KEVIN MORRIS COMMITS TO MIAMI UNIVERSITY

Press Release

MUSKEGON, Michigan - With the regular season nearing its completion, Fighting Saints players have been busy making plans for their hockey futures. Shortly after Ryan Siiro committed to Princeton University earlier this week, Dubuque forward Kevin Morris announced that he will continue his education and play college hockey at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Morris has taken significant strides forward in the second half of his first USHL season. He scored a goal and added an assist in Friday’s win over Waterloo, bringing his totals to eight goals and eleven assists on the season.

Morris joins current Fighting Saints teammate Matt Caito as a future RedHawk on the Dubuque roster. The two were also teammates at the Salisbury School in the New England Prep League last season. Miami currently competes in the CCHA, but the school will make the transition to the newly-formed National Collegiate Hockey Conference beginning in the 2013-14 season.

Morris noted that he is intrigued by Miami’s business program, but is unsure what specific course of study he will undertake in college. On the ice, he is excited to get his college career underway, but he said that having made his college decision allows him to focus solely on the task at hand with the Fighting Saints.

“Playing college hockey has been my dream since I was little,” said Morris, whose father Mark was a longtime college head coach and is currently the head coach of the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs. “I know that my opportunities with Miami are unbelievable. They have a tremendous staff there that I have already fallen in love with. They are coaches who I want to play for, and a program I want to be a part of.”

Fighting Saints Head Coach Jim Montgomery is happy to see another one of his protégés get an opportunity to play hockey at the next level.

“Kevin Morris is an outstanding teammate and an integral part of our team who has really increased his offensive production throughout the year,” Montgomery said. “He has been solid defensively all season long, and an important part of our penalty kill in particular.”

With Morris’ commitment, the Fighting Saints now have fourteen players on the roster committed to play NCAA Division 1 hockey. Dubuque plays tonight in Muskegon at 6:15 CT, and returns home next weekend for the final two games of the regular season, hosting Chicago and Muskegon.

(Nathan can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)