USA Hockey

That's what I was saying above.

Iceburg posted these on GPL but here are some videos of some of the top North American skaters and goalies for this years draft. http://www.canucks.com/subpage.asp?sectionID=822

Typically the longer a player waits the more they want to leave. What could happen is you could have situation similar to Okposo where he wanted to sign but the organization didn't feel he is ready, which I wouldn't blaim Ottawa because I don't feel Brian is ready for the NHL level. Sometimes it's not always based on what the player wants to do but more what the NHL organization wants the player to do.

It came off wrong, it was more meant on who would be in the world juniors as a whole.

Our 89 class in terms of US players isn't particularly deep. If you look at the 89 born US players that we have coming in, all you have is Bruneteau and Blood. Then if you look at the 88 born US kids, you have Lapoint and Forney, who would have a shot if they play well in the first half. Most of our 88 and 89 players are from Canada. So far, where we are deep in US players is 90s. If you look at that, you have Cichy, Kristo, Fink, and Gleason. Also, throw in David Toews when he commits here.

Lapoint may have a chance if he has a great first half of the season. Keep in mind that just because a player is not on the evaluation camp roster, that doesn't mean they don't have a shot at making the team. He would have to step in right away and be an impact player every night.

Rosters were released today for the USA Junior Evaluation Camp. Unless a surprise like Malone would make Team Canada, it doesn't look like we will have anyone participating in the world juniors this year. http://www.usahockey.com/uploadedFiles/USA...amp07roster.doc

You beat me to it, I was just going to post this. Yes Brett Bruneteau will be on Omaha's roster next season and there is a possibility if he would elect to that Joe Gleason would be on the roster also.

I think he'll be fine, he's adjusting from the EJHL to the USHL, which is Junior B to Junior A. He also has some experience playing Junior A because he was with the NTDP 17U, which plays in the NAHL.

Our newest recruit, Jason Gregoire, will be participating in the Lincoln Stars tryout camp this weekend. The camp is held at the Dakotah Sports and Fitness Center in Prior Lake, which is just south of the cities. Similar to the Tri-City camp, it is free and open to the public. Here is the schedule for the camp, http://www.lincolnstars.com/pdfDocs/2007%2...20itinerary.pdf

As I said, it depends on if Grieco is here or not. If he is not, for 08 or 09 you would be looking at a recruited/scholarship goaltender. Probably more so for 08, because Eidsness would be number 1 and you would be looking at getting a number 2.

Yea I meant next offseason. You would for sure lose Bina and Radke, Chorney, Finley, and Lee (if he stays this year) would be likely departures.

The coaches have no problem with a kid coming in here on non-scholarship and being a practice player (Scott Foyt, Lee Marvin). It gives the team added depth at the position and a leader in the locker room. The question is is if a kid wants to accept that role as a player, which will probably be the case with Marto. Also, a very likely situation next year could be Bina, Radke, Chorney, Finley, and Lee all leaving. This would open up a spot for Marto if the coaches feel he has the ability to be a player in the lineup every night.

What it probably means is that these schools have recruited him but may have not made a scholarship offer yet. A scholarship offer is also what he could be waiting for since he said he will go to where he gets the best opportunity, so it could be the difference between college and major juniors. Also, if the Grieco rumor is true and he isn't on the team this year, the coaches will put the goalie position back on the radar. This would probably mean Eisdness would come in this year and you would be looking at a goalie for either 08 or 09.

I forgot to add his stats from this last year so here they are, also he was selected in the fifth round of the WHL draft and is one of the Tri-City Americans top prospects. http://www.winnipegwild.com/Stats.html

Apparently we are recruiting this kid for a goalie, he's still deciding between college and major juniors and he made a visit here last year. Here are two links for him http://www.winnipegwild.com/Profile1Birch.html http://www.windtalkerhockeynews.com/corner.html

There's a chance of getting them if they decide to the college route and the coaches are interested, but most of these kids decide to go the major junior route. Typically with these kids that are in bantams, a college can't pry out his decision in terms of choosing between which route to take. Usually they make the decision on their own. With the kids that are a little older and are playing Junior A's, like Tyler Stefishan who I mentioned earlier, a college team can get them if they recruit them early enough.

Here are the teams for the Tri-City tryout camp, the schedule is above on the times they play. Team 1 (Gold) D Ben Ammerman (Moorhead) D Grant Fahnhorst (Wayzata) D Nick Jaskowiak (Salisbury Prep) D Shawn Jameson (Dubuque-CSHL) D Tom McCarthy (Benilde) D Josh Prather (Seattle-NORPAC) D Charlie Raskob (Holy Angels) F Brendan Berquam (L.A. Kings midgets) F Colin Briscoe (Rochester Century) F Brett Beebe (Anaheim Ducks midgets) F Pat Deitz (Moorhead) F Andy Inderieden (Southern Minnesota-NAHL) F Tyler Johnson (Coeur d'Alene-NORPAC) F Derek Kohles (Green Bay-USHL) F Mario Lamoureux (Tri-City-USHL) F Dominic Muller (Belle Tire midgets) F Yannick Offret (Amiens-France) F Branson Yost (L.A. Kings midgets) F Tommy Zimmerman (Cretin) Team 2 (Red) D David Chaney (Belle Tire midgets) D Chris Franks (Burnsville) D James Geerin (North Iowa-NAHL) D Brandon Martell (Elk River) D Zackary Maxwell (Coeur d'Alene-NORPAC) D Kyle Reagan (Minnetonka) F Dan Cecka (Hill-Murray) F Nick Deresky (New Jersey Rockets-AJHL) F Anthony Hamburg (Alliance Bulldogs midgets) F Chris Hickey (Cretin) F Brandon Kapella (Hibbing) F Jon Parker (L.A. Selects midgets) F Jack Paul (Minnetonka) F Stephane Phaneuf (Winnipeg Southern Blues-MJHL) F Troy Power (L.A. Kings midgets) F Jordan Willert (Tri-City-USHL) F Colin Phaneuf (Winnipeg Southern Blues-MJHL) Team 3 (Navy) D Tony Danna (Hill-Murray) D K.C. Kranz (Bloomington Jefferson) D Jordan Lolar (Springfield Falcons-EJHL) D Tyler Graffunder (Totino Grace) D Danny Heath (P.F. Chang midgets) D Ryan Peltoma (Tri-City-USHL) D Greg Thocker (Fargo Jets-NAHL) F Brendan Arniel (Winnipeg Southern Blues-MJHL) F Anthony DeCenzo (Hibbing) F Nick Grasso (Jersey Hitmen-EJHL) F David Johnstone (Pride midgets) F Michael Kerdock (Little Caesars midgets) F Justin Mansfield ( Jr. Bruins-Empire) F Troy Mattila (Springfield-NAHL) F Dustin Moser (Roseau) F Matt Tabrum (Pikes Peak midgets) F Jordan Van Guilder (Tri-City-USHL) F Adam Wiesner (Rochester John Marshall) F Sean Wiles (Tri-City-USHL) Team 4 (Gray) D Fred Bidinger (Sartell) D Cameron Cooper (Tri-City-USHL) D Tom Kleidon (Santa Fe-NAHL) D Bobby Lim (Wyoming Prep) D Alex Olson (Bismarck-NAHL) D Bobby Tyson (Powell River-BCHL) F Josh Berge (Alliance Bulldogs midgets) F Michael Cichy (Jr. Bruins-EJHL) F Jordan George (Russell Stover midgets) F Alex Hudson (Tri-City-USHL) F Noah Nemgar (Bemidji) F Nick Oliver (Roseau) F Matt Olson (Thief River Falls) F Travis Peckskamp (Sauk Rapids) F Bryce Ravndalen (Warroad) F Colin Smith (Belle Tire midgets) F Kevin Sunde (Colorado Rampage midgets) Goalies Nick Kellogg (Andover) Jake Kremer (Russell Stover midgets) Ian O'Brien (Pittsburgh Penguins midgets) Aaron Rock (Tri-City-USHL) Hakan Yumusaklar (Lakeville South)

All that I've heard up until this point is 2008 so I assume it's a misprint. Unless the coaches feel Grieco can't recover in time from his injury or Walski is not on the team anymore (which neither I think is true) he would be coming in for 2008.

Here is the NHL draft media guide, it gives profiles of four of our recruits - Blood, Eidsness, Frattin, and Malone. http://media.nhl.com/media/app?docKey=gDlp...ice=fileservice

Here are the invites for the NHL draft combine, no surprise with Malone and Eidness being the UND recruits there, good luck to both of them and hopefully they turn some heads. http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app?articleid=29877...mp;service=page

The USHL released their protected roster lists today. This roster GENERALLY gives a good indication on who will be at the tryout camp. With Cichy being on the main roster and not the affiliated list, this probably means he will be there this weekend. A good number of our other recruits were also put on the protected lists by their teams and a few (Kristo, Fink, Gleason) were put on the affiliated lists by their teams. Here is the link to look at all their rosters, http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=ppa...zThUg&gid=0

The NHL Draft Combine started today and runs through Saturday. I haven't seen a roster of the North American players but will keep looking. Last year, the top 115 prospects were invited. The last central scouting rankings had only one recruit (Brad Malone) in the top 100 North American skaters, so he could be there. Also, Brad Eidness was amongst the top 10 North American goalies so he could also be attending. Keep in mind that the combine includes the European kids, and when mixing them in none of our recruits may be there.

The Tri-City Storm of the USHL (the team that drafted Cichy) will be holding their open tryout camp at the Bloomington Ice Garden this weekend. This is the invitation only camp and all of their recent draft selections (Cichy) are invited. If Cichy attends the camp I would assume he has every intention of playing in the USHL next season and then here. If anyone is in the cities area, doesn't have much going on, and wants to watch summer hockey plus a future recruit here is the schedule. Friday, June 1 5:30-7:00pm: Game #1--Team #1 (Gold) vs. Team #4 (Grey) 7:15-8:45pm: Game #2--Team #3 (Navy) vs. Team #2 (Red) Saturday, June 2 9:30-11:00am: Game #3-Team #1 (Gold) vs. Team #3 (Navy) 11:15-12:45am: Game #4--Team #2 (Red) vs. Team #4 (Grey) 5:30-7:00pm: Game #5-Team #1 (Gold) vs. Team #2 (Red) 7:15-8:45pm: Game #6--Team #4 (Grey) vs. Team #3 (Navy) All-Star Games (Cuts will be made Sunday morning before ice session) Sunday, June 3 9:00-10:30am: Black vs. White 2:00-3:30pm: White vs. Black

If you look at both Travis Zajac and Kyle Turris stats when they were 16 in the BCHL, they were pretty similar to this kid. He also didn't play on a very talented team this year if you look at their roster. Hopefully he doesn't go the WHL route and he could easily do what Zajac and Turris did and have a breakout year when they are 17 and become a top prospect. The nice thing is this kid already has the weight which can be big coming into college. I'm sure if he decides to go the college route, he will make a commitment in the fall.