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Expectations For Next Year


geaux_sioux

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I saw the stats but I'm wondering more about him as a prospect. How highly touted a college recruit is he and what level pro prospect is he, at this point.

 

He's older than the other three mentioned, so he's not at the same level as far as "pro prospects" go. I don't know a lot about his recruitment, as he is from Finland. But if you have the production he has in the USHL, you have options. 

 

But he's not a guy you can just brush off altogether either. Unlike the other 3, this guy is probably 4 year guy. And we need those types of players too. 

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He's older than the other three mentioned, so he's not at the same level as far as "pro prospects" go. I don't know a lot about his recruitment, as he is from Finland. But if you have the production he has in the USHL, you have options.

But he's not a guy you can just brush off altogether either. Unlike the other 3, this guy is probably 4 year guy. And we need those types of players too.

I think the four year aspect is greatly overlooked. It was one of the reasons I had so much hope for this team this year, and honestly, they played all season like I expected them to. I can't imagine what this season would have looked like if Rocco would have come back for one more.

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He's older than the other three mentioned, so he's not at the same level as far as "pro prospects" go. I don't know a lot about his recruitment, as he is from Finland. But if you have the production he has in the USHL, you have options. 

 

But he's not a guy you can just brush off altogether either. Unlike the other 3, this guy is probably 4 year guy. And we need those types of players too.

Being a bit older probably was a bit of an advantage for him, but probably offset a bit by coming from another country and having to get comfortable in another country and with the North American game. Like you said, we need four year guys that want to be here.
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Can't find an archive for 2000-2001 USHL season, but it seems to me Brandon Bochenski, James Massen, and Brian Canady were all high in goal scoring that season. Only Bochenski carried that over to become an elite scorer in college, so it's not a given these guys will make an immediate impact in college, but you would expect given the opportunity they are going to get, one or two of them should put up some decent numbers. I really thought that Cammarata would be scoring more for Minnesota being how dominant he was in the USHL, but then again he isn't done yet, and maybe he just had a sophomore slump. I really like the fact that we have guys coming in who aren't afraid to shoot the puck, much like Bochenski.

Cammarata did a lot of floating around the neutral zone getting hit for breakaway passes in the USHL and basically only focused on offense that was a big part of his high point totals in the USHL you can't get away with that in the college game.

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Cammarata did a lot of floating around the neutral zone getting hit for breakaway passes in the USHL and basically only focused on offense that was a big part of his high point totals in the USHL you can't get away with that in the college game.

But to be fair cammarata hasn't been a bust or anything. To the original poster, the ushl is night and day better than it was 10-15 years ago. If you dominate the ushl you're a very good player.

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Imagine that Duluth and Denver would be 2 of the early favorites if there aren't any early departures, and Omaha if they can find a decent replacement for Massa will be a team to deal with.

 

Duluth has such highly skilled forwards.  Duluth has a decent goalie too, I could see them being up there.

 

Omaha relied on Massa a ton...UNO was routinely outshot by large margins all season and Massa kept them in it.  They were young this year, but without a reliable goalie I can't see them cracking the top 2 in the league even with another year of experience for their forwards.

 

Denver lost a large 7 senior class, including their best player for the last few seasons in LaLeggia.  Heinen and Moore are both highly skilled and young, but after that their talent level drops off especially on the forward side.

 

Miami is always fast and talented, but they lose a ton of points with Czarnik, Coleman, and Murphy all graduating (& maybe Barber going pro?).  If Miami was going to win a title, this was the year they needed to do it IMO.

 

SCSU was a low scoring team all season, and now they lost Brodzinski early.  That doesn't bode well for them.

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Duluth has such highly skilled forwards. Duluth has a decent goalie too, I could see them being up there.

Omaha relied on Massa a ton...UNO was routinely outshot by large margins all season and Massa kept them in it. They were young this year, but without a reliable goalie I can't see them cracking the top 2 in the league even with another year of experience for their forwards.

Denver lost a large 7 senior class, including their best player for the last few seasons in LaLeggia. Heinen and Moore are both highly skilled and young, but after that their talent level drops off especially on the forward side.

Miami is always fast and talented, but they lose a ton of points with Czarnik, Coleman, and Murphy all graduating (& maybe Barber going pro?). If Miami was going to win a title, this was the year they needed to do it IMO.

SCSU was a low scoring team all season, and now they lost Brodzinski early. That doesn't bode well for them.

All the teams will be solid. I see Omaha, UND, Duluth, Denver being solid.

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But to be fair cammarata hasn't been a bust or anything. To the original poster, the ushl is night and day better than it was 10-15 years ago. If you dominate the ushl you're a very good player.

Correct he is a solid player some Gopher fans might have expected more scoring from him but he hasn't been bad for them.

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Duluth has such highly skilled forwards.  Duluth has a decent goalie too, I could see them being up there.

 

Omaha relied on Massa a ton...UNO was routinely outshot by large margins all season and Massa kept them in it.  They were young this year, but without a reliable goalie I can't see them cracking the top 2 in the league even with another year of experience for their forwards.

 

Denver lost a large 7 senior class, including their best player for the last few seasons in LaLeggia.  Heinen and Moore are both highly skilled and young, but after that their talent level drops off especially on the forward side.

 

Miami is always fast and talented, but they lose a ton of points with Czarnik, Coleman, and Murphy all graduating (& maybe Barber going pro?).  If Miami was going to win a title, this was the year they needed to do it IMO.

 

SCSU was a low scoring team all season, and now they lost Brodzinski early.  That doesn't bode well for them.

True, but we relied on Zane quite a bit as well, and he could leave. Top that with the fact we lose 7 seniors as well, and it's all about what you get with the incoming freshmen, and that's a crapshoot.
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As far as leadership, I think we'll be fine next season. Chyzyk, St. Clair, Drake and Stecher will provide plenty of leadership, include Zane in that if he returns. I saw a considerable change in Johnson once the tourney started, if he quits with the stick between the legs I think he takes a major jump next season. Little Schmaltz stays, and if one or two of the incoming freshman meets half the expectations, we'll have a very solid shot at being in Tampa in April.

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True, but we relied on Zane quite a bit as well, and he could leave. Top that with the fact we lose 7 seniors as well, and it's all about what you get with the incoming freshmen, and that's a crapshoot.

 

No doubt.

I think our strong defense will be the thing that keeps us rolling through the early season (especially if there is a new goalie back there).  Hopefully by mid-season some of the talented freshmen forwards will have their legs.

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Not quite as good as this year's crop, but in 2008-2009, Mike Cichy led the USHL in goals, Michael Forney was a top 15 guy, and Danny Kristo was a top 20ish guy.

Cichy and Forney combined for a total of 5 goals in their combined 67 games for the Sioux.

Kristo turned out okay :)

Also interesting, USHL Goal Leaders: (School - Freshman Stats in Parenthesis)

2002-2003: Ryan Potulney (MN - 6-8-14)

2003-2004: Matthew Ford (WI - 5-5-10) / Mike Erickson (WM - 13-11-24)*

2004-2005: Andrew Carroll (UMD - 13-10-23)

2005-2006: Matt Schepke (MSU - 3-2-5)**

2006-2007: Jacob Cepis (BGSU - 15-16-31)

2007-2008: Jason Gregoire (UND - 12-17-29)

2008-2009: Mike Cichy (UND - 2-2-4) / Andy Taranto (AK - 18-24-42)

2009-2010: Matt White (UNO - 14-11-25) / Tyler Barnes (WI - 5-12-17) / Anders Lee (ND - 24-20-44)

2010-2011: Danill Tarasov (DNP)

2011-2012: Kevin Roy (NE - 17-17-34)

2012-2013: Taylor Cammarata (MN - 10-17-27)

2013-2014: Matt Iacopelli (Still in USHL - committed to WM)

*Erickson started out at Minnesota, then went back to USHL and transferred to Western. Those stats represent his Junior Season, or first year at Western.

** Schepke started out at Michigan Tech, then went back to USHL and transferred to Michigan State. Those stats represent his Sophomore Season, or first year at Michigan State.

Pots would have had much better numbers than that but he broke his leg.

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Not quite as good as this year's crop, but in 2008-2009, Mike Cichy led the USHL in goals, Michael Forney was a top 15 guy, and Danny Kristo was a top 20ish guy. 

 

Cichy and Forney combined for a total of 5 goals in their combined 67 games for the Sioux.

 

Kristo turned out okay :)

 

Also interesting, USHL Goal Leaders: (School - Freshman Stats in Parenthesis)

2002-2003: Ryan Potulney (MN - 6-8-14)

2003-2004: Matthew Ford (WI - 5-5-10) / Mike Erickson (WM - 13-11-24)*

2004-2005: Andrew Carroll (UMD - 13-10-23)

2005-2006: Matt Schepke (MSU - 3-2-5)**

2006-2007: Jacob Cepis (BGSU - 15-16-31)

2007-2008: Jason Gregoire (UND - 12-17-29)

2008-2009: Mike Cichy (UND - 2-2-4) / Andy Taranto (AK - 18-24-42)

2009-2010: Matt White (UNO - 14-11-25) / Tyler Barnes (WI - 5-12-17) / Anders Lee (ND - 24-20-44)

2010-2011: Danill Tarasov (DNP)

2011-2012: Kevin Roy (NE - 17-17-34)

2012-2013: Taylor Cammarata (MN - 10-17-27)

2013-2014: Matt Iacopelli (Still in USHL - committed to WM)

 

*Erickson started out at Minnesota, then went back to USHL and transferred to Western.  Those stats represent his Junior Season, or first year at Western.

** Schepke started out at Michigan Tech, then went back to USHL and transferred to Michigan State.  Those stats represent his Sophomore Season, or first year at Michigan State.

And Cepis, as we all remember, transferred to Minnesota where he became a national diving champion.

 

I decided to take a quick look at the draft status of each of the players on that list. Here it is:

 

Potulny - 3rd (round)

Ford - 8th

Erickson - 3rd

Carroll - undrafted

Schepke - undrafted

Cepis - undrafted

Gregoire - 3rd

Cichy - 7th

Taranto - undrafted

White - undrafted

Barnes - undrafted

Lee - 6th

Tarasov - undrafted

Roy - 4th

Cammarata - 3rd

Iacopelli - 3rd

 

So we have Brock Boeser, this year's goal leader, a projected first round pick in this summer's NHL draft. This might not mean anything as draft position doesn't necessarily correlate to college success, but I think he's probably the most talented player on that list with the best chance to make the biggest impact in his first year. I'll predict a 15-15-30 season. Not earth shattering but a very good first year.

 

It would be interesting to look at the top five or top 10 goal scorers from each year for comparison. Maybe for another day.

 

As for expectations, I expect business as usual. I believe we'll be top-3 in the NCHC, a 1 or 2-seed in the national tourney, and I think we'll be in Tampa this time next year. 

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When was the last time we had freshmen forward scoring a sizable portion of goals/points?  Take a look at Omaha this season, some freshmen up there as their top point getters I believe.  I'm guessing Grimaldi maybe most recently (?) but it seems we don't get much scoring anymore from freshmen forwards, while other teams seem to, or am I off on that? 

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I decided to take a quick look at the draft status of each of the players on that list. Here it is:

Potulny - 3rd (round)

Ford - 8th

Erickson - 3rd

Carroll - undrafted

Schepke - undrafted

Cepis - undrafted

Gregoire - 3rd

Cichy - 7th

Taranto - undrafted

White - undrafted

Barnes - undrafted

Lee - 6th

Tarasov - undrafted

Roy - 4th

Cammarata - 3rd

Iacopelli - 3rd

So, is it safe to say the quality of those entering into college hockey has improved?

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When was the last time we had freshmen forward scoring a sizable portion of goals/points?  Take a look at Omaha this season, some freshmen up there as their top point getters I believe.  I'm guessing Grimaldi maybe most recently (?) but it seems we don't get much scoring anymore from freshmen forwards, while other teams seem to, or am I off on that? 

That seems to have been the trend.

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Looking at next year, we will be solid on the backend and good in goal.

Offensively we can't get any worse than this year.

Will we win next year? Probably not, but we will compete and should make the tournament. Anything can happen.

We might add one more late forward so this could get interesting to see how the next few months play out.

A lot of NCHC teams lose a lot. We lose senior leadership. I think our team will be at the top in the NCHC.

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