Concordia Stinger all-star defenceman Carl Neill has signed a contract to play with the Aalborg Pirates, a professional team in the Danish ice hockey league, Metal Ligaen.
He wraps up a three-year university hockey career with several honours. He was a three-time OUA East all-star and was the conference’s outstanding defenceman in 2019. He was also named to the U Sports all-rookie team in 2018. That same year, he helped Concordia reach the national championship tournament for the first time in 33 years.
Neill won the 2018 Guy Lafleur Award of Excellence, a prestigious honour presented annually by the Montreal Canadiens to a Quebec university hockey player who successfully combines athletic performance and academic excellence.
In 2019, he also represented Canada and U Sports at the FISU Winter Universiade in Krasnoyarsk, Russia in the men's hockey competition. The team won a bronze medal.
In three years with the Stingers, the assistant captain played 81 regular season games, collecting 15 goals and 69 assists for 84 points.
He will graduate this summer with a Bachelor of Arts, major in Human Relations.
“I’m very happy for him,” said Concordia head coach Marc-André Elément. “He graduated from university in three years and now has a great opportunity to play professional hockey in Europe.”
Former Stinger captain Olivier Hinse also suited up for Aalborg in 2017-18 and again in 2019-20. This year he will play for the Ravensburg Towerstars in DEL2, the second level of hockey in Germany.
A couple of other recent Concordia standouts Anthony DeLuca and Anthony Beauregard will return to the Elite Ice Hockey League, representing the Sheffield Steelers (England) and Dundee Stars (Scotland), respectively.
