Ottawa, ON – The Ottawa Junior. Senators Hockey Club is pleased to announce that forward Jaren Burke has verbally committed to NCAA Division One Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute located in Troy, New York and will suit up for the Engineers for the 2017-18 hockey season.
“I cannot put into words to describe how happy I am for Jaren and his family. He has worked unbelievably hard to get to this point and I’m glad an NCAA Division 1 school finally recognized what we’ve seen in Jaren for the past two seasons.” commented Head Coach & General Manager Martin Dagenais. “Not only does he protect the puck and shoot like a pro, he also as a tremendous work ethic. I’m very proud of him because he is such a quality young man.”
The 20 year old from Nepean, Ontario was acquired by the Senators two years ago in a trade with the Gloucester Rangers. Burke played in all 62 games this season and lead Ottawa in scoring tallying 29 goals and adding 24 assists for a total of 53 points. It was in the playoffs, however, where Burke elevated his game. Over two post-seasons with the Junior Senators, he averaged a point a game over 30 contests. It was in those hard-fought games where Dagenais felt Burke was at his best, “Jaren was a huge factor in our playoff run the last two seasons. He scored big goals for us and we used him in all situations, both offensive and defensive. We don’t get to two straight Bogart Cup Finals without Jaren.”
“I would like to thank my family, friends, teammates, and also the coaching staff of the Ottawa Jr. Senators for all their help and support throughout my hockey career. They really helped me get to this point,” said Burke who felt the school had the right mix of academics and athletics. “RPI gives me an opportunity to continue to chase my dream of playing professional hockey and to graduate with a degree from a world class institution,” commented an enthusiastic Burke.
Burke is looking forward to the transition of playing Division 1 Hockey and is aware of the hard work ahead of him. “I want to continue to work on my skating and quickness over the summer because everyone says that speed is a huge factor in the NCAA and I want to be ready.” Time management skills on the academic side will also be a focus for Burke as he prepares for the challenges in and out of the classroom in September.
With Burke’s commitment to RPI, this brings the commitment total for this years edition of the Ottawa Junior Senators to seven: Merrick Rippon – Providence, Ian Andriano – RIT – Luke McCaw – Laurentian, Cameron White – St. Lawrence, Devon Daniels – Mercyhurst, and Geoff Lawson – Robert Morris.
