The Wildcats have added their second defensemen to the retooling group, with the addition of two-way defender, Chris Magovern.

Magovern, standing 6’2”, 185-pounds, comes from Summit, New Jersey and served as team captain for the Bishop Kearney Selects 18U team before signing a tender with the Austin Bruins (NAHL) in 2023. He was able to play a couple of games as an affiliate player with the Austin Bruins leading up to the playoffs, joining the ride all the way to the Robertson Cup Finals.

“I am really excited to get started,” said Chris Magovern. “I chose the University of Arizona because it combines three great factors: academic excellence, amazing hockey and sunshine. I wanted to play highly competitive hockey in a different environment and that is exactly what Arizona provides.”

The Wildcat’s have some turnover on the back end with the departures of Ryan Fischer, John Shively, Zach Langus, Connor Ziegler and Jarrett Overland. Magovern brings a big body with good mobility and a style of play that makes him difficult to play against, precisely what coach Berman has previously mentioned he wanted to add to the roster.

“We think Chris has a ton of upside,” said coach Berman. “Unfortunately, he didn’t play a lot of hockey last year but in the small sample size that we could review it was clear he was just the kind of competitor we were looking for. He brings a good combination of size and mobility, he has consistently tight gaps through the neutral zone, and is another guy who consistently wins puck battles down low. He plays heads up, evades forecheckers well and makes a good first pass out of the zone. His style of play can be very frustrating to play against and we have made it our mission to improve in that area so we can be a better playoff type of team. Both him and Lachlan perfectly address these needs, so we are really excited about the start of remolding our identity on the back end. In his brief time with the Bruins, he didn’t get a lot of opportunities to earn an offensive role, partially because they had a really good team. But his skill set is evident, so we think there is a ton of offensive upside too. Above all that, everyone you talk to says that he is a great person, we are incredibly excited to see what he can do in our program.”

The Wildcats will return to the TCC in September for what is shaping up to be an exciting 2024-25 season. Make sure you are following the Wildcats on social media to stay up to date as they continue their recruiting reload this summer!