BOISE, ID — The Idaho Steelheads have signed forward Jack Jensen and defenseman Colin Van Den Hurk to be used on the active roster. Both Jensen and Van Den Hurk are newcomers to the ECHL coming from the NCAA and USports, respectively. The signing comes after the call-ups of Mark Rassel and Patrick Kudla
Jensen comes to the Steelheads from the NCAA, playing for Augustana University in its inaugural D1 season and at Arizona State University prior. He will join other former Sun Devils, Wade Murphy, and Demetrios Koumontzis, the latter of whom Jensen played two seasons with at ASU. This year, with Augustana, Jensen has four goals and four assists for eight points in 15 games played. His career high in the NCAA was in his first season with ASU, where he scored 14 points in 32 games, six goals, and eight assists.
Prior to his time in the NCAA, Jensen, originally from Eden Prarie, Minnesota, captained the Eden Prarie High hockey team and took them to the playoffs for three seasons. In the 2018-19 season, Jensen had 52 points in 24 games, with 31 goals and 21 assists. He then bounced between the NAHL and USHL, where he put up his best junior season with the USHL Omaha Lacers, scoring nine goals and 19 assists for 28 points in 2019-20.
The 23-year-old forward at 6’2” and 180 lbs is a good size for a gritty forward. Jensen, above all, is a physical presence, taking 23 penalty minutes in his 15 games with Augustana and with a career-high 66 penalty minutes during his season with the Lancers.
Van Den Hurk comes from Lakehead University in Thunderbay, Ontario, where he played for four years. He played 68 games for Lakehead, scoring 53 total college career points, 14 goals, and 39 assists. In his last season at Lakehead, Van Den Hurk had six goals and 17 assists in 28 games.
Before playing for Lakehead, Van Den Hurk, a Havelock, Ontario, native, played in the OHL, OJHL, and QMJHL; his best major junior season was for the Charlottetown Islanders in 2018-19, where Van Den Hurk had six goals and 13 assists for 19 points in 67 games. His best junior season, though, was in the OJHL for the Trenton Golden Hawks, where he served as an alternate captain. Van Den Hurk had 42 points in 50 games for the Golden Hawks, 13 goals, and 29 assists, in addition to serving 76 penalty minutes.
Even though Van Den Hurk, at 5’11” and 190 lbs, is on the smaller side for a defenseman, he is a right-shot capable of both physicality and puck-moving, according to his career penalty minutes and point totals.
