Committed Recruits Update Thread

The roster construction for next year will be interesting to see. There certainly has to be a player or two that will have to transfer out or maybe delaying a a guy coming in, although all 6 (I'm including Cooley but not John Mittelstadt) have already signed their Letter of Intent. I'm sure tBob has a plan, and I hope they just don't cut a kid and develop a reputation like BADgers.

Really good rundown here on Cooley from December

https://smahtscouting.com/2021/12/27/scouting-report-logan-cooley/

[media] https://twitter.com/skiurah/status/1494391819102310402 [/media]

For what it's worth, defenseman Nick Williams is playing some USHL games, but his 'M' is off the line chart.

We knew that a long time ago?

Vegoe wrote:

For what it's worth, defenseman Nick Williams is playing some USHL games, but his 'M' is off the line chart.

br>

Didn't he decommit a couple months ago?

The Strib article about Cooley. Assist to Knies and hopefully that translates to them playing together next year.

[media] https://twitter.com/StribSports/status/1494415141680521216 [/media]

Like we mentioned about Faber, certainly doesn't hurt...

Cruz Lucius hasn’t played much this year, draft stock has dropped quite a bit. A year USHL probably best for him.

Think the goal is to play with his brother and next year is very likely the only chance to do so.

The empty arena certainly did not affect his decision. :ahhh: Also, the mood around here has really changed in the past 10 days. :dance:

The team deserved all the criticism they received for the first half of the year and especially the Alaska loss after that. Now just need to keep rolling.

At the WJC Cooley played on the power play with Matthew Knies and Chaz Lucius... that would be a fun group next year.

Chris Peters on Cooley:

Logan Cooley, C (2022): USA’s most dynamic forward is also its youngest. Cooley’s offensive game is advanced and it’s allowing him to play a huge role for the U.S. The second power play unit essentially runs through Cooley. He makes some of the best puck decisions and can create so much with his speed and his hands. His decisiveness on the puck, however, is what really stuck out to me.

I don't think Faber is ad much a lock to leave as some of you but I've been wrong before.

cypressmills wrote:

Vegoe wrote:

For what it's worth, defenseman Nick Williams is playing some USHL games, but his 'M' is off the line chart.

br>

Didn't he decommit a couple months ago?

I don't know if it was ever offically offical. His profile page for Youngstown and EP page still list him as committed to the UMN.

https://www.youngstownphantoms.com/view#/player/9465/76/nick-williams

https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/574929/nick-williams

EP is the last place I use for recruit information/timing

Has Warner even played hockey this year? The kid has only played a handful of games the last couple years from what I can find.

I think we all snickered when this happened, and am glad we don't see kids this young allowed to commit anymore. But, tDon got this one right.

[media] https://twitter.com/StribSports/status/903381958134255617 [/media]

I’d agree. They got Brandt Clarke and Helge Grans as RHD drafted ahead of him as well. Not sure what their depth on the Kings roster looks like, but who knows if he’s crack the lineup or play the season for the Reign.

I agree that was the goal, injuries change things though. Not sure his timeline to return but at this point it doesn’t seem in the best interest of his development to rush to college.

I don't know if he would admit it or not but Ben Gordon is a pretty good example of a guy that would have been much better off with one extra year of USHL hockey back when he was facing that situation. He ended up with a solid college career but it was pretty clear to a lot of people that he was going to struggle that first year... and I believe he would have been an even more productive player over the course of his college career had he waited one more year. Maybe he can relate some of that to the young guys that they think might fit the bill. :

Lucius-Cooley-Knies

Snuggerud-Huglen-Pitlick

Kurth-Nelson-Broz

Nevers-Perbix-Brodzinski

Schmidt-Sorenson-Pinoniemi

Strobel-Lucius-Mittelstadt

Gotta be a few transfers, and id also try to delay Strobel and Mittelstadt or just move on just too many guys

Johnson-Koster

LaCombe-Chesley

Mittelstadt-Thomas

Fish-Staudacher

I dont include Faber, he has been playing so well and really got showcased at the Olympics id expect him to sign. LaCombe or Johnson signing wouldn’t shock me either.

Close

Bartoszkiewicz

Boyton

I may have missed somebody that was just a quick glance at what i believe we have and have potentially coming in

Aren’t Mittelstadt, Strobel, Pinoniemi, and Warner all aged out of juniors after this season?

Yes to all of the above. None of those guys can go back to juniors. If not at U, playing college elsewhere.

I have yet to see someone showing J Mittelstadt signed his NLI for the coming year.

Nate Warner has really had his career derailed by injuries. He has only played 4 games this year. I bet it somewhat breaks Bob's heart as he was one of Mack's best friends.

Can't we get a special exemption so we can roll 6 lines? :biggrin2: #WearDownTheOpponent

In the latest issue of Minnesota Hockey Journal, there is a nice feature on Faber. In it, he specifically mentions Cal Thomas as a close friend of his and someone who was on all of his teams growing up. It's on page 13 if the link works. Really really hoping that's code for "Want to play one year with my best friend at the U."

http://read.uberflip.com/i/1440267-january-february-2022/11?m4=&utm_campaign=b4d00cf638-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_10-20_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_source=MN+Hockey+Newsletter&utm_term=0_b37c46ec5e-b4d00cf638-13889809

Like I've said a lot today, doesn't hurt!

Adam Fox stayed 3 years and was all-American as freshman and Sophomore….

All questions will be answered on the 1st day of practice. The Whioux lost a player this year in late August. After this year, nothing will shock me including Cooley's team that drafts him and wanting him to go pro. Unlikely, but possible.

Making it officially official:

https://twitter.com/usahockeyntdp/status/1494476783114240003?s=21

So Cooley would be part of next season's freshman class?

Yes

Just curious.. any rumors on existing players taking advantage of the Covid rules and staying an extra year?

Obviously would affect incoming players.

Short answer, no. Very unlikely

This is the benefit of recent NCAA changes restricting contact with players until closer to graduation. When Dave Spehar committed to the Gophers and we had to wait 3 years to see him in Maroon and Gold it was my first taste of college recruiting and I have always hated that long wait. The Lucuis Brothers were much the same. Now that we start seeing commitments from kids like Cooley and Moore and have them in Mariucci a year or two later, it is much more exciting.

[mention]Vegoe[/mention] On last week's podcast you said if you were coach you would only bring in one freshman forward like this guy. Makes me wonder, are there others in the fall of '22 freshmen that you would put in this category?

I don't understand what you're asking.

My guess is Cooley is an obvious one and done, a guy you'd love to have yet don't want to have a number of in one class.

The only other who may fit is Snuggerud, though seems highly unlikely.

You bring in first rounders you can get. Period. If Frank Nazar wanted to flip tomorrow you take him.

I think a big reason for the success the Gophers are having right now is because of the experience of the players Motzko has brought into the program. Some of their most consistent players are guys who put in the time in junior hockey before starting college. I think that if a player has gone through some adversity, then are much better positioned to handle it. When you have players who have never had to deal with a slump, it's not great when that happens in college when you only get 35 games and there aren't many slump busters on the schedule.

Ben Meyers played 135 USHL games.

Tristan Broz played 119 USHL games.

Rhett Pitlick played 95 USHL games.

Matthew Knies played 91 USHL games.

Jaxon Nelson played 164 USHL games.

Aarong Huglen played 68 USHL games and went though a ton of adversity with his back injury duyring those three years too.

Jack Perbix played 89 USHL games.

Carl Fish played 97 NAHL games.

Mike Koster played 81 USHL games.

Matt Staudacher played 110 USHL games.

Conversely... lets look at some players that maybe have been rushed to college.

Ben Brinkman played 0 games of junior hockey.

Bryce Brodzinski played 19 USHL games.

Sammy Walker played 21 USHL games.

Casey Mittelstadt played 26 USHL games.

Also you could argue that some of the USNTDP guys would have been helped by playing an extra year of juniors as eventually they found their footing, but it was tough at first.

I know Motzko wants to get the team older in general, but experience can overcome some of that requirement. I just worry about a group of 18-yr-old kids that are only going to play two years of college in too many key roles. You don't want to turn away a high, high talent like Logan Cooley, but other guys like Cruz Lucius, Jimmy Snuggerud, Ryan Chesley, Max Rud might have easier transitions to college hockey if they chose to wait until they are 19 instead of trying to make the leap at 18.

Ask Snuggerud and Chesley to play a year of juniors after NTDP and watch them suit up for another school in the fall.

Rud and Lamb will play their first college games at 20. Rinzel will come in at 19 because he is old for his grade.

Hard to tell if those two are going to be first round talents right now. Broz played that extra year of junior after being a second round pick. Huglen and Pitlick did it after being fourth and fifth round picks. Lamb did it after being a fourth round pick.

College hockey isn't like college football, you can't redshirt players and you need everyone on your roster to contribute.

You get yourself into problems in college hockey if you're spending too much of your season developing players who aren't ready.

Broz was drafted in 2021.

Huglen had crazy injury problems. He was a 4th rounder so ya, asking one year of USHL would have been fine.

Pitlick and Lamb were drafted after 11th grade because of their birthdays. So they are both playing one year of USHL after graduation, reasonable for 4th and 5th rounders.

1st and 2nd (and probably most 3rd) rounders: Don't count on a year of USHL post HS graduation. Hopefully they already have a year of USHL under their belt at that point by leaving MN HS early or via NTDP.

Everyone else: Sure

Cooley picked Us over Und according to Schlossman. Thats about 4 or 5 big time recruiting wins over them the past few years

Didn’t he score 2 against us and then the third was Snuggerud

maroon_and_gold wrote:

Didn’t he score 2 against us and then the third was Snuggerud

Here’s the stats from that game

GOPHERSPORTS.COM "https://gophersports.com/documents/2022/1/3/Game_Book_3_.pdf"

Iceburg wrote:

Zwak wrote:

Iceburg wrote:

Sounds fairly coupish to me

This deserves an “As the ? Cooley Turns”

“Coup-ley”

Well played Mauer :dup:

Dang it i was gonna make that joke!