With the start of the season coming on October 8th, I wanted to get a blog out to give everyone a look into the new players trying out for the Johnnie Hockey team.
This past season, we only had four seniors graduate that we must replace. Huba Sekesi is playing professional hockey in Germany, Sam Valerius is a buyer for Donaldson Companies in Bloomington, Minnesota, Tyler Dunagan is working for Wells Fargo home mortgage servicing loans, and Sam Dockry is in sales with Ryerson in Coon Rapids and playing semi-professional roller hockey.
This season, we have seven new players trying out for the team. It is a great mix of guys from all over the United States. All seven players have playing experience after they graduated high school and they played in five different leagues. Two played in the North American Hockey League (NAHL), two in the North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL), one in the Western States League (WSHL), one in the Eastern Hockey League (EHL) and one played Midget U18 Hockey in Phoenix. The average age of these seven guys when they stepped on campus was 20 years old. Three of them were 21 before they even came to SJU.
Here is a look into the seven new guys trying out for the team.
Braden Altena – F - Fr. – 5-7 – 160 – St. Cloud, Minn./Granite City (NA3HL)
Personal: A 2015 graduate of St. Cloud Technical High School…recorded 135 points (52g/83a) with the NA3HL’s Granite City Lumberjacks over three seasons and 127 games (2015-18)…in the 2016-17 season he was awarded NA3HL All-Tournament Team and was a NA3HL Champion…in high school Altena played 70 games and registered 57 points (25g/32a) in three seasons (2012-15)…shoots left…son of Eric Altena and Nancy Cowardin of St. Cloud, MN…born 2/18/97…Undecided major.
Scouting Report: Braden was the leading scorer for Granite City Lumber Jacks this past season. He is a smaller forward that plays the game with a lot of speed and skill. He will add to our team speed and can play both wing and center.
Brady Dahl – F - Fr. – 5-9 – 175 – Rochester, Minn./Granite City (NA3HL)
Personal: A 2016 graduate from John Marshall High School of Rochester, MN…recorded 41 points (14g/27a) in 75 games with the NA3HL’s Granite City Lumberjacks over two seasons (2016-18)…in the 2016-17 season Dahl’s team was the NA3HL Champion…in high school Dahl played 78 games and registered 85 points (39g/46a) in three seasons (2013-16)…shoots right…son of Tammy and Mike Dahl of Rochester, MN…born 9/17/1997…Biology major.
Scouting Report: Brady played most of this past season with Granite City, but was also called up to the NAHL for some games throughout the year. Brady is a fast, powerful forward. He is great at protecting the puck and for a smaller forward can really add some physicality along with his speed.
Russell Harren – F - Fr. – 6-1 – 205 – Wasilla, Alaska/Idaho (WSHL)
Personal: A 2017 graduate of Wasilla (Alaska) High School…recorded 35 points (18g/17a) in 54 games for the Idaho IceCats of the WSHL in 2017-18…totaled 50 points (21g/29a) in 28 as a senior and team captain at Wasilla H.S…shoots left…son of Richard Harren ’76 and Suzanne Chapelle of Wasilla, Alaska…brothers, Wendell ’15 and Will ’17, graduated from SJU…cousins, Gabe ’10 and Joe ’13, played hockey for the Johnnies…born 12/22/98…undecided major.
Scouting Report: Russel is a big strong forward. I was not able to watch him a lot this past season as he was playing in Idaho. I did see some games online and I look forward to seeing what he can add to this team.
Davis Kirkendall – F - Fr. – 5-10 – 175 – Hamel, Minn./Minnesota Magicians (NAHL)
Personal: A 2015 graduate from Wayzata High School of Wayzata, MN…recorded 35 (14g/21a) points in 105 games with NAHL’s Minnesota Magicians over two seasons (2016-18)…in the 2015-16 season Kirkendall played for HPHL’s U18 Honeybaked and earned 3 assists in 18 games…in high school Kirkendall registered 7 points (5g/2a) in 28 games in two seasons (2013-15)…shoots left…son of Brian and Crinny Kirkendall of Wayzata, MN…born 4/7/1997…Global Business Major.
Scouting Report: Davis is a strong power forward that plays the game the right way. He is a hard-working character guy that brings more than just his play on the ice. He has leadership characteristics and has a great work ethic. On the ice Davis has skill to go with his hard work and should be able to add a lot to our roster.
Michael Magnuson – G - Fr. – 5-10 – 170 – St. Paul, Minn./Phoenix (U18)
Personal: A 2017 graduate from Cretin-Derham Hall High School…recorded a 2.68 GAA and a .914 save percentage in 19 games with the T1EHL’s Phoenix Jr. Coyotes U18 team in 2017-18…named to the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s All-Metro second team in 2017…glove right…son of Mike ’90 and Katie Magnuson of Sunfish Lake, Minn…father is a volunteer assistant football coach at SJU…born 3/19/99…Global Business Leadership major.
Scouting Report: Michael is a smaller goalie that has a lot of athleticism. He has played in a lot of big spot games in his time at Cretin-Derham Hall. He also has playing experience in the MN Elite League and has always posted great numbers. Michael will be a great addition to our goaltending crew.
Michael Mahan – F - Fr. – 5-10 – 185 – Scottsdale, Ariz./Bismarck (NAHL)
Personal: A 2015 graduate from Cushing Academy Ashburnham, MA...Recorder 44 points (18g/26a) in 124 games in the NAHL for the Bismarck Bobcats & Minnesota Wilderness (2015-2018)...(2014-2015) season Mahan Played for the Cushing Academy Registering 12 points (3g/9a) in 30 games in the Massachusetts Prep league....Youth hockey Mahan played for the Arizona Bobcats for 8 season before moving onto juniors...Shoots Left...Son of Katherine and Patrick Mahan...born 2/10/97...Economics Major
Scouting Report: Michael is a player that plays hard all over the ice. He is great defensively and offensively. He also plays the game with an edge and will bring some grittiness to our team. Michael was also a captain in Bismarck and goes along with our drive to continue adding character guys with leadership qualities.
Vincent Parisi – F - Fr. – 6-3 – 210 – Park Ridge, Ill./Total Athletics (EHL)
Personal: A 2017 graduate from Maine South (Ill.) High School…split the 2017-18 season between the Hartford Jr. Wolfpack of the USPHL and the Total Athletics Seahawks of the EHL…recorded a combined nine points (4g/5a) in 39 games…spent one season with the T1EHL’s Milwaukee Jr. Admirals during high school and recorded six points (1g/5a) in 31 games…shoots right…son of Vince and Antonella Parisi of Park Ridge, Ill…born 12/8/98…Biochemistry major.
Scouting Report: Vincent is a big strong forward that also gets around the ice well. I was not able to see him play a lot this past season as he was playing out East in the EHL. He will bring some size to the tryout and I look forward to seeing how he transitions to this level.
I look forward to seeing all of these guys when we step on the ice on October 8th. I am also planning on getting a blog out next week to talk about our returning group of guys and how our team will look moving forward. Just a quick note that our first game will be on Friday, October 26th, at the Blaine National Sports Center at 7pm against St. Thomas.
I hope to see you all at a game this year and thanks again for staying connected to Johnnie Hockey!
