UAA gets a transfer goalie Reijola to replace departing back-up D'Amico

UAA has plugged an offseason hole in its hockey roster with the addition of fifth-year senior goaltender Rasmus Reijola, a transfer from St. Cloud State who slots in for departed back-up Jared D'Amico.

Junior-to-be Olivier Mantha, whose teammates voted him Most Valuable Player in each of his first two seasons, remains No. 1 on the depth chart.

NCAA rules usually require a player transferring between Division I schools to sit out one season, but Reijola will immediately be eligible under an exception in NCAA rules because he graduated from St. Cloud State. Graduates with eligibility left – Reijola has one year remaining because he did not play as a sophomore – can transfer without penalty.

Reijola's arrival makes up for the loss of junior-to-be and two-year back-up D'Amico, who Seawolves coach Matt Thomas said left the program in the offseason with the intention of attending chiropractic school.

D'Amico played sparingly behind Mantha, who last season started 32 of the Seawolves' 34 games and is firmly entrenched as their No. 1 masked man.

UAA has a third goalie, sophomore Evan Hauser, though he who did not get any playing time last season.

Reijola, 23, played just 14 career games at St. Cloud State. He played last season behind Charlie Lindgren, a first-team All-America who left school after his junior year to sign with the Montreal Canadiens. Reijola earlier in the Huskies career played behind Ryan Farragher, who left school after this junior year to sign with the Anaheim Ducks.

Ideally, Thomas hopes Reijola, a native of Finland, can lighten Mantha's work load.

"In a perfect world, we'd like to give Mantha something like 24 starts and Reijola 10 – a good work load for Mantha, but one that doesn't make him tired or stale,'' Thomas said.

The addition of Reijola also buys the Seawolves some time to recruit a goalie to join the program for Mantha's senior season.

"It gives us a year to prepare, so we can find a guy we think can be a No. 1,'' Thomas said. "Worse-case scenario, we have time to find a guy who is a 1-A. Pretty good scenario.''