beastandco

A lot of very good points here. I just have a hard time believing that Bryn and Co do not have a good idea who is coming in for the last two spots right now.

I agree. I know Reschny has to do some extra work this summer to become eligible this fall. There are a lot of guys I’m sure that are not eligible and also a lot of guys that will stay loyal to their junior teams. I know hockey Canada isn’t a big fan of college hockey and a lot of these kids want to be on the world juniors team this winter. I’m expecting Schloss to drop a podcast this week previewing the draft and giving an update on UND’s open spots. He hasn’t said much about the two open spots at forward.

Decommitments are bound to happen anyways. In UND’s case, I don’t think there is a recruit quite ready to make the jump to college hockey that isn’t already coming in. Simpson will likely go in the 3rd/4th round but is very raw. Schultz will go late and would really benefit from a year or two in juniors. It doesn’t make sense for either of those guys to come in this year. Outside of McKenna, I feel like there is very little buzz about anyone else coming over from the CHL. As much as I want a Kindel, Cootes, or Schmidt, there is no indication that NCAA is on their radar.

It could be chaos. I think a lot of teams are competing for 5-10 guys. Most blue bloods have one or two spots open. I don’t think every team will get one or two high end guys. They just do not want to fill their roster and throw away their lottery ticket. I do think we see a wave of commitments in the next few weeks.

It looks like the poll was conducted throughout the season, I think that is worth noting. The 34% that said no could and likely does include players that are ineligible to play college because they play in European pro leagues. Out of the top 50 prospects, I would guess that there is about 10 players that will commit for college next year that are currently uncommitted. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was much more or less.

They have recently deferred a forward. He is projected to barely get drafted this year. They now have two forward spots open. This is like us deferring O’Neill, I wouldn’t read into it much. I just don’t think they have much to attract a CHL kid. Their defensive core is very weak. Their best defenseman would be third pair on UND. Their forwards are currently decent, at best.i just don’t see a stud committing to the gophers to play with Ziemer and Lamb on the first line. They also have zero connections to the CHL. Even before Reschny and Verhoeff, UND had ties to Western Canada. They will eventually adapt; but this year might be a tough one for the gophers.

I listened to Drew Shore’s podcast with Bryn Chyzyk as a guest. Bryn stated that UND has a roster spot open and a lot of the top prospects are waiting until after the draft to make their decisions. I believe it was recorded sometime early June before Gordon’s decommitment because he said “one roster spot open.” I know this was talked about a lot but hearing it from him confirms that UND will probably be quiet until after the draft. He must have some traction on a player or two because it is a gamble to wait this late when players are committing left and right it seems like.

It will be interesting to see what the staff comes up with. I could see Rickwood being net front on the first unit because of his size unless we pick up a forward with size. For what I have seen and read about Verhoeff, he has a heavy shot. It wouldn’t surprise me to see two defenseman on the first unit.

I am as well. We could really use a right shot flank on the first powerplay in the next couple of weeks.

I haven’t seen anything about him coming in. I know he was at Chicago Steel’s camp this summer. Recent mock drafts have him going in rounds 6-7. It wouldn’t surprise me if he played two more years in juniors. As of now, we have a somewhat full freshman class of forwards coming on campus in 2026. It wouldn’t surprise me if a couple were pushed back to make room for CHL players. Unrelated to Schultz, it wouldn’t surprise me to see UND drop a couple of commitments because they are not guys that Bryn recruited.

I think a lot of internal problems come to light anyways because of how much of a spotlight there is on the hockey team in Grand Forks. I do think you have to read between the lines with some of the information that Schloss gives out. He will plant seeds on the scoops that he has. It’s surprises me that the Boston schools are reportedly not in the mix. Especially Boston University because players like Celebrini and Eichel went there for their draft years and dominated. Denver would make a lot of sense because he’ll be getting coached by an NHL caliber coach. There’s no way that the Boston schools haven’t kicked tires. McKenna probably just doesn’t have significant interest.

It’s interesting that him and Mikey Berchild follow each other. I wonder if he tried or has been trying to flip him.

Interesting, he also follows Bryn on instagram. After UND fills their last two forward spots, I think Carels could be the next domino to fall. He would be a great Livanavage replacement in a year. I believe he is eligible to commit at any time.

The only thing that worries me about UND’s chances of DuPont coming is that him and Verhoeff are both right shots. Obviously that is a good problem to have but there might be a road block there. They could be the two best defensemen in college hockey after this year and playing on the same team on the same side seems unlikely.

I believe we are in the mix on him. I think he’s the guy that Schloss talked about in his recent pod. If you don’t listen to the pod, Schloss stated that a 2008 born player told his agent that UND is where he wanted to go to school. Carels fits the birth year stated and is in Western Canada. He also follows UND on instagram, for what it’s worth. Even though it’s early, I do think UND is heavily in the mix with DuPont. Schloss has name dropped him a couple of times recently and he doesn’t really do that if there is not any traction.

Are most of the blue bloods in a similar spot as UND with a couple of spots open? I know Minnesota has one roster spot open but I’m not sure about other schools. Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, BU, BC, and Denver seem to be connected to every player. Not every player can go to these schools. I assume they all are nearly full at this point, minus one or two roster spots. If there still is a lot of players coming over, UND’s chances of landing some of these guys have to be high, right?

I wonder if Canadian NHL teams will be more reluctant to send their prospects to college this year. In my biased opinion, there is not a lot of teams that can offer what UND has in terms of quality of line mates and resources for development. I saw the other day that UND has the third ranked freshman class in the country and we still have more to add. Getting another blue chip in the coming weeks would create so much buzz and excitement for next year. I think if there are no commitments from now until the draft, it will be a good sign that UND will likely pick up another first round pick. There has been a lot of good CHL commitments lately to schools that are less desirable than UND. It seems like UND is big fish hunting.

Ryder Ritchie officially commits to BU. No surprise there

Good for the program, bad for the pockets of students. UND will allocate a large portion of their revenue sharing budget to their hockey team. A lot of big ten programs will get outbid by UND’s hockey revenue sharing package because they are allocating 80-90% to their football programs. After the football team takes their cut, the basketball team is next. Most big ten hockey programs will not see a significant amount of money for revenue sharing because it’s capped at $20.5 million. UND will pay a fraction of that but a large portion will go to the hockey team. The hockey team being good is good for enrollment and the university’s wellbeing as a whole. In order to pay for this, administration will increase tuition.

Reschny and Cootes both had a great u18 tournament about a month ago. I am not sure if they played on the same line during the tournament but I am sure they are familiar with each other. Schlossman said in an article last week that the Reschny and Verhoeff commitments could be a domino effect with other players from Western Canada in the future. I am sure Reschny is in communication with other Canadian players about potentially coming to North Dakota, especially when he is spending a ton of time around them at the combine last week.

Littler, Rickwood, Klee, and Kernan all have pretty big frames. I cannot speak for Littler, but I know the other three have been good in the faceoff circle before they came here. I know Boisvert played some wing early last season and it wouldn’t surprise me to see Reschny and/or another CHL guy start at wing and gradually move over to center as the season progresses. I just think back to the 23/24 season and we had McLaughlin playing center because he was our only option. We have five centers on the roster right now but only Reschny and Rickwood can play top 6. If one of those guys is hurt or is struggling to win faceoffs, it would be nice to have a guy step in that is a legit top 6 player.

Cootes seems like a great fit. If we were to get a forward from the dub, I would be ecstatic with him or Kindel. Schmidt’s size concerns me a bit but he is a good player. I think Rickwood is our best faceoff guy so I would be surprised if we moved him to wing. I beleive he was at 57% last year. The downside of Rickwood is that he had one great year with Clarkson and that might not translate to the NCHC. Looking back at a few line charts from last year and Littler played a ton of wing and is a right shot. The staff could view him as a wing. At this point, it might be in their best interest to target a center and juggle the lines around. Winning faceoffs with this young forward group concerns me a little bit but having more options would be ideal.

I looked at uncommitted right shot wingers and the pool is rather thin. Outside of Cameron Schmidt and Benjamin Kindel, there doesn’t seem to be an obvious top 6 winger in the WHL. I wonder if Bryn would bring in another center and move someone to the wing. You can never have too many players that can play center. It wouldn’t surprise me if they brought in a center and move someone to the wing until an injury inevitably happens.

Is there any chance they bring in a player that is already committed? I would imagine that whoever they add will have to be a better player than Schultz or Simpson for this year.

There probably is a short list of draft eligible players and a short list of aged out CHL players. My guess is we take one of the each. We could use a top 6 right handed wing. Cameron Schmidt and Ben Kindell are two names that come to mind.