herald named him a 2011-12 All Star.
A roster from early this past season has him at 5’8″ and 160lbs. I spoke with UMass alum Jim Clark, writer of the Herald’s In The Slot blog covering Massachusetts High School hockey, and he had a lot of positive things to say about Iovanna. He said he’s a good all around player who does well at all parts of the game. It’s tough to project exactly what he’ll be able to do when he gets to UMass since he’s only a junior, but he was confident that Iovanna is of Hockey East caliber. Basically Iovanna is very talented but for the most part has been overshadowed by his linemates, both of whom are considered pretty elite prospects in the state.
Right now it looks like Iovanna will return to MC next year. It does not appear that any USHL teams hold his rights.
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Joining Iovanna in the class of 2017 is defenseman Mark Hamilton. Hamilton is a native of Winthrop, Mass who played this past year for the Salisbury School in Connecticut. He was not listed in the final rankings for the 2012 NHL Draft but he was listed as a player to watch earlier in the process. He’s mentioned in this piece from NEHJ on the strength of the Salisbury defense. Hamilton is 6’3” 215lbs and had 2 goals and 7 assists this past season.
USHR had him ranked as the 7th best junior this past year, higher than Doyle Somerby than recently picked BU over the Minutemen as well as one time UMass target Anthony Florentino. The site touts him as being big, physical, and smart with the puck. Like Iovanna it does not appear that Hamilton has been drafted in the USHL, it’s likely he’ll return to Salisbury where UMass has had good luck with players previously, the last being Will Ortiz.
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Just a reminder to get your questions in for tomorrow FTT UMail. You can leave your question as a comment to this post, email me, or post your question on the FTT Facebook Page. I’ll pick some of the more interesting questions and do my best to answer them.
Fear The Triangle - UMass Hockey Blog 
George
/ April 11, 2012Mike McMahon is mentioned above…for your UMail, I’ll ask has he heard anything more about the FOX 61 report of UConn being “a done deal”? He was very adamant about it not being a done deal. Your observations or thoughts?
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rocks22
/ April 11, 2012Thanks George. I don’t think I’ll include it in UMail, but I’m happy to respond. As far as I’ve seen McMahon hasn’t said anything further. I do trust his reporting though because he’s been on top of the Hockey East expansion story from the start, even when the Notre Dame talks were in the very early stages, and he’s been accurate. That said, just because he refuted the fact that it was a “done deal” doesn’t mean it’s not probable. Personally I think Hockey East wouldn’t have toured facilities without an invitation being extremely likely. So I think it’s just a matter of time until it is a done deal. And personally I’m ok with that as long as UConn does things right (“right” being full scholarships and no more than three years at the XL Center in my opinion).
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Anonymous
/ April 11, 2012do you know what schools umass won the recruiting battle over to get these two?
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rocks22
/ April 11, 2012Unfortunately not. Great question. I did a bunch of research but did not come across that information. That’s one thing that makes following college hockey recruiting so much more challenging thank college hoops or football, there’s no Rivals.com or similar site to find that info.
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