New recruits for Conn College and Trinity

The NESCAC hockey WordPress Blog posted three new recruits this week. Conn College landed Ryan Mowery, Westminter's leading scorer, and St. Sebastian forward Alex Calabro. Trinity welcomes Loomis-Chafeee co-captain Edward (EJ) Culhane.

Mowery, a 5'10" forward from Escondido (San Diego County), CA, joins Westy teammates Ethan Holdaway (Trinity),Xavier Moron (Hamilton) and Sean Orlando (Trinity) as a NESCAC recruit. After playing his youth hockey in California, Mowery spent the past two years on Westminster's varsity team. In 2011-12, he had nine points (6-3-9) for Westy. He followed it up with a big senior campaign, leading the New England Prep School Runner-ups in scoring with 32 points (11-21-32). With an October 1994 birth date, Ryan will step foot in New London, CT this fall as an 18 year old; something only 8 of the 63 recruits on the current list are young enough to claim. 

Below you can find Mowery's  recruitment video from his San Diego days set to Joe Satriani's "Summer Song/Interview." Notice the rink with the curling markings across the circles. Not unsurprisingly, ice space is very limited on the west coast.



Mowery will be joined on the Camels by St. Sebastian's forward Alex Calabro. The 5'11" Newton, MA product spent the last two years at the Needham, MA school, amassing 5 points (1-4-5) in his junior season and 17 (11-6-17) in 2012-13. Calabro was also awarded the Coach's Award for St. Sebastian's in 2013. One caveat: Calabro's main sport is lacrosse, so he could end up opting to play lax only; the Camels men's lacrosse team is currently ranked 20th in the country. 

Calabro and Mowry are the first two reported forward recruits for Conn College coach Jim Ward. Before now, only two Pomfret defenders, John Cunningham and Max King, had been reported as incoming Camels.  With only two graduating seniors (Dawson Luke and Sean Murray), Conn College has a rather full roster of returning players. 

As for Trinity, their recruit list added its seventh name in Loomis Chaffee defender Edward James (EJ) Culhane. The 5'10' redheaded defenseman from Cohasset, MA spent the past two years at Loomis Chaffee and even co-captained the 2012-13 varsity squad. EJ is NOT the son of former AHL player and Western Michigan hockey coach Jim Culhane. But just for fun, here is a video of Jim Culhane fighting in a 1989 AHL game.

2013 NESCAC Coach of the Year Matt Greason has sought a mix of junior and prep school players in his recruiting class thus far. Three of the seven recruits come from the North American Hockey League (NAHL), with four coming from New England prep schools.