Fairbanks defenseman Mueller makes NCAA DI commitment

May 7, 2015

The Fairbanks Ice Dogs, proud members of the North American Hockey League (NAHL), are pleased to announce that defenseman Johnny Mueller has committed to play NCAA Division I hockey at American International College in the Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA).

 

Mueller, 20, just completed his final season playing in the NAHL and is a true ladder of development success story. The native of St. Louis, Missouri began his junior hockey career playing in the NA3HL for the St. Louis Jr. Blues as a 17-year-old back during the 2011-12 season.

 

He worked his way up the ladder, which included brief stints with the Springfield Jr. Blues, St. Louis Bandits and Janesville Jets before finally settling with Fairbanks midway through the 2012-13 season.

 

“Johnny is a teammate, understood the process and got better as a player each year. That is all we can ask of our guys is that they continue to learn and improve and Johnny was a great example. He will be sorely missed and we wish him all the best at the NCAA Division I level,” said Fairbanks Ice Dogs head coach Trevor Stewart.

 

The remainder of his NAHL career was spent in Fairbanks where Mueller (5’9/190) had his best career year this past season. In 57 games played, Mueller recorded 30 points, which included five goals and 25 assists.  Mueller was also selected to and played in the 2015 NAHL Top Prospects Tournament for the Midwest Division team.

 

Last season, he was a big part of Fairbanks run to the Robertson Cup as he played in 11 playoff games and had eight goals and 15 points in 53 regular season games. 

 

In his NAHL career, Mueller played in 159 career regular season games and had 49 career points. He played in 27 career Robertson Cup Playoff games.

 

Mueller is the 12th Ice Dogs player this season to be committed to an NCAA Division I school.