Meet the Fuel's first player, Pete Massar

Last week, the Indy Fuel announced Pete Massar as the ECHL team's first player.

Pete Massar (Photo: Ed Wolfstein)

The 5-9, 180-pound rookie from the University of Vermont is looking forward to his first full professional season, and being the first player on the Indy team.

"It comes with a lot of responsibility," Massar said Monday afternoon about being the team's first signing. "I'm going to have to put a lot of work in and make sure they made the right decision bringing me in. I'm pretty excited."

Massar comes to the Fuel from the University of Vermont, where he played the last two years of his four-year collegiate career. This past season, he scored six goals -- ranking fifth on the Catamounts -- and had nine points.

Although he describes himself as a skill player, Massar played this past season on Vermont's checking line. He also played on the power play and penalty kill for his home-state university -- a team he grew up watching when Tim Thomas and Martin St. Louis were wearing green and gold.

Friday link roundup

A few items of interest to local hockey fans have popped up in the last couple of days, so time for another link roundup.

• ICYMI, a couple of posts from yesterday: 
• The ECHL Indy Fuel have signed their first player, Pete Massar.
• Our post on Jeff Brown & several Ice personnel on the move. Lots of links from Ottawa on Brown heading to coach the OHL's Ottawa 67s. Associate coach Adam Krug is headed to a similar position with the Green Bay Gamblers. Defenseman Chris Martenet is also headed to the OHL's London Knights.
• The NHL Draft is a week away. Three players with Indiana Ice ties were rated in the top 100 by THN's Ryan Kennedy. Josh Jacobs is rated 43rd, 2012-13 Ice player Blake Siebenaler is rated 74th and defenseman Ryan Mantha was rated 85th. The Hockey Writers' Shawn Reznik has Jacobs rated 32nd in his top 60. Several other current and former USHL players are also on the list. THW's profile on Jacobs is here.
• The United States of Hockey's Chris Peters has an interesting blog post on USA Hockey participation around the nation. Indiana's 5,922 players ranks 21st in the nation, but the growth (2.1%) is higher than the national average.
• Indiana Ice 2008-09 Clark Cup champion-turned-Boston Bruin Torey Krug has a new website. Check it out at ToreyKrug.com.
• A few NHL items with potential local interest: 
• It's been known for some time that the Washington Capitals will host the 2015 Winter Classic. We now know their opponent - the Chicago Blackhawks. The Hawks will be playing in their second Winter Classic -- they hosted the second one at Wrigley Field -- and third outdoor game. The Hawks also hosted Pittsburgh in a Stadium Series game last season at Soldier Field.
• Boston Bruins assistant Geoff Ward is taking a head coaching job in Germany, leaving a vacancy on Claude Julien's bench. One candidate widely mentioned to be moving up? Former IHL Ice player and head coach Bruce Cassidy, who is the head coach of the Bruins' AHL affiliate in Providence. Cassidy also has NHL head coaching experience with the Washington Capitals.
• The Carolina Hurricanes hired Bill Peters as their head coach on Thursday. Peters had previously coached in the Blackhawks' organization in the AHL with the Rockford IceHogs.
• The 2014-15 NHL schedule will be announced Sunday. 

• The Pan Am Pavilion, where the Indiana Ice played a significant number of home games the last two seasons (as well as a handful of games in previous seasons) is officially closed. The site is slated for redevelopment into a two-tower hotel. Here was their Facebook post on the closing: "This is how it ends. The funeral dirge for Pan Am pavilion, a building that has seen 30 years of hockey figure skating and even curling pass through its doors and onto the ice of two rinks. The altogether unimpressive brick and mortar clothing metal girders has undoubtedly held the echoes of many of you for the last time. From the echo of private conversation to the constant hum of the compressors the building will sit silent because of all the life taken from it. All that life belonging to you our customers, from the die hard, week in and out attendees to those who visited once in a great while you will all be missed. Because in the end Pan Am the building was just that; a building. It was the great people whom passed through those doors that gave it life. It’s from the bottom of our hearts and with the most sincere offering we the staff say thank you. Thank you for bearing through it all with us, and most importantly thank you for helping us chase a dream and afford the blessing of working in a field where our hearts passion was the main focus of our livelihood."

Fuel sign first player: Pete Massar

The Indy Fuel have signed their first player, rookie forward Pete Massar from the University of Vermont.

Pete Massar (Univ. of Vermont)

He played four years of college hockey, two at Clarkson and two at Vermont. In 70 collegiate games, he had nine goals and eight assists, including six goals and three assists in 31 games as a fifth-year senior this past year.

He made his professional debut last spring for Fuel coach Scott Hillman's Missouri Mavericks in the CHL, playing the team's final two playoff games. He made an immediate impact, scoring two goals in his first game.

"He traveled three time zones after being notified at 1 a.m. that we needed him that very same day," Fuel coach Scott Hillman said in a release. "He arrived just a few hours before the game and scored two goals in a heartbreaking 4-3 double OT game. Despite having played just two games he has shown that he is ready to be an impact player in professional hockey.”

A native of Vermont, Massar is a right shot forward who stands 5-9, 180. Prior to his college career, he had 54 points in 36 games in the Tier III Eastern Junior Hockey League in 2008-09.

He was considered a strong forechecker who was a key part of Vermont's checking line a year ago. He played on the power play and penalty kill for the Catamounts.

Indy Fuel release
Burlington Free Press article on Massar
University of Vermont bio
Pete's HockeyDB profile