Morning Star Staff
Vernon’s Tyler Steel has signed with the Huntsville Havoc of the Southern Professional Hockey League for the 2016-17 season.
Steel, 23, completed a three-year NCAA last season with the Brown University Bears in Providence, R.I. The 6-foot-2, 185-pounder product had a 10-24-3 record with a 3.44 goals-against-average and an .894 save percentage in 21 games.
Prior to joining the Bears, Steel played three seasons in Merritt, ending up with a 48-44-3 record, a 2.81 GAA, a .906 save percentage, and nine shutouts in 105 games. He had a 2-6 record along with a 3.93 GAA and an .880 save percentage in 12 Fred Page Cup playoff games.
He shared the Cents’ Unsung Hero award with fellow netminder Lino Chimienti in 2011-12 and was the team’s named MVP in 2012-13. Steel was an integral part of the Centennials team that set a franchise record for fewest goals-against in a season in 2011-12.
Huntsville is a city of just over 180,000 in the central part of the far northern region of Alabama. The Havoc have been a member of the SPHL since the league’s inaugural season of 2004-05.
Since its inception, more 400 SPHL players have been called up to the ECHL, CHL or other higher league. Last season, 54 different players earned the opportunity to advance to the ECHL, where they played almost 700 games.