Brandon Montour – D – Waterloo Blackhawks (USHL) – Dec 2014
7 GP / 1 G / 6 A / 7 Pts / 2 PIM / 0
Montour picked up his first goal of the year in a 2-1 loss for the Blackhawks.

Brandon Egli – D – Vernon Vipers (BCHL) – 2015
6 GP / 0 G / 0 A / 0 Pts / 0 PIM
Egli played this past weekend for Vernon but didn’t register in the scoring.

Jake McCarthy – D – South Shore Kings (USPHL) – 2015 or 2016
0 GP / 0 G / 0 A / 0 Pts / 0 PIM
McCarthy is still nursing an injury that is delaying his debut for the Kings.

Kurt Keats – C – Powell River Kings (BCHL) – 2015
12 GP / 11 G /7 A / 18 Pts / 10 PIM
Keats has now scored a goal in six straight games, scoring 7 goals total to go with three assists in that span.  He’s second in the league in goals and 6th in points.

Austin Plevy – C – Brooks Bandits (AJHL) – 2015
15 GP / 9 G /16 A / 24 Pts / 20 PIM
Plevy had two goals and three assists this past week.  He continues to lead the AJHL in points while ranking 6th in goals.

Troy Conzo – RW – Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL) – 2016 or 2017
2 GP / 0 G /0 A /0 Pts / 0 PIM / -2
Conzo played his second game of the season for the Bucs but didn’t make it into the scoring.  One thing to keep in mind about Conzo is he is one of the younger players on his team.  He will still have one or two seasons in the USHL most likely after this one.

Kyler Nachtigall – LW – Brooks Bandits (AJHL) – 2016
15 GP / 3 G / 3 A / 6 Pts / 33 PIM
Nachtigall had a goal and an assist this past week.

Shane Bear – D – Brooks Bandits (AJHL) – 2016
13 GP / 0 G / 6 A / 6 Pts / 16 PIM
It appears there was a stat correction this week as Bear actually lost a couple assists.

Ty Pelton-Byce – C – Team Wisconsin U18 (Elite)/Madison Memorial (WI HS) – 2016
18 GP / 11 G / 11 A / 22 Pts / 8 PIM  Team Wisconsin U18
0 GP / 0 G / 0 A / 0 Pts  Madison Memorial
Pelton-Byce had two goals and an assist in the past week.  He’s among the league leaders in goals and points.

John Leonard – F – Springfield Rifles (Mass Selects)/Springfield Cathedral (MA HS) – 2017
10 GP / 13 G / 6 A / 19 Pts  Springfield Rifles
0 GP / 0 G / 0 A / 0 Pts  Springfield Cathedral
T.A. from Hockeyrecruits4u blog passed along the info that Leonard is playing for the Springfield Rifles of the Mass Selects league before his high school season starts.  Leonard has mostly played with the U16 team where he currently is 4th in the league in goals and 7th in points.  He did play one game with the U18 team where he scored a hat trick.

For those interested, here is the Springfield Rifles logo:

Hmm….there is something very familiar about that image…  can’t put my finger on it…

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UMass had two of the Top 5 plays highlighted on the NCAA Hockey website with Patrick Lee’s gamewinner grabbing the top spot.  I’m still partial to the Horton goal sequence though that came in at #3.  If you want to feel optimistic about this season watch that highlight a few times.  The ticket office should burn that play on DVDs to be sent to any lapsed season ticket holders.  Any Pond Club mailings should include a DVD of that play personally signed by each player that touched the puck.  A video board should be added to the side of the practice rink just to show it over and over to the poor students making the long walk in from the yellow and green lots next to Mullins and make their daily trek a little better.  Assistant coaches Joey Gasparini and Ryan Miller should save the highlight onto their phones to aid them in their recruiting trips.  All FBS football conferences that UMass is targeting for membership should be shown that video, just because hockey.  Coach Micheletto should walk in to the next UMass sports luncheon, show the play on a loop while blasting AC/DC, and just walk out leaving the luncheon regulars in stunned awe.  If you aren’t excited after watching that play there is nothing more I can do to help you, you might as well delete FTT from your bookmarks.

Here’s the latest blog entry from Troy Power chronicling the road trip to East Lansing, complete with video this week.

Here’s an interesting first piece in a series from USCHO on the current challenges in scheduling games in college hockey.  This is obviously something that is affecting UMass, as seen with all the non-conference games against Hockey East teams in the last two seasons.