June 20, 2013
Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame hockey coach Jeff Jackson today announced that two more student-athletes have signed National Letters-of-Intent to attend the University beginning either this fall for the 2013-14 campaign or in future seasons.
Signing National Letters-of-Intents in the late-signing period are a pair of defensemen – Ben Ostlie (Edina, Minn.) and Luke Ripley (Kitamit, B.C.). Those two will join the eight players who already have signed letters-of-intent either in the fall of 2012 or the previous year. Those eight are – forwards Dawson Cook (Cadillac, Mich.), Vince Hinostroza (Bartlett, Ill.), Andrew Oglevie (Fullerton, Calif) and Ali Thomas (New York, N.Y.), goaltenders Chad Katunar (Victoria, B.C.) and Cal Petersen (Waterloo, Iowa) along with defensemen Jordan Gross (Maple Grove, Minn.) and Justin Wade (Aurora, Ill.) . Hinostroza and Wade signed NLI’s in the fall of 2011 but deferred to the 2013-14 season.
Ostlie, a right-handed defenseman, has played the last two seasons for the Omaha Lancers in the United States Hockey League (USHL) and is a product of the Edina High School hockey program that has sent Ryan Thang `09, Anders Lee and current center Steven Fogarty (Edina, Minn.) to the Irish in recent years. Ripley, a left shot defenseman, spent the 2012-13 season playing for the Powell River Kings in the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) and was a member of the Dawson Creek Rage of the North American Hockey League (NAHL) in 2011-12. Ripley is eligible for the 2013 NHL Entry Draft and was ranked 86th in NHL Central Scouting’s Final Rankings.
Ostlie is a 6-1, 194-pound blue liner who scored one goal and added 13 assists for 14 points in 59 points. A reliable, steady, defensive-defenseman, he missed just nine games over two seasons with the Lancers, notching two goals with 21 assists in 113 games with Omaha while chalking up 146 penalty minutes. This season, the 20-year old defenseman helped the Lancers to a 34-29-1 record and a fifth-place finish in the USHL’s Western Conference. Omaha surrendered just 183 goals on the season, the third-fewest in the USHL for the year. Ostlie played four seasons at Edina High School and was selected in the 16th round of the 2011 USHL Entry Draft (236th overall) by Omaha. He was a high school classmate of Steven Fogarty’s during their four seasons at Edina High School.
Jackson on Ostlie: “Ben (Ostlie) is a solid all-around defenseman who will provide depth while adding maturity to the roster after playing two years in the USHL after graduation to our blue line. He is a high character kid with excellent leadership capabilities.”
Defenseman Luke Ripley has signed a National Letter of Intent to attend Notre Dame. He is ranked 86th by NHL Central Scouting for this June’s Entry Draft.
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Ripley is a 6-4, 195-pound defenseman who played in 46 games for Powell River this season, scoring two goals with 11 assists for 13 points while racking up 85 minutes in penalties. He helped the Kings to fourth place in the BCHL’s Mainland Division with a 20-25-2-9 record in the regular season. In the first round of the playoffs, Powell River was defeated by Victoria, three games to two. Ripley recorded one assist in the five game series. During the season, he was selected to play for Canada West in the World Junior A Challenge that was held in Yarmouth, N.S. His squad lost in the gold medal game to the USA Select team that included incoming Irish forward Vince Hinostroza on the roster. The strong, skating blue liner played the 2011-12 campaign with Dawson Creek in the NAHL where he had two goals and 11 assists in 56 games while recording 63 penalty minutes. He was named the team’s rookie of the year in his lone year at Dawson Creek.
Jackson on Ripley: ” Luke’s (Ripley) combination of size and skating ability make him a very attractive addition to our roster and as a pro prospect. We are excited to add a player of his caliber to our blue line. He is a willing, tough competitor who will add strength to his frame to become a dominant player at the collegiate level.”
Expected to join the Irish in the fall of 2013 barring any roster changes this summer are forwards Vince Hinostroza and Ali Thomas, defensemen Justin Wade and Ostlie and goaltender Chad Katunar. Joining Ripley on the list of Irish players ranked by Central Scouting are goaltender Cal Peterson, ranked fourth among North American goaltenders and Katunar who was ranked 28th on the goaltending list.
Class of 2013-14
Player Pos. Ht. Wt. S/C Hometown/2012-13 TeamDawson Cook C 6-1 198 L Cadillac, Mich./USA Under-18 TeamJordan Gross D 5-10 178 R Maple Grove, Minn./Green Bay (USHL)** Vince Hinostroza C 5-9 170 R Bartlett, Ill./Waterloo (USHL)Chad Katunar G 6-6 218 R Victoria, B.C./Penticton (BCHL)Andrew Oglevie RW 5-9 156 R Fullerton, Calif./Cedar Rapids (USHL)Ben Ostlie D 6-1 195 R Edina, Minn./Omaha (USHL)Cal Petersen G 6-1 175 R Waterloo, Iowa/Waterloo (USHL)Luke Ripley D 6-4 195 L Kitamit, B.C./Powell River (BCHL)Ali Thomas LW 6-2 211 L New York, N.Y./Des Moines (USHL)** Justin Wade D 6-2 203 R Aurora, Ill./Cedar Rapids (USHL)
** Signed national letters-of-intent in 2011-12 early-signing period but deferred to 2013-14. — ND —