Sure, I'll give it a try.
Sam Oliver:
Big time scorer for Drummondville, wore the A, center 5'11 183. Received the Mario-Lemieux Trophy for the regular season goal scoring leader. Of his 50 goals this year, 18 were ppg and 1 was shorthanded. He had 3 hat tricks and never had a goalless streak longer than 3 games. Faceoffs were at 54.5% full season. In this year's upset round 1 loss, he had 4g2a in 7 games–the big letdown for the Voltigeurs was depth scoring. Drummondville won QMJHL championship in last year's playoffs, he had 9g-8a in 19 games.
Also, UNH hockey blog
interviewed him in january if you haven't had a chance to read it. Also includes a scouting report from neutral zone. Interesting part to me is that before going to CHL at 16, he had visited UNH and met the coaching staff. He was already on their radar at a much younger age, so instead of meeting the coaching staff he was catching up with them. That likely helped him make the decision so quickly, he was only the 2nd player in the Q to announce his commitment. UNH coaching staff evidently liked what they saw in his progression as well.
He has an accurate shot and good hockey IQ, but I'm not sure how immediate he'll be on scoring now that he's the younger and smaller player again. While his goal scoring had a dramatic rise from last season, his point production was nearly the same as last year, going from 71 points to 78. He isn't a complete black hole defensively, skates well, doesn't shy away from physicality or getting to the net. He comes off motivated and enthusiastic about going to UNH. Also, he and Jesse Allecia (UNH 06 commit) have been on the same line for part of this year and developed some chemistry.
tl;dr: your coaches liked him before he had the 50 goals. obviously they had the right idea.
Jacob Newcombe:
Overage captain for Cape Breton, had the pleasure of being a part of that insane 5OT game. He was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in July 2023,
made his return January 2024, just in time for Cape Breton's Hockey Fights Cancer game against his former team. Only played 26 regular season games, had 24 points, including a 4 goal game in march. In playoffs had 19 points in 14 games. Had 73 points this season in a full year. He's stronger and more physical compared to Oliver, big net-front guy who wins puck battles. Seems like a good fit for the college game
Alex Carr:
Overage captain for Rouyn-Noranda, RHD. 6'0 194. Great skater, has sneaky strength for his size. Last season was a finalist for QMJHL's Best Defensive Defenseman award. Has some offensive upside and makes a decent first pass. 6 goals, 39 assists. So far in the playoffs, he has 2g1a in 9 games. Rouyn-Noranda just finished a sweep in the 2nd round.
Carr also had a
UNH Hockey Blog interview. He specifically points to the location- as I expected, Maine, UNH, UVM are attractive to players from the Maritimes.
Worth noting that all of the above players are from Atlantic Canada and likely speak English as their first language, even though Carr and Oliver played in Quebec markets. Newcombe and Carr are from Nova Scotia and Oliver is from New Brunswick (which is largely bilingual, he most likely speaks both).
Nick DeAngelis:
Assistant captain for the Sudbury Wolves. Defenseman, 6'2, 187. Wore an A as an 18 year old with Windsor and his overage year in Sudbury. 6-32-38 this season. Prior year (with a much better team) 3-52-55, ft a 17-game point streak in december. Shouldered a lot of defensive burden with a team that I have many opinions on how things worked out this year...
If you're going to be the most penalized team in the league, at least compensate by either outscoring your problems (Saginaw) or having a really good penalty kill (London)!!!!!
Sudbury was a very vulnerable team this year and a mid-season hot streak tricked themselves into thinking they were contenders. Did not work out for them. DeAngelis did his best with not a lot of defensive help.
Both he and Carr are solid defensive options and are not offensive black holes. All four of these guys might appreciate the extra rest and less strenuous schedule. DeAngelis especially could use to bulk up. I like this crop for UNH. Sam Oliver in particular seems to be a great fit and enthusiastic about this opportunity.
Hope this helps answer your question!
