Last week was a busy one on the recruiting front as UMass received four commitments for this coming season over the course of three days.  I covered three of the four in my most recent posts.  But on May 26th Coach Carvel and his staff secured another , this time from Jonny Lazarus, a right shooting right wing who played this past season for the Wichita Falls Wildcats in the NAHL.

The release from the Wildcats mentions that UMass assistant coach Ben Barr had been recruiting Lazarus since December (for the purposes of bringing him to Western Michigan for most of that time).  The release also describes him as a strong two-way forward.

This past season Lazarus had 16 goals and 30 assists in 54 regular season games and then averaged a point a game in 9 postseason contests (2G, 7A).  The previous season, Lazarus’ first with Wichita, he had 9 goals and 19 assists in 52 game.  Lazarus had a career +41 rating in his two years in the NAHL.  Prior to that the Syosset, NY native played with the New Jersey Rockets, a program that has sent a number of players to UMass previously.  Lazarus is listed at 6’0” and 183lbs.

The other recent recruiting news is that defenseman Brian Scoville is no longer committed to UMass, per Mark Divver.  This probably won’t make a huge impact as I’m not sure if he was progressing the way people had hoped at Winchendon.

I hope to be able to update the Projected Future Roster page soon.

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Of course the other big story right now is the fact that two former UMass captains are facing each other in the Stanley Cup Final, assuring that another Minuteman will join Jon Quick on the Cup.  It was Conor Sheary who had the biggest impact in the first game of the series last night when he converted a Sid Crosby pass into the second goal of the night.

For his efforts he was named the #2 star of the night and was featured in this New York Times article about the impacts of rookies on Game 1.  Here’s what he had to say after making his Stanley Cup debut.

On the other side of the ice defenseman Justin Braun played well, though the Sharks in general had a tough time slowing down the Penguins.  Braun may have been a bit distracted while playing in his first Final game as his father-in-law, former NHLer Tom Lysiak, had passed away earlier in the day.

UMass fans on Twitter appear to be narrowly pulling for Braun and the Sharks in the series:

Speaking of Jon Quick, he’ll be suiting up for Team USA in the World Cup of Hockey this September.