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.