Some news and notes regarding current and former Chargers this past month:
Saulnier in Canadiens camp: Senior forward Brennan Saulnier spent the first week of July in the Montreal Canadiens development camp. On the third day, Saulnier had a nice assist.
He also mixed it up with a familiar WCHA opponent: Alaska’s Nikolas Koberstein:
Not every day you see a fight at development camp. But here we are. Saulnier vs Koberstein. #TSN690 #Habs pic.twitter.com/VU0FCdeEWv
— Amanda Stein (@amandacstein) July 5, 2017
Saulnier’s comment:
A full statement from Brennan Saulnier regarding his fight with Nikolas Koberstein at @CanadiensMTL development camp last week @bsauns22 pic.twitter.com/xsyM7xRsFD
— Carter Brooks (@CBrooksie84) July 10, 2017
Guerriero signs with South Carolina: Goaltender Carmine Guerriero will begin his professional hockey career with the South Carolina Stingrays, the ECHL affiliate of the Washington Capitals.
Guerriero played in nine games, starting seven, in his senior season at UAH, posting a 3.77 goals against average and a .872 save percentage. In his Charger career (77 games with 72 starts), he had a .910 save percentage, which was the second highest in UAH’s modern Division I history and fourth all-time. His 3.19 career goals against average was fourth in UAH’s modern Division I history and seventh overall.
Wolitski named Alumnus of Achievement: Former Charger defenseman Sheldon Wolitski was named a UAH’s Alumnus of Achievement. He was to be honored by the UAH Alumni Association on Tuesday, August 1.
Wolitski is the founder and owner of The Select Group, which unites top companies with highly skilled candidates for managed services and contingent staffing and provides specialized IT services. Wolitski, who was on the 1996 NCAA Division II national championship team and is UAH’s all-time leading scorer for defensemen with 113 career points, announced a donation of $500,000 to the program in January.
West named head coach in Fairbanks: UAH alumnus Lance West was promoted to head coach at Alaska after Dallas Ferguson left to lead the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League.
West was the assistant coach for the Nanooks for the past nine seasons. Before going to Fairbanks, West was an assistant coach for Doug Ross from 2000-07. Last season, Alaska was 12-20-4 overall and 11-13-4 in the WCHA, finishing 6th in the conference. Alaska went 2-1-1 against the Chargers.
West had 113 points (45 goals and 68 assists) in 108 games for the Chargers from 1991-95.
New commitments: The Chargers got two commitments in July.
Josh Astorino of the Georgetown Raiders is expected to join UAH for this season, giving the Chargers a third goaltender along with senior Jordan Uhelski and newcomer Mark Sinclair. Astorino was the Ontario Junior Hockey League goaltender of the year with a 1.93 goals against average and .936 save percentage.
Hank Sorensen, a defenseman of the Waterloo Black Hawks of the USHL, will join the Chargers in 2018-19. He had four goals and 14 points in 41 regular-season games for Waterloo last season.
With the signing period ending Aug. 1, a formal release of signees for the 2017-18 season is expected soon.