nascar99

Motzko is a good coach but still only has 2 Frozen Four appearances & 1 Runner Up in the 6 seasons (2020 doesn't count as a season since no tournament) he's been there. 2022 was a great coaching job to get them there (aided by a massive collapse/choke from UMass in the 1st Round). 2023 was one of the best rosters Minnesota has put together, but Motzko was a big reason why they choked in the National Championship game. Since the collapse in Tampa, Minnesota has taken a small step back. It now looks like Motzko is way better than Berry was, but we'll see if Motzko adapts to a new environment, one in which two of his conference rivals are poised to take massive steps above his program. Hakstol had 4 Frozen Four appearances, 1 Runner Up in his first 6 seasons as North Dakota head coach. Despite not getting it done in the Frozen Four, Hakstol was still a bit better than recent Motzko IMHO.

As @beastandco said (& I've said many times), Minnesota has no real pipeline of connections across minor hockey & major junior hockey in Canada. They've never been in on the first time recruit blue chip Canadians (Wood only transferred there because his dad was a Gophers women's assistant back in the day), Kris Chucko being the only exception and that was in the early/mid 2000s. I would be very surprised if Motzko lands Lakovic (who does follow the Goofers on Instagram), Schmidt, Kindel, Behm, Ravensbergen, Cootes, etc. And because Minnesota rarely recruits Canadians (overage goalies being the exception), these guys almost never think about the prospect of going there. Which results in Motzko thinking recruiting them is a waste of time, thus creating a self fulfilling loop there. They'll probably adjust and recruit Canadian CHLers a bit better in the future, but then that'll piss off their fans who still want a 90%+ Minnesotan roster, which will be hilarious.

He's getting up there in age, is used to how NCAA Hockey & Gophers Hockey have always been, and thus is slow to adapt to change. This is very apparent in the lack of CHL recruiting from the Goofers, more impactful because they lost ~65% of their total points produced from last season due to guys turning pro &/or graduation. Motzko has had a pretty bad calendar year of recruiting, where his only 3 new commits are Mason Moe (very solid), Tate Pritchard (Minnesota State decommit, older, projected middle 6 depth), and Finn McLaughlin (Denver decommit, decent but unspectacular defenseman). Motzko hasn't gotten a single 2008 born commit yet, which is wild for a blue blood IMHO. They have a solid incoming class of freshmen, but they're likely a bubble team in the Pairwise as of now for 2025-26.

You have a link to Drew Shore’s podcast with Chyzyk? Would be interested in listening to it when I have time

O/U: 9.5

Massive oversight by me lmao. Zellers will be incredible too. A Zellers-Swanson-Reschny-Livanavage-James/Strinden unit could be deadly. Could go with a 3F/2D look with Verhoeff out there as well. We'll see where Menghini and Rickwood project and if they can crack PP1 or PP2.

Still super stoked about a potential power play with Swanson and Reschny. Not to mention Livanavage up top.

Colin Grubb (2009, Minot, ND native, Shattuck St Mary's AAA) has taken an unofficial visit to North Dakota per Ryan Sikes of Puck Preps on Instagram. August 1 2025 commitment eligible.

Schultz coming in or back to junior for 2025-26?

One of the CHLers who I think will translate very well to the NCAA. Just no penalty trouble please and I think he'll be good pretty quickly.

From the DM conversations I've had with Schloss, he knows more than he gives on about certain problems and as we've mentioned before, he has to toe the line to avoid losing scoops or even worse, getting canned. Back to the McKenna discussion, I do wonder if programs not mentioned like Boston University and Boston College put out serious NIL offers for him.

DuPont feels like North Dakota, Denver, or Michigan. Maybe Boston University if they empty the NIL bag. If it's anyone besides those 4, I'd be shocked tbh.

I think we'll see Denver land a couple more big ones for this year or next, they've been quiet since getting Epperson. I also believe Arizona State will make some noise and is a natural landing spot for Dub guys. The obvious puzzling mystery is Wisconsin. Thought they'd be more active in the CHL pool. Oliver Tulk is going to be awesome off the bat for the Badgers, but they need more. I guess Hastings really hates young players and/or doesn't have enough connections in the Canadian minor/major junior hockey world to win some recruiting battles. Wisconsin has been down bad for awhile, so it might not be appealing for a lot of guys.

90% of Canadian & US teams will be fine with their high profile drafted CHLers going to the NCAA as long as those guys guarantee they're signing after 1-3 years. The remaining 10% might favor more games in major junior, or could be quasi-nationalistic, but as you've seen with Connor (Michigan to Winnipeg), Q Hughes (Michigan to Vancouver) Caufield (Wisconsin to Montreal), Sanderson (North Dakota to Ottawa), Hutson (Boston University to Montreal), Knies (Minnesota to Toronto), Coronato (Harvard to Calgary), etc, the NCAA route has worked more and more for Canadian teams (even if those front offices might have people who hate the NCAA/US). Most of these CHLers are Canadian and are likely to sign ELCs with Canadian teams. US kids are usually the only flight risks since most of them deep down would rather play in the States.

Roobroeck has been heavily tied to Michigan in the rumor mill for months but that has cooled down. Naurato & staff may have pivoted away from him for now. Would imagine Roobroeck ends up somewhere in the NCAA, but likely goes somewhere east of Lake Michigan.

Once McKenna is confirmed to not be a possibility at all, I would shift completely to Kindel, Schmidt, Cootes, McQueen, Fiddler, Lakovic, Bear, Behm. Would call about guys in the O like Martin, O'Brien, Reid, Nesbitt, Czata, Romano even if unlikely. Would think Q guys like Zonnon & Desnoyers will stay out east if they go NCAA.

I think that'll only happen if they aren't playing much and/or struggling a ton. Which we already saw in the past, difference was, going to the CHL from the NCAA made them ineligible to return to the NCAA. Now, those guys can go back if they want to, as we're seeing with Noah Powell

Wonder if Chyzyk/Jackson gave him a serious offer or if this was primarily an NIL driven commitment and Smith was only going to go east of Lake Michigan. Really interested to see how he develops there, thought he would have fit in better at any of North Dakota, Denver, or Michigan.

Until a high end elite tier Canadian chooses Arizona State, I'll be skeptical. Once the first domino falls, then we can expect it. Arizona State didn't land an elite recruit until Cullen Potter committed last summer. They're still in the infancy stages of being massive players in elite recruiting & getting in battles with North Dakota, Denver, Michigan, etc.

I think that's a fake IG post and you got Fronk'd

Common perception has been that Ritchie wouldn't formally announce until after McKenna formally announces where he's going. Still a chance they go somewhere together or they do their own thing. I'm guessing both are on visits right now.

Matteau doesn't count as Chicago because he was merely born there when his dad was still with the Blackhawks, he never grew up or played minor hockey there.

Connor Hvidston (2022 Anaheim 5th rounder) commits to Colorado College. Very nice overager snag for them out of the Dub. Tigers going after Dub guys hard, just shows that Western Canada will be a massive battle for recruits amongst programs from all over.

They haven't recruited Illinois (more specifically, Chicago suburbs) well enough. Considering the hockey growth (in terms of minor hockey participation and NCAA player production) in Chicago Metro since the Blackhawks 3 Cups, Berry never went after those kids hard enough. Problem is that with many of them growing up in wealthy Suburbanville USA, they're not as likely to covet North Dakota because Grand Forks is small town, Upper Midwest, much more rural, relatively speaking. The Chicago suburbs kids like Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Michigan, Michigan State, Denver, Boston University far more because those schools are either regular Midwestern university towns and/or are in bigger cities. I think Berry once touched on the fact that North Dakota has had problems recruiting big metro, non Upper Midwest/Western Canada kids, which would be places like Boston, Chicago, New York, Toronto, Los Angeles, and to some extent, some Vancouver because Grand Forks is so so different culturally from those metros.

Hopefully North Dakota is at least in on some of these high end OHLers in the coming years. Obviously, Boston University, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Boston College & even Notre Dame will be the most likely destinations based on pure regionality/geography, but would be nice to snag a few and establish a presence so that guys coming up through the GTHL and then OHL know that North Dakota is a great place to go down the road.