Long Island University Adds Goalies to Roster

Long Island University and head coach Brett Riley have been busy filling out their roster as they race to get ready for their inaugural season this fall. But noticeably absent from their first wave of commits was arguably the team’s important position: goalie.

The Sharks appear to have found their goalies, however. It is being reported that LIU will pick up a pair of transfers from Hockey East in Vinnie Purpura and Maine’s Stephen Mundinger.

Mundinger is a native of Long Island. He is a huge goalie, listed at 6’8” that was recruited to Maine as a bit of a project out of the Tier-III junior league the NA3HL. He saw limited action in his time at Maine, playing just 67 minutes over his first three seasons before not seeing the ice in game action last season. He will transfer to LIU as a graduate transfer with immediate eligibility.

Vinnie Purpura originally committed to Boston University for the 2019-2020 season, but the Terriers decided to bring him during the ‘18-’19 semester break to play as the back-up for Jake Oettinger. Purpura was decent in limited action and earned a free agent invite to the Montreal Canadiens development camp in the summer. But this past season, Purpura struggled to earn playing time, He started BU’s second game of the season, and then just saw one appearance after that, three weeks later. At the semester break, Boston University brought in another new goalie in freshman Ashton Abel. With Purpura moving behind Abel on the depth chart, and talented freshman Drew Commesso joining the Terriers next season, it made sense for Purpura to seek opportunities elsewhere. While he is not guaranteed immediate eligibility like Mundinger is as a grad transfer, he should presumably be able to get a transfer waiver from the NCAA making him immediately eligible.

As far as upshot for Long Island, they’ve got their two goalies, and standing at 6’8” and 6’6” respectively, they’re big ones. Neither has a particularly promising history at the NCAA level suggesting they’re capable of being good starting goalies at the NCAA level, but at this stage of the game, they weren’t likely to get someone with a proven track record. If nothing else, this buys the Long Island University some time to go out and find their long-term guy in goal.

In addition to the two goalies, Long Island has also added a trio of new forwards, bringing their total to 11 forwards, and 15 total skaters. Those forwards are:

Jacob Franczak-’00-Sherwood Park(AJHL)

Justin Thompson-’00-Janesville(NAHL)

Preston Brodziak-’99-Prince George(BCHL)