- The home game against Peoria on 11/8/15 has been moved to Saturday, 11/7/15. This means that the home opening series against the Rivermen will be three games in as many nights.
- The away game at Columbus on 3/4/16 has been moved to Sunday, 3/7/16. This game will remain a road game against the Cottonmouths.
- The home game against Peoria on 3/16/16 has been replaced with a home game against the Ice Pilots on 12/20/15. The 12/20/15 game was originally scheduled against the RiverKings, but was moved to March 2nd.
More schedule changes for the IceGators. I didn't catch an official announcement from the SPHL or the IceGators, but both the schedules on both websites confirm them.
IceGators head coach Drew Omicioli announced the signing of two rookies who are fresh out of college and looking to make their mark in professional hockey. Forward John Scorcia and goalie Matic Marinsek will join the team in October for training camp. The signings continue the trend of recruiting players from the northeast. Wednesday's signings bring the preseason roster to 19 out of 30 players. The IceGators currently have 2 goalies, 5 centers, 7 wingers, and 5 defensemen. Scorcia comes to the IceGators from the Division III Salve Regina College in Rhode Island, where he recorded 105 points in 99 games during his four-year career there. The vast majority of those points - 65 of them - were assists. Scorcia joins a talented group of forwards, and will have to work hard to earn a spot on the opening day roster. “I have seen John play and he has a very similar style to Stephen Buco,” Omicioli said. “He’s a guy who can come in and be an impact player immediately. He has excelled in each level that he has played including the NAHL and his collegiate career. The IceGators’ goaltending staff has immediately improved with the acquisition of Matic Marinsek. Marinsek, a former member of Slovenia’s under-20 national team, won a gold medal at the U-18 World Championships in the 2009-10 season. In 14 games with HK Olimpija's U-20 squad, he recorded a 1.99 goals against average. The 6’3”, 206-pound Marinsek continued his success at Division III Norwich (Vt.) University. Marinsek appeared in 29 games for the Cadets, compiling a .905 save percentage and a 1.70 goals against average. Marincek has an excellent opportunity to be the backup to Adam Courchaine this season. “(Marinsek) was 9-2 in his sophomore year and 8-2 in his junior year,” Omicioli said. During his senior year he played only three games because of an injury, but he’s fully healthy now. His goals against (average) 1.97 as a sophomore and 1.65 as a junior showcase how valuable he can be between the pipes. He’s a guy coming in who could make a difference.” This week's poll is going to be a touchy subject. However, we don't shy away from being mildly controversial here. If you have followed the team for some time, you may know that the IceGators are the only SPHL team without an active booster club. There are a couple of informal fan groups who are not formally affiliated with the team, and there are some functions that booster clubs do (player adoptions, for example) that the IceGators manage directly. So this week's discussion is: Should the IceGators give the boosters another shot? Happy Labor Day, Gator Nation! In less than 60 days, hockey will return to the Cajundome. Last week, you picked Tanner Burton as last season's team MVP on the blue line. This week, Puck Off shifts focus to the other side of the ice. The IceGators had no problem scoring last season - they were the only SPHL team to have five 40-point scorers, and there's plenty of worthy candidates for team offensive MVP. Do you like guys who can straight up snipe? The pick Bret Peppler, who lit the lamp a team-leading 24 times and led the league in shooting percentage. How about playmakers who can sling the sauce? Shawn McNeil led the team with Adam Stuart with 32 dishes. Perhaps you prefer scorers who can do it all? No shortage of choices there - Jeremy Boyer had 17 goals & 28 assists, Jake Hauswirth scored 21 goals & 22 assists (in only 37 games), and Chris Wilson assisted on 25 goals while lighting the lamp 18 times. Go ahead, and pick your favorite offensive player from last season's team. We'll post the results on Sunday. We hope you all have had a nice Labor Day weekend!
It has become a trend this offseason that the Louisiana IceGators make big announcements. On the morning of the SPHL deadline for re-signing protected players, the team makes the biggest announcement of them all. The IceGators have re-signed the remaining players on their protected list, with the exception of goalie Scott Diebold, who has elected to retire and put his engineering degree from RPI to good use.
The players re-signed by the IceGators include center Luke Kasteel, wingers Stephen Buco & Matt Viola, and defensemen Tanner Burton, Jordan Ciccarello, and Dan Cornell. Given the high turnover in minor-league hockey, it is highly unlikely that a team can re-sign or trade twelve of thirteen players from their protected list. The IceGators managed to pull off this unlikely task. However, Jeremy Boyer's return to the IceGators was completely unexpected.
Boyer, who originally signed overseas in the Polish Hockey League, has re-signed with the team for his fourth season. According to news sources in Poland, Boyer fell ill while in training camp and elected to return home.
Jeremy Boyer is quite possibly the perfect teammate. He's the type of player who makes the teammates around him better, and the type of steady, lunch-box type player that coaches enjoy having. He has been the rock-solid anchor on the second line for the past three years, and is effective on both the power play and the penalty kill.
Jeremy Boyer easily wins the contest for most frequent flyer miles this summer. His round trip from Lafayette to Saskatoon to Poland and back was approximately 16,500 miles. If you're wondering what 16,500 miles of air travel looks like, here is an approximation of Boyer's summer travels.
Last season, the smooth playmaker dished out 28 assists while scoring 17 goals in his most productive year in Lafayette. Coach Drew Omicioli says that Boyer "Is one of the most versatile players in the league. Throughout last season he demonstrated he was not only a top offensive threat, but also was along with Alex Hudson was one of the top defensive forwards both even strength and on the penalty kill." The re-signing of Boyer, along with Jake Hauswirth, Hudson and the now re-signed Luke Kasteel, give the IceGators four quality skaters at the center position. Look for one or more of this quartet to get significant playing time on the wing next season.
Jeremy Boyer's Career StatsSince almost two-thirds of you have improving the defense as the Louisiana IceGators #1 priority, this week's question asks who was your personal defensive MVP last season. Would you consider the much-improved Mitch Stretch, who led the team in plus/minus last year? How about the plucky pinching of Tanner Burton, who led the IceGators' blueliners in scoring? Perhaps the tough, hard-shooting Kirk Byczynski, or his steady, penalty killing brother Clark? What's Italian for shot blocking? Ciccarello. Top five answers on the board. You choose... Vote away! There are eight more weeks until the IceGators' season opener at the RiverKings. Every Friday for the remainder of the offseason, we wrap up the activity with the IceGators and across the SPHL. We'll cover player signings, league news, and other related information in one neat little package. There has been some sad news in the hockey world today. First, former New York Islanders coach and Hockey Hall of Famer Al Arbour passed away this morning at the age of 82. Arbour coached the Islanders for 19 seasons, 1,500 games, and won four consecutive Stanley Cups in the early 1980s. This afternoon, the hockey world was saddened with the loss of Ray Miron, the co-founder of the Central Hockey League - which recently merged with the ECHL. Miron was instrumental in increasing hockey's popularity in the United States, and has served in every level of professional hockey. If you're watching minor league hockey, you have Ray Miron to thank for it. The Louisiana IceGators continued to beef up their forward lines with three signings that were released on Monday. The Gators signed former Ice Bears and RiverKings RW Phil Bronner, two-year FHL C Ryan Patsch, and rookie RW Jeremy Plourde. Former IceGators RW Adam Stuart, traded to Peoria for C Alex Hudson, has signed a contract with ECHL Evansville. Also returning to the ECHL is defenseman Eric Tallent, who signed up for his third season with the Tulsa Oilers. Tallent played three seasons for the IceGators from 2010-13. Breaking: News reports from Poland have stated that C Jeremy Boyer, who recently signed with PHL Orlik Opole, is no longer with that team due to undisclosed reasons (the Polish translation is unclear). The IceGators retain Boyer's SPHL rights, and there is a very good chance that he will re-sign with the team. Stay tuned, this story is rapidly developing. In Columbus, the Cottonmouths have reported three players have re-signed with the club for 2015-16. Defensemen Kyle Johnson & Andy Willigar and G Shannon Szabados have elected to play for the Cottonmouths next season. The FireAntz have picked up their second player from EIHL Dundee, Forward Shane Lust. Lust has played the last four seasons in France and England, and is slated to begin his first professional season in North America. The Huntsville Havoc further bolstered their roster with the signing of veteran forward Brett Lutes, formerly of the Pensacola Ice Flyers. Lutes will be playing in his 12th professional season, in a career that has spanned 626 games among six different leagues. Huntsville also announced their promotional schedule. The Havoc will feature nine different specialty jerseys this season, with themes including Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street (I'd love to see the gloves for that game!), Star Wars, Weiner Dogs, and Batman. Defending SPHL champions Knoxville have re-signed C Josh Cousineau, and inked rookie forward Ryan McDonald from D3 Framingham (MA) State. The expansion Macon Mayhem have yet to publicize any player signings, and are the only SPHL team yet to announce such news. Coach Kevin Kerr has stated in a interview that they do have players signed and attending ECHL camps in the preseason. On the heels of the trade that sent G Adam Courchaine to the IceGators for RW Benji Rubin, the Mississippi RiverKings signed scrappy LW Corey Bellamy. Bellamy played last season with the Havoc and racked up a league-high 302 penalty minutes in only 38 games. The most surprising signing of the week belonged to the Pensacola Ice Flyers. Defenseman and former Peoria Rivermen captain Cole Ruwe, who announced his retirement back in April, has elected to return to hockey and head south to Pensacola. The Ice Flyers also signed a pair of rookies this week. Luke Hannon, a 24-year-old forward from Liberty University was added to the roster, as was Austrian forward Patrick Divjak, who played four years of collegiate hockey at Niagara University before spending last season playing in his native Austria. Pensacola also announced their promotional schedule for the 2015-16 season, which will feature theme jerseys featuring Minions, the Blue Wahoos baseball team, the movie Top Gun, and throwback Pensacola Ice Pilots jerseys from their years in the ECHL. Dear IceGators: ECHL throwback sweaters need to happen. Finally, the Peoria Rivermen made public their first player signing since acquiring LW Adam Stuart from the IceGators by announcing the return of two-time SPHL goalie of the year Kyle Rank.
The Louisiana IceGators continue to have a very active off-season. After making big news the last couple of weeks with the signing of center Jake Hauswirth and the trade to acquire goalie Adam Courchaine, they ink a trio of forwards today with RW Phil Bronner, C Ryan Patsch, and RW Jeremy Plourde. Today's signings currently give the IceGators a total of ten players under SPHL contracts for this season.
RW Phil Bronner is set to begin his 3rd season as a pro, and has spent time with the RiverKings and Ice Bears during the 2013-14 season, racking up 10 goals, 15 assists, and one SPHL Player of the Week award. Last season, he played 35 games while winning a FHL title at Watertown. Bronner scored 22 goals and 27 assists along with 3 goals and 3 assists in their playoff run. His play earned him a callup to ECHL Elmira, where he scored 2 goals in 6 games.
Also entering his third professional season, Ryan Patsch has excelled in the FHL while playing for the Danbury Whalers. He earned Rookie of the Year honors in the 2013-14 season, where he scored 31 goals with 30 assists in the regular season, and 5 goals in 5 games in the playoffs. The Philadelphia native attended training camp with the Columbus Cottonmouths last season before returning to Danbury for a second season and continuing to be an offensive force for the Whalers, scoring 23 goals and 35 assists.
The youngest of the three forwards signed today, 21-year-old Jeremy Plourde has been an offensive force in the Junior-A level QJAAAHL in Quebec. The 5'10", 165 lb right winger's best season was in 2013-14, where he scored 42 goals and 43 assists in 52 games for La Tuque. Last season, his scoring pace dropped slightly - scoring only 24 goals but still was credited with 41 assists in 50 games - while getting moved between three different teams. In his three years in junior hockey, Plourde has 85 goals, 105 assists, and 190 points in 149 games.
Outlook
Today's signings continue the IceGators trend of signing big, physical forwards who like to play down low and hustle in front of the net. The 6'2", 205 lb. Bronner fits the mold of a power forward, and makes a big passing target for Alex Hudson or Jake Hauswirth on the right side. Coach Drew Omicioli is going to need someone to step into the void left by Adam Stuart's departure to Peoria, and Bronner will have every opportunity to compete for that role in training camp.
Ryan Patsch is a 6'0", 195lb. center that has the skills to be an effective playmaker up the middle, but his best chance of cracking the IceGators' roster will be on the left side, as the Gators are extremely deep at center. Jeremy Plourde is definitely skilled in the offensive zone, as his three-year boxcars in the QJAAAHL is a stellar 86-105-191 in 154 games. However, his +/- rating during his time in juniors is a -41. Plourde will make a challenging developmental prospect for Coach Omicioli, and he has the potential to be extremely successful as a pro if he can improve on his two-way game.
Here's an interesting factoid: Bronner and Patsch both spent time last season with the ECHL Elmira Jackals, who are fast becoming a de facto affiliate of the IceGators during Drew Omicioli's tenure. Four players from last season's IceGators - Bronner, Patsch, defenseman Jordan Ciccarello, and postseason sensation Stephen Buco - spent time playing in Elmira during the 2014-15 season. Elmira head coach Jamie Russell spent three years (2011-2014) as an assistant with Providence in the NCAA, and Omicioli (Providence '02) played four years with the Friars. Collegiate ties run deep, so look for a continued partnership between the IceGators and Jackals in the future.
Phil Bronner's Career StatsRyan Patsch's Career Statsjeremy Plourde's Career Stats
One of the goals of the Louisiana IceGators in this off-season was to upgrade their goaltending position. Today, they got their man. Today, a trade was finalized between the IceGators and the Mississippi RiverKings that brings goalie Adam Courchaine to the frozen swamp.
Courchaine played in 31 games for the RiverKings in his rookie season, and put up excellent numbers (2.49 GAA, .911 SV%) despite a record of 14-13-2. Courchaine's win/loss record is misleading, however, as the majority of those losses came in his first nine starts (0-7-2) while the RiverKings were still figuring out their offense. Once the RKs got on track, the wins piled up for Courchaine, finishing up the season going 14-6-0. The signing gives coach Drew Omicioli a quality goaltender who is capable of handling the starting goaltender role, which was tops on our pre-season checklist. In the team's official announcement, Omicioli says, "My goal this off season was to find a definitive number one goal tender that could come in and lead us to a championship. Adam is a guy that I feel possesses that and is going to bring experience and leadership between the pipes to help our organization attain our first President Cup Championship. His size, stature in the net and ability to play the puck make him one of the top goal tenders in the SPHL." The acquisition of Courchaine was costly, however, as top-line LW Benji Rubin was the price to be paid for the big 6'2", 26 year old tendy. Rubin played well last season with the IceGators, scoring 12 goals and 18 assists in his 42 games. RiverKings coach Derek Landsmesser describes his new forward as a "Big power forward who is not afraid to get in the dirty areas to score goals." The trade makes sense for both clubs. The IceGators have a lot of big play-making forwards, which is an area that the defensively focused RiverKings needed to improve. The 6'2" Rubin should make an immediate impact in Mississippi. Likewise, the RiverKings will want to give Peter Di Salvo the bulk of the work, and Courchaine will have the opportunity to fill a similar role with Louisiana. The most fascinating part of this trade... Courchaine and Di Salvo will face each other on opening night in Southaven. Until then, here are a couple of highlights of the IceGators' newest goalie.
Adam Courchaine's Career Stats
It's been a bittersweet 24 hours for the IceGators faithful. News broke yesterday that three-year IceGators veteran Jeremy Boyer signed a contract to play for Orlik Opole of the Polska Hokej Liga. In three seasons with Louisiana, Boyer played 140 games and scored 52 goals with 72 assists - second only to Shawn McNeil over that span. Boyer was an instrumental part of the IceGators' success over the past three seasons, and his playmaking skills will be missed. We wish him the best of luck in Poland, and hope that he finds success (and the back of the net) wherever he plays in the future.
This morning, the Louisiana IceGators responded with extremely good news with the signing announcement of center Jake Hauswirth. Hauswirth, who spent most of his six-year professional career in the ECHL before signing with the IceGators last December, made an immediate impact upon his arrival. The Marquette, MI native scored 21 goals with 22 assists in 37 games, and 2 goals with 3 assists in the postseason. Here's what Hauswirth's boxcars would have looked like had he played a full 56 games with the IceGators last year.
Had he played a full season, Hauswirth's 65 points would have been one point behind Pensacola's Adam Pawlick for the SPHL scoring title. Coach Omicioli gushed about Hauswirth's signing in the team's official announcment, "Jake came in and proved that he can be one of the top forwards and offensive threats in the SPHL. He is a natural leader on and off the ice and has the ability to score huge goals in key times. Jake has the potential to be an MVP type of player for the team and is a large piece of the puzzle that we will need to win a championship. I am excited to see what he will do in a full 56 games for the IceGators organization."
We're pretty excited too, coach. These guys, however... not so much. Jake Hauswirth's Career Stats |
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