NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, NY | Thursday, February 18th, 2021: The Niagara University Purple Eagles are pleased to announce the commitment of Reid Manning, formally of the French River Rapids in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League. Manning tendered his decision to the coaching staff, late last week as the two sides have been in talks for over a calendar year now. After being named Alternate Captain the season prior, Reid’s tenure with the Rapids saw him Captaining their squad throughout the entirety of the 2019-2020 season. Although his final year of junior hockey didn’t garner the team success that he had hoped for, the combination of his work-ethic and commitment to 2-way play is what landed him an offer from Niagara.

“Reid is the type of player that you love to coach. With him, you know what you’re getting during every game and every practice. He commits to systematic discipline and the strategic approach to gameplay simply because he loves winning hockey games. Obviously, the leadership qualities he brings to the table were a major bright spot throughout the recruiting process, but his individual style is what we felt our roster was lacking heading into the 2021-2022 season. He’s someone that we can utilize in a variety of different roles, mainly because of his versatility. He’s incredibly difficult to matchup against, plays about 3 inches taller and 20 lbs. heavier than what he measures in at and can complement high-end talent with ease. Adding him into the core group of offensive talent that we’re doing our best to develop here at Niagara is incredibly exciting. Just speaking with our staff, we’re very happy that he’s decided to pursue NU and hopefully he can help us secure another Northeastern Collegiate Hockey League title, next season.”

• Head Coach, Tom Mooradian

Manning’s role will come to light almost immediately heading into next season. The Purple Eagles return a very concrete core of offensive talent that is led by Captain and reigning NECHL Player Of The Year, David Christopher. In addition to that, Carson Andreoli, Eric Hulford, Chad Moore, Damon Theara, and Luc Cross are all coming off of impressive rookie seasons and hope to get their shot at the ACHA Division 1 National Tournament, next spring. In addition to that, rookies AJ Campbell, David Bunn and Austin Robinson have looked very impressive throughout the team’s first stint of full-team practice sessions, this semester. They will be certainly looked upon to generate offensive opportunities when we do eventually get back to formal gameplay.

Reid Manning on why he chose to continue his hockey career at Niagara University:

“I picked Niagara because they are a very prestigious school. Athletically speaking, their hockey team has developed a winning culture and that is very important to me. The organization is professionally run and that is exactly why I wanted to become a Purple Eagle. My goal is to help bring in multiple championships to Niagara University for years to come.”

Covid-19 has taken a major chunk out of Niagara’s hockey protocol over the last 11 months. However, it’s evident that they’re doing everything they can to ensure an optimal compete level once they do eventually return to game-action in September of this year. As of last week, the team has resumed on-ice workouts in a limited capacity, here at Dwyer Arena. They are set to return to full-team practices at the beginning of next week, barring any changes in Covid-19 protocol. Follow our social media pages for the latest team updates as we navigate through the back-half of this year. [@NUachaD1]