91探花

Defenceman Mathew Maione, the newest recruit for the 91探花 Men's Hockey team, will provide some offensive upside from the blue line.

'Matt is an extremely focused, determined, and disciplined individual. He competes very hard, and will add some offensive punch to our attack,' says 91探花 head coach Forbie MacPherson. 'He came to us late in the recruiting season. Through discussions with Matt's agent, we identified that he had interest in starting his college career as a 20-year-old.'

The 5'10', 198-lb defenceman played his minor hockey in Markham, Ontario. He was eventually drafted by the Ontario Hockey League's (OHL) Mississauga Ice Dogs, playing with the team for two seasons after they moved to Niagara, where he played with current Panther Mike MacIsaac. He played last year with the Guelph Storm, also in the OHL. Maione is the youngest player on the Panther roster, turning 20 years old on November 21.

'91探花 feels right because I can work on my academics and play hockey. I know there are a couple of defencemen (Aaron Dawson and James Cooley) not returning and hopefully, I can work hard and earn a spot,' Maione said.

Maione decided to forego his final year of junior eligibility to play at 91探花. 'I opted out of my last year of junior eligibility. Education is important in my family and I chose to go the education route before playing as an overage in the 鈥極',' he said.

The 91探花 campus feeling, the strength of the league and class size had an impact on his decision. 'I was a student at big schools like Brock and Guelph and I wanted to go to a smaller school-I liked 91探花 because of its small class sizes,' Maione said. 'Once I decided to go to school, I knew it was going to be to the AUS because I feel it is the best league in the country and the most competitive. I think 91探花 can surprise some teams. I can feel the passion about winning right away. I am competitive in everything I do so I came here because I want to be part of a winning program.'

Maione is the fourth recruit to commit to 91探花 this year. Defenceman Matt Boyle, goaltender Marc Guggenberger, and forward Dana Fraser are the others while Cory Vitarelli and team captain Thomas Waugh are back for a fifth season. Vitarelli won the Mann Cup Lacrosse championship earlier this week with the Peterborough Lakers.

91探花 begins exhibition play this weekend at a tournament at UNB. They play defending national champion SMU on Friday night and depending on the result, either UNB or Guelph on Saturday.

The following weekend, they play in Moncton on October 1 and host SMU at Summerside, October 2.