nascar99

No surprise there. Now we wait on other 2025 Draft eligibles from the CHL like Martone to see what their plans are.

There's an idealistic view in the state of Minnesota amongst some, especially in the Goofers fanbase, that NCAA Hockey should be as young as possible & as Minnesotan as possible. I think they have their head in the sand, not wanting to acknowledge that junior allows for better development for guys coming out of minor/prep/HS before they get to the NCAA. The product would suck if you rushed every 18 and 19 year old player straight into the NCAA without junior experience. These people also either don't realize how good the talent is outside of Minnesota, or have some sort of odd simultaneous superiority/inferiority complex with Canada and how good its talent base is. I would also guess that many of these types know deep down that their programs don't have the recruiting connections in Canada throughout the minor/junior hockey world to take advantage of CHLers now being NCAA eligible.

Livanavage-Verhoeff top pair most likely?

I meant that they prefer random Minnesotans who will stay there for 3-4 years over going after more elite talent, regardless of where it is from (Wood only went there because his dad had coached there).

You're just seeing more guys not being happy that they're told to go back to junior for another year because they want to get to campus as soon as possible and play at the NCAA level, so they decommit & go elsewhere

Like I've said before, one of the big keys to winning consistently/going deep in NCAA Hockey is having a well balanced roster of both high end stars (who might be mercenaries for just a year or two on campus) and 3-4 year culture guys. You just don't want to be all of one end or the other. Michigan leans far too much into the mercenary side, while Minnesota leans too far to the culture guys side. Denver has the right balance, old UND teams of decades past had the right balance. I'm confident that Chyzyk/Jackson did their homework properly right after being hired and they have a good approach of getting both types of guys.

Pilgrim will depend on how many guys leave after 2025-26 and if he still wants to go to UND. Jundt is a longer term project who might not get to Grand Forks until 2028 or 2029, might not ever make it as you said though (especially if they get much higher profile CHLers going forward). Andrew has a decent likelihood of being a portal loss at some point,

I could see one of Simpson or Schultz not being happy that they're deferred back to junior for another year, decommit, then commit somewhere that will bring them in now. Schultz could go most places in the country now and play, Simpson needs a full year of junior to develop before going to the NCAA.

Verhoeff coming into the NCAA for his 17 year old season, last notable defensemen to do that were Hanifin and Werenski. If Verhoeff can be a right shot version of that, that would be nice. You'd hope he stays for 2 years like Werenski did at Michigan.

They're definitely getting some money, but it's probably not as much as the most optimistic people think. I also think that if Verhoeff plays at an elite level in year 1, he'll get more money in year 2 if he's back for his sophomore season. There could be incentives, who knows

When Zakreski is not guaranteed a top 12 spot, you know that this coaching staff has retooled extremely well after losing guys to graduation, pro, & transfers. That's a damn competitive forward group, hope it meshes together

Beating out Boston College for Reschny and Michigan for Verhoeff (assuming others like Denver may have been kicking tires too) is insanely impressive by Chyzyk & Jackson. But they leveraged connections and geographical advantage to get 2 blue chippers, which is what North Dakota should always do (even more now): Reschny is from Macklin, Saskatchewan and Verhoeff is from Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, it's very possible that North Dakota was one of the very few NCAA programs they were familiar with growing up. Nice to see the staff aggressively go after guys we all wanted them to go after instead of the laissez faire approach from Berry

HOLY F***

The Coast is correct. The A as well. The O, the Dub, and the Q for the CHL leagues are what we also use. Back to the original point, the 2025-26 lineup looks more well rounded and should be a tournament team no doubt with decent coaching & adjustments.

No one calls it "the N", everyone should just call it "the league" lol

Is the source dialed into the Dub scene or overheard stuff from the UND staff?

Wonder what the recruiting would have looked like if the previous staff had stuck around. Having Chyzyk on this staff seems to be a massive boon for recruiting & the program as a whole

Difference was McKamey was NCAA route from the start whereas Verhoeff was major junior from the start who only became NCAA eligible once the rule changes were passed in November. Sure, Verhoeff could have increased his course load during spring term or even this summer if he wanted to accelerate, I just don't see it as that likely.

Possible would assume unlikely

Nice to have Patrick in Victoria, probably has told all the Royals some of his UND stories since that would be relevant following the rule changes to open up the CHL to the NCAA.

He'd have to accelerate his education to graduate in 2025 instead of 2026, seems unlikely

Verhoeff is one of the top end guys who you wouldn't be surprised to get drafted and then sign his ELC to forego the NCAA, but if he's interested in playing NCAA, you'd certainly want to be at the top of his list. Top 5 guy for 2026.

Cole Reschny committing to North Dakota would indicate Chyzyk's commitment to recruiting harder & better than before, as well as leveraging UND connections/relationships to get great players. With James Patrick being Reschny's head coach for the Victoria Royals, there seems to be another indicator here. Love to see it.

I am puzzled as to why he was ever recruited in the first place, was never of NCHC quality to start with IMHO.