Arniel signs with Boston

Press Release

BOSTON, MA -- Boston Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli announced today that the club has signed center Jamie Arniel to an entry-level contract. Per club policy, terms of the deal will not be disclosed.

Arniel, a 5’11”, 183-pound center was selected by the Bruins in the fourth round (97th overall) in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. He spent the 2008-09 regular season with the Sarnia Sting of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) where he tallied 32-36-68 totals in 63 games, ranking third on the team in both goals and assists. In five playoff games this season he posted 1-2-3 totals for Sarnia. Arniel is currently playing for Boston's American Hockey League affiliate - the Providence Bruins - where he has skated in two postseason games to date.

The 19-year-old from Kingston, Ontario, split time between the Sting and the Guelph Storm during the 2007-2008 season. He played in 20 games for Guelph with 9-4-13 totals before finishing the year with the Sting where he notched 18 goals and 16 assists for 34 total points. His 27 regular season goals were enough to rank him third overall on the Sting.

In the 2008 Canadian Hockey League (CHL) Top Prospects game, Arniel notched a goal, and skated for Team Canada at the 2007 World Under-18 Hockey Championship. Arniel has NHL bloodlines, as his uncle Scott Arniel played in 730 games in the NHL for Winnipeg, Buffalo and Boston during the 80s and early 90s. He played 29 games for Boston during the 1991-1992 season.

(Nathan also is a writer for Maineiacs Post to Post and the Maine Hockey Journal. He can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)