Hat trick for Trine


By
April 10, 2018

Soo Eagles of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League are moving yet another player to Trine University, a Division 3 National Collegiate Athletic Association school.

1997 birth-year forward Gianni Vitali becomes the latest Eagles skater to commit to Indiana-based Trine U.

Vitali, who lit it up for 12 goals, 9 assists, 21 points in just 25 games for the Michigan Soo over the course of the 2017-2018 NOJHL season, will join fellow Eagles grads William Casey and Owen Kipke at Trine next fall.

Eagles general manager Bruno Bragagnolo confirmed his team’s latest Trine commitment to Hockey News North.

“We are happy and proud to announce that Gianni has decided to go to Trine after mulling over several offers,” Bragagnolo relayed. “Trine is getting another strong player with great speed, puck skills and a high compete level.

“Gianni is a character kid on and off the ice who helped us down the stretch after we re-acquired him after the Christmas break. We wish Gianni all the best and are confident he will have a solid college career,” added Bragagnolo.


What you think about “Hat trick for Trine”

  1. Good start. Same number of D3 commits as last year that wound up staying with the team (except for 4 kids who left Eagles for other teams and got D3 commits through the Tier 3 teams that they wound up going to). Hope all of the Trine commits have firm Trine commitment for the NCAA D3 team and not the 2 club teams that they carry (I guess time will tell). Trine has the same hockey model as Adrian (carry 1 NCAA D3 team and multiple club teams below it). Makes it easy for them to “move” kids up or down after-the-fact. Trine is a good school which is most important, the hockey isn’t quite at Adrian level yet. NOJHL commits should be on D3 NCAA team. Even with the flurry of recent commitment writing Randy is putting on this site, seems still very far away from the D1 NCAA level that was written about a couple of weeks ago. I still think the D1 coaches know more than they are given credit for when it comes to NOJHL. NOJHL is a great league and improving each year. But even if you look on the Commitment list from the NOJHL main page, it shows the majority are D3 commits, and it shows under 2017-2018 commitments multiple kids that committed and left last season 2016-2017. If NOJHL wants to be taken more seriously as a Tier 2 league, then clean that stuff up and shoot straight. Nothing to hide or oversell, as the league improves, D1 coaches will come. How long that takes is anyone’s guess.

  2. That’s great that 3 players off Soo Eagles are going to college,These boys will get part of their education paid for , and be able to play hockey that’s great. Good luck to all and thanks for a good season

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