UConn lands '06 forward Elias Straume Vatne

UConn men’s hockey made history by picking up a commitment from ‘06 forward Elias Straume Vatne. A native of Bergen, Norway, he’s believed to be the first Norwegian player in program history. Listed at 5-9, 165 with a left-handed shot, he’ll spend a year in juniors before joining the Huskies.

Vatne has been in the Färjestad BK organization over the last three years and has been a fixture on Norway’s underage national teams as well. This past season, he put up 14 goals and 32 assists in 38 games at the U20 level but also appeared in eight games with the senior team, collecting one assist.

While Filip Sitar was suspended seven games as a freshman after playing with the SHL’s Malmo Redhawks — the same league that Färjestad BK is in — Vatne won’t have any eligibility issues. When the NCAA allowed major juniors players into college hockey, it also amended its rules to let players participate with professional teams as long as they only receive money to cover expenses.

UConn has had five Scandinavia players previously: Kasperi Ojantankene, Joonas Kunas and Samu Salminen from Finland; Philip Nyberg and Viking Gustafsson Nyberg from Sweden.