Terrible news. All the best to Will Francis.
From Charley Walters this weekend:
“A Gophers men's hockey player has turned down a $75,000 NIL deal from an eastern university to play without NIL help to win a national championship at Minnesota.”
https://www.twincities.com/2023/08/19/charley-walters-vikings-talks-with-hockenson-could-get-tricky/
I don't think this wording is quite right... but national signing day is November 8 and $75k is an aggressive bid for a recruit in the college hockey landscape where no one has much of a bankroll in NIL yet.
Interesting to see who landed a lot of verbal commits early in the most recent cycle and wonder if there's a connection.
It's Charlie Walters...I doubt it it is legit.
Wow. Hitting the portal this late is crazy. He is one of the best forwards in the country. Many thought he would sign a NHL contract at the end of last season.
https://twitter.com/ben_shanahan_/status/1703803657605562789?s=46&t=AvtsG2WfNuGRyXzbYJqB7g
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24131129/gallery_image.JPG "Hey_Sioux_Suck")
Wow. Hitting the portal this late is crazy. He is one of the best forwards in the country. Many thought he would sign a NHL contract at the end of last season.
https://twitter.com/ben_shanahan_/status/1703803657605562789?s=46&t=AvtsG2WfNuGRyXzbYJqB7g
Any chance he ends up here?
Wow. Hitting the portal this late is crazy. He is one of the best forwards in the country. Many thought he would sign a NHL contract at the end of last season.
https://twitter.com/ben_shanahan_/status/1703803657605562789?s=46&t=AvtsG2WfNuGRyXzbYJqB7g
Any chance he ends up here?
Doubt it. Nor would I want them to.
Wonder if this has something to do with it (and I wonder if he was one of those suspended?)
https://twitter.com/USCHO/status/1703834402495594535?s=20
@maroon_and_gold depends fully on the reason. He leaves as the team is in turmoil, is disgusted this happened, sure you look (putting up that stat line is impressive). If he’s at all associated with the allegations is absolutely agree.
I mean his stats aren't other worldly considering his competition so no need to bring him in this late anyways even without whatever drama is linked to it.
@maroon_and_gold depends fully on the reason. He leaves as the team is in turmoil, is disgusted this happened, sure you look (putting up that stat line is impressive). If he’s at all associated with the allegations is absolutely agree.
I meant more in the vein of not wanting to add a last second one year mercenary that would take a top 6 spot away from a program guy like Kurth or Nevers. Not sure what that would say about our “culture”.
He was just named the preseason CCHA player of the year. While the CCHA isn't the B1G, that's still pretty impressive
Hard pass unless Bob is going Tim Harrer on the bit.
He was just named the preseason CCHA player of the year. While the CCHA isn't the B1G, that's still pretty impressive
this.
He also is not leaving as a “mercenary” but would anticipate BG probably isn’t playing meaningful games plus has a culture issue (postseason ban plus exodus of players, onus of a hazing incident over your head all year). I can’t blame someone for wanting to play important games in their final season
This doesn't name the 3 players, but:
https://twitter.com/DBriggsBlade/status/1703821783583859161
So, until we know if Mr Swankler is one of the suspended players, I'm definitely not in favor of bringing him in.
@maroon_and_gold depends fully on the reason. He leaves as the team is in turmoil, is disgusted this happened, sure you look (putting up that stat line is impressive). If he’s at all associated with the allegations is absolutely agree.
I meant more in the vein of not wanting to add a last second one year mercenary that would take a top 6 spot away from a program guy like Kurth or Nevers. Not sure what that would say about our “culture”.
If he was not involved in the incident and he has a rep for a decent personality\team player, I don't have a problem with adding a quality player late. The culture on college teams shouldn't be 'you are one of us so be comfortable'. It should be a goal to have as much talent and depth as possible to create competition. 'As long as you produce, you will get playing time, and the better you perform, the higher the line you will play on and more playing time. If not, there is another guy who will step in.' That is what hockey is from H.S. on, and is magnified dramatically for anyone who tries to jump to the NHL. Let the players know that competition is only improving their development. And the team isn't that deep that a couple injuries to forwards for a longer period of time could really be a problem. Guessing the odds are he isn't eyeing MN, but I wouldn't pass on a guy that good for one year, same as I wouldn't pass on clear one-and-done guys. He would just be coming in a little later than a D3 player we added relatively late. Last year's team had more talent coming into the season than this team and still lost the last game. If talent can be added and the player doesn't have a bad rep with teammates, I'd be fine with it.
And, stumbled across this tweet as well, looks like he is NOT one of the suspended players:
https://twitter.com/DBriggsBlade/status/1703823196892324269
@maroon_and_gold depends fully on the reason. He leaves as the team is in turmoil, is disgusted this happened, sure you look (putting up that stat line is impressive). If he’s at all associated with the allegations is absolutely agree.
I meant more in the vein of not wanting to add a last second one year mercenary that would take a top 6 spot away from a program guy like Kurth or Nevers. Not sure what that would say about our “culture”.
If he was not involved in the incident and he has a rep for a decent personality\team player, I don't have a problem with adding a quality player late. The culture on college teams shouldn't be 'you are one of us so be comfortable'. It should be a goal to have as much talent and depth as possible to create competition. 'As long as you produce, you will get playing time, and the better you perform, the higher the line you will play on and more playing time. If not, there is another guy who will step in.' That is what hockey is from H.S. on, and is magnified dramatically for anyone who tries to jump to the NHL. Let the players know that competition is only improving their development. And the team isn't that deep that a couple injuries to forwards for a longer period of time could really be a problem. Guessing the odds are he isn't eyeing MN, but I wouldn't pass on a guy that good for one year, same as I wouldn't pass on clear one-and-done guys. He would just be coming in a little later than a D3 player we added relatively late. Last year's team had more talent coming into the season than this team and still lost the last game. If talent can be added and the player doesn't have a bad rep with teammates, I'd be fine with it.
I just don’t think grabbing the shiniest new toy is always the way to go about these things. Swankler hasn’t been around the team all summer obviously so just thrusting him into someone’s spot they worked hard over the summer for is not the right way to treat your players in my opinion. It would be different if he was added in April and he spent the whole offseason training with the team. It would just seem a little forced is all. I also don’t think there is exactly a huge void of talent on this roster either.
This is all assuming he’s even looking here which is obviously unconfirmed and likely not true.
If we would pool together the number of posts this offseason about wanting a player who left another program to join the Gophers we might have a couple hundred posts about the shiny toy on the open market. If Bob didn't recruit them in the first place I don't want the U to be the second place. I'll trust Bob and his assistants to recruit and develop his players that choose the U and work/play hard for the U.
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@maroon_and_gold depends fully on the reason. He leaves as the team is in turmoil, is disgusted this happened, sure you look (putting up that stat line is impressive). If he’s at all associated with the allegations is absolutely agree.
I meant more in the vein of not wanting to add a last second one year mercenary that would take a top 6 spot away from a program guy like Kurth or Nevers. Not sure what that would say about our “culture”.
If he was not involved in the incident and he has a rep for a decent personality\team player, I don't have a problem with adding a quality player late. The culture on college teams shouldn't be 'you are one of us so be comfortable'. It should be a goal to have as much talent and depth as possible to create competition. 'As long as you produce, you will get playing time, and the better you perform, the higher the line you will play on and more playing time. If not, there is another guy who will step in.' That is what hockey is from H.S. on, and is magnified dramatically for anyone who tries to jump to the NHL. Let the players know that competition is only improving their development. And the team isn't that deep that a couple injuries to forwards for a longer period of time could really be a problem. Guessing the odds are he isn't eyeing MN, but I wouldn't pass on a guy that good for one year, same as I wouldn't pass on clear one-and-done guys. He would just be coming in a little later than a D3 player we added relatively late. Last year's team had more talent coming into the season than this team and still lost the last game. If talent can be added and the player doesn't have a bad rep with teammates, I'd be fine with it.
I just don’t think grabbing the shiniest new toy is always the way to go about these things. Swankler hasn’t been around the team all summer obviously so just thrusting him into someone’s spot they worked hard over the summer for is not the right way to treat your players in my opinion. It would be different if he was added in April and he spent the whole offseason training with the team. It would just seem a little forced is all. I also don’t think there is exactly a huge void of talent on this roster either.
This is all assuming he’s even looking here which is obviously unconfirmed and likely not true.
Seemed to work out ok with Sampo Ranta. He definitely made the Gophers a better team. And Bob not recruiting him doesn't mean he wouldn't be valuable now that people have seen what he can do at D1 level, versus potential when recruiting takes place. Bob wasn't expecting to lose his best player either. And I am also sure that; 1. MN is where this guy wants to go (why wouldn't he?), and 2. Bob is reading our posts for guidance.
Just wish the season would get here sooner so we could talk about games rather than just speculate on things unlikely to even occur.
@maroon_and_gold depends fully on the reason. He leaves as the team is in turmoil, is disgusted this happened, sure you look (putting up that stat line is impressive). If he’s at all associated with the allegations is absolutely agree.
I meant more in the vein of not wanting to add a last second one year mercenary that would take a top 6 spot away from a program guy like Kurth or Nevers. Not sure what that would say about our “culture”.
If he was not involved in the incident and he has a rep for a decent personality\team player, I don't have a problem with adding a quality player late. The culture on college teams shouldn't be 'you are one of us so be comfortable'. It should be a goal to have as much talent and depth as possible to create competition. 'As long as you produce, you will get playing time, and the better you perform, the higher the line you will play on and more playing time. If not, there is another guy who will step in.' That is what hockey is from H.S. on, and is magnified dramatically for anyone who tries to jump to the NHL. Let the players know that competition is only improving their development. And the team isn't that deep that a couple injuries to forwards for a longer period of time could really be a problem. Guessing the odds are he isn't eyeing MN, but I wouldn't pass on a guy that good for one year, same as I wouldn't pass on clear one-and-done guys. He would just be coming in a little later than a D3 player we added relatively late. Last year's team had more talent coming into the season than this team and still lost the last game. If talent can be added and the player doesn't have a bad rep with teammates, I'd be fine with it.
I just don’t think grabbing the shiniest new toy is always the way to go about these things. Swankler hasn’t been around the team all summer obviously so just thrusting him into someone’s spot they worked hard over the summer for is not the right way to treat your players in my opinion. It would be different if he was added in April and he spent the whole offseason training with the team. It would just seem a little forced is all. I also don’t think there is exactly a huge void of talent on this roster either.
This is all assuming he’s even looking here which is obviously unconfirmed and likely not true.
Seemed to work out ok with Sampo Ranta. He definitely made the Gophers a better team. And Bob not recruiting him doesn't mean he wouldn't be valuable now that people have seen what he can do at D1 level, versus potential when recruiting takes place. Bob wasn't expecting to lose his best player either. And I am also sure that; 1. MN is where this guy wants to go (why wouldn't he?), and 2. Bob is reading our posts for guidance.
Just wish the season would get here sooner so we could talk about games rather than just speculate on things unlikely to even occur.
Difference is Bob was reloading the roster with talent as it was his first year. He also knew he would have Ranta for more than one year which changes things. I’ll hand it to you though that’s a good example of a late add going really well.
It would be one thing if the kid had ties to the Gophers...but the Gophers aren't desperate enough to screw eith the team that way.
CHN poll...
https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2023/09/20_2023-24-CHN-Preseason-Top.php
I actually give a @#$* about the Twins
Looking down from my High Horse
Morality Police
Pretty similar to what I have. Frozen four could be the same 4 teams.
Preseason top ten
2. MN
4. Mich
8. Mich St
just missed out, rest of big ten that’s not ND
CHN poll...
https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2023/09/20_2023-24-CHN-Preseason-Top.php
Sue at 6?? is that accurate or am I missing something?
IALTO
They have a lot of talent but will need to actually put it together unlike last year.
Yeah MSU, ND, MTU and UW have to prove it before I believe these rankings. But who knows...?
CHN poll...
https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2023/09/20_2023-24-CHN-Preseason-Top.php
Sue at 6?? is that accurate or am I missing something?
They have a talented roster. We will see how they mesh.
FWIW--
https://twitter.com/Buccigross/status/1705307092913979511
I actually give a @#$* about the Twins
Looking down from my High Horse
Morality Police
You did that to trigger me didn't you ? ?
Can't wait for the new rules that he will suggest-- ?
-- Coaches allowed to flip off refs
-- Student athletes allowed to throw lawnmowers in the streets
https://twitter.com/USCHO/status/1705716823306514605
I actually give a @#$* about the Twins
Looking down from my High Horse
Morality Police
Can't wait for the new rules that he will suggest-- ?
-- Coaches allowed to flip off refs
-- Student athletes allowed to throw lawnmowers in the streets
Handshake line sucker punching not only allowed but encouraged.
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ha...
UND's Erik Martinson is a pretty good guy. Been working with him directly to get the GPL Podcast to broadcast from The Ralph on Thr 10/19 before the big series up in Grand Forks.
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Get your own board!
♃
Wow, it has been an unwritten rule that the defending champs open at #1. Can't argue with BU though.
I actually give a @#$* about the Twins
Looking down from my High Horse
Morality Police
Swankler to Michigan Tech
The purple cows even with a lot of turnover and losing Hastings are my pick for most underrated.
Can't wait for the new rules that he will suggest-- ?
-- Coaches allowed to flip off refs
-- Student athletes allowed to throw lawnmowers in the streets
Handshake line sucker punching not only allowed but encouraged.
Is the former assistant AD from North Dakota qualified to make decisions about rules in the women’s game?
'29, '40, '74, '76, '79, '02, & '03
GPL's Resident Cabin Enthusiast & Cadets Hockey Fan
The purple cows even with a lot of turnover and losing Hastings are my pick for most underrated.
I would agree. Hearing what the players who stayed through the transition and listening to what the new coaching staff have said and how they are interacting with the community and fans I believe that this season will surprise people.
My guess is that next season and the year after may be the tough ones for the program. This year there is a chip on their shoulder and purpose to show people that they are still one of the top programs. Year two and three I think will be where the coaching staff will show their impact on the program.
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Supposedly this was him, and one Reddit thread mentions the other person was a women’s lacrosse player.
absolutely disgusting.
He’s ruined his career, his education, friendships… rightly so. He has a long road back to recover for what repartition he’ll ever regain. People are idiots… It’s not 1990s anymore… there are cameras everywhere nowadays.
How sickeningly pathetic. What filth. Makes me want to throw up.
UND will offer him a scholarship...
He’s ruined his career, his education, friendships… rightly so. He has a long road back to recover for what repartition he’ll ever regain. People are idiots… It’s not 1990s anymore… there are cameras everywhere nowadays.
Even if there weren’t cameras, it does not make what he did acceptable in any way, shape or form.