brianvf

What is happening in Duluth. Dang. That's a ton of losses to the portal after a rough season.

The question is...which players?

Some forward options updated after new portal additions and committed players removed. UND has to be going after a few of these guys to balance out the classes. Bolded the ones that I think would be a great four to start with. Smith doesn't have many points, but I feel like he could play a great role as the 3rd/4th line center. Conmy would be nice, but everything I've seen points him to BU. Ryan Conmy, so, New Hampshire, 15-18—33 (LAK 6th) Matteo Giampa, so, Canisius, 8-22—30 Tyler Wallace, so, Niagara, 14-12—26 Caidan Gault, jr, Ferris State, 15-10—25 Evan Werner, so, Michigan, 11-11—22 Kyle Gaffney, jr, UAF, 6-14—20 Anthony Menghini, so, Minn. Duluth, 12-7—19 Raimonds Vitolins, jr, Miami, 4-10—14 Luc Wilson, jr, Minnesota State, 7-6—13 Tyler Young, jr, Merrimack, 6-4—10 Max Dukovac, jr, Miami, 5-5—10 Jack Smith, jr, Minnesota Duluth, 4-5—9 (MTL 4th) Mikey DeAngelo, fr, Michigan State, 3-6—9 Ryan Duguay, fr, Northern Michigan, 6-2—8 Matthew Romer, so, Northern Michigan, 5-3—8 Kyle Bettens, jr, Minnesota Duluth, 1-5—6 Noah Powell, fr, Ohio State, 2-3—5 (PHI 5th) Matthew Perkins, so, Minnesota Duluth, 1-4—5 (VAN 4th)

I don't think the importance of this hire can be expressed enough. With how much has been said about how UND has somewhat lost their way on the recruiting front, to hire a guy like Chyzyk who is so plugged into that world...I feel that this hire will have an immediate impact on the program. And to have him out essentially scouting and recruiting full time will be massive to get the UND name back out on the front lines, where we've been notably absent for a few years.

Can you imagine having that conversation with those kids as they gear up for WMU's first ever trip to the Frozen Four?

Updated as of 4/7 Jundt having a nice playoffs...3g/3a in 4gp A few are wrapping up their seasons, while others are in playoffs now Simpson continues to score goals back in the USHL Zakreski with some timely playoff goals, 3g in 7gp USHL (Forwards) Klee (Muskegon) - '05: 57gp - 19g/26a Pilgrim (Tri-City) - '06: 54gp - 7g/18a Schultz (Chicago) - '06: 55gp - 14g/25a Zellers (Green Bay) - '06: 50gp - 44g/27a O'Neill (NTDP U18) - '07: 56gp - 5g/10a Sanderson (Muskegon) - '07: 46gp - 5g/6a Bumgarner (Fargo) - '08: 58gp - 7g/7a USHL (Defensemen) Laurila (Fargo) - '06: 56gp - 7g/32a Lindberg (NTDP U18) - '07: 52gp - 1g/7a USHL (Goalies) Heil (Madison) - '06: 37gp - .900 / 2.73 (24-10-3) Other Zakreski - WHL - '05: 66gp - 39g/31a Simpson - MN HS - '07: 31gp - 49g/34a // USHL Tri-City 7gp - 5g/1a Jundt - SF Power 16U - '08: 39gp - 20g/32a McKamey - BCHL - '09: 52gp - 15g/16a

Kid can shoot. I like it.

So....I guess tomorrow is the day now?

I used to play roller hockey in front of Tanabe's house with those kids back in the day. He lived right down the street from me. Man, that was a long time ago.

Yeah, I would have taken him on the team with our holes, but it's hard to say how he'll do back in the NCAA. He didn't exactly light it up this year in the USHL as a 20yr old.

I heard that the person chirping in his ear was The Scarlet & White Exchange (BU's NIL) and they wanted to give him 150 thousand reasons to move east.

That would certainly go against his "always bleed green" letter. Hard to believe. I would think that if word got back to Jax or UND admins that this happened, that wouldn't be good for Berry.

What did Berry do to Boisvert?

Their entire JR (soon to be SR) class except for one as well. That's crazy.

You know, aside from the head coach getting fired, a rapid search and hire of a new head coach, and three of our better players entering the portal...the rest of this offseason has been a total snoozer. C'mon Jax...entertain us!!

Damn. UMD getting hit really hard. They've managed to keep their talented FR forwards though, so that's good for them. Menghini would be a nice get from the portal.

Everyone. He needs to hit the ground running. Build up the roster for this fall and then get working on the next 2-3 years of recruits as well.

Agreed on Spicer and Smith. You know they both are up to speed on NCHC play...rather than grabbing a center from AHA that put up more points but isn't used to how much less space there is in the NCHC. Neither put up a ton of points but IIRC Spicer was playing 1st line (or 2nd?) center for UMD before he left with his academic issues.

WMU picks up another from the portal: They're gonna have a ton of new faces again next season.

Please, not another WMU transfer from UND.

Yeah for sure, nothing stopping him now. And I would guess that Jax and Simmer have already been in contact with quite a few of them. I was more just saying that we need players and 2 coaches still, so knocking one off the list then continuing to move forward with players.

Still some good forwards in the portal to fill a couple of the holes...hopefully they can grab a couple more high end CHLers once the season concludes there. They also need to be trying to balance out the forward classes a bit. Right now we only have two SR and zero JR forwards. It'd be nice to add a couple to each of those classes, as we're gonna probably have 5-7 FR forwards next year. Ryan Conmy, so, New Hampshire, 15-18—33 (LAK 6th) Matteo Giampa, so, Canisius, 8-22—30 Tyler Wallace, so, Niagara, 14-12—26 Caidan Gault, jr, Ferris State, 15-10—25 Josh Barnes, jr, AIC, 14-10—24 Evan Werner, so, Michigan, 11-11—22 Tyler Hotson, so, RPI, 6-16—22 Felix Caron, fr, RPI, 6-15—21 Kyle Gaffney, jr, UAF, 6-14—20 Kyler Kovich, jr, Cornell, 5-9—14 Raimonds Vitolins, jr, Miami, 4-10—14 Brendan Ross, so, UAF, 3-11—14 Luc Wilson, jr, Minnesota State, 7-6—13 Max Dukovac, jr, Miami, 5-5—10 Cole Spicer, so, Minnesota Duluth, 5-4—9 (23-24) (BOS 4th) Jack Smith, jr, Minnesota Duluth, 4-5—9 (MTL 4th) Matthew Perkins, so, Minnesota Duluth, 1-4—5 (VAN 4th)

I'm guessing it all starts tomorrow. I'm hoping that they announce the Chyzyk GM position tomorrow, and then the roster additions start rolling in shortly after that.

Agreed. We'll see what happens...plans can always change. IIRC, Oshie was supposed to play a full year in the USHL as well, but then he played well there after his HS season ended and UND brought him in as a true freshman instead the following year. Not many people can make that jump from HS to NCAA (successfully), but Simpson is certainly making the jump from HS --> USHL look easy.