While the sea­son may be over for the Bulldog hockey team, the num­ber of play­ers sign­ing with pro­fes­sional teams keeps on grow­ing as senior cap­tain Zach Redmond has signed with the Atlanta Thrashers of the NHL.

Redmond, who was drafted by Atlanta in 2008 in the sev­enth round (184^th over­all) of the NHL Entry Draft, recently began play­ing for the Thrasher’s top affil­i­ate, the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League (AHL), after ink­ing with Atlanta on April 5.

“I don’t think it’s really going to set in until after I grad­u­ate,” said Redmond about his jump to the pro­fes­sional level. “I’ve already played three games in Chicago and it comes at you fast. But it’s all been worth it.”

The sign­ing marks the fourth Bulldog to sign with a pro­fes­sional team this off­sea­son, as fel­low seniors Pat Nagle, Mike Embach and Scott Wietecha all hav­ing joined the pro­fes­sional ranks after the con­clu­sion of the 2010-11 season.

Redmond said that while he’s con­fi­dent in his offen­sive game on the pro­fes­sional level, he knows that he’ll have to lock in on defense after see­ing how NHL play­ers can exploit the small­est hole in a defense.

The jump from the ama­teur sta­tus wasn’t the only change for Redmond in the early parts of April, as Redmond and Nagle were named to the 2010-11 American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) All-America Teams for Division I. Nagle secured a spot on the first team while Redmond was named to the sec­ond team.

“It’s a great honor to be named to the team, but I hon­estly didn’t expect it,” said Redmond, who missed a chunk of the sea­son with a bro­ken leg. “I missed a lot of time and wasn’t out there like I wanted to be, but the coaches felt I deserved it and it’s an honor, although a sur­pris­ing one.”

After four sea­sons at Ferris, Redmond con­cludes his Ferris career hav­ing racked up a plethora of awards. Redmond was recently named as a 2010-11 All-CCHA First-Team per­former on top of mak­ing the sec­ond team in 2009-10. The senior cap­tain also claimed CCHA Defenseman of the Week hon­ors on Jan. 10 of this sea­son while also being named to the InsideCollegeHockey.com’s First-Half All-CCHA Team this season.

“I met a lot of great peo­ple dur­ing my time here and I was on a team with a great group of guys and a great coach,” said Redmond about what he’ll remem­ber about his time at Ferris. “We had a lot of fun.”

To view the offi­cial press release of Redmond’s sign­ing with the Thrashers, check out this web­site. http://​thrash​ers​.nhl​.com/​c​l​u​b​/​n​e​w​s​.​h​t​m​?​i​d​=​5​5​8​365