as15

Especially over St.Clair. St.Clair was an every night player last year, as he will be this year as well.

Skinny as a twig like Nelson, but he also is coming in with two years of junior, which Brock didn't have. I'm not saying Tambellini will ever be as good as Nelson, but I think its pretty safe to say he will be more ready for the college game than Nelson was as a freshman.

Tambellini has the potential to be the best goal scorer on this team. Might as well put him in a position to succeed right away, give him some confidence, and hopefully he becomes a go to guy down the stretch. Plus, he is 6'4.

Here is my take on lines Tambellini-MacMillan-Parks Caggiula-Grimaldi-Murphy O'Donnell-St.Clair-Johnson Rodwell-Pattyn-Gaarder LaDue-Simpson Schmaltz-Ausmus Mattson-Thompson/Stecher Gothberg Saunders I really like the first line. Any line with Grimaldi on it will score, size and defense are my concerns with that line. I think St.Clair and Johnson are interchangeable on the third line. The fourth line is a great energy line. This group of defenseman has loads of skill, but who is going to throw a check?

Agree with Vannelli not being your top dman recruit. Its like us with Thompson, he might have the highest potential of the four freshman defenseman, but I think he will have the smallest impact this year.

I wouldn't bash the kid at all. Look at the college success rate overall, it is extremely low. Some people struggle in school, that's just how it is.

This game will not gain national exposure to casual sports fans, casual sports fans don't watch hockey. It will gain national exposure to casual hockey (NHL) fans that have not experienced college hockey before. I honestly think that the amount of casual fans that tune in due to OSU's nationally recognized "brand" would be very similar to the amount of casual fans that would tune in due to the rivalry of UM-UND and both their schools prominence as hockey schools.

UND is playing games in Vancouver this year to help expose potential recruits to the program. Is UM possibly trying to expand their recruiting footprint more on the national scale?

So seeing as UND-UM game can still be played on the BTN, what additional exposure is being gained by playing OSU? Hopefully piquing the interest of some of their alumni?

What kind of national exposure are you expecting for this game?

Thanks for the promo code! Just got 4 tickets for each night.

From everything I've read about the camp, Thompson really struggled and Ausmus played solid, but solid doesn't get you on the World Junior team. Fasching was the only Gopher that I expected to get cut that wasn't. Brodzinski and Camarrata both had good camps, and Skjei has always been a near lock this year in my opinion.

If the Top-6 d-men are Thompson, Mattson, LaDue, Schmaltz, Ausmus, and Simpson, once again, UND will be dressing 6 draft picks on the blue line.

There is also a chance, albeit very small, that Caggiula, Stecher, or Murphy get drafted as well.

I just rewatched Nelson's debut, wow did Brock get fast. He is going to have one heck of a NHL career if he keeps improving like he has the past few years.

I agree, you don't win BCHL Defenseman of the Year and go back to juniors. I would guess if we have him wait until 2014 to come in, we will lose him as a recruit. Bring in all four freshman defenseman and let them push each other for playing time.

Not a surprise really, doesn't seem like he has improved since he committed. He probably wouldn't have ever gotten consistent playing time here anyway.

Looking at our roster next year, I think at least 7 of the 8 D on will be dressing every night to start the year, whether it be all 7 playing D, or one moving up to forward, whoever is not playing D (Stecher, Mattson etc) will be much too talented to be sitting each night.

I really think Mattson will bounce back next year and lead the team in defenseman scoring.

I would guess that all 4 come in as well. Stecher is too good not to bring in. If we push him back a year, I don't see how we keep him, he would get picked up by another big name school extremely quickly.

With the Ausmus commitment, will Thompson, LaDue, and Stecher all still come in? If so, our defense will be extremely deep, albeit fairly young next year.

I think Wilkie going that early is a good sign for us.

Hopefully he is just homesick or something and wants to play closer to home (the USHL) before he goes off to college, but I'm not holding my breath.

A friend of mine said he saw an "athletic looking male and his parents" taking a private tour of UND with Karl Goehring, possible third string goalie for next year? He had no idea who he was, and wasn't wearing anything that would indicate where he played. All he said was that "he was definitely over 6 feet, probably around 6'2".

It sounded like Ausmus really outplayed Thompson at the U-18's, maybe they will push back Thompson a year to bring in Ausmus. If I remember correctly, Thompson accelerated his schooling to be able to come in this fall.