beastandco

Having an elite hockey program is very important to the university. Opting into the revenue sharing settlement is huge for us in recruiting, in my opinion. Hopefully administration looks at revenue sharing as an investment. If DuPont costs 500k, the amount of attention he will give the university is worth that price, in my opinion. You not only put more fans in the seats, but more eyes on the television. When you add up everything, I guarantee you that it would have a positive return on investment. It is a good way to advertise for the university and would be more affective than a billboards on I-29.

Roobroeck or Martone would be huge but both unlikely. I would love to get an OHLer for 26/27 to open the floodgates, at least. I have a feeling about a bat signal tomorrow. It’s only a matter of time. I just hope we find out before August 1st.

He is 9 months older than Verhoeff and also has nothing to prove in the CHL. He also has the frame to play in college hockey this year and potentially make the jump into the NHL next year. He checks every single box and should absolutely go to college. I think him and his agent would be foolish not to make the jump. Obviously you know that he’s been rumored to Michigan but they have A TON of centers right now. He’s definitely the best forward available after Martone.

Martone is the only guy available that would change the expectations that I have for this team next year. There’s a few unsigned players from previous drafts that would be happy with. Other than that, maybe get a guy like Robbroeck (or Lawrence) to come for their draft year. At this point, any of the above would be unlikely but I guess all it takes is one “yes.” I wouldn’t sleep on some of our underclassman like Swanson, Littler, and Kernan. Those guys could all be good players for us next year.

Was Lawrence between UND and Boston when he committed?

He would turn 18 in January of his freshman year. Potter, Horcoff, and Boumedienne all coincidentally turned 18 in January this season and were solid producers for their team. At this point in his development, McKamey is probably more highly regarded than those three.

This could very well be the case. I think a huge reason he picked UND was because they would let him come early. I bet they bring him in unless he obviously isn’t ready.

At lot can change in a year but it looks like we may only have one or two forward spots open to freshmen a year from now. I would love for Dayne Beuker to join Williams and McKamey as blue chip commits for 26/27.

Looking ahead a bit, are there any uncommitted names to keep an eye on for the future? I have seen Dayne Beuker mentioned on here before. Would he be a guy that makes the jump to college a year from now?

Random thought: Could UND use revenue sharing as a way to be competitive in recruiting? For example, could UND directly offer DuPont 250k to play for a season? I’m not saying they would do that but just wondering if that is possible.

I don’t think he plays the WHL season committed to an NCAA school. I do think he takes visits this summer/fall. Him and both of his parents follow UND hockey on instagram. I would be surprised if he doesn’t at least take a visit. He’ll get offered a ton of money, UND will have to be somewhat competitive in that category if they want to have a chance.

Whatever is going on behind the scenes, it doesn’t look like they are in panic mode. Steering a player away from their junior team is much easier when you can guarantee them ice time. At this point, there is not a ton of guys available that could play significant minutes at UND. Maybe there is a forward in the 2026 draft that wants to play college next year, like Cullen Potter did this year. I do not think he committed until mid-late summer.

It’s pretty much Martone or bust at this point. Bryn and Co will have to pull some strings with donors to make a somewhat competitive NIL offer. There’s too many hoops to go through to land Martone, I just don’t see it. Honestly, the loss of Isaac Gordon hurts more and more by the day. I trust what Bryn has cooked up though.

I respectfully disagree on Livanavage. He was a 2nd team all American last year and at times, the only bright spot in our lineup last year. There’s a reason why he was playing over half of the game some nights during the second half of the season. Other than him and Wiebe, we were shaky on the back end. Having Verhoeff, Livanavage, Emery, and Wiebe as a top 4 truly is elite on paper. Hopefully it translates to wins.

He just turned 17 two weeks ago. If he was in the States, I would say he probably wouldn’t be eligible until August 1st. I do not know if it makes a difference in Canada. I know their schooling is different than ours. UND seems like a heavy favorite to land him.

Half of the Big Ten have this schedule. I broke it down one day last year and North Dakota had played the same amount of out of conference tournament teams as 4/5 of the 7 big ten teams combined, including Minnesota. I believe Michigan and Michigan State had the only tough out of conference schedule. I really think the only difference between UND and some of the Big Ten schools that made the tournament was scheduling. Minnesota was BAD against teams in the tournament last year.

Livanavage was leading our team in points for most of the season last year. We should have more scoring up front so I could see him getting 35-40+ points this year, especially if he is on the first PP. I think we see Verhoeff on the first PP, one way or another. He is too good to not be. We could role 2 defenseman on the first unit but I would rather not. Regarding Roobroeck, it would be bad for his draft stock if he stayed in juniors. Getting on a level playing field with other top prospects in next years draft is important. I don’t know if the fit is the greatest at UND but we could get creative. He will probably end up in the big ten if he goes to school.

I could see Anaheim steering McQueen to the NCAA to avoid a Sennecke situation. Sennecke has signed his ELC but has to play in the CHL if he doesn’t make the roster. This is likely going to change in the new CBA. A name to maybe watch is Ryan Roobroeck. He is a projected top 3/5 pick in the draft that is only a couple of weeks younger than Schaefer. I think I saw on here a couple of weeks ago that he was at one point rumored to Michigan, but everybody has been. I would be surprised if he did not make the jump with all of the open spots at blue bloods and his peers in the 2026 draft have left for college or already are in a pro league.

Cam Robinson just tweeted about 5 minutes ago that he previously heard McQueen was going back to the WHL. He also said that he expects Michigan State to be super aggressive on undecided CHL draft pick, particularly Martone. It kind of seems like Martone is the only guy that will come to college and he could still could go pro.

I think it all depends on what Martone AND the Flyers want. Judging by the rumors flying around these past couple of months, Martone wants to play at a Big Ten school. If UND is in the equation, they have just entered the conversation which could be a good thing. The Flyers could have UND as their targeted school for him. He would be “the guy” while still playing with elite players. Also, Grand Forks doesn’t have as much outside distractions and he can really focus on his development. I don’t remember seeing anything about Martone to UND before he went to development camp last week. The Flyers could be sold on UND and it could be just getting Martone to like the idea. It’s just a thought.

I think Michigan State knew he was gone months ago. This wasn’t really an if, but a when. Tampa wasn’t going to let him walk and Howard had to use his leverage to get to a team that he could have a legitimate role. This definitely hurts UND’s chances at Martone. We still are probably on the outside looking in on the Martone sweepstakes.

Isaac Howard traded to Edmonton and signed his ELC

It looks like Martone is our only realistic option at this point out of the first round picks. The Flyers want him to play NCAA. Desnoyers is looking to make Utah but will either go to his junior team or BC. Maybe he doesn’t go to BC if Hagens returns as well? He models his game after Toews, maybe he’ll model his career path as well. I have not seen anything on McQueen going to college or returning to juniors. He could be an option. Zonnon follows a bunch of college teams on instagram, including UND, but he was traded in the QMJHL about a month ago so it looks like he’s returning and playing with Carbonneau, if he doesn’t sign with BC. All of the other first round picks that are forwards are returning to juniors, I believe. If UND is unable to get lucky on these remaining guys, they will have to find a uncommitted player from a previous draft class, bring in one of their committed guys early, or look to see if there are any guys that want to come in from the 2026 draft.

Unpopular opinion but the national media having Penn State as the favorites is hilarious. To me, they are in the 3-6 range and aren’t at the level of MSU or BU. McKenna, Fink, and Smith are great players but a lot of teams have high end guys. Luke Misa and Gadowski are good pieces but they have some question marks. I think they are closer to North Dakota than they are to Michigan State, imo.

It’s seems like Michigan has been tied to all of these guys but they haven’t been able to close. McKenna was considered a Michigan lock back in April. Nobody had Penn State in the mix on McKenna until a few weeks ago. Things can change fast. He still most likely ends up in the Big Ten, but UND being mentioned this late is a good sign. Michigan already has a pretty full top 6 and if Martone ended up there, it would crack me up to see Perron on the third line.