Senior Season — 2012-13
Esposito ranked third on the team with 11 goals and five power-play goals, both of which were career highs. Three of those goals were game-winners, all coming in the first two months of the season. He scored two power-play goals in the Big Red's season-opening shutout of Colorado College on Oct. 26. He followed that up with another two-goal effort against Clarkson on Nov. 30, then notched the game-winner the following night against St. Lawrence. The three-goal weekend led to Esposito being named the ECAC Hockey Player of the Week on Dec. 3. His 15 points tied a career high, thanks in large part to a career-high 32 games played. He finished with a plus rating for a third consecutive season and developed into a dependable penalty killer.
Junior Season — 2011-12
Esposito posted a career-high 15 points despite missing significant time with an injury that hampered him for more than half of the season — but he was still a large part of the team's success when he forged his way back into the lineup. In his first game back after a seven-game absence, he scored a goal Feb. 10 against Brown. After another two weeks out of action, he returned to score two goals in the first period of last Game 1 in the ECAC Hockey quarterfinal series against Dartmouth. Esposito's front half of the season was marked by his stellar play alongside linemates Greg Miller and Brian Ferlin. The pairing took ECAC Hockey by storm, and Esposito had six points in the first four games of the season — including back-to-back two-point efforts at Yale and Brown in early November. He also had a goal and an assist on Dec. 30 against Clarkson in the consolation game of the Florida College Hockey Classic. Esposito's plus-13 rating was tied for fourth on the team.
Sophomore Season — 2010-11
Esposito missed six games due to injury on the year, but still managed to pick up eight goals on the year, good for third-most on the team. He finished the season with eight goals and four assists for 12 points in 28 games. Esposito started out the season strong, scoring eight points in the team's first 13 games, but was injured during the game against Maine and missed nearly the entire month of January. He had a string of four straight games with a goal from Nov. 27 through Dec. 29. Unfortunately, after his injury, Esposito struggled to regain the form that saw him scoring at a high rate. He began the season with a goal and an assist in the loss to New Hampshire and added an assist the following day against RIT. Esposito then scored one goal against Colgate, had two in two contests against Alabama-Huntsville, and once against St. Cloud State. After returning from injury, he scored goals against Clarkson, Harvard and Dartmouth, picking up an empty net tally in the game against the Big Green in the ECAC Hockey semifinal. His goal in the opener against New Hampshire came short-handed, one of four short-handed tallies on the year for the Big Red.
Career Highs
|
Goals |
2 (three times) |
last vs. Clarkson, 11/30/12 |
|
Assists |
2 |
at Brown, 11/5/11 |
|
Points |
2 (10 times) |
last at Union, 1/18/13 |
|
Shots |
7 |
vs. Dartmouth, 3/9/12 |
|
Penalties |
1 (17 times) |
last at Dartmouth, 2/15/13 |
|
Penalty Minutes |
2 (17 times) |
last at Dartmouth, 2/15/13 |
Freshman Season — 2009-10
Esposito had a solid freshman season, appearing in 31 games and scoring four goals and adding five assists for nine points. He had a pair of multi-point games on the season, first scoring a goal and adding an assist in the 5-3 victory against Clarkson on Jan. 30, then picking up a goal and an assist on March 19 against Brown in the ECAC Hockey semifinals on March 19. Esposito made his collegiate debut on Oct. 30 against Niagara, and scored his first career point in his second game, scoring a goal in the victory against Dartmouth on Nov. 6. His goal on Jan. 30 against Clarkson was his lone power-play tally of the season. Esposito finished the season with 10 minutes in penalties and had an even plus-minus rating.
Before Cornell
Esposito played junior hockey with the Notre Dame Hounds of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, appearing in 51 games and scoring 15 goals and 22 assists for 37 points. He had eight multi-point games on the year while scoring four power play goals and adding one game-winner.
Personal
John Esposito, Jr., is the son of John and Gianna Esposito and has an older brother and an older sister. His brother, Angelo, was a first-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2007 NHL Draft. He is enrolled in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Esposito's Career Statistics
|
Year |
GP |
Goals |
Assists |
Points |
+/- |
PIM |
PPG |
SHG |
GWG |
|
2009-10 |
31 |
4 |
5 |
9 |
0 |
10 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
2010-11 |
28 |
8 |
4 |
12 |
+5 |
10 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
2011-12 |
24 |
7 |
8 |
15 |
+13 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
|
2012-13 |
32 |
11 |
4 |
15 |
+6 |
10 |
5 |
0 |
3 |
|
Totals |
115 |
30 |
21 |
51 |
+24 |
34 |
8 |
1 |
3 |
