Bobcats Bring Back McHugh, Liskiewicz for 24-25

WYTHEVILLE, VA-

7/2/2024

The Blue Ridge Bobcats are proud and excited to announce that the club has re-signed forward Nick McHugh and goaltender Owen Liskiewicz for the 2024-2025 season. 

McHugh, a 5'11" 170lb native of Gloucester, ON, came to the Bobcats after five seasons in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). The 25 year old forward skated in 205 games (including playoffs) over three and a half seasons with the Kitchener Rangers, netting 62 points (35 goals, 52 assists) and adding 115 penalty minutes. Midway through his fourth season in Kitchener, he was traded to the Mississauga Steelheads, where he capped off his OHL career by scoring 9 points (4 goals, 5 assists) and adding 21 penalty minutes in 22 games (including playoffs).

McHugh improved steadily as the season wound down, skating in 8 games for the Bobcats. He posted 4 points (1 goal, 3 assists) in those 8 games, while accruing 10 penalty minutes.

His first professional points came with assists in back-to-back games in the Bobcats final visit of the season to Columbus against the River Dragons. McHugh's first and only professional goal to date came in his only multi-point outing to date during a 4-2 win over the Watertown Wolves on April 12th. 

"Nick came in after 4 years of not playing hockey so it took him about 2-3 weeks of just practicing get in good enough shape to able to compete with these guys," said Bobcats head coach Vojtech Zemlicka. "We saw every game how much he got better and the last 2 weekends of the season he was one of our top guys."

Nick has great hockey IQ, competes hard and plays the game right way," Zemlicka continued. "I know Nick is practicing hard back home on and off the ice on a daily basis, so I am beyond excited to have Nick coming back because he’s going to shock this league."

Liskiewicz, a 6'4" 185lb native of Red Bank, NJ suited up in 37 games in goal for the Bobcats after being acquired just after Christmas from the Watertown Wolves. The 26 year old netminder posted an 8-9-2 record, a 3.12 Goals Against Average and a .905 Save Percentage. Liskiewicz stopped 600 of the 663 total shots he faced in net for Blue Ridge over the course of 1200-plus minutes played in goal.

"Owen has proven he’s a standout goalie in the last 3 years playing at this level and each year he becomes better than the year before," said Zemlicka. You can't teach size and if you’re 6’4’’ and move in the net like Owen then you won the lottery."

His strongest performances of the campaign came in the final few weeks of the regular season, when he secured victories in 3 of his final 4 starts, including helping carry the Bobcats to their first-ever victory over the rival Carolina Thunderbirds on March 30th, stopping 38 of 39 shots in an overtime win.

"On top of that he brings a ton of experience as well as leadership skills," Zemlicka added.

The Bobcats have also signed goaltender Tyson Brouwer to a PTO. Brouwer, a 29 year old native of Lethbridge, Alberta played his collegiate hockey at the ACHA level for the University of Jamestown, and has spent the last two seasons playing at a high professional level in Sweden. Brouwer will be attending training camp with the SPHL's Quad City Storm.