Northeast goaltender Haas makes NCAA DI commitment
The Northeast Generals of the North American Hockey League (NAHL) are thrilled to announce that goaltender Hugo Haas has committed to play NCAA Division I hockey for American International College in Atlantic Hockey.
The 19-year-old native of Opava, Czech Republic, has had a dominating start to his Generals career. So far during the 2020-21 season, Haas (6’0/177) has 10 wins, a 3.26 goals against average and a .919 save percentage.
He has been named the East Division’s Star of the Week twice so far this season.
Capping off his stellar start was helping the Generals hand the Johnstown Tomahawks their first regulation home loss of the season on Sunday. Hugo turned away 26 of 30 shots including a later barrage as the team held on for a 5-4 victory.
“We have been tracking Hugo for 2 years and he sure hasn’t disappointed. One of his Coach’s from back home, Mike McCarthy, and I have become close and he brought Hugo to my attention. Mike knew we were looking for a standout goalie that is also a very high-level person and Hugo checks both of those boxes. He always has great questions to ask and is eager to learn. He is an incredibly hard worker both on and off the ice and helps set the tone for the rest of the kids too,” said Head Coach Bryan Erikson.
Erikson continued, “We have struggled this year but Hugo keeps us in games. I am selfishly very excited that he will play his college hockey close to us and will be back in a Generals uniform in 2021-22 before enrolling at AIC in the fall of 2022. AIC has been great through this entire process and we have a great relationship with them as one of our Assistant Captain’s Alexander Tertyshny is going to AIC in the fall. We are really excited and proud of Hugo for his commitment to such a great program.”
GM Matt Dibble added, “Hugo has been outstanding for us all year. We are really pumped for Hugo that his hard work continues to pay off. Glad we get Hugo for a little longer and excited to see him continue to get better. It’s great when you don’t have to worry about your goaltending.”
AIC, American International College, is located in Springfield, MA. AIC just won the Atlantic Conference to secure their bid to the NCAA tournament. AIC will open with North Dakota after an amazing season going 15-3 and being ranked 3rd in the nation in the Pairwise rankings.
Click here for an updated NAHL to NCAA commitment list