What ever happened to these guys?

Every few days I check out Chris Heisenberg's list for new recruits. This list is the main web source for college hockey recruits and is very accurate. A few days ago I realized that there were archived lists so out of curiosity I checked out the list for 2008 recruits. For Union there were 11 players on the list with four of them of them reported to be coming to Union in 2009. Then I realized that of the 11 guys on the list that only five of them were on the Union Hockey team at the end this season.

Here were the names on the list: Wayne Simpson (2009), Nolan Julseth-White, Kelly Zajac, Taylor Reid, and Brian Yanovitch were all with Union at the end of the 2009-10 season. The other six were Carl Ekstrom, Kyle Chagnon, Brett Bothwell, Ronnie Smith, Randy Hanagan, and Matt Williams.

Who are these six mystery men? Where have they gone and what are they doing now? Of these six guys, three of them have suited up for Union but left the program mid-season. The other three never made it to Schenectady.

I have done some detective work on all six of these "other" players. I found a lot on some and close to nothing on others. If you have any information on the where about's of any of these guys feel free to comment.

Carl Ekstrom (defense): I reported mid-season that a friend told me that Carl transferred to St. Norbert (Division III), but that I couldn't find anything confirming it. Now after doing the research I have found that this rumor was true. Ekstrom played two games for the Green Knights where he scored a goal. In his time in Schenectady, Ekstrom sat out his freshman year due to an injury but was able to gain redshirt status. But, as a redshirt freshman he was never able to crack the Dutchmen lineup and left mid-season. So, Union's first Swedish import was never able to touch the ice at Messa Rink. Ekstrom was listed as #25 on St. Norbert's 2009-2010 roster.

Kyle Chagnon (defense): Chagnon was reported to join the Dutchmen in the 2009 season, but that never happened. He played for the Woodstock Slammers of the MHL, which was where he committed to playing for Union [press release]. It seems that he played one more year for the Slammers and then went on to play for the University of Prince Edward Island in Canada. This was confirmed by the UPEI roster where Chagnon was listed as #27 and a first year player. Last year, the defenseman registered one assist in 14 games.

Brett Bothwell (goalie): Bothwell transferred to Union after his sophomore year when Wayne State dropped their hockey program. He went 16-22-1 with a .884 save percentage and 3.47 save percentage in two years at Wayne State. As a junior in Schenectady, Bothwell backed up Corey Milan along with Rich Sillery before leaving the team in December of 2008. I remember at the time that there was a rumor that he went to a college in Canada to finish up his career, and that is exactly what he did. Last season he played for Mount Royal University where he played in five games where he went 4-1-0 with a .873 save percentage and 3.54 GAA. Bothwell is listed as #1 on the Mount Royal roster.

Ronnie Smith (forward): Smith played the 2007-2008 season with current Union forward Kelly Zajac on the Salmon Arm Silverbacks. It was listed that he would join Union for the 2009-10 season. In 2008-2009 season, Smith completed his junior career with the Nanaimo Clippers where he scored 12 goals and tallied 19 assists in 60 games. But after his season with the Clippers, he did not come to Schenectady. Instead he joined the Manhattanville Valiants (Division III) where he played four games and tallied an assist. He is listed as #26 on the Manhattanville website.

Randy Hanagan (forward): Hanagan also played for the Salmon Arm Silverbacks in 2007-2008 where he was a major impact player, and then went to Union along with Kelly Zajac. He played seven games for the Dutchmen in 2008 where he scored two goals (one power-play). But, in the middle of the 2008-2009 season he left the team and never came back. It was rumored that he left the team due to a family illness. But, after reading an article from the St. Mary's Journal Argus it is unsure if this was true. The article reported that Hanagan joined the St. Mary's Lincoln's hockey team, a Junior "B" team in the Western Ontario Hockey League, and that he wanted to play for the University of Western Ontario hockey team. He is quoted in the article saying, "I wasn't enjoying it, and I want to play at Western next year." In the 2008-09 season Hanagan registered 10 goals and 20 assists in just 15 games for the Lincolns (two points per game). I am unsure of where he played in the 2009-2010 season as he is not listed on the St. Mary's roster or the Univeristy of Western Ontario roster.

Matt Williams (forward): Williams is a mystery to me. He played for the Fort McMurray of the AJHL with Taylor Reid in 2007-2008, and then played for the Brooks Bandits in the 2008-2009 season where scored 23 goals and had 25 assists in 58 games. After this I have not found anything on where Williams is. If you know anything feel free to comment.

Ekstrom transfers to St. Norbert?

After a 6+ week winter vacation I have finally arrived back at Union College and am happy to be around the rink for the rest of the season. And of course within the first 20 minutes of arriving in Schenectady my friend asked me if I knew that redshirt freshman defenseman Carl Ekstrom transferred to St. Norbert. I hadn't heard about it or read about it. I searched the web to see if there was any press release saying if this was fact but I could not find it. But, if you look at the Dutchmen roster Ekstrom, Union's first Swedish import, is not on it. I will keep my ears open this week to see if there are any rumors floating around campus. Carl never played an official game for Union. If he is going to St. Norbert he is going to a team who won the NCAA Division III championship last season.

Union takes on U.S. Under-18 team on Friday in charity exhibition game

This game is an exhibition game meaning it will not count towards the standings and will have no effect on the team's unbeaten streak or on Coach Leaman's 100th win. It should be a friendly match for a good cause (Toys for Tots). For more information on the even click here.

According to the team roster there is only one player committed to a ECAC school. This is Andy Iles a goaltender from Ithaca, New York who is committed to his home town team, Cornell. He is listed as 5' 8" so I'm guessing he relies on his quickness. All of the other players on the roster are committed to nine different schools: Cornell, Michigan, Boston University, Minnesota-Duluth, North Dakota, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Boston College, and Denver. This should be a great showcase for future NCAA stars. For more info on the US U-18 Team check out their website here.

Hopefully Coach Leaman will play some guys who haven't played much or at all this season, and I expect that he will. We have still yet to see freshmen defenseman Jean-Sebastian Bergeron and redshirt freshman defenseman Carl Ekstrom in Dutchmen uniforms. I have still heard no word if Ekstrom has overcome his hip injury. It should be interesting to see what this Swede is made of. We also haven't seen sophomore defenseman Taylor Reid this season after he played four games last season.

I assume Keith Kinkaid will sit while junior Corey Milan and senior Rich Sillery will get some time in net. Sillery hasn't seen any playing time this season and only played twice (one start) last season. This should also give Leaman a chance to rest his stars before the UConn Tournament and feature players that haven't seen much ice this year like forwards Justin Pallos, Luke Cain, Jason Shaffer, and defenseman Nolan Julseth-White. These are all very effective players and I expect them to be impressive against the U-18 team. Personally, I am a huge fan of Jason Shaffer as he is one of the fastest guys on the team and flies all over the ice when he plays. All in all, this should be a fun game for a good cause.