Jets defenseman Bigelbach makes NCAA DI commitment

June 30, 2014

The Janesville Jets, proud members of the North American Hockey League (NAHL), are pleased to announce that defenseman Michael Bigelbach has committed to play NCAA Division I hockey for Minnesota State University-Mankato, members of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA).

 

Bigelbach (6’2/175), is 18 years old and calls Red Wing, Minnesota home.  Bigelbach has one season in the NAHL under his belt splitting time between Minot and Janesville during the 2013-14 season, finishing the season with 4 goals and 10 assists with 73 penalty minutes in 62 games.

 

“Mankato is somewhere I have dreamed of playing at ever since I was a kid,” said Bigelbach who grew up just two hours from Mankato. “The coaching staff is great and the program is going in the right direction.”

 

Bigelbach continues the trend of a growing number of players who played in the 2014 NAHL Top Prospects tournament and then later, commit to an NCAA Division I program. Bigelbach played for the NAHL 18U Selects team at the event in February.

 

"This is a great opportunity for Michael and a dream school of his and has worked extremely hard to achieve this goal” said Coach Dibble. “He is a warrior with outstanding work ethic and leads by example. He will be a great addition to an already outstanding program."

 

Bigelbach is the eleventh player from the Jets 2013-14 roster to have secured an NCAA Division I commitment, joining Kyle Patava (Army), Nick Petrella (Holy Cross) , Jesse Junttila (Northern Michigan), Austin Priebe (Air Force), Mike Louria (U-Mass Lowell), Jordan Himley(Air Force), Robin Hoglund (University of Minnesota), Logan Halladay (University of Minnesota), Drew Callin (Bentley University), and Alex Shuchuk (University of Wisconsin).