nascar99

I wanna see a replay of that hit

Clearly have more talent, gotta get inside and force them to make more mistakes in tight

Way too easy on the Miami PK, need to pressure and get inside more

Oh Mac....

He decided not to apply for Exceptional Status, but can play 34 games under the WHL Affiliate Player rules IIRC

Wonder what the approach will be with Williams, probably talented enough to come in as an 18 year old, but certainly could use another year of junior in the Dub to really dominate. Klimpke still very underrated IMHO.

Let's do a somewhat deep dive on the Boston University roster: 1 superstar: Cole Hutson, and he's even playing a bit below his standards. Still elite, I'll cut him some slack 2 on paper studs who are massive underachieving: Cole Eiserman & Sacha Boisvert; Eiserman is very perimeter, no clue on why Boisvert continues to underachieve, might still be banged up: 2 upperclassmen who haven't taken a positive step: Owen McLaughlin & Jack Harvey 2 good but not great 2nd round pick freshmen going through the normal struggles: Jack Murtagh & Conrad Fondrk 1 17 year old freshman who isn't fully ready that they brought in early: Tynan Lawrence (he will be great next year) Sophomore goalie who has taken a step back compared to last season: Mikhail Yegorov The other defensemen have failed to live up to the expectations this year, Sascha Boumedienne hasn't exploded, Carter Amico was so bad through 8 games that he had to go back to junior for further development. Gavin McCarthy and Aiden Celebrini are adequate, but unspectacular IMHO, Charlie Trethewey shows flashes but is still an 18 year old freshman. Have liked Ryder Ritchie, Ben Merrill, and Jonathan Morello for the most part, but not enough guys overachieving, Pandolfo looks so exhausted or even rattled in his post game press conferences. If your youngsters aren't elite producers off the bat, then a young team will likely struggle. I overrated their roster & Pandolfo's ability to retool things on the fly.

From a few weeks ago, but just wanted to share how impressive this is from Simpson

Minnesota has done this to themselves when they were unwilling to go out & actively recruit CHLers once the rules changed on November 7, 2024. And then once 6 guys turned pro, Motzko only got Ludtke, Di Pasquo (thumbs up), and a D3 player from the portal, and actively chose not to go get any CHLers during the summer, instead bringing in Finn McLaughlin (USHL), who clearly wasn't ready & that was why Denver told him to go back to junior so he decommitted. Minnesota is willing to recruit Canadian goalies, but almost never forwards or defensemen? Odd, other than the insular tribalism angle that I accuse the Gophers of. Maybe there's booster pressure to keep the roster as Minnesotan as possible, still weird to me lol

Production at a good rate, but not elite rate as a 20 year old on a stacked team (I know the USHL plays defense for the most part, but if you're truly great, you produce way more as a 20 year old) does not indicate you're going to produce a ton of offense at the NCAA level. Gophers fans keep thinking the offense should be there from Gruba when it was really a mirage. Ben Robertson produced at a very quality rate for a defenseman in the USHL, but he did so in his 18 year old season & you've seen a better translation of that offense both at Cornell & now at Michigan.

Gruba is a meh depth player who got hyped up like he was far better than what he is in reality. That's my point. Depth guys are necessary but they are what they are, they aren't elite. Slukynsky is a great development story, but there was no indication that he'd breakout when he transferred from Northern Michigan to Western Michigan, other than Ferschweiler being elite at turning nobodies into dudes every year

Ryerson Edgar (2009, Holland Landing, ON, Niagara IceDogs) commits to Michigan

He only got 2 years at Minnesota from Rinzel. Rinzel (June 2004, thus oldest kid in HS class of 2023), spent a year of junior in the USHL post draft, and then spent 2 years at Minnesota. Motzko has to be smart enough to know that the Blackhawks weren't going to let one of their 1st rounders get to that 4th year removed from being drafted and risk Rinzel running out the clock to August 15 UFA. It's the exact same reason why I wasn't surprised that Jackson Blake was only at North Dakota for 2 years. Hurricanes weren't going to risk letting Blake get to the 4th year removed from the draft and then potentially losing him to UFA if he ran out the clock.

Correct, although I do think Nightingale is a great Xs & Os coach who gets more out of his talent than every other coach in the B1G. Denver gets so many bounces/good fortune it's nuts. I know people on here gave Schloss a hard time in 2024 when he was talking about the luck/bounces you need to win a National Championship, but he was/is right.

Again, they need to prove it in the tournament, but Michigan State is objectively the National Championship favorite at present moment. What Nightingale has built there in 4 years is insane, turning the Spartans around from bottom of the barrel to absolute (regular season) wagon this quickly is very impressive. And they're set up extremely well going forward. If they play to their standard & Augustine holds up in net, it'll be extremely hard to beat them in the tournament

Bob "Excuses" Motzko stated on his weekly show that the Gophers expected to only lose 2-3 underclassmen, not 6 after 2024-25. So we can insinuate they didn't expect to lose Moore, Chesley, Kurth, and maybe even Wood. The only two who realistically may have been coming back were Chesley and Kurth. Such bad program strategic planning in Minneapolis

Ryder Ritchie & Cole Hutson would be the two I'd like. Sasha Boumedienne will be very good in a year or two, but he's just ok right now

Gruba didn't put up big numbers in junior until his 20 year old season, that tends to indicate you're not as good as someone putting up big numbers in their 17 or 18 year old season. Simple

Michigan State probably should have another title or 2 at least. Dominant regular season teams from 1982-1990 as well as 1998-2002, with only 1 National Championship (1986) to show for it. Actually a shame that Ron Mason (1979-2002 at State) only had 1 National Championship.

I take Minnesota HS production & HS players in general with a massive grain of salt because there's a relatively large hype train that comes from MN HS Hockey that overinflates player quality. Many guys do in fact turn out & become great in the NCAA or even the NHL, but many do not. I remember Ryder Donovan, Nick Pierre, Blake Biondi, Max Strand, Jack Peart and many others being overhyped as recruits/NHL prospects simply because of their HS prestige/résumé. Teddy Townsend and Leo Gruba are two current Gophers that have been overrated simply because of them being damn good MN HS players.

I generally take every player (especially in Minnesota) with a grain of salt until they start producing in junior, especially at younger ages in junior. Yes, junior production doesn't always translate, but it's certainly a good indicator when you can adjust from lower levels to a higher level and produce quickly.

Hoping Bryn Chyzyk is all in for Maddox Schultz (2010) and Liam Pue (2010), both of the Regina Pats

I think they've got a really good shot to do that, hell, they might be the favorite this year to win it all. Nightingale has turned them around from doormat to contender into virtually no time, now they just have to be clutch in the tournament. They're going to be relevant in recruiting and thus on the ice for a long time most likely: they've won recruiting battles for players that 10 years ago would have been near locks for Michigan/Minnesota/Denver/Wisconsin/North Dakota. They're positioned extremely well to recruit all of the CHL (especially the OHL obviously) at a high level and Nightingale's connections with the NTDP/USA Hockey have been crucial as well. Seems like the State athletic department decided to finally care about hockey again and made the right hire with Nightingale, good for them.

Would need to have multiple great seasons before potentially moving up to pro