brianvf

My thoughts exactly. McKenna looked great against the weaker teams and didn’t do as much otherwise. I don’t think the WJC solidified his #1 status to most scouts.

I think the biggest thing with these highly offensive dmen from the CHL is not knowing how well they can actually play defense. The CHL is so much more offensive of a league. We've seen it some this year with Verhoeff, how he's still learning when/where to jump into the play and making mistakes still with that. It'd probably be even harder as a much smaller, less physical D moving to the NCAA from the CHL. Will be interesting to see how he does at ASU.

We'd never be that lucky to get that regional. But I would take it in a heartbeat! All the other regionals have at least 2 really good teams. Assuming both UND and PSU advanced to the final, I think UND would roll PSU.

For starters, all the current players were about Squirt or Peewee level in 2016.

Croal questionable for this weekend:

Ha, was just posting that @cberkas when I saw your post. Transfer portal window now only 15 days rather than 45 days. That'll be good for coaches to know who is leaving within a couple weeks rather than a 1.5 month timeframe.

Yeah I think he could develop into an excellent college hockey player. Seems like he's rounding out his game a bit too...still such a great shooter, but now picking up more assists than previous seasons. I was surprised by that too, especially since he seemed to start the season pretty decently. Looking at the SSM 18U stats, everyone above him in points (except for Sung) is 1-2 years older than him, which bodes well for future seasons if he starts getting more playing time and better offensive opportunities. Haven't seen a recent line chart for them to see who he's getting paired with, but I'm assuming that he's playing a bottom 6 role currently.

Updated Commit Stats as of Jan 12th: Pilgrim with a nice week...3-5-8 in his last 5gp Simpson 2nd in USHL points, 4th in assists, and 6th in goals Forwards B. Schultz (USHL Sioux Falls) - '05: 32gp - 17g/11a Pilgrim (USHL Tri-City) - '06: 28gp - 10g/13a A. Schultz (USHL Chicago) - '06: 23gp - 8g/11a O'Neill (WHL Edmonton) - '07: 40gp - 15g/13a Sanderson (USHL Muskegon) - '07: 28gp - 9g/14a Simpson (USHL Youngstown) - '07: 34gp - 19g/27a Jundt (WHL Calgary) - '08: 33gp - 6g/3a Williams (WHL Saskatoon) - '08: 37gp - 13g/21a DeMars (WHL Penticton) - '09: 35gp - 4g/7a Grubb (SSM 18U Prep) - '09: 30gp - 6g/14a McKamey (WHL Victoria) - '09: 25gp - 1g/5a Defensemen MacKenzie (WHL Edmonton) - '06: 32gp - 10g/24a Klimpke (WHL Saskatoon) - '07: 39gp - 3g/26a Lindberg (USHL Fargo) - '07: 29gp - 4g/9a Penner (USHL Fargo) - '08: 16gp - 0g/0a Goalies Heil (USHL Madison) - '06: 18gp - 2.43 / .897 (12-4-2)

Verhoeff at #2 for midterm rankings, as well as some committed players: https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/und-hockey/keaton-verhoeff-at-no-2-on-central-scoutings-nhl-draft-midterm-rankings

Huge weekend. 1st vs 2nd in the NCHC. NPI 2nd vs 11th UND just took 4 of 6 points on the road at CC. DU just got throttled by WMU at home and are now winless in their last 5 games. DU is gonna come in hungry for any NCHC points. They are led in points by two JR dmen (not often that you see that) Pohlkamp and Buckberger. Hopefully UND can take care of business at home and send DU back home to Denver with their winless streak intact.

Another ECHL/AHL player joins the NCAA ranks. Getting a little crazy, NCAA might need to rein this in a bit somehow, but that ship has probably sailed now.

I believe that is called "Pulling a Pionk".

He's the Notre Dame captain too, which is crazy.

Huge props to Zmolek on his first goal in a UND sweater: