Tennent's Eric Lineman to Play Ice Hockey at Rider

William Tennent’s Eric Lineman has signed a letter of intent to continue his ice hockey career at Rider University.

Eric Lineman – Rider University (Ice Hockey)

Major:  Marketing and Finance

Final list of colleges:  Rider, Widener, The College of New Jersey

Reasons for choosing Rider:  “I selected Rider University because it just felt like the right place for me to further my education. Rider is also a medium-sized school, which will allow me to get to know the professors. Along with the great education that Rider University offers, they have an excellent ice hockey team that is recognized across the campus. This is because the players and coaches on the team treat each other as family. The team is committed and always works their hardest. Whenever I came in contact with Coach Sean Levin or a player on the team, they always made me feel like I could fit in. Academically and athletically, Rider University seemed like a perfect place for me to attend.”

What was the progression that led you to competing in ice hockey at the collegiate level?  “At some point during my sophomore year of high school, I realized that I wanted to play ice hockey at the collegiate level. I started to look at a lot of colleges on the Internet. If they had a hockey team, then I would e-mail the coach. Rider University was one of the schools that was on my radar since the beginning of the recruiting process. This is because my older brother goes to Rider, and Rider is my coach’s alma mater. I’ve had contact with Coach Sean Levin as early as my freshman year, and he helped me pick the college that I would succeed the most at.”

Coach Nick D’Aurizio says:  “Eric played for four years and was a three-year starter. One year overlapped with his brother, CJ, who also played four years for me. If you look back at all the accolades Eric received, he earned every one of them, and they all speak for themselves. He’s a kid who was ultra reliable. He was the only goalie we had last year. He didn’t miss one practice, he didn’t miss one game. He was there every step of the way, every team function. He was our captain last year along with Bobby Markus, and he was the type of goalie, the type of person you want on your hockey team. You want a team of Eric Linemans.
“Two years ago, Eric was the anchor of the team that made the run to the Flyers Cup final. If we don’t have Eric Lineman, we don’t get to that point. He was amazing. Last year on a team that went from going all the way to the finals of the Flyers Cup to having three wins, the kid’s attitude didn’t change. He played as hard as he possibly could every single night up until his last game where he wins 1-0 in classic fashion. He just battled all season long and gave it everything he had. A lot of guys can quit when you have a team that’s not as good, but he didn’t.
“Eric won the Brad Fox Scholarship, and that’s based on character. We didn’t have anything to do with that. He was picked for that on merit because he deserved it. He was ultra deserving of that too. He’s just the type of kid you want to have on every single team, and you just don’t get that lucky all the time. We’re definitely going to miss him.”

About Eric:
Favorite food: 
Buffalo Chicken Cheesesteak
Favorite movie:  Miracle
Favorite music:  Hip Hop & Country

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