Boise, ID - The ECHL's Idaho Steelheads Hockey Club announced today the team has agreed to terms with Philadelphia Flyers
draft pick goaltender Rejean (Reggie) Beauchemin, and
Americans Ben Nelson (forward) and Kelly Sullivan (defenseman).
Beauchemin, who was a sixth-round selection in the 2003 NHL
Entry Draft, played 41 games for the ECHL's Dayton Bombers in his third
professional season last year. With the Bombers, the 6-foot-1,
195-pound backstop registered a 2.88 goals-against average with a .912
save percentage for a 16-17-7 record. From 2005-07, the 23-year-old
spent time with the American Hockey League's Philadelphia Phantoms, as
well as the ECHL's Bakersfield Condors and Trenton Titans. Beauchemin,
who hails from Winnipeg, MAN., played three junior seasons with the
Western Hockey League's Prince Albert Raiders from 2002-05.
Nelson,
25, played seven games with the ECHL's South Carolina Stingrays last
season following the cessation of his NCAA career with Quinnipiac
University (Conn). In four seasons with the Bobcats, the 5-foot-10,
195-pound Spokane native scored nearly a-point-a-game with 134 points
(66g-68a) in 143 games. Prior to college, the rookie Nelson played two
seasons with the British Columbia Hockey League, ranking fourth overall
in goals his final season.
Sullivan is a Michigan native who
played the last four seasons with UMass-Lowell in the NCAA. In 88 games
with the River Hawks, the 6-foot, 190-pound blueliner had 10 points
(2g-8a). The 25-year-old played junior hockey for four seasons prior to
his collegiate career, three in the United Hockey League and one with
the North American Hockey League.
These three additions bring the Steelheads 2008-09 roster to ten. More announcements are expected in the week ahead.