Chase Marchand signs contract with an NHL affiliate team.

A young goaltender has just signed with the affiliate team of a National Hockey League organization and he's getting a lot more attention than a signing of his nature usually would.

According to a report from the Chronicle Herald now former St. Francis Xavier University goaltender Chase Marchand has signed a professional contract with the Indy Fuel of the East Coast Hockey League. The Fuel are of course the ECHL affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks organization and this move makes a ton of sense given Marchand's previous ties to the Blackhawks organization. Marchand was at Chicago Blackhawks development camp last summer and although he did not get picked up it seems the Blackhawks have been keeping their eyes on him.

I suppose that should come as little surprise given the strong season he just had with St. Francis Xavier University. Marchand, a former Atlantic university conference MVP and the U Sports goalie of the year, appeared in a total of 22 games for St. Francis Xavier University this season recording a strong 2.38 goals against average and a .924 save percentage to go right along with that.

So why has this relatively minor signing been getting attention? Well if you guessed it had something to do with Chase's last name you would be correct. Chase does have ties to notorious Boston Bruins agitator Brad Marchand as the two men are related, they are cousins, and obviously when you carry a name as infamous as Marchand people are going to be turning their heads. That being said as a goaltender I think the National hockey League is safe from any potential antics he might pull on the ice. 

That being said Chase is no doubt looking to carve his own path to the NHL and considering he is already 23 years old he still has a long way to go before he can get there. That being said his time in university has no doubt forged a winner's mentality in him as Chase led his team to solid playoff positions in each of his 3 seasons there. Marchand led the X-Men to an AUS title in 2017 and led them to the University Cup in each season winning silver last year and bronze earlier this month.