ROCHESTER, NY – Former RIT men’s hockey captain Alexander Kuqali (Pittsburgh, PA/Sioux City Musketeers) will suit up for the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League as the team released its roster for the 2016 Prospects Challenge, which will include two games: Saturday, Sept. 17 at Buffalo and Sunday, Sept.18 vs. Boston. Both games will take place at HARBORCENTER in downtown Buffalo.
Kuqali, who served as a team captain in 2015-16 and assistant captain in 2014-15, enjoyed an excellent four-year career with the Tigers, helping the team win the 2015 and 2016 Atlantic Hockey Championships and make two appearances in the NCAA Tournament. He appeared in 153 career games, second most in RIT’s Division I era, with 13 goals, 46 assists, 59 points, and a plus-16 rating. In 2014-15, Kuqali served as an assistant captain, garnered All-Atlantic Hockey Third Team honors and was named to the NCAA Midwest Regional All-Tournament Team. He was the Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Month in December, 2012.
Kuqali was named a 2016 Senior CLASS Award First Team All-American. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in the community. He also served as the Saunders College of Business Commencement Speaker in May, 2016. In the classroom, Kuqali enjoyed a 3.89 grade point average as an accounting major. Kuqali won RIT’s Green B. Williams Award for Academic Excellence in both 2015 and 2016 and was a 2015 CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-District At-Large First Team selection. In addition, Kuqali was one of eight student-athletes to earn Atlantic Hockey Academic All-Star honors for maintaining a 4.0 GPA in 2014-15. He was a four-time member of the Atlantic Hockey All-Academic team and has made the Dean’s List seven times at RIT.
