ICERAYS ALUMNI REPORT – VOL. III, 10TH ED.

Jan 17, 2017

By: Collin Schuck – IceRays Staff
Jan. 17, 2017

There remains both consistency and a crop of fresher faces throughout the IceRays alumni ranks with the former near the top of play and the latter along the lower end in the 10th edition of the IceRays Alumni Report, Vol. III. Six different players earned multi-point weekends, and the upper end back stoppers continue to churn out wins for their respective teams.

Goaltending in the American Hockey League (AHL) has been on point for the last few weeks among alumni players spearheaded by two young players looking for their next big break. Pheonix Copley (’10-’11) is on a career win streak now standing at six games thanks to a pair of wins over the weekend despite a tall test against his Chicago Wolves. The Alaskan turned aside 70 of 73 shots between both games and held opponents to two or fewer goals for the 13th time in 18 appearances this season. The streak ties his career-high set in 2014-15 and forecasts his all-star potential season as he turns 25 tomorrow. Copley owns a 11-4-2 record with a 2.32 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage.

Though not on an active win streak, goaltender Anthony Stolarz (’11-’12) has now earned wins in six of his last seven games including two of three since returning to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms at the start of the New Year. He stopped 40 of 45 shots and returned back to the regular rotation with partner Alex Lyon, who helped lead the Phantoms on an upward surge in Stolarz’s absence. The former second round draft pick now possesses a 8-3-0 record through 11 games in the AHL with a 2.38 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage

Though the ECHL All-Star Classic in Glens Falls, N.Y. begins tomorrow, attention scans toward defenseman Colton Saucerman (’10-’11) following his return to the South Carolina Stingrays from a minor AHL stint. The former Northeastern University defenseman earned a three-point weekend in their three-in-four road stretch against the Florida Everblades starting on Friday night with an assist. He followed that up with his first goal of the season to open the scoring for the Stingrays in the third period as well as an assist on the game-tying goal midway through the frame. The Colorado product now has eight points through 21 games this season.

A five-game home stand ended for Ohio State University in NCAA Division I play last weekend with a two-game weekend against Arizona State, and forward Ronnie Hein (’13-’14) factored in for the first time in 2017 with a pair of points. He picked up the sixth and final goal of the Buckeyes’ 6-1 victory on Friday night followed by an assist during their 2-2 draw with the Sun Devils on Saturday. The weekend marks the first points since October 29, stretching six games with an additional five missed due to injury in November and December. The Michigan native owns five goals and six assists for 11 points through 15 games.

Forward Emil Romig (’12-’13) may have just needed the flip to a new calendar year because he earned another multi-point weekend against Western Michigan. Saturday’s 7-2 win was a nice stat boost game for the #2 Denver Pioneers as well as Romig, who posted the sixth goal for the Pioneers on the evening as well as an assist on the eventual game-winning goal scored by former Wichita Falls Wildcats forward Colin Staub. It’s just the second multi-point game for Romig this season, but he now has all five points scored over his last four games and is certainly hitting his stride.

Saturday was also productive for forward Nico Sturm (’13-’14) in his first trip to Brown University during a 7-2 victory. The German helped his Clarkson University Golden Knights with a pair of goals in the second period, expanding the lead to 5-0 at that point. Defenseman Perry D’Arrisso (’12-’14) also factored in with a goal in the third period following Sturm’s pair of tallies. Sturm now has three points over his last three games following a five-game drought and moves to five goals and 10 assists for 15 points through 23 games. D’Arrisso, on the other hand, recorded his first point of 2017 and owns three goals and four assists for seven points through 21 contests.

Points have come in small bursts this season for Jon Grebosky (’11-’13) in now his third season with Concordia College in NCAA Division III action, and last weekend produced one of those small bursts. A three-point weekend for the 23-year-old began on Friday night with the lone goal during a 1-1 tie with Hamline University. He followed that up with a goal and an assist on Saturday during Concordia’s 4-2 loss, factoring in on all three goals over the weekend and continuing to lead his team across the board. Grebosky leads the team in scoring for the second-straight season with six goals and eight assists for 14 points through 15 games. He’s been on a near point-per-game clip over the last two seasons, owning 39 points through 41 games during that span.

For the first time in just under one month, forward Regen Cavanagh (’14-’16) cashed in for a multi-point weekend with the Dubuque Fighting Saints of the United States Hockey League (USHL). The fun began on Friday against the Cedar Rapids Roughriders with an assist on Dubuque’s eventual game-winning goal in the second period during a 6-2 win followed by the eventual game-winner scored on Saturday by the Virginian in a 6-1 win over the Waterloo Black Hawks. That’s now three points in his last four games and maybe the start of an upward trend in the second half of the season. Cavanagh owns six goals and 10 assists for 16 points through 30 games.

 

Read the IceRays Alumni Report every Tuesday on www.goicerays.com, and hear the audio version on the IceRays Broadcast Network.


Collin Schuck is the Director of Broadcasting & Media Relations for the Corpus Christi IceRays. He can be contacted at cschuck@goicerays.com or on Twitter at @CollinDSchuck.