Dan Cirucci: Six Local Student Athletes In 'Frozen Four'

Monday, April 7, 2014

Six Local Student Athletes In 'Frozen Four'

Six local student athletes skate their way home to Philadelphia as they compete in the 2014 NCAA Men’s Frozen Four taking place at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday, April 10 and Saturday, April 12. Representing the Greater Philadelphia Region is Boston College’s Johnny Gaudreau and Matt Gaudreau, as well as Union College's Nick Cruice, Cole Ikkala, Max Novak, and Charlie Vasaturo.

LaSalle College High School graduate and Dresher, PA native Nick Cruice considers the Frozen Four a homecoming of sorts as he won the Flyers Cup AAA Championship in 2008 and 2009 while playing for La Salle College High School on Wells Fargo Center ice. As a youth, he also played for Team Comcast alongside Boston College forwards Johnny and Matt Gaudreau.

National scoring leader and returning Hobey Hat Trick finalist Johnny Gaudreau, a Boston College junior and Gloucester Catholic High School graduate, headlines the list of Hobey Baker Award nominees with 32 goals and 69 points in 37 games this season.

Boston College freshman forward Matthew Gaudreau joins older brother Johnny as the Eagles make their way to the Frozen Four. The younger Gaudreau attended Gloucester Catholic High School and Millard North High Schools. During the 2013-14 season, he played seven games with one goal and one points.

Forward Cole Ikkala, a 2008 graduate of Downingtown West High School, is competing in his fourth season at Union. Ikkala has led the Dutchmen to three ECAC Hockey regular season titles in four years and to a pair of ECAC Hockey Tournament championships. With Ikkala as a member of the team, Union has also made three NCAA Tournament appearances and four straight 20-win campaigns. This season, Cole and his teammates have earned a No. 3 national ranking, putting together the nation’s second-longest home winning streak (10 games), while also compiling an 11-2-1 mark against nationally-ranked opponents.

Union College Center Max Novak, a native of Oak Ridge, NJ and 2010 graduate of the Hill School located in Pottstown, PA, is one of the key pieces for Union’s title goals. He’s third on the team with 14 goals and sixth in points with 29. Novak has recorded six goals and eight points over the last five games.

Sewell New Jersey native Charlie Vasaturo, whose hometown is the site of Hollydell Ice Arena where Johnny Hockey’s father, Guy, still runs hockey programs, is a junior defenseman for Union College who along with Nick Cruice competed with the Philadelphia Flyers Quebec PeeWee Team back when they were just twelve years old.

The Frozen Four is one the NCAA’s premier championships, bringing thousands of visitors nationwide to the city of Philadelphia. Union College will meet Boston College in the semifinals on Thursday, April 10 at 5 p.m. (ESPN2), followed by North Dakota meeting Minnesota at 8:30 p.m. (ESPN2) The winners will meet on Saturday, April 12 at 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)

All-session and single session tickets to attend the event are currently on sale exclusively through ComcastTIX, online atComcastTIX.com, by phone at 1-800-298-4200, or in person at Wells Fargo Center box office.

Comcast-Spectacor® (comcast-spectacor.com) is the Philadelphia-based sports and entertainment company which owns the Philadelphia Flyers (NHL), the home arena for both the Flyers and the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, the Wells Fargo Center, and four Flyers Skate Zone community ice skating and hockey rinks. In addition, Comcast-Spectacor is also the principal owner of Global Spectrum, the fastest growing firm in the public assembly management field with more than 120 facilities throughout the United States and Canada; Ovations Food Services, a food and beverage service provider; New Era Tickets, a ticketing and marketing company for public assembly facilities; Front Row Marketing Services, a commercial rights sales company; FanOne, a digital fan marketing company; and Paciolan, the leading provider of venue enablement, ticketing, fundraising and marketing technology solutions.

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About Dan Cirucci

He's been cited by the late Rush Limbaugh, quoted in the New York Times, featured at Real Clear Politics and Lucianne.com and interviewed across all media.

He's Dan Cirucci, the founder and editor-in chief of the Dan Cirucci Blog, a Save Jersey blog columnist, frequent guest on the Matt Rooney radio show and one of the most widely honored public relations professionals in his field. He's also been a public relations consultant to numerous organizations and individuals and hosted The Advocates on RVN-TV.

Inducted into the Philadelphia Public Relations Hall of Fame, for many years he served as a Lecturer in Corporate Communication at Penn State University. A former President of the Philadelphia Public Relations Association (PPRA) he has lectured at Rowan University, Temple University, The College of New Jersey and Arcadia University. He has conducted workshops on public relations for thousands of participants throughout the nation and has taught countless others the art of public speaking. He has also advised numerous lawyers, judges, public officials and political candidates.

Cirucci is a prolific writer and his op-ed pieces have appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Inquirer, Courier-Post, Broad and Liberty and other print and online platforms.

A native of Camden NJ, Cirucci is a former President of the Philadelphia chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. Cirucci served as Associate Executive Director of the Philadelphia Bar Association for nearly 30 years. He served as Chair of Penn State University's Professional Advisory Board for the Corporate Communication major at Penn State Abington and on the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Judicial Selection Commission.

He received his MA degree from Rowan University and his BA from Villanova University. He has been named a Distinguished Alumnus of Rowan's public relations program and received the E. A. "Wally" Richter Leadership Award, the highest honor from the National Association of Bar Executives' Communications Section. He has also been honored by numerous other local, state and national groups.

In his hometown of Camden, Cirucci taught fifth grade at the Ulysses Wiggins Elementary School named for the founder of the Camden NAACP. There he was one of the first teachers in the country to teach African-American history to inner city students. He later served as editor of a local weekly newspaper, as Assistant to the Township Manager of Cherry Hill Township and as Associate Director of Communications at the New Jersey State Bar Association.

Cirucci's passions include all things Italian, politics, the popular culture, books and authors, art, communication, music, theatre, movies, dining and travel.

He and his wife Carole have two grown children and seven grandchildren.

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