beastandco

This is a historically bad Gopher team and I am not convinced they will be much better next year like their fan base thinks. They are a lot further from the top than they realize.

From Schloss’ article, it sounds like he is pushing for the 27/28 season. That would be his draft year and I doubt that UND will opt for him to come in that season. The best comp that I can find for him is Lincoln Kuehne of Arizona State. He probably should be playing juniors this season.

When looking at him as a sophomore, is he one of, if not, the best defenseman for this cycle? He’s super young and two days from being a 2010. I don’t know how common or uncommon it is for a defenseman to be playing where he is at his age.

Maybe top 3-5 player in this cycle for Americans? Probably the best American defenseman

The age requirement to officially offer a player will eventually be raised, in my opinion. I see no benefit for the player or team to commit a player multiple years before they get to campus. Shortening the window will prevent players from changing their commitments and teams from pulling scholarships.

They move down to 4

It would be nice if the camera angle wouldn’t change every 5 seconds

There hasn’t been any specific names being dropped but there was whispers around world juniors of player(s) following MacKenzie to North Dakota. That could be Steiner, Carels, Suvanto, etc. Rumors of current CHL players heading to NCAA next season will probably heat up soon. Most guys already know where they are going or have a very short list of teams. Leaving the CHL is still frowned upon so I wouldn’t expect an official announcement on anyone until their season ends. There probably is a commitment or two behind closed doors.

They are in a very similar situation as UND last year. UND was pretty good down the stretch but jumping 10-12 spots in the NPI will be tough when hockey east isn’t very good. They’ll have to win at least 75% of their remaining games, probably more.

Boston College, Boston University, and Michigan

Notre Dame has the potential to be an NPI killer for some of these top Big Ten teams. If they can pick up a few wins against Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, that will help UND and the rest of the NCH out a lot.

I’m assuming Bryn has been around there for most, if not all of the tournament. UND is already represented there. Dane showing face is, at the very least, a nice gesture for potential recruits and their families. I doubt he’d go down there unless they were pretty far along in the recruitment of a player(s) if Bryn is already there. They are probably looking at Carels and a European forward, like you said. That’s really all that is left to recruit in the tournament.

In last night’s press conference, Dane mentioned he is going down to St. Paul today to recruit some of the players when asked if he will be watching Canada tonight. It’s pretty significant for a head coach to make a recruiting trip in between game weeks, in my opinion.

Sneaky four point game for Rickwood. He’s been a stud this year. I also wouldn’t mind seeing more of Kernan. I just don’t know who you play him over. He’s going to be a good player.

Is Stenberg on a similar contract? I noticed he has followed UND hockey on instagram within the last couple of months. He also follows BC, BU, and Michigan. It seems like he has some interest in college hockey but I am not sure if he’s eligible.

He’s referring to multiple guys, which those two have been pretty linked to UND. The pool of uncommitted/eligible players is not very big at this this tournament, especially if you narrow it down to just players playing in juniors.

It could be. Suvanto plays pro Europe so I am not sure if he’s eligible. With the current state of the NCAA, anything is possible. I would guess they are referring to a CHL player. They are pretty tapped into CHL prospects.

According to Cam Robinson and Chris Peters, there are whispers around the world juniors tournament about guys going to North Dakota next year along with MacKenzie. I’m guessing he’s talking about Carels and maybe others. He states this around the 31 minute mark of this podcast today. Also good insight on MacKenzie’s draft stock in there too. Sounds like he probably goes in the first two rounds.

Livanavage and Wiebe will be back tomorrow night according to Schloss if all goes as planned. UND booked them an earlier flight.

If all of the world juniors guys come back for next year, that team could be special.

Solid addition. It seems like the new staff is really prioritizing elite skaters. Ollie, MacKenzie, and now Klimpke are all great skaters. He’s having a really solid year and will have another year of juniors to get better. Similar to MacKenzie, he stated that he will play another year of juniors before he comes to campus. This probably means that UND is still looking to add a defenseman for next season. Carels, DuPont, etc. will probably be gone before Klimpke gets to campus if they land one of them. Lots of flexibility still.

Listening to “Called Up the Prospects Podcast” with Cam Robinson and Chris Peters and they project Ethan MacKenzie as 2nd/3rd round pick this year with 1st round upside if he has a good world juniors.

Williams will naturally get bigger over the next 9 months but he’ll definitely need to put on 5-10 extra pounds to be ready for college, whether that’s next year or the year after. Being over 6 feet and under 160 ponds is very lean. Bryn stated in his press conference this week that he will be at the World Juniors over break. I would guess that he primarily is supporting current players or committed recruits but it also is a good opportunity for him to interact with Carels, Steiner, etc. while they are away from their CHL teams. Having Reschny, Verhoeff, and MacKenzie certainly does not hurt his ability to recruit some of the uncommitted Canadians.