Springfield, Illinois – The Springfield Jr. Blues have alumni across all levels of collegiate and professional hockey. We will continue our journey through the world of NCAA division 1 hockey after showcasing the NCHC on Tuesday. Our pitstop today focuses on our alumni who recently concluded their season in the Big Ten hockey conference.
Our first spotlight this morning is on the junior goaltender for the Ohio State Buckeyes: Tommy Nappier. The St. Louis, MO native appeared in 32 games this season and finished with a 17-10-4 record, 2.04 GAA, .932 SV%, and three shutouts. Overall in 58 career appearances, Nappier holds a 33-14-7 record, 1.92 GAA, .934 SV%, and eight shutouts. He earned four Big Ten Star of the Week awards this season: one 1st Star, one 2nd Star, and two 3rd Stars. Nappier has eight career weekly awards on his resume.
The reigning 2019 Big Ten Goaltender of the Year was recently named as a finalist for the award this year as well. We are still waiting to hear an announcement from the league on individual award winners. Nappier was additionally named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team and as an Ohio State Scholar Athlete winner in 2018, and he spent the 2019 summer participating at the Pittsburgh Penguins development camp.
From Ohio State to Michigan State, we next take a look at Spartan senior Captain Sam Saliba. The forward from Lincolnshire, IL played in all 36 games this season for the third straight year, scoring 10 goals and 7 assists. The two-time Dr. Steve Swistak Memorial Scholarship recipient played in 143 career NCAA games, scoring 30 goals and 24 assists.
A two-year Captain for Michigan State, Saliba earned a spot on the 2019 Big Ten All-Academic Team alongside teammate and fellow alum Anthony Scarsella. Scarsella, a senior defenseman from White Lake, MI, only appeared in one game this season for the Spartans but finished up his NCAA career with 1 goal in 19 appearances.
We switch from the Spartans to the Wolverines for our next spotlight: sophomore defenseman Jack Summers. The Livonia, MI native played in all 36 games for the Wolverines this season and tallied 4 goals and 6 assists. The blueliner has now appeared in 65 career NCAA games with 5 goals and 16 assists to his credit.
And our final spotlight is on junior Jason Dooghe at the University of Wisconsin. The Badger forward from Aurora, IL appeared in three games this year and has played in 42 career games with 1 goal and 4 assists.
