brianvf

Or play two years at ASU while trying to acclimate to the college game, then transfer back to your home town school in hopes of actually winning a championship for your upperclassman years.

He can't even get to the title game with the most talented college hockey team in the history of the sport! We don't want him!

+1 I've only met him once myself, but from that interaction and how he presents himself and represents the university...you can definitely tell that he is a standup, good person.

Just a hunch that he'd probably stay closer to home...my guess is UMD/SCSU/UMN, maybe MSUM. A couple of those teams experienced some heavy forward losses and might promise him playing time right away.

Unless he goes to a "lower tier" college, he won't be getting top 6 minutes or PP time. If he goes to a college similar to UND, there's a very good chance he'll be getting low minutes or sitting in the stands watching the games. That's not gonna do much for his development, for sure. 2-3 years from now, no doubt he could/should be an impact player at the college level. Trying to rush that though might cause some issues. As a local kid, I hope for the best for him, but this is an odd decision to me (as a complete outsider).

Agreed. It was "their year" for a lot of teams this year, but only DU capitalized. A lot of teams could see a step back next season...UM, WMU, SCSU, etc...all of them returned so much but didn't take advantage. Hopefully UND can get some good results this upcoming season with all they return. It's their turn to take advantage of all the teams that got depleted this offseason.

Knies and Cooley along with Faber on the backend are going to be a good trio for them. They lost some good players but they'll be strong again next year.

You realize this happens at every major college hockey program, right?

Cruikshank is transferring from UMN to SCSU.

Agreed. Also agree with the take that Spicer might be panicking a bit…he would very much benefit from a year in the USHL and be able to contribute right away next season. Instead he’ll get bottom 6 minutes on a different team. This feels like the Donovan situation all over again.

https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/sports/bulldogs-hockey/umd-mens-hockey-laderoute-jacques-returning-to-bulldogs-for-fifth-season Looks like UMD is returning a couple of their seniors for 5th year...Laderoute and Jacques.

Been awhile since we've gotten a Shattuck recruit, it seems.

+1

I thought Schloss had mentioned that the Cornell return trip was still happening. Maybe they just need to release/finalize the dates for it still?

I'd hate to see him go, but there is certainly some good opportunities available right now.

No a couple of them have 2-3 years of eligibility left like forwards Almquist & Lee and dman Kelley.

Meanwhile, Michigan's entire team (almost) has either signed NHL deals or entered the portal...and who knows what's happening with their coaching situation. They've got a stacked freshman class coming in, but next season might be interesting for them. Any way to flip Fantilli?

Wow that's a lot of college hockey head coaching vacancies right now. Some very high profile ones too.

LSSU almost went back to back to back…only thing that prevented that was the 1993 Kariya-led Maine team. It’s hard to count individual awards that are voted on by a committee as evidence of an elite program. They're very similar programs. Both have three titles all within a one decade span but haven’t done much outside of that decade. I feel the judgement is skewed because UMDs titles are more recent. If their titles were all flipped and UMD hadn’t won a title since 1994, would they still be considered elite?

ASU gets a good forward in former BSU Sillinger

That's a darn shame.

I think that's a good decision. He's a goal scorer, and we certainly need goal scorers, even if they're young and might need to acclimate a bit to the college game. Then the question remains...who else enters the transfer portal?

If you're looking at the elite college hockey programs of all-time, it can't just be limited to the last 20 years though. Then you'd have to omit Michigan since they haven't won anything in that timeframe. But it'd be crazy to have a list of the best college hockey programs and not have Michigan on it. If UMD continues to be a relevant player in the hunt for national titles over the next decade, then I think you could include them in the list of college hockey elite. Until then, it's hard to justify putting them in the elite category when they didn't do anything in the 50 years prior to their 2011 title.

How so? They're similar to LSSU in my opinion. Both won all three of their titles in a short timeframe, but haven't done much else outside of that limited time. Would you classify LSSU as an elite program? If UMD continues to excel and take home national titles over the next decade, then we can talk IMO.

Sounds like Faber is returning for his junior season at UMN. They'll be contenders again next season with what they return and their excellent recruiting class.