Thursday, October 25, 2012

Puskarich Heading to Vermont Next Fall

Press Release

 Township of Langley, BC, Tuesday, October 23, 2012: The Langley Rivermen Junior “A” Hockey Club is pleased to announce the commitment of Mario Puskarich (1992 born) to the University of Vermont for 2013.

In his second season on the Rivermen, Puskarich is off to a great start leading the team in scoring with 7 goals and 7 assists in 14 games,

“We are excited as an organization for Mario as he has put in a lot of hard work since arriving at the beginning of last season. He has been working non-stop on and off the ice and really deserves this,” said Rivermen Associate Head Coach Jordan Emmerson.

The Vermont Catamounts ice hockey team is a Division One program that plays out of the competitive Hockey East conference.  They have appeared in the NCAA Men’s hockey championship five times in their history and have made two trips to the Frozen Four with the most recent one coming in 2009. Vermont has produced current NHL stars such as Martin St. Louis (Tampa Bay Lightning), Tim Thomas (Boston Bruins), Patrick Sharp (Chicago Blackhawks), and John LeClair (Philadelphia Flyers).

“Vermont is a very good program that play out of one of the best conferences in college hockey and are now just a few years removed from the Frozen Four,” continued Emmerson.

Puskarich has continued to develop his all around game, continuing to improve as the season progresses, but Coach Emmerson says there is one thing that stands out about him more so than the rest,

“He scores goals it’s just as simple as that. Mario is one of the top three returning goal scorers in the league with 31 goals and yes, he may have not gotten off to the start he would of liked to in the first couple games, but he is back to his old ways and is now leading our team in scoring,” Emmerson stated.

The Florida native came into this year with the right attitude, which impressed the coaches and eventually was named an assistant captain in his final BCHL season,

“Mario has shown throughout the summer his commitment to the program and to himself to become a better hockey player and it has translated into the season he is having. He is a great leader whether it is saying the right things in the dressing room, being the first one in the gym or out on the ice blocking shots and doing whatever it takes to win. He sets a good example to our younger players,” Emmerson finished.

With this commitment, the Rivermen now have a total of seven players that have signed to a college or university, as Mario joins Bo Pellah (Penn State), Logan Smith (Holy Cross), Evan Campbell (UMass-Lowell), Austin Azurdia (UConn), Thomas Nitsche (Colgate), and Viktor Dombovskiy (Yale).


(Nathan can be reached at nathanfournier@mainehockeyjournal.com)

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