Davide Nicoletti (UAH ’10) will play for Team Italy at the IIHF World Championships. (Photo by Serena Fantini, Web Hockey Bar Italia)
Davide Nicoletti, a UAH Charger from 2006-10, will play for Italy at the IIHF World Championships, which begin tomorrow in Minsk, Belarus. Italy faces Norway in its first game on Saturday.
Nicoletti was born in Toronto, Canada, but his family roots are in Italy, where all four of his grandparents are from. The Greater Toronto Hockey League has a profile on Davide, who recovered from a serious car accident at the age of 11 to keep playing hockey.
Nicoletti had four goals and 12 assists for 16 points in 85 games at UAH. This past season, he had 27 points in 53 regular-season games for HC Bolzano in Austria, helping the Foxes win the country’s league title.
Future Chargers taken in USHL draft: Three 2015 verbal commitments to UAH were drafted by USHL teams in the junior league’s Phase II Draft on Tuesday.
Joey Marooney (Cody’s brother) was taken in the third round by the Sioux Falls Stampede. Marooney scored 19 goals in 25 games in his senior season at Holy Family Catholic High School in Minnesota.
Connor Wood, a forward with TPH Thunder’s under-18 squad, was taken in the 15th round by the Omaha Lancers. Wood had 14 goals and 26 assists for 40 points in 56 games this past season with the Thunder.
Roberts Smits will join the expansion Bloomington Thunder from the Selects Hockey Academy.
Even as a top-level CHA team, UAH did not get commitments before they were drafted to the USHL. This is a great sign for the future of the Chargers.
Saulnier signs: The signing period continues with Brennan Saulnier inking his National Letter of Intent. Saulnier finished the 2013-14 campaign with 16 goals with 33 assists for 49 points in 60 games for the Fort McMurray Oil Barons of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.