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Just checking to see the status of Jake Youso and Brady Hjelle. I know that both have commited to schools, but I have heard that Brady will be forgoing his senior year to play in the USHL and that Youso may go to the team in Ann Arbor. Anybody have any new knowledge on these guys?

Hjelle will be teaming up with Kent Patterson at Cedar Rapids next year.

Youso said in the I Falls newspaper that he is "100 percent committed to playing for the Broncos next season". One of Hjelle's parents said that Brady is totally committed to the Bulldogs and will do whatever Sandelin tells him to...which is playing junior hockey.

Youso is playing for Int. Falls High School this winter. Because of where "the Falls" is located, playing in the Elite League would have involved 3-7 hours of travel each weekend for 10-11 weeks...so Jake decided to play before and after for GB in the USHL. Jake is an 09 Gopher recruit, but might move up to 08 if several Gopher players turn pro early (Wheeler, Okposso, Stoa, etc.).

Hjelle is an 08 UMD recruit. As such, he needs USHL experience immediately...and will be playing the full year in the USHL for Cedar Rapids.

Both are talented players. I am sure they will get good advice about their development path.

Good luck to both!

hockeyfan95 wrote:Youso said in the I Falls newspaper that he is "100 percent committed to playing for the Broncos next season". One of Hjelle's parents said that Brady is totally committed to the Bulldogs and will do whatever Sandelin tells him to...which is playing junior hockey.

hockeyfan you are misinformed, sandelin has been questioned regarding his advice to hjelle and told him that it didnt matter whether he went to juniors or played for the broncos, it was completely hjelles decision to walk away from what would have been one of the best years of bronco hockey in a while. no shot to you this is recent news

DASHiZNiT15 wrote:

hockeyfan95 wrote:Youso said in the I Falls newspaper that he is "100 percent committed to playing for the Broncos next season". One of Hjelle's parents said that Brady is totally committed to the Bulldogs and will do whatever Sandelin tells him to...which is playing junior hockey.

hockeyfan you are misinformed, sandelin has been questioned regarding his advice to hjelle and told him that it didnt matter whether he went to juniors or played for the broncos, it was completely hjelles decision to walk away from what would have been one of the best years of bronco hockey in a while. no shot to you this is recent news

As I stated above, Hjelle is an 2008 recruit and wants to be as prepared as possibe before arriving on campus...thats why he's playing Juniors this year...obviously it's his decsion to do this...if he was an 2009 recruit, he'd probably have stayed for his Senior Year...those are the facts.

Unfortunately for 87% of high school hockey players, high school hockey is the "end of the line" (according to MSHSL stats). Fortunately for those other 13% it's not, so they have to prepare for their next goal. That's what juniors is all about.

Juniors is a higher level of play. If kids are committed to a college,it's desirable to play at a higher level before they get to division 1 hockey. It's a natural progression. If they didn't do that, it would be similar to skipping a level of rec hockey. How many kids are capable of successfully doing that?

I would think that juniors would be especially important for goaltenders. The play develops so much faster and the shots are, on average, a lot harder than those of high school players.

YZ wrote:Unfortunately for 87% of high school hockey players, high school hockey is the "end of the line" (according to MSHSL stats). Fortunately for those other 13% it's not, so they have to prepare for their next goal. That's what juniors is all about.

Juniors is a higher level of play. If kids are committed to a college,it's desirable to play at a higher level before they get to division 1 hockey. It's a natural progression. If they didn't do that, it would be similar to skipping a level of rec hockey. How many kids are capable of successfully doing that?

I would think that juniors would be especially important for goaltenders. The play develops so much faster and the shots are, on average, a lot harder than those of high school players.

Especially those that Brady typically saw. Can't blame brady for preparing for the future. Even though he saw alot more shots per game than most goalies do in two, the quality of the shots and speed of the game just was not there.