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RPI Recruit Thread 2020-21

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St Vi Sk To were added for Al-Azem by Neutral Zone.
Code: 
 # Name                 Ps commitm. Team (League)                    Year  DOB      Ht    Wt  Hometown          NZ *s
 7 Kareem Al-Azem       RD 09/24/20 Rockets Hockey Club 16U (USPHL)  2023  01/02/04 6'02" 195 Washington, DC    3.50 St Vi Sk To
22                                  Landon Prep (MAPHL)
28 Alexander Babich     LW 02/16/19 South Shore Kings (NCDC)         2022  03/13/03 5'10" 173 Chicago, IL       3.25 x
XX Finn Brown           RW 10/07/19 Dubuque Fighting Saints (USHL)   2021  06/06/02 6'04" 188 Toronto, ON       4.00 St Sk To GS                                  
XX Eric Fawkes           C 10/17/18 Northeast Generals (NAHL)        2021  03/13/01 6'03" 185 Winnipeg, MB      3.50 x                                  
 8 Max Itagaki          RW 09/23/18 Janesville Jets (NAHL)           2021  06/18/02 5'07" 160 Glenview, IL      3.50 Sp SH Aw Sk
15 Reid Leibold          C 09/08/17 Maryland Black Bears (NAHL)      2021  10/23/01 5'10" 175 Ashburn VA        3.50 Sp SH
XX Hunter McDonald      LD 11/27/18 Omaha Lancers (USHL)             2021  05/11/02 6'02" 180 Fairport, NY      3.50 x
XX Payton Robinson      RD 10/21/19 Collingwood Blues (OJHL)         2022  04/30/03 6'02" 185 Mississauga, ON   3.50 x
30 Jack Watson           G 12/24/19 Coquitlam Express (BCHL)         2021  03/14/00 6'03" 195 Toronto, ON       3.50 x

Women
13 Nina Christof         F 05/30/19 Selects Academy 16U              2022  08/18/03 5'04" 141 Hammelburg, Germany 2.75
 3 Sophie Helgeson       D 04/30/19 Roseau High School               2021  03/10/03 5'06" 125 Roseau MN         4.25
 8 Mika Jahnke           F 03/09/20 Dallas Stars Elite 19U           2021  07/16/03 5'02" 130 xxxx, TX          3.75 same
19 Aliya Jomha *         F 02/07/19 Edge School (CSSHL)              2021  09/27/02 5'06" 155 Edmonton, AB      3.25
 6 Sophia Jones          D 05/02/19 Connecticut Polar Bears 19U      2022  09/23/03 5'03" 135 Westfield, MA     3.50 added
 6                                  Williston Northampton School
31 Ashlyn Lewis          G 03/11/20 NAHA White                       2021  01/21/03 5'09" 135 Breckenridge, CO  3.75 same
13 Audrey McCutcheon     F 03/04/19 Stanstead College                2021  02/22/03 5'04" 135 Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC 3.50
 2 Michelle Nutescu     LD 12/07/18 Shattuck-St. Mary's Prep         2021  11/19/02 5'07" 150 Northfield, IL    3.50 same

* In the RPI directory
# Known to have signed National Letter of Intent
[B]The years the men's recruits are listed as committed for are not necessarily accurate.[/B]
The dates on which some of the women are listed as committing on may be considerably after the actual dates.
I am assuming that Neutral Zone regards their Star ratings as public because they often tweet them with committals.

STRENGTHS according to Neutral Zone (NZ doesn't include them for women and goalies):
Aw=Awareness/IQ, Ch= Character/Leadership, GS=Goal Scoring Ability, Sk=Skating, Sp=Speed, SH=Stick Handling Skill,
St-Strength, To=Toughness, Vi=Vision/Passing
 
RB-Thanks for keeping us updated. I have someone who has seen Al-Azem play for the NJ Rocket team a number of times. As everyone here knows i truly like our boys to be big. This young man is not big - he is huge! And from some reports still growing. Would be easy to hang another 20-30 pounds of muscle on his frame. Has some aspects to work on. After all, defense is just simply not as easy to play as offense. There are a lot of places to make mistakes that can cost a team a goal or even a game. But this young man has the time to develop into something special. I love the way our defense has rounded out over the past couple years and we are going to be a team to be reckoned with (if we eve get to see real games played on real ice again!!) Will check back in if I get any further information.
 
Ralph Baer said:
NAHL released it schedule. The divisions don't start at the same time.

Code: 
# Name Ps Team (League) Gm- G- A- P- PM Next Gm
7 Kareem Al-Azem RD Rockets Hockey Club 16U (USPHL) 0- 0- 0- 0- 0 10/02/20
22 Landon Prep (MAPHL) 0- 0- 0- 0- 0
28 Alexander Babich LW South Shore Kings (NCDC) 1- 0- 1- 1- 0 10/03/20
XX Finn Brown RW Dubuque Fighting Saints (USHL) 0- 0- 0- 0- 0
XX Eric Fawkes C Northeast Generals (NAHL) 0- 0- 0- 0- 0 10/09/20
18 Max Itagaki RW Janesville Jets (NAHL) 0- 0- 0- 0- 0 11/05/20
15 Reid Leibold C Maryland Black Bears (NAHL) 0- 0- 0- 0- 0 10/09/20
XX Hunter McDonald LD Omaha Lancers (USHL) 0- 0- 0- 0- 0
XX Payton Robinson RD Collingwood Blues (OJHL) 0- 0- 0- 0- 0
30 Jack Watson G Coquitlam Express (BCHL) 0- 0- 0-0-x.xx-.xxx 10/02/20 preseason
Click to expand...

For those that might want to see our recruits in Danbury (< 2 hours from Troy), Leibold's first visit will be 10/30-31 and Fawkes will be in 12/5-6.
 
USPHL article on Al-Azem commiting to RPI. https://www.usphl.com/news_article/show/1124688

Rockets 16U Defenseman Alazem Commits To Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute


By Joshua Boyd/USPHL.com, 09/25/20, 7:30PM EDT

Kareem Alazem knows where he’ll be in September of 2023.

The Washington, D.C., native and returning Rockets Hockey Club 16U player loves the certainty and having a goal to skate towards - after all he’ll be hitting the campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in three years.

“It’s one step,” said Alazem, who knows that nothing is certain until he pulls on an Engineers jersey. “This just happened yesterday [Sept. 24]. I had been talking with them a while and decided to commit.

“From a school standpoint, RPI is one of the top engineering schools in the country - their teams are even called the Engineers,” Alazem added. “I love the staff, I saw a lot of the campus and I loved that. I have a couple buddies who committed there. That helps, and just hearing from them what they say about the school and they had a solid year last year. Coach [Noel] Rubin has spoken a lot about their school positively and thought it would be a good fit for me.”

Alazem is in his second season in the USPHL 16U, though he played technically with the 15U Rockets last year. They were entered as the Rockets Hockey Club Black in the 16U, which allowed Alazem to be selected for the USPHL 16U All-Star Game, helping his Team National to a 7-3 win.

“That was awesome. A couple of the guys from my 15U team were able to play in that as well, and we knew the 16U guys,” said Alazem. “The experience of it all was nice, and I even got to do an interview with The Dan K Show at intermission.”

What makes Alazem an All-Star and an NCAA Division 1 commit at age 16?

“Definitely some lockdown defense, though I jump up in the play when needed. I also bring in a lot of physicality,” said Alazem, who stands 6-feet-2-inches and weighs in at 194 pounds, still with time to grow. “I play the body a lot during the game, I do not give forwards time or space.”

“Kareem is a solid two-way defenseman who can quarterback a power play and be in a shutdown position when holding a lead,” added Rubin. “His meanness and toughnesss make him an intimidating force on the blue line. His offensive awareness is very good and he has an innate ability to join the rush at the right times to add offense. We are so proud of him and congratulate him on his RPI commitment. It has been a lot of fun coaching him these past few seasons.”

He puts all the credit with the Rockets in terms of getting his college deal done so early.

“A huge part of the credit goes to Coach Rubin. I love the Rockets, I have nothing but good things to say, especially with their development path. I can go from 16U this year to 18U, or if I play well enough, I could join the NCDC. That is my goal,” Alazem said. “They do a really good job with exposure and my commitment to RPI proves that point - I would not have had that if not for the Rockets Hockey Club.”

He further credits the non-profit NextGEN AAA Foundation for their help in assisting him in remaining with the Rockets for the entire 2020-21 season. The mission of the NextGEN AAA Foundation (nextgenaaa.org) is to provide mentoring, education, and hockey programs to diverse, low-income, and at-risk youth throughout North America.

“Being of a Middle Eastern background, they helped me find a billet family so I could remain full-season with the Rockets,” said Alazem. “I was going to go to prep school and do just a split season with the Rockets, as I’m from Virginia and it would have been a long ride every weekend. Coach Rubin got me connected with the the NextGEN AAA Foundation.”

The USPHL congratulates Kareem Alazem, his family, the Rockets Hockey Club and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for his commitment.
Click to expand...
 
Ralph Baer said:
USPHL article on Al-Azem commiting to RPI. https://www.usphl.com/news_article/show/1124688
Click to expand...

The interesting statement was that he has a couple of buddies that are committed to RPI. I suppose that could be Brackett and Leibold because they are from that area, but they are several years older and Brackett is already on campus. Could we have some other young commits that haven't been identified yet?
 
Last edited:
rpi82 said:
The interesting statement was that he has two buddies that are committed to RPI. I suppose that could be Brackett and Leibold because they are from that area, but they are several years older and Brackett is already on campus. Do we have some other young commits that haven't been identified yet?
Click to expand...

I think that they were the two who were meant, especially since he is apparently originally from VA, not DC.
 
Finn Brown player profile from the Fighting Saints site:

Player Profile: Finn Brown


By Jack Milewski, 09/29/20, 11:30AM CDT
Over the next two weeks, we will be putting a spotlight on each and every member of the 2020 Fighting Saints Training Camp roster. The players are set to report to Dubuque by the beginning of October with the USHL season slated to start November 6th. Dubuque returns 10 players from last year’s team, adds two from the NCAA ranks and brings in seven from their affiliate list last year. According to head coach Oliver David, this will be a very young, but talented team. This week we will be profiling Finn Brown.


Finn Brown 2019-20 Stats: 53 GP, 29G, 25A, 54P (St. Michael’s Buzzers)

In round two of the Phase II Draft, Dubuque grabbed the top playmaker on the Buzzers. In round four, they got the best scorer from that same team. Finn Brown joins teammate Ryan Alexander on the Saints. Brown also played with Stephen Halliday in midget hockey.

Brown is a big, strong, shoot-first forward and an RPI commit. Last season Dubuque had great success with drafting a shoot-first forward in Matthew Kopperud and Brown possesses the same mentality with a much bigger frame.

He was over a point per game player with the Buzzers last season and at nearly 30 goals he was inside the top-10 in the Ontario Junior Hockey League when it came to goal scoring last year.

Brown’s prior junior experience should help him adjust quickly to the USHL level and with Dubuque losing their top-five goal scorers from last year, he will be called upon to supply a good amount of offense for the club.

Brown should have no problem acclimating to Dubuque itself because of his prior connection with both Alexander and Halliday.
 
The USHL schedule has been released.

Code: 
 # Name                 Ps Team (League)                       Gm- G- A-  P- PM Next Gm
 7 Kareem Al-Azem       RD Rockets Hockey Club 16U (USPHL)      0- 0- 0-  0-  0 10/02/20
22                         Landon Prep (MAPHL)                  0- 0- 0-  0-  0
28 Alexander Babich     LW South Shore Kings (NCDC)             1- 0- 1-  1-  0 10/03/20
XX Finn Brown           RW Dubuque Fighting Saints (USHL)       0- 0- 0-  0-  0 11/06/20
XX Eric Fawkes           C Northeast Generals (NAHL)            0- 0- 0-  0-  0 10/09/20
18 Max Itagaki          RW Janesville Jets (NAHL)               0- 0- 0-  0-  0 11/05/20
15 Reid Leibold          C Maryland Black Bears (NAHL)          0- 0- 0-  0-  0 10/09/20
XX Hunter McDonald      LD Omaha Lancers (USHL)                 0- 0- 0-  0-  0 11/06/20
XX Payton Robinson      RD Collingwood Blues (OJHL)             0- 0- 0-  0-  0
30 Jack Watson           G Coquitlam Express (BCHL)         0- 0- 0-0-x.xx-.xxx 10/02/20 preseason
 
Friday’s games

Al-Azem https://www.usphl.com/view#/game-summary/14126
Babich https://www.usphl.com/view#/game-summary/12582
Watson preseason https://bchl.ca/stats/game-summary/9823

I will post the summaries whenever.

Edit: Apparently the :eek:Rockets Hockey Club Premier 16U team's boxes are not at the USPHL site. The one at the USPHL site is a different Rockets team. Their own site https://www.newjerseyrockets.com/sch...bseason=683239 shows a game today, however they have not been filling in the box scores.
 
Last edited:
The link which I originally posted for Al-Azem was for The Rocket's USPHL Junior (20U) Premier team. They have not entered a schedule for the 16U league https://www.usphl.com/view#/schedule/all-teams/73/2?league=6&gametype=-1&specialteams=false. The Rockets have not been filling in box scores on their site. THis should be it https://www.newjerseyrockets.com/game/show/29405652?subseason=683239. This is the correct place since Al-Azem is on the roster https://www.newjerseyrockets.com/roster/show/5728631?subseason=683239. Similarly their opponent, who by the way are apparently not in the USPHL, also have not filled in their box score https://www.capecodwhalers.com/game/show/29397013.
 
Code: 
 # Name                 Ps Team (League)                       Gm- G- A-  P- PM Next Gm
 7 Kareem Al-Azem       RD Rockets Hockey Club 16U (USPHL)      x- x- x-  x-  x 10/03/20 2 games
XX                         Morristown-Beard HS                  0- 0- 0-  0-  0
28 Alexander Babich     LW South Shore Kings (NCDC)             2- 0- 1-  1-  0 10/03/20
XX Finn Brown           RW Dubuque Fighting Saints (USHL)       0- 0- 0-  0-  0 11/06/20
XX Eric Fawkes           C Northeast Generals (NAHL)            0- 0- 0-  0-  0 10/09/20
18 Max Itagaki          RW Janesville Jets (NAHL)               0- 0- 0-  0-  0 11/05/20
15 Reid Leibold          C Maryland Black Bears (NAHL)          0- 0- 0-  0-  0 10/09/20
XX Hunter McDonald      LD Omaha Lancers (USHL)                 0- 0- 0-  0-  0 11/06/20
XX Payton Robinson      RD Collingwood Blues (OJHL)             0- 0- 0-  0-  0
30 Jack Watson           G Coquitlam Express (BCHL)         0- 0- 0-0-x.xx-.xxx 10/03/20 preseason
 
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