{"id":23753,"date":"1997-08-21T22:06:04","date_gmt":"1997-08-22T03:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/1997\/08\/21\/nickulas-to-leave-unh-for-pros\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:54:10","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:54:10","slug":"nickulas-to-leave-unh-for-pros","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/1997\/08\/21\/nickulas-to-leave-unh-for-pros\/","title":{"rendered":"Nickulas To Leave UNH For Pros"},"content":{"rendered":"
Hockey East power New Hampshire lost its leading goal-scorer Wednesday, as forward Eric Nickulas announced that he will renounce his senior year to play professionally.<\/p>\n
“It was a really tough decision, but right now I think it’s the best choice I can make,” Nickulas said. Although his NHL rights are held by the Boston Bruins, he does not intend to restrict his options.<\/p>\n
“If we can’t agree on a contract, then I’m looking toward the IHL (International Hockey League),” Nickulas said, naming the defending champion Detroit Vipers as one possibility.<\/p>\n
UNH head coach Dick Umile, who learned of Nickulas’ decision Tuesday, was resigned but not surprised.<\/p>\n
“It was in the back of my mind all summer,” Umile says in Foster’s Online, a New Hampshire news and sports website. “When [Nickulas] called and said he wanted to talk to me…I kind of had an inkling of what he was going to say.”<\/p>\n
The timing of Nickulas’ decision essentially precludes his replacement with a new recruit. He totaled 29 goals and 22 assists last season for the high-powered UNH offense, and would have been an assistant captain this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hockey East power New Hampshire lost its leading goal-scorer Wednesday, as forward Eric Nickulas announced that he will renounce his senior year to play professionally. “It was a really tough decision, but right now I think it’s the best choice I can make,” Nickulas said. Although his NHL rights are held by the Boston Bruins, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n