Soo Eagles at Home this Weekend
Published on September 26, 2013 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Soo Eagles News Release
Fresh from opening the 2013-2014 season at the North American Hockey League's Showcase Tournament, Soo Eagles will be on the home ice of Pullar Stadium for three games versus the Johnstown Tomahawks this weekend.
The Eagles posted a record of 1-1-2 at the annual Showcase Tournament, held in Blaine, Minnesota.
All 24 NAHL teams played four games apiece at the Showcase and all results count in the standings as part of a 60-game regular-season schedule.
The Eagles are a part of a six-team North Division of the NAHL which besides the Soo and Johnstown, also includes Michigan Warriors, Port Huron Fighting Falcons, Springfield Jr. Blues and Janesville Jets.
First-place finishers in the North Division during the 2012-2013 season, the Eagles are again coached and managed by Bruno Bragagnolo.
Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. resident Bill Vanderleest is back with the Eagles as their goalie coach.
And with the graduation of 2012-2013 goalie-of-the-year Tyler Marble to the Division 1, National Collegiate Athletic Association Colorado College Tigers, Vanderleest has turned his attention to the Eagles 2013-2014 netminding tandem of Paige Skoog and Colin Brennan.
"They have different styles but they are both hard workers and good listeners," Vanderleest said of Skoog and Brennan, who each got two starts at last week's Showcase.
New to the Eagles this season is 1995 birth year defenceman Michael Caruso, who played in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League with the Soo Thunderbirds in 2012-2013. Caruso's rights were obtained by the Eagles from the Thunderbirds during the off-season.
Caruso played in all four games for the Eagles at the Showcase and while he didn't score, he took six shots on goal from his blueline position and played tough, aggressive hockey, according to Bragagnolo.
"There are already some Division 1 scouts asking about him," Bragagnolo said of Caruso, who stands in at six-foot-one and weighs 190 pounds.
EAGLE EYES
Off-season forward acquisitions Brad Pung and Ryan Urso are the Eagles scoring leaders through four games of the 2013-2014 NAHL season.
Pung, formerly of the Michigan Warriors, has a goal and three assists.
Urso, signed as a free agent from the dormant Jamestown Ironmen, has a goal and two assists thus far.
Urso, a 1993 birth year, had a number of offers to sign elsewhere during the off-season but chose the Eagles.
"I had heard a lot of good things about Bruno as a coach and a person and a lot of good things about the Soo Eagles as an organization," Urso related.
After being used mostly as a shutdown forward by Jamestown last season, Urso hopes to take advantage of the first-line status that Bragagnolo has afforded him with the Eagles.
"I like to think that I can double my points totals from last season to this season," said Urso, who totalled 25 points, including eight goals, in 59 games with Jamestown last season.
Bragagnolo said he sees Urso as a potential impact player.
"He's got good offensive skills," Bragagnolo said of Urso. "He's a good skater and he can fire the puck. We like Ryan's character and see him as being a leader for us this season."
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