brianvf

That's my thinking as well. They obviously knew that they had no shot at the 1st rounder CHL forwards (or knew that those players were sticking in the CHL), that's why the forward spots were filled up early. And if they were only in the running for one of those two big D, then I'm guessing we'd have seen a portal or other commit already on D. My guess is that they are holding both spots open to see how it lands. Plan A - land two of the big boys Plan B - land one of the big boys, then get a portal/commit Plan C - land zero of the big boys, panic, fire & brimstone, pitchforks, then get two portal/commits

Reid is heading to MSU. But I would take Carels and then one of DuPont/Rudolph in a heartbeat.

Great news. Not totally unexpected, but always nice to confirm. Now we just need a couple more D commits, and we're set. I'm hoping for one after the WHL playoffs (or Memorial Cup, depending on who advances) and then another after the NHL draft.

Tarin Smith from Everett goes to UMN. Not sure how bad his injury is or if he'll be ready by the start of the season. But good pickup for them. As DuPont's defensive partner, I'm not sure how many of Smith's points are just due to him being paired with Landon.

My thoughts as well when I saw that announcement.

Prince Albert takes down Medicine Hat, 4-2, in their series. Prince Albert now takes on Everett for the WHL finals...so it'll be Rudolph vs DuPont. Rudolph had another good game...1g/2a. Jonas Woo had a really good season and playoffs for MH...will be interesting to see how he does at ASU next year being a smaller, more offensive dman. Good pickup for them, for sure.

I'm betting that we start to see a much improved Verhoeff as his Soph season progresses. Similar to Emery this past season. EJ had a good but not great FR season, but really started to blossom his Soph year.

How the oil tanker bladder system never caught on is beyond me.

https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/und-hockey/schlossman-unpacking-the-changes-coming-to-college-hockey

Future Gopher easily taken off his skates by the ref. That checks out.

Yeah, and won't be hard to find replacements. Although finding replacements for three first rounder dmen in one offseason might be a tall task.

Carels might be one of those guys that it is still very beneficial to have on the team, even if it's only for one season. If the coaches know that going in...that he'll only be here a year...then it is something that they can plan for. If Carels comes in, I'm guessing they'll need to replace about half the d-corps the following year...as Emery, Verhoeff, and Carels would probably all sign.

The Med Hat/Prince Albert series is now tied 2-2. Rudolph with a monster game...2g-2a, led all skaters with 8 shots and added a 10min misconduct penalty in the 3rd for good measure. Game 5 is tomorrow back in Prince Albert. I really have to think that Chyz is going after two CHL dmen and we're just waiting on their playoffs to end and possibly the NHL draft to be done. Maybe he's going after 2 of the big 3...with a fallback of hopefully landing one and then adding another "less-heralded" CHL dman (similar to Josephson at forward last year). Or, another option...he's hoping to land 2, but if they only get one he fills the last spot with a current older portal dman to add experience (similar to Young at forward last year). Either way, next year's d-corps is going to be very young, but very skilled. Adding one (or two) from the Big 3 only makes them younger yet even more skilled. A young d-corps is certainly not normally a recipe for success in college hockey...but that group just might have enough talent to overcome their youth. JR - Boser, Emery SO - Laurila, Verhoeff FR - Lindberg, MacKenzie

Baby steps I guess. They still need to figure out this darn age limit/5yr eligibility craziness too.