mygarske

Posted this in the 2025-26 team thread too. First Team All-USHL announced. https://ushl.com/news/2025/4/29/general-league-announces-all-ushl-teams.aspx Laurila & Zellers on the first team. Spunar named to Third Team. Interesting that Lee & Martino also on First Team. Both thought of as good on the offensive side, but do not have good 200 ft. game. Gunderson, tied or traded with Zellers for the league lead for most of the season, was named to the Third Team. Hopefully this bodes well for Laurila & Zellers to be named DPOY & POY tomorrow.

First Team All-USHL announced. https://ushl.com/news/2025/4/29/general-league-announces-all-ushl-teams.aspx Laurila & Zellers on the first team. Spunar named to Third Team. Interesting that Lee & Martino also on First Team. Both thought of as good on the offensive side, but do not have good 200 ft. game. Gunderson, tied or traded with Zellers for the league lead for most of the season, was named to the Third Team. Hopefully this bodes well for Laurila & Zellers to be named DPOY & POY tomorrow.

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From USHL post Will Zellers, F, Green Bay Gamblers Zellers recorded 71 points in 52 games, tallying a league-leading 44 goals and 27 assists with a 1.37 point-per-game average, the highest mark for any skater in the league this season. The North Dakota commit and was a key piece of the Gamblers’ top ranked power play, which clicked at 27.8%, contributing 10 goals and 12 assists on the man advantage. Despite missing 10 games in the regular season, Zellers took a league-leading 214 shots with a 20.6 shooting percentage. The Maple Grove, Minn. native was selected in the third round of the 2024 NHL Draft by the Colorado Avalanche. The Boston Bruins acquired his rights midway through the season. If Swanson doesn't want to shoot the puck, put Zellers on his line, kid has never seen a puck he wouldn't shoot.

We have enough 'dump & chase' defensive coaches, not a fan of Smaby's coaching in the USHL. Big fan of McMorrow! Hard on pucks, non-stop motor, great penalty killer. Not a lot of scoring, but a top 6 center for sure. My source from Wayzata/Minnetonka said that McMorrow played with Zellers on Jr. Gamblers before Shattuck, & on AAA Minnesota Machine team coached by Shjon Podein. On the same line for both teams. 🤔

Trying to catch up posts, good to see some movement on adding players. Wondering if we have 100% confirmation on the handful of recruits we have coming in that they are definitely coming in? Maybe they are waiting for their league season(s) to end, or for the hockey program to make the announcement - but haven't read anything here or social media posts from the players. Since they can't enter the transfer portal I get it's hard to track. Thanks for any update.

Sort of back on topic, read a while back on one of the 25,000 posts here that former Sioux player Brad Malone was a name being considered for the offensive coaching position. Any new update on him? He would complete the Canadian-only coaching model. 🇨🇦 And at least he's been a head coach, sort of.... https://chl.ca/ohl/article/generals-relieve-steve-orourke-of-head-coaching-duties/

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Please share the name of the dispensary where you are getting those edibles.

That’s where you are wrong…

No, we don’t, not like that kid. And I wouldn’t count all our players as “in” just yet.

Agreed. Why wait to “fix the culture”? PK sucked all year. That was Jackson’s responsibility. What changes did he make to improve it? And to defend Berry, rare here, unlike football & basketball, HC in hockey does not do the bulk of the recruiting, it is the asst coaches. So if these past players were soft, or not as talented, or weren’t Sioux to the core, Jackson was the head offensive recruiter. What is going to change with his *new* culture. Was he not recruiting these type of players the last 5+ years? I’m here with all of you, so I love UND & Sioux hockey & want it to be the best program in the country. FULL stop. But, when I have had to fire bad managers/employees, there is always one Eddie Haskel chirping “I knew Larry wasn’t doing his job! He was a bad leader. Etc, etc.” I always ask, what did YOU do to fix things? And why didn’t you tell me this before we fired Larry?? It’s always too convenient to blame the guy that took the bullet in the head. The Merchant Marine’s moto is “Acta non Verba”, which means deeds, not words. Sums it up for me.

Lost Ralph to Michigan State.

Yea, 100%. No bueno on Whitelaw. I am talking about not giving Herter a shot at the head coach position. The AD wouldn’t wait for the frozen four tournament to be over so that we could conduct real interviews, face-to-face, with all available & interested candidates.

Exactly. But we didn’t want Herter here. 🙄

100% correct. Not interested.

That Celebrini kid helped too. Just sayin.

In order, #1, #2 & #3, Herter, Herter, Herter. Definitely ready. Minnetonka coach told him to go to U Show this season because MN H.S. was going to be too slow for him. Looks like he was right. Although that coach would never admit it, because the Skipper faithful would protest at his house. 😂

My source said keys for him will be if UND hires a big name offensive coordinator (he's not a fan of Smaby, played against his USHL team this season), and if they are going to leave him in Chicago for another season. Bad team, old rink & not a lot of options for next season. Don't blame the kid. On the Chicago Steel part. To be clear.

Not a portal player, but a very big concern, hearing from a good source in Minnetonka that Ashton Schulz is reconsidering his commitment. He is the best player on a really crappy Chicago Steel team. In 58 games he put up 15g 24a 39pts. Watched him a lot during "the season" at Minnetonka, team that produced a ton of D 1 players. Really good 2 way center, excellent penalty killer, great set up guy. He would be a big loss, and this would be a bad message around "the State of Hockey".

He played on the Shattuck team that won back to back Natty's last year, and was roommates with Zellers....

Agree on the public talking points message. But critical for the program: the assistant coaches. Those picks are going to be the linchpin for more players hitting the portal & keeping recruits. We have 0% dynamic offensive coaching experience as of today. Multiple opinions/rumors/plain B.S. on here which coach was really running the offense lately, no matter your opinion, we are a 1,000 miles from the "Speed Kills" offensive teams that won championships. Unless Jackson is going outside "the family", the current rumored coaches are not going to cut it. Smaby had no offense to his game, neither does his current USHL team. Simpson, yes, but still a dman. Karl ran the PP, fired him. Chyzk, maybe, but outside of Sioux fans, do recruits/portal players know him or his reputation? I'm not sure. Looking at that line-up sheet with all those holes, it has got to be a BIG name with serious offense street cred. to keep what's left and bring in goal scorers.

Exactly.

After breaking the single season goal record for Green Bay Gamblers on Saturday night, Zellers continued scoring for 5 pts (3 🚨 2 🍏) on the weekend. He now leads the USHL with 44 tucks in 48 games, and 25 apples, for a total of 69 points, tying him for the league lead in total points. The amazing stat is he has played 48 games, the kid he's tied with for points, Landon Gunderson (ironically also from Maple Grove) has played in 57 games. GB reports he missed some preseason games to make sure he was fully recovered, and was in Canada for World Junior A tournament. In a post game interview he said now that he broke the GB record, he's shooting to hit 50 goals on the season. For perspective, in 2022-23 Mack Celebrini in played 50 games, had 46g 40a for 86 pts. https://ushl.com/ht/#/player-stats

Thanks Skippy, I was up to speed last century.