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Des Moines Buccaneers

19 Buccaneer Alumni Vying for An NCAA Men's Hockey Championship

March 25, 2016 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Des Moines Buccaneers News Release


The NCAA men's hockey tournament starts today and the Des Moines Buccaneers have plenty of alumni involved in the tournament as 19 former players are on 9 of the 16 tournament teams.

The first game of the tournament has the most former Buccaneers in the first round matchups, as the #1 seed University of North Dakota's Drake Caggiula will battle #4 Northeastern University and Ryan Ruck, Colton Saucerman, Garret Cockerill and Zach Aston-Reese in Cincinnati, OH. Caggiula is an alternate captain for the NCHC regular season champs UND and leads all Buccaneer alum going into the NCAA tournament in goals (19) and points (44) this season. Goaltender Ruck is one of two former Bucs still in the tournament that played last season in Des Moines and he has started and picked up the win in all 13 games of the Huskies 13-game winning streak, including a Hockey East tournament championship. Aston-Reese is an alternate captain for Northeastern and his 29 assists (14-29-43) are tied for the most among the 19 Buccaneer alum in the tournament. The winner of that matchup will take on the Big Ten regular and postseason champions #2 University of Michigan and Justin Selman and the #3 University of Notre Dame with Jack Jenkins and Ali Thomas on the team.

The other bracket that starts today is in Worcester, MA. Goaltender Nick Ellis already has a National Championship with #1 Providence College but won that last season as a backup; he's looking to prove himself in the tourney as a starter and comes in with an impressive .935 save percentage, 1.82 goals against average and a record of 25-6-4. The Friars will take on the player in the field with the most games in a Buccaneer uniform as Cal Decowski played 130 games in the '09/'10-'11/'12 seasons. Decowski is a senior with the #4 University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs. In the other half of that bracket #2 Boston College and freshman defenseman Josh Couturier will take on #3 Harvard University.

On Saturday Ethan Prow of #1 St. Cloud State University gets his senior campaign underway, and it's already been a prolific senior season for the captain. Prow won honors as the NCHC defenseman of the year, offensive defenseman of the year and player of the year and was also named to the NCHC all-tournament team, which his Huskies won by beating Decowski's Bulldogs. Ethan is also a Hobey Baker Top Ten Finalist and is currently second in the fan voting with 36.5% of the vote currently (you can vote online via Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TheHobey/app/169616693395433/?app_data=%7B%22from%22%3A%22admin_wall%22%7D). Prow and his 37 points (8-29-37) will go up against Chad McDonald, Charles Williams and Tyler Dorantes in St. Paul, MN. The #4 Ferris State University Bulldogs won the WCHA conference tournament in Grand Rapids, MI last weekend to punch their ticket to the NCAA dance. The winner of that matchup on Sunday will take on whichever team advances between the University of Denver and Boston University.

The last regional to get underway will be in Albany, NY. Andrew Miller and his #4 Rochester Institute of Technology face the overall top seed #1 Quinnipiac University. The Quinnipiac Bobcats won both the ECAC regular season and postseason with help from freshman defenseman Luke Shiplo. Like Ferris State, RIT also needed a postseason victory to earn an automatic qualifier spot in the NCAA tournament, and senior captain Andrew Miller made sure his Tigers did just that. The winner of that game moves on to face either the #2 University of Massachusetts Lowell or #3 Yale University. The UMass Lowell River Hawks boast the other player fresh out of Des Moines in freshman Ryan Dmowski and junior Joe Gambardella who took home the Hockey East sportsmanship award this season.

242 USHL alum are on the sixteen NCAA teams that are trying to advance as regional champions to the 2016 Frozen Four in Tampa Bay, FL. The semifinal will be Thursday, Apr. 7, the Hobey Baker Award will be handed out on Friday, Apr. 8, and the champion will be crowned on Saturday, Apr. 9.

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