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I am reading about players committing to the U of M, UND and St. Cloud. Some of the northern kids that have committed to the U probably stopped at Grandmas in Duluth on their way to the cities.

Who are the Minnesota players that have committed to UMD?

Also, any word on UMDs proposed arena?

Chad Huttel, Hermantown
Brady Hjelle, International Falls
Kyle Schmidt, Hermantown

I heard that Lucia, Guentzel and Hill were at the Advance 16 & 17s in Plymouth. Also heard that UND coach was there. Any UMD coaches observing/scouting?

breakout,

are you a Sandelin critic?

Jack Connolly, Duluth Marshall

Schmidt is not a High School player. He has been in Fairbanks playing Juniors for the past two seasons. He will be entering UMD as a 20 yr old. He has a brother that is a senior, maybe that caused the confusion.

offman78 wrote:Schmidt is not a High School player. He has been in Fairbanks playing Juniors for the past two seasons. He will be entering UMD as a 20 yr old. He has a brother that is a senior, maybe that caused the confusion.

No confusion outta me, I was aware Kyle was playing in Fairbanks. His brother Ryan was the senior this past year. I was just adding another name of a Northern Minnesota kid that was commiting to UMD.

Gopher Blog wrote:breakout,

are you a Sandelin critic?

Not at all.

I want to hear about recruits that are heading to Duluth. There should be some excitement building with that program considering they are more than likely getting a new facility in a couple of years.

Hoping Jake Johnson From Denfeld will end up there. I think he would make a great Bulldog in the future.

Actually there were a lot of college coahes at the 16 and 17s. BUt UMD is not one of them. They never are. No wondr they miss out on the top MN kids even the northern boys. Yo would think Sandelin would know better coming from the Iron Range on how much talent there is in state. The whole Gophers contingent was ther. Means from Mankato, Patrick from WI. Eades and Hextall from ND, BC, Maine, CC and Alaska Anchorage, St. Cloud and a host of D# and USHL teams. Good Luck UMD. These freshmen and sophomores know whos there and who is serious about them.

Last year's UMD roster broke down as follows:
Seniors: 4
Juniors: 4
Sophomores: 10
Freshman: 6

67% of the Bulldogs roster last season was an underclassman, 42% of it was it's large Sophomore class. Granted UMD lost two sophomores following this past season with the early departures of Mason Raymond and Matt Niskanen, it's obvious that a large amount of the school's scholarship money is tied up in its underclassmen. The team can also pretty much guarantee that the eight remaining sophomores will stick around for their two remaining years, meaning that 32% of the team in 2008-2009 (for a regular 25 man roster) will be Seniors and will be receiving their share of the teams scholarship money. As a result of all of this UMD does not have the money needed to match some of the offers that the top level recruits are currently receiving from some of the schools where so many more underclassmen leave school early and open up that scholarship money.

According to Chris Heisenberg's 2007 Hockey Recruit Page UMD is bringing in six freshman for 2007-2008:
Ken Reiter - G (Alaska/St. Louis NAHL)
Chad Huttel - D (Hermantown MSHSL)
Rob Bordson - F (Cedar Rapids USHL, Duluth Marshall)
Kyle Schmidt - F (Fairbanks NAHL, Hermantown)
Justin Fontaine - F (Bonnyville AJHL)
Cody Danberg - F (Nanaimo BCHL)

This will bring UMD's roster to 24 players for the 2007-2008 season with the six newcomers filling the spots of the four seniors and two early departures. I am not trying to be an apologist for the UMD Men's Ice Hockey Program, but I am confident that Coach Sandelin is trying to put the best team on the ice in Duluth, he's not stupid, and he knows that his job depends on winning some games.

It also looks like there will be a new home for UMD Hockey as soon as October 2009 as both the House and Senate have included a DECC Expansion in their respective bonding bills. The two sides are now coming together in a conference committee to hash out the differences between the two sides (House is looking to give $30 MIL and the Sentate is looking to give $37 MIL, the DECC is requesting $37 MIL). Governor Pawlenty has stated that he is in favor of giving the DECC the whole requested amount and if approved it has been stated that construction could begin as soon as June 18th. I believe that this new facility would definately be a boost to UMD's recruiting abilities.

That's great information

Bordson will help UMD, but they still won't be up w/ the Gophs.

Zamboni Guy,

Huttel is really coming in as a true freshman next year. He's a great player but I really think he needs a year of juniors.

formerallstar wrote:Zamboni Guy,

Huttel is really coming in as a true freshman next year. He's a great player but I really think he needs a year of juniors.

Huttel really is coming in as a true freshman next season. I would agree that he could probably use a year of juniors but I guess UMD figured they needed the help on D sooner rather than later with the departures of Geris and Niskanen.

Zamboni Guy wrote:

formerallstar wrote:Zamboni Guy,

Huttel is really coming in as a true freshman next year. He's a great player but I really think he needs a year of juniors.

Huttel really is coming in as a true freshman next season. I would agree that he could probably use a year of juniors but I guess UMD figured they needed the help on D sooner rather than later with the departures of Geris and Niskanen.

NO WAY is he ready for the WCHA next year,
my opinion.... LeBleau is struggling in the USHL minus `12 I believe? a huge jump for a Huttel to make next year

leblanc plays on one of the worst teams in ushl it is kind of hard to be on a really bad team and have a good plus minus

Kishel from VA, fun to watch

Section7Hockey wrote:Kishel from VA, fun to watch

you really think so? I think huttle is more fun to watch, him and his sometimes crazy and stupid antics, but its fun

forecheck wrote: NO WAY is he ready for the WCHA next year,
my opinion.... LeBleau is struggling in the USHL minus `12 I believe? a huge jump for a Huttel to make next year

The +/- stat can be very misleading. You are right that Chicago is not a very good USHL team although they have some pretty good players. LeBlanc sees a lot of ice and has shown that he can handle the USHL game. He uses his body well to shield the puck from defenders and isn't afraid to take a hit. He needs to increase his foot speed and work on his physical play. He'll be fine.

besides
Hjelle
Connolly
Kischell

are there any more 08-09 recruits?

2 more possibles: Drew Fischer, John Stampohar....2 big strong and talented players!

Scott and Lee attend 17 and 16's eval camp at plymouth this past wknd, both days........

From what i heard, Drew Fisher ( '02-'04 Int'l Falls, '04-'05 Moorhead) is still undecided. But UMD is definitely one of his options. He tore it up down the stretch to lead Sioux Falls to the USHL Title... it would be a nice pick up for the Dogs

Both Brady Hjelle and Jack Connolly should be solid recruits for the Bulldogs. I saw both of them play last year, and I thought they looked impressive.

the walk-on wrote:From what i heard, Drew Fisher ( '02-'04 Int'l Falls, '04-'05 Moorhead) is still undecided. But UMD is definitely one of his options. He tore it up down the stretch to lead Sioux Falls to the USHL Title... it would be a nice pick up for the Dogs

Fisher commited to the Gophers last night.