brianvf

Yes. Any one of those four could be the top Dman on many other teams. Bring back Zmolek, one of the best defensive dmen, PKers, and shot blockers in the NCAA. Another year of experience for Strathmann and Jubenvill, who both showed good signs last year. Add in Laurila, one of the best dmen in the USHL last year. There you have what I would consider the best D-corps in the league, and one of the best in the nation.

Jersey numbers! https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/und-hockey/unds-new-players-get-their-jersey-numbers Zach Sandy - #1 Will Zellers - #9 Sam Laurila - #13 Jack Kernan - #15 Cole Reschny - #17 Keaton Verhoeff - #18 David Klee - #22 Josh Zakreski - #24 Anthony Menghini - #27 Ellis Rickwood - #29 Gibson Homer - #31 Jan Spunar - #35

UND players get invites to World Jr Showcase: https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/und-hockey/four-und-players-one-recruit-named-to-u-s-world-junior-summer-showcase-roster

Quite true. Hopefully we see the bat signal later this week with some good news.

Rough day for MSU. Missing out on McKenna and now Howard signs.

Sign this kid up. Seems like he'd be a perfect fit for that 1st line RW to fill the empty spot. https://www.broadstreethockey.com/post/philadelphia-flyers-news-prospect-porter-martone-to-have-conversation-about-playing-in-ncaa/ https://www.broadstreethockey.com/post/what-we-learned-watching-porter-martone/

PSU vs MSU should be some very entertaining games.

I’m thinking comparable or a bit higher points per game than Celebrini.

I'd love to see UND knock BU out of the tourney and end Boisvert's and OMac's college careers with a flair.

+1 It's good that someone of his caliber is going the NCAA route. The tears coming from the pro-CHL crowd are humorous. That said, I hope PSU has an early exit from the NCAA tourney.

Yes, MSU, BU, and PSU all look very strong on paper. If Howard from MSU ends up finally signing after they fell short on McKenna, that'd be a double blow.

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2025/07/07_Reports-Top-Blue-Chipper.php That's a good chunk of change right there. I'm hopeful that PSU flounders next season and that money will have been spent in vain.

Pegula blew his NIL load bringing in McKenna...nothing left for Martone. You know Bryn is working Martone hard if Schloss mentioned it. Hopefully they can close the deal with him instead of Michigan. That'd be an elite winger to add to that top line.

Ouch on that -40 +/-. Might be the last forward spot if the other is Martone.

Just mind-boggling to me that he's going there. I mean, he's gonna be the #1 pick next year regardless, but going to a school that has no history at all of sending/preparing players for the NHL is crazy to me.

I'm gonna laugh if the scoop on the biggest NCAA recruit in history ends up being Jordan Schmaltz.

Yeah, will be real interesting to see who Bryn adds for the last 2 spots. I thought we would have seen more action (for all of NCAA, not just UND) after the draft. Maybe this will be a big week upcoming since the July 4th holiday interrupted our normal Friday recruiting festivities.

Yes for sure. They're gonna be older, which definitely helps for experience over some of the much younger teams...but after watching years of Canadian USports teams get easily handled by NCAA teams in exhibitions, it's really hard to gauge how good some of these players will be. Just crazy to me watching UNO bet their entire season(s) on a path that no other college seems willing to go into.

2027 Draft preview lists commit McKamey: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/2027-nhl-draft-20-players-you-need-to-know-landon-dupont-alexis-joseph

Is UNO going to be the oldest team in the NCAA? This is just wild.

Ha, this is gold. More Tampa magic! The story on the day Reschny and Verhoeff committed: https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/und-hockey/how-unds-staff-learned-about-cole-reschny-and-keaton-verhoeffs-commitments

Wonder how many years some of these guys will have left of eligibility? Is one year of USports equivalent to one year of NCAA...so he'd have 3 years of eligibility remaining? Wong put up fantastic numbers his last two seasons in WHL but then only got 21pts in 28gp in USports. Will be interesting to see how all these USports players work out for UNO...could work out fine or could backfire on them. That Wong kid is tiny...5'9" and less than 160lbs? Zmolek is gonna crush that kid into the stands.

This guy here is dead. Cross him off then!

Sounds like the vacated #18 will be taken by our new young dman stud: