After three years of playing hockey for the Big Green, Hugh Jessiman '06 is finally making the jump from the NCAAs to the professional level. In a press release from the New York Rangers on Friday, the organization revealed that Jessiman had agreed to terms for the 2005-2006 NHL season with the Rangers.
"I'm feeling great," Jessiman said from New York in a phone interview with The Dartmouth. "It's nice to have the deal finalized, and I kind of feel like I'm entering a new stage."
Jessiman has been besieged by calls from local sports media, which he described as "intense." Since the news broke late Friday, Jessiman said he was on the phone for most of the weekend.
But there were some important people to whom he had to send a BlitzMail message.
"I wrote everyone on the [Dartmouth] team a couple paragraphs, explaining what happened and just sort of saying this is the decision I made," Jessiman, who is the highest-drafted Dartmouth player ever, said.
"When I look back on my time at Dartmouth, it'll be the times with them that really stick out in my mind. I wouldn't have been able to have the success that I've had personally as a player without them, so obviously I owe a lot to them," he added.
The team has responded with support and wishes of good luck, according to Jessiman.
"They say things like 'Good luck, buddy, I'm rooting for you,' or 'Hey, man, next time drinks are on you!'" Jessiman added with a laugh.
Jessiman has signed a three-year, entry-level maximum contract, which has come to be expected for most first-round draft picks. Jessiman was the Rangers' first-round pick and the 12th pick overall of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.
His decision marks a startling contrast with his situation last summer, when he waited until Sept. 10 before deciding to return to Dartmouth for his junior year.
"Financially, this deal had to be worth giving up my senior year because getting that degree in the back pocket is almost equally as financially sound," he said. "It's obviously a big commitment and a big sacrifice to lose that last year, but I felt I was ready to take the next step."
Weighing the positives and negatives was on Jessiman's mind in the spring, as he fully recovered from the torn deltoid ligament in his right ankle he suffered in a game against Princeton University last fall.
"In the spring, I just felt like I wanted to be militaristic about my training this summer and make the jump," he said. "That was the decision I made, and I was pretty down about the injury, but I said, this injury's not going to slow my progress down."
According to Jessiman, Dartmouth Men's Hockey Coach Bob Gaudet's support also aided his decision.
"Many coaches would say, 'I think this is a bad decision.' Some even publicly don't support you," Jessiman said. "Coach G.'s just been incredible to me, and it just says a lot of things for him as a person and his character."
Jessiman also credited the Dartmouth hockey program for his current success, citing his line-mates, as well as the coaches, for his strong development in his past three years at the College.
"I came in as a scrawny freshman, and they gave me the opportunity to play with Lee Stempniak and Mike Ouellette and Tanner Glass, and fortunately we clicked," he said, naming the team's former captain, Stempniak '05, who recently signed an entry-level contract with the St. Louis Blues.
"They allowed me to develop all aspects of my game, mentally and physically," Jessiman said. "It's the timing right now. I felt that I could play at the next level."
While preparing for ice time at the professional level, it's still business as usual for Jessiman. He will continue practicing at the Rangers facility in Greenburgh, N.Y., training with the rest of the prospects the Rangers have traded for or drafted. There, the Rangers will be able to evaluate their prospects before the training season starts.
On Sept. 12, however, the full Rangers' training camp begins, which will act as a tryout for new players like Jessiman and recently-signed goaltender Al Montoya, formerly of the University of Michigan.
"That camp is the big camp -- that's where they have all the players, from Jagr all the way down to me," Jessiman explained. "That's the big show, the opportunity, and I'm going to have to give my best effort."
After a week of training camp, the Rangers management will make two cuts, and players who make it past those will play pre-season games, he said. Another cut follows those games, and, by that point, Jessiman estimates, he will know whether he will be playing in Hartford with the Rangers' developmental team, the Wolf Pack, or at Madison Square Garden with Jaromir Jagr and the rest of the New York Rangers.
Jessiman is particularly looking forward to playing with Darius Kasparaitis, a tough veteran defenseman who has taken Jessiman under his wing since Jessiman was first drafted in 2003. Jessiman would also like to play with Jagr, "just to see what it's like to be on the ice with him," he said.
Hopes of a professional career began when Jessiman was playing hockey at the Brunswick School. At only 16, Jessiman met his current agent George Bazos.
At the time, Jessiman said, he was solely focused on playing college hockey and attending Dartmouth, but Bazos met with him and his family to assure them that he had the talent to excel at the professional level someday. He told Jessiman that he was going to be a first-round draft pick in the NHL in a couple of years, a compliment Jessiman was wary of taking seriously. But he agreed to let Bazos be his agent, and Bazos played an active role in Jessiman's freshman year at Dartmouth by recruiting scouts to watch him play NCAA games.
But once Jessiman started performing for the Big Green, it wasn't hard to attract spectators. He was named Rookie of the Year for both the ECAC and Ivy League, as well as named to the ECAC All-Rookie team. He recorded a team-high 41 points (19 goals, 22 assists), finishing first overall in ECAC rookie scoring, including 14 multiple-point games.
"Now I feel like I'm at a point where I'm satisfied and completely happy and grateful for my time at D and the people I met and to have had the experiences I've had with my teammates, my friends and my coaches," he said.
"It's been an incredible experience -- something that'll be a part of me forever," Jessiman added.
