Indy Fuel players in review: The forwards

Today begins a two-part series looking back at the Indy Fuel’s 2016-17 season. We look back at the forwards who finished the year with the team, their status and where they might fit in the future, either in Indy or elsewhere. Part 2: the defense and goaltenders.

Left wings

Daniel Ciampini

• Contract: AHL (Rockford)
• 2016-17 status: Tweener (58 pro games)
• Notes; 14-24-38 as a rookie from Union College. He’s under contract to the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs, and with his play this season, it’s hard to imagine him not getting a look in the AHL next year. Ciampini is a very creative playmaker and an outstanding finisher.

Dylan Clarke

• Contract: ECHL (Fuel)
• 2016-17 status: Veteran (298 pro games)
• Notes: Clarke indicated before the season finale he plans to retire this off-season. He’s had a solid five-year pro career in Tulsa, South Carolina, Evansville, Rapid City and now Indy. He had nine goals, 22 assists and a team-high (and, for Clarke, a career-high) 143 PIM this season. If this is it for Clarke, he”ll finish with 86 goals and 123 assists in 298 pro games while bringing a lot of heft and physicality to the game. He began his career a scorer, and finished in a physical, enforcing role.

Cody Sharib

• Contract: ECHL (Fuel)
• 2016-17 status: Tweener (69 pro games)
• Notes: Sharib simply put the puck in the net – he had a team-high 17 goals and also 16 assists, often playing on an energy line with Matt White and Rhett Bly at the end of the season. Sharib scored at a similar pace to his college career at UConn, and brings both size at 6-2, 220, and a hard shot. He was also +5, the Fuel’s top forward in +/-.

Centers

Michael Colantone

• Contract: ECHL (Fuel)
• 2016-17 status: Tweener (40 pro games)
• Notes: Colantone turned pro halfway through his final college season and joined the Fuel. He has shown an ability to score – he had a 33-goal season in his last year of junior – and often filled a depth center position for the Fuel. He had 9-8-17 in 40 games and was +2, often playing both special teams.

Alex Lavoie

• Contract: ECHL (Fuel)
• 2016-17 status: Tweener (205 pro games)
• Notes: 16-38-54 this season. He is still 55 games shy of “vet” status and he’s also young at age 23. Lavoie has now played 205 pro games in the CHL, AHL and ECHL, now for three different teams at the “AA” level. Lavoie was a part of Allen’s CHL title in 2014, and was a 21-goal scorer for a very good Florida Everglades team in 2014-15. He’s a strong playmaker who led the Fuel in assists this season.

Matt White

• Contract: ECHL (Fuel)
• 2016-17 status: Tweener (137 pro games)
• Notes: Whenever the Fuel needed a big faceoff win, White was usually the man taking the draw. Late in the year, he centered the team’s energy line with Cody Sharib and Rhett Bly, and finished the year with 16 points in 65 games. He has 17 goals and 21 assists in 137 games with the Fuel.

Brandon Wong

• Contract: ECHL (Fuel)
• 2016-17 status: Veteran (320 North American pro games)
• Notes: Wong has been a big scorer in his career – posting four straight 20-goal seasons from 2010-13 and again in 2014-15 – after spending the interluding season in Europe. This season, he had 57 games, nine goals and 12 assists with Indy and Tulsa. He showed strong playmaking ability in a depth role with the Fuel, and became an alternate captain late in the season.

Right wings

Rhett Bly

• Contract: ECHL (Fuel)
• 2016-17 status: Tweener (142 pro games)
• Notes: Bly can do a little bit of everything – score, play the front of the net on the power play, kill penalties, forecheck, provide energy. It’s rare when a second-year pro becomes an alternate captain – those are almost always reserved for the team’s veterans. But it shows – Bly was named the team’s MVP after a 15-15-30 season. He has played in 142 of the team’s 144 games and, along with Matt White and Anders Franzon, is one of the three original Fuel players who suited up in the 2016 season finale. Bly has 27 goals and 36 assists in 142 career games.

Colin Murray

• Contract: ECHL (Fuel)
• 2016-17 status: Tweener (103 pro games)
• Notes: Murray came to the Fuel late in the season and played three games, scoring one goal. He played 45 total ECHL games this season, with nine goals and seven assists with Kalamazoo and Brampton. He brings size at 6-4, 208, and the ability to play a two-way game. He has a 19-15-34 line in 103 games over two seasons, all in the ECHL.

Peter Schneider

• Contract: ECHL (Fuel)
• 2016-17 status: Tweener (74 pro games)
• The strong right wing put up a 16-21-37 line this year and was the team’s second-leading goal scorer. He has 20 goals and 25 assists in 74 games and plays a strong two-way game.

Mike Seidel

• Contract: ECHL (Fuel)
• 2016-17 status: Tweener (181 pro games)
• Notes: Seidel didn’t get much of an opportunity to show his ability with the Fuel, as he was injured after playing just two games with the team. But the speedy winger has plenty of skill, which he has shown over his three pro seasons. He had 13 goals and 30 points with Elmira in 54 games this season, and was acquired in a late-season trade. He also had a 23-goal season with Elmira in 2014-15, and has 48 goals and 57 assists in 181 games since 2013. Seidel won an NCAA title with Minnesota-Duluth in 2012. If he returns, he’ll be part of the offensive core.