as15

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.

Wow, that kid might have a quicker release than Kristo, very impressive.

Were those the only four awards given out?

It is probably closer to 6500 underage kids on campus, most don't turn 21 until there Junior year. I remember when I got a minor while I was in college at UND, I had to go to some alcohol class sponsored by the school. There were about 90 students there taking the same class as me. All 90 of the students got a minor on the same day, granted it was a gameday vs the Gophers but still.

Well Stecher's numbers are very good for a defenseman. LaLaggia's and Reilly's stats were extreme outliers, those kinds of numbers are rare. At the same age, in the BCHL, Stecher had almost identical numbers to Justin Schultz.

Florida does have the worst record in the NHL, it would be a hard situation for any player to step into and be successful.

I am not sure if the AHL rule applies to him since he was drafted out of the NTDP, and not the CHL. JT Miller was in the same situation I believe, and was allowed to play in the AHL.