Trail native Steve Koshey has committed to the University of Alabama-Huntsville for the 2012-13 season.
Since being traded from the Trail Smoke Eaters during the 2010-11 season, the Surrey Eagle defenceman has put up 65 points in 86 games and currently sits in fifth place among BCHL defensemen in points.
During his career in the BCHL, Koshey has 27 goals and 104 assists for 131 points in 212 games.
Surrey head coach Matt Erhart, was very excited about the Eagles latest commitment.
“Since getting Steve last season, he has been an integral part of the Eagles . . . We are excited of his opportunity at Alabama Huntsville.”
Koshey will join five former BCHLers at UAH, including former Eagle Jeff Vanderlugt. Alabama last made it to the NCAA tournament in 2010.
“I would like to thank the Surrey Eagles and the coaching staff for their commitment and hard work in helping me obtain an NCAA Division I scholarship. I have become a complete player in my time with the Eagles and am looking forward to furthering my hockey career at Alabama Huntsville.”
Surrey moved into the top 20 of the Canadian Junior Rankings last week and currently sit in 17th spot in the nation.
Connor and Kellen Jones of the Quinnipiac University Bobcats are heading to the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference playoffs after beating Brown 4-1 and tying Kevin Limbert’s Yale Bulldogs 2-2 in NCAA Division 1 hockey on the weekend.
Quinnipiac wraps-up the regular season with a 9-8-5 mark, while Yale goes to 10-10-2 in league play. With the fifth seed clinched, Quinnipiac will host 12th seed Brown on March 2-4 in a best-of-three series.
Kellen picked up two goals and two assists in the Brown win while Connor added a goal and an assist in each game. The Montrose twins lead the team in scoring, Connor with 35 points and Kellen with 30.
Line-mate Matthew Peca also factored into all Quinnipiac goals; the three have quickly become a formidable force in ECAC hockey.
“I thought me and the Joneses had great energy this weekend,” Peca said in a release. “We played off each other well and generated a lot of offense. I think everyone wanted the bye, but we’ll re-focus on Brown for next weekend.”
The tie against Yale cost the team a first-round bye as they finished the season deadlocked with Colgate for fourth, but head-to-head matchups relegated the Bobcats to fifth place.
The top four teams receive byes to the next round.
“Yesterday was a huge win for us as a team,” Connor said. “We played great, especially on the power play. Tonight’s game was a tough one. I feel like we should’ve won. It’s nice to get a point, but we all wanted a victory.”
Sixth seeded Yale will play against the 11th seeded Princeton Tigers in an Ivy League matchup. Former Smokie captain and Fruitvale native Limbert anchors the Yale blue line and is in his fourth year with the Bulldogs.
The Penticton Vees forward Travis St. Denis scored the double-overtime winner against the Merritt Centennials Sunday to extend the Vees record-setting pace to 36 consecutive wins.
With less than a minute to go in the second OT, the Trail native finished a play from Mario Lucia for the 2-1 win, the closest any team has come to ending the streak. St. Denis has 32 goals, 45 assists for 77 points on the season, seventh in the BCHL.
