ITHACA, N.Y. — Senior forward Jeff Kubiak has signed contracts to play the rest of this season and the 2017-18 season with the American Hockey League’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the team announced Tuesday.
An alternate captain with the Big Red, Kubiak led his class in career scoring with 61 points on 15 goals and 46 assists. He posted 17 points this season, despite missing the first 10 games while recovering from an injury suffered before the season began.
Kubiak enjoyed a breakthrough campaign as a junior, when he led the team in scoring with 27 points during the 2015-16 season as the pivot of a line with Mitch Vanderlaan and Anthony Angello on the wings. He also provided one of the season’s most memorable moments, when he scored in overtime to power Cornell past then-No. 1 Providence, which was the defending national champion and undefeated into the final days of December. After his freshman season, Kubiak was presented the Greg Ratushny Award for the team’s most promising newcomer.
Originally from Tinley Park, Ill., Kubiak will compete on an amateur tryout for the rest of the 2016-17 season before entering a standard professional contract for next year.
Kubiak becomes the fifth member of his class to officially sign with a professional team since the Big Red’s season ended with the program’s 20th trip to the NCAA tournament. Defenseman Patrick McCarron (Grand Rapids Griffins) and forward Matt Buckles (Springfield Thunderbirds) are also in the AHL. Goaltender Mitch Gillam signed a deal for the rest of the season in the ECHL (Orlando Solar Bears), and forward Jake Weidner will be joining Iserlohn Roosters (Germany) next year. Kubiak is eligible to make his professional debut Friday against Springfield.
