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You know you've gotten a good player when you win a recruiting battle with DU, seeing as Carle has a knack for bringing in winners. Plus he's projected as a mid- to late-rounder, meaning there's a good chance he'll be around for 3-4 years & won't require a boatload of NIL money before he steps on campus.

Klimpke probably verballed before the season is over because it sounds like he'll be completing his 4-year commitment with Saskatoon; or until he ages out. Others, like Carels & Lin who are projected 1st-rounders & who will be leaving their CHL clubs early, will wait until their respective seasons are over.

Interesting, in the article it stated that Cooper Williams & Klimpke, teammates in Saskatoon, will likely come to UND together in the fall of 2027. Thought previously that Williams was coming in next year.

Augustana drops in NPI from 11 to 17 after loss to Omaha at home.

They both came from junior programs & are quite familiar with that style; so that shouldn't be a reason. Maybe it's either nerves from being on the big stage or a developmental issue (game hasn't slowed down for him yet). Will see tomorrow if Verhoeff looks more comfortable in the second exhibition game.

If Carels wants to come to UND, pretty sure the coaching staff will roll out the red carpet & make room for him.

It looks like he'll have to wait a few days to see whether Dickinson joins the team. A little surprised Carels & MacKenzie looked more comfortable out there compared to Verhoeff, considering Verhoeff has had 2+ months of faster & stronger competition in the NCAA compared to them. Maybe it was first-game jitters or Carels & MacKenzie are a little further along in their (mental) development of seeing the game better.(interesting that the 2 D from the NCAA--Verhoeff & Smith--had the weakest showings last night compared to the other D who are mostly in the CHL). From what I've read, Verhoeff is still raw, & 3 more months of college hockey probably won't be enough time for him to be NHL-ready. Will see in the next exhibition if was just a case of nerves in his first game or if he's a little behind the other D in terms of development. At any rate, regardless if he makes the team & is mostly a healthy scratch, he's still gaining valuable experience which will help his time with UND in the second half.

Would be more beneficial for NHL scouts to have Verhoeff make the team over Smith, so they can see how he performs in the most pressure-filled games of his young career in front of all of Canada before his draft. To see how much value their future widget could bring to their team. Provided that he performs well in the exhibitions, of course. Plus he's a R-shot which would balance their lines more (Smith is an L-shot).

Line-up for Canada-Sweden game: F McKenna-Hage-Martin Bear-Reschny-Cootes Desnoyers-Luchanko-Greentree Vanacker-O'Brien-O'Reilly D MacKenzie-Parekh Aitcheson-Verhoeff Reid-Smith Carels G George (full game) _________________________________________ UND's contingent will no doubt be treating it more than just an exhibition. Some players who are locks, like Martone, aren't playing.

Not sure where you're getting that, maybe you meant to say Sam Dickinson from the Sharks, who still haven't decided if they'll loan him out. From the article, it sounded like MacKenzie, Carels & Reid all had a better chance at making the team over Verhoeff; which would be somewhat surprising, as Verhoeff has had 2+ months of better competition than those three. In an interview a couple days ago, MacKenzie was described by the team's defensive coach as being a complete player, quite the praise; whereas Verhoeff was described as a mature player who is {insert compliments here} but could polish his game some more. Reading between the lines from that coach's statements, it sounds like MacKenzie may be further along in his development than Verhoeff at this point. Snippet from the article: "On the back end, Jackson Smith and Keaton Verhoeff are the most likely to be cut. I’d guess that Smith is more likely the odd-man out (Canada has five lefties and four righties in camp, and so cutting Smith would give the team an even split), but it also sounds like they think Verhoeff has some work to do to polish his game, and he turned over some pucks in the scrimmages this week."

And MI would be 4 under the PWR. At a glance, it appears that the teams with the most significant drops in the top 16 after the conversion to NPI are UND & Northeastern; who fell from 13 to 17. Both teams lost to ECAC schools, UND to Clarkson & Northeastern to Harvard.

UND is carrying 15 F this year. If they go with the same # next year & no one transfers out or leaves early, that would leave the following: Bottom 9: 7 locks: Kernan, Croal, Littler, Klee, Zakreski, Menghini, B Schultz, (2 of the following: A Schultz, Andrew, Sanderson, Williams, O'Neill, Pilgrim) Top 6: Swanson, Josephson, Zellers, Reschny, Simpson, (high-end transfer transfer/CHL) I put Williams in the bottom 9 because, according to @beastandco 's synopsis of Schlossman's podcast yesterday, it sounded like UND would be looking for a F from the portal or CHL who could play up in the line-up, & that wouldn't be Williams, because Williams was mentioned separately as maybe coming. Granted, this is a very rough draft, & projected rosters like this today can mean nothing at this level come April. But there's quite a logjam for the bottom 9 as it currently stands.

Hear what you're saying, but it doesn't make much sense for a guy who makes the WJC prelim. roster & is potentially the best D in the WHL to fall to the 3-5th round. He's gifted with unreal acceleration, a great shot & loves to lay hard checks. A coup of the highest order by Chyzyk. Foley, the metrics wizard on X: "NoDak just… crushed it with this one. I mean, he may be one of the best recruits on the continent."

Pundits are gushing about MacKenzie's talent & versatility, & in the article below, the author said he has a strong claim to be the best D in the WHL this year. He stated also that MacKenzie is still eligible for the '26 draft, but I don't see him rated by any of the draftboards as to what round he may be picked. If anyone knows why he's not being discussed as to where he may be picked when he's still draft eligible, chime in. https://www.eliteprospects.com/news/world-juniors-2026/who-is-ethan-mackenzie-a-look-at-the-surprise-inclusion-to-canadas-2026-world-juniors-camp

Last sentence in the article: "Livanavage and Abram Wiebe are going to the Spengler Cup in Switzerland after Christmas, but that shouldn't affect any time with North Dakota."

Sounds good, where did you hear that?

Switzerland is 7 hrs ahead of GF. Assume they left Switzerland at 8 am on Jan. 2, on an 8-hr flight to NY or ATL, they would arrive at one of those two locations at approx. 9 am GF time, plus a couple hours to make their connecting flight would be 11 am GF time, plus 3 hr flight to Minneapolis would be 2 pm in GF, another couple hours to make connecting flight to GF would be 4 pm GF time, plus the actual flight time to GF of 1.25 hrs & they would arrive in GF at approx. 5:15 pm, disembark time of 10 min to get inside the terminal makes it 5:25 pm, 10 min. drive to REA makes it 5:35 pm. Give or take a couple hours probably.

Is ranked as high as #4 in the 2026 draft by Cam & as low as #14 by Button. Consensus among some pundits is that he would be in the top 3 conversation if he were a little bigger (listed at 5'11', 176). Is smooth as butter (elite skater) & very high hockey IQ. If he lands at DU, he'd be a continuation in style of Z. Buium.

Double-header on BTN tonight. MI/MSU at 4 MT & MN-OSU at 6:30 MT. Many other games as well that have NPI implications for UND, including Cornell at Clarkson. Noticed last night that MN's defeat of OSU marginally bumped up all the NCHC teams' NPI, while marginally bringing down all the B10 teams'.

Reschny didn't get an assist on the winning goal, but he won that faceoff cleanly which made it possible for Zellers' heroics. PP 3-6 on the weekend.

Where is that quote from?

Was checking to see if the MI-PSU game would be on the B1G Network tonight, but thankfully they have women's volleyball on instead. Makes one wonder if wvb would draw more viewers than a college hockey game between two of the better teams in the conference.

The current UND HC has the final say about whether any of his players get to play in Davos. Not having enough D to field a full line-up levels the ice when it would otherwise be fully tilted in UND's favor. Plus it's a given that bottom-dwellers like Mercyhurst play their best games of the season when playing UND. See RMU, Bemidji, Clarkson, Canisius, etc. Nightingale did the opposite & determined that his team's NPI standing was more valuable than any foreign cultural experience for his players. And that should be the lens a HC uses when making roster decisions. PSU has 4 players in the SC, but they conveniently play Sat-Sun that weekend. Others have said that it probably won't matter because it's Mercyhurst, and they're probably right, but it does open the door a little wider for an upset to occur. Losing a close game against them would make UND's NPI dive faster than a whore in Amsterdam. And that would be an unmitigated disaster for the season in terms of seeding.

That's the top 4 D who would likely miss at least Friday's game. Possible that UND would be playing with only 5 D that night; plus you throw in possible injuries/illnesses during that time. PSU has 4 players participating in the Spengler Cup, but they will miss zero games because they play Jan 3-4 that weekend (Sat & Sun); smart scheduling on their part. Even though BU only has D McCarthy gone to Davos, it's a moot point because they only have 1 exhibition game the weekend of 2-3-4 January. All it takes is 1 loss with a depleted roster against a team like Mercyhurst & the NPI takes a major hit. It's negligent as a HC to put your team in that predicament with playoff seeding on the line, unless DJ is planning for them to return & dress for Friday night.

👍 Ch 45 on Directv in Phx for those interested.