More U SPORTS In The ECHL

I spoke last week about a few ECHL signings that likely flew under everyone's radar, but they were important in terms of establishing that U SPORTS hockey produced quality hockey players. Forget the fact that U SPORTS and its respective members still have not acknowledged that they produced this past season's ECHL Defenseman of the Year, but seeing the number of players who once skated at the U SPORTS getting deals in the ECHL is encouraging. I guess that leaves me as the marketing wing of U SPORTS men's hockey since no one else is committed to doing it, so let's look at another pile of recent signings that have a U SPORTS basis to them.

We'll jump into this rundown of signings by hitting Allen, Texas first where the Allen Americans announced that they had signed former UPEI Panthers defender Matt Brassard last Friday. Brassard was the return to Allen from the Savannah Ghost Pirates last month to complete the "future considerations" part of a July 25, 2022 trade that saw Darian Skeoch go from Allen to Savannah. With Brassard being acquired by the Americans, they quickly signed him to a deal for the 2023-24 season. It should be noted that Brassard played 57 games at UPEI from 2019-2023 where he scored 10 goals and 35 assists. He was a big part of the Panthers' blue line in 2023 as they hosted the 2023 U SPORTS Men's National Ice Hockey Championship.

Brassard can play the game at an extremely high level as he was part of the gold mdeal-winning 2023 FISU Winter World University Games Team Canada entry, and he was also named the winner of the 2023 David Currie Jr. Panther Co-Educational Hockey Award for Perseverance and Resolve at UPEI. It seems pretty clear that Allen is getting a great person off the ice and a solid player on the ice with the signing of Brassard!

The Utah Grizzlies dipped into the free agency pool on Tuesday and signed a solid defender in former Mount Royal Cougars rearguard Kade Jensen. Jensen played at the Calgary school from 2018-2023 where he appeared in 89 games while scoring five goals and 11 assists. He also played in the WHL with Lethbridge, Swift Current, Brandon, and Victoria before arriving at Mount Royal, but the defensive defenseman is known for playing hard against opponents and forcing opposing forwards to earn their spots on the ice. If Utah was looking to shore up its defence, finding a guy like Jensen who can lock down a defensive zone is the right move!

Also on Tuesday, the Fort Wayne Komets made an attempt to upgrade their goaltending in a major way as they inked former Carleton Ravens netminder and 2021-22 ECHL Goaltender of the Year in François Brassard! Brassard joins Fort Wayne after spending last season with the Maine Mariners, and he's also seen time with the Jacksonville Icemen, the Wheeling Nailers, and the AHL's Hartford Wolfpack. Brassard won the ECHL Goaltender of the Year award while with the Icemen when he posted a 19-9-3 record to go along with a 2.19 GAA and a .911 save percentage. The Gatineau-born Brassard appeared for the Ravens in three seasons between 2016-19, playing 67 games where he posted a record of 39-26-0 with seven shutouts during his time in the OUA before signing with Maine in the summer of 2019.

You may remember Brassard because he won the OUA East's Goaltender of the Year honour in 2019, but perhaps you remember him more for his goal-scoring talents. The netminder scored a goal while playing for the QMJHL's Cape Breton Screaming Eagles back on Decmeber 13, 2014, and then he followed that up by adding another goal at the ECHL level when he scored against Adirondack as a member of the Maine Mariners on December 18, 2022! Maybe Fort Wayne will get a few goals out of their new netminder?

The Reading Royals were busy today as they re-signed two players with U SPORTS ties. The first player they inked to a deal was forward Devon Paliani who once called Toronto Metropolitan University (aka as Ryerson University) home. The former Rams player spent four seasons at the Ontario university from 2016-20 where he played in 98 games over four seasons, scoring 34 goals and adding 38 assists. He bounced around the ECHL for the last four seasons with stops in Maine, Worcester, Toledo, and Reading before the Royals opted to re-sign Paliani for this upcoming season. Paliani had 15 goals and 15 helpers for the Royals in 64 games last season.

The Royals also splashed some ink on a contract with forward Yvan Mongo who re-signed with the team. Mongo skated with the University of Ottawa Gee Gees from 2018-22 where he appeared in 72 games over those three seasons, scoring 20 goals and 32 assists, and he served as team captain for the squad in two seasons. Mongo signed a rookie deal with Reading last season that saw him play in his first professional games with the Royal, and he skated in 40 contests where he scored five goals and eight assists. And while his performance on the ice is important, it might be what Yvan is doing off the ice that is considerably more impactful for his legacy.

Mongo started up "Mongo's Brave Buddies" while at the University of Ottawa, and that program lets young people of all backgrounds in the Ottawa area attend a team game or practice, spend time with Mongo on the ice and have a conversation with him about shared experiences. After hearing racist remarks in hockey himself, Mongo's efforts in Ottawa to open up conversations about racism in the sport deserve so much recognition, and I'd hope that he'd be able to do something similar in Reading with the Royals' blessing. We'll have to see, but Yvan Mongo is already at the top of the list when it comes to character and integrity, so good on the Royals for bringing him back!

The last player who got a new deal in the ECHL today was former York Lions defender Xavier Pouliot as he re-signed with the Wichita Thunder. Pouliot spent three seasons with York University from 2019-2023 where he played 59 games while scoring 11 goals and 17 assists. He also served as captain of the Lions in 2022-23 as he brought his hard-nosed, never-give-an-inch attitude to the rink every night in amassing 212 PIMs in those three seasons. After finishing the U SPORTS season last year, he signed a deal with the Florida Everblades, but was traded to the Thunder just three games into his ECHL career on March 10, 2023. He'd finish that abbreviated campaign with one assist and 15 PIMs in 15 games - all collected while with Wichita - which prompted the Thunder to bring back the tough-as-nails defender!

As stated last week, I wouldn't expect these to be the only U SPORTS signings that ECHL teams make this summer. We see a ton of good players who at all U SPORTS universities, and a vast number of those players would help ECHL teams on their quest to win a Kelly Cup. I suspect that we'll hear more names of players who suited up at a university near you heading to the ECHL as the summer continues. When they sign, HBIC will report on it!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!