Opponent Recruiting

https://twitter.com/BringerOfRaine/status/1493284443905273856

Little late on that

Little late on that

Hadn’t seen it posted here

Yeah, he’s a junior. Announced on Instagram. Noticed during tourney he followed SCSU and Harvard

Those two schools are pretty much a toss up academically.

SCSU is the Harvard of Stearns County.

Family tradition…

13:49 CR Grant Ahcan, Roughing Dbl Minor, 4 min

13:49 CR Grant Ahcan, 10-Minute Misconduct, 10 min

Interesting that Vermont got Mr. Hockey and Bump (who many thought would win). Not everyday you see a team like that get two of the best seniors in the state.

young gopher diehard wrote:

Interesting that Vermont got Mr. Hockey and Bump (who many thought would win). Not everyday you see a team like that get two of the best seniors in the state.

Always felt UVM should be able to recruit better because Burlington is awesome. Seems like Woodcroft is aiming high.

• This reply was modified 2 months, 1 week ago by Jupiter.

By my count, the #Badgers had 31 players commit in the first 14 months after Tony Granato was hired as coach in 2016. Only 16 of them have played for UW. pic.twitter.com/G58XuXkuUz

— Todd Milewski (@ToddMilewski) April 14, 2022

• This reply was modified 2 months, 1 week ago by Jupiter.

Bert wrote:

Brad Elliott Schlossman NTDP F Cole Spicer has decommitted from UND. He will look to play college hockey elsewhere this season. With Jackson Blake, Owen McLaughlin, Ben Strinden and Dylan James in line to come to UND ahead of Spicer, he was going to have to wait a year.

We’ve successfully infiltrated the enemy base. They’ll never see us coming.

• This reply was modified 2 months, 1 week ago by Jupiter.

Fin Williams decommits and is Notre Dame bound. https://t.co/i0mVlezprh

— Yost Built (@YostBuilt) April 21, 2022

Start of an exodus at Michigan or was he the odd man out from their gigantic class this fall?

One of the remaining NTDP guys off the board.

King Al is set to join the reigning champs 👑

Congratulations to our future Pioneer!!! pic.twitter.com/sL3iwKqqCA

— USA Hockey’s NTDP (@USAHockeyNTDP) April 26, 2022

Bonin21 wrote:

Pearson retweeted this which means he’ll probably commit to UM on 8/1. Also, Michigan is in the top 5 for Moldenhauer, which would be another Canada – Chicago – UM case, but maybe the Gophers are making a hard last minute push.

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What other teams are in his top 5.  The article I read, he is leaning on returning to Chicago next year.

We never get the blue chips🙄🙄

Really nice get for the tDogs! 👍

• This reply was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by bearpaw28.

Anyone notice what SCSU has been doing this offseason? They’re bringing back 4 fifth year seniors (Motzko’s guys) and bringing in 4 transfers (one being a former Motzko player in Cruikshank lol). As an alum, I probably follow the team closer than most on here, but I’ve been questioning Larson’s recruiting ability since day 1. I’ve heard from two separate people close to the program that the “kids love him”, but he has not proven to me that he can recruit high level players. The incoming class looks weak based on Juniors stats which is probably why he kept/brought in a bunch of older players.

Just thought it was an interesting observation since the media gives him a lot more credit than he deserves about being a good coach imo. He’s holding on to Motzko’s guys for dear life when he should have 5 years of recruits ready to come in and contribute.

WBL GophsFan09 wrote:

As an alum, I probably follow the team closer than most on here, but I’ve been questioning Larson’s recruiting ability since day 1. I’ve heard from two separate people close to the program that the “kids love him”, but he has not proven to me that he can recruit high level players.

I can understand your assessment and I don’t necessarily disagree. But let’s be fair too… they lost Motzko (who was always known as a strong recruiter) and Raboin at the same time… and then lost Gibbons not long after that. Those three guys were integral in building them over many years of time. Not an easy situation to follow.

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WBL GophsFan09 wrote:

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Hammy wrote:

WBL GophsFan09 wrote:

As an alum, I probably follow the team closer than most on here, but I’ve been questioning Larson’s recruiting ability since day 1. I’ve heard from two separate people close to the program that the “kids love him”, but he has not proven to me that he can recruit high level players.

I can understand your assessment and I don’t necessarily disagree. But let’s be fair too… they lost Motzko (who was always known as a strong recruiter) and Raboin at the same time… and then lost Gibbons not long after that. Those three guys were integral in building them over many years of time. Not an easy situation to follow.

Understandable, but we’re talking about 5 years to build the program back up with your own guys. He’s going to have a lot of time and slack to prove me wrong, but so far, I’m not impressed.

The Huskies certainly underachieved in 2022 after returning nearly entire roster from title game team. And I was as surprised as anyone when tUMD won 2 of 3 playoff series at the Concrete Center after losing the previous Saturday at Amsoil. No doubt 2023 will be interesting, lots of spots to fill at SCSU &  we’ll have to see how it goes ☝️ Hammy made a solid point thou, that Gibbons was a very good recruiter for SCSU as were Raboin & tBob, but yeah…it’s been over 4 years since they departed & Larson took the reins, so who he brings in now & next year will tell the tale more clearly.

• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by bearpaw28.

Another reason to hate the Badgers. Let’s see how this works out….

Via his instagram story, former #Gopher commit Cruz Lucius, is now heading to Wisconsin to play for the @BadgerMHockey. pic.twitter.com/sr5acvFh7g

— Dylan Loucks (@DylanLoucks4) June 15, 2022

gator wrote…

He and his family can be Tony Granato’s drama queens.

When this blows up, it will be the final nail in Granato’s coffin.

Jesus I wasn’t gonna be mean about it before but don’t let the door hit ya on the way out Lucius family😂

maroon and gold wrote…

Jesus I wasn’t gonna be mean about it before but don’t let the door hit ya on the way out Lucius family😂

The Gophers successfully flipped Logan Cooley from Notre Dame…so losing losing Lucius to the Badgers is small potatoes…in the big scheme of things.

Finn Brink to Bucky.

I am proud to announce my commitment to further my academics and play college hockey at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I would like to thank my family, friends, coaches, and teammates for supporting me along my journey. I am excited to see what the future holds! #gobadgers pic.twitter.com/cFOQGX0ELv

— Finn Brink (@FinnBrink) June 23, 2022

frozen4champs wrote…

bearpaw28 wrote…

maroon and gold wrote…

Jesus I wasn’t gonna be mean about it before but don’t let the door hit ya on the way out Lucius family😂

The Gophers successfully flipped Logan Cooley from Notre Dame…so losing losing Lucius to the Badgers is small potatoes…in the big scheme of things.

As you know, the Lucius situation has more layers to it than an onion, and yes, if the trade off is Cooley for Lucius, it is a win. The drama and uncertainty on what went wrong with the Lucius family and the beat the dead horse speculation has left a bad taste in the mouths of many fans, and then add to it that “he” decided to go play for the BADgers only adds to the drama. For me, I would much rather have a hard working player who plays for the name on the front than a potential 2nd round pick who has 1 foot out the door and the coach that must cater to the player and his family. Unfortunately, the way sports are  trending, these type of situations will continue to happen.

Keep in mind this family has been big Gopher fans all along.  Remember the photo of those peewees in Gopher gear as they verbally committed to the U years ago under Lucia.  As a family who always gets their way, they are bitter it didn’t work that way with the Gophers.  Cutting ties with the Gophers and going to the Badgers is the ultimate FU (akin the Favre playing for the Vikings).  I’ll be happy to watch them suffer in the hockey hell that is Madison.

I hope the Gophers legally clean their clocks every chance they get.

maroon and gold wrote…

Astonishing to me how they still get good recruits. Why would anyone want to go to that dumpster fire.

While it’s OK for Gopher loyalists to HATE the Badgers (it’s damn near a requirement) questioning why top players want to go to Wisconsin is somewhat comical. Tradition (6 NCAA titles) a solid home rink to play in, a history placing players in the NHL (including quite a few MN born players), strong academics, a cool campus set-up, outstanding social life/party life for students, terrific tailgating at Camp Randall football games, Madison, along with being the State Capitol feels like a true college town, the list is lengthy…

https://theathletic.com/1350951/2019/11/04/why-the-bruins-dont-haze-the-first-year-players/?amp=1

bearpaw28 wrote…

maroon and gold wrote…

Astonishing to me how they still get good recruits. Why would anyone want to go to that dumpster fire.

While it’s OK for Gopher loyalists to HATE the Badgers (it’s damn near a requirement) questioning why top players want to go to Wisconsin is somewhat comical. Tradition (6 NCAA titles) a solid home rink to play in, a history placing players in the NHL (including quite a few MN born players), strong academics, a cool campus set-up, outstanding social life/party life for students, terrific tailgating at Camp Randall football games, Madison, along with being the State Capitol feels like a true college town, the list is lengthy…

The kid probably had many choices and he chose the the team that’s blown goats for the last handful of years.  I’d probably go play for a team that was winning.

MNNavy wrote…

bearpaw28 wrote…

maroon and gold wrote…

Astonishing to me how they still get good recruits. Why would anyone want to go to that dumpster fire.

While it’s OK for Gopher loyalists to HATE the Badgers (it’s damn near a requirement) questioning why top players want to go to Wisconsin is somewhat comical. Tradition (6 NCAA titles) a solid home rink to play in, a history placing players in the NHL (including quite a few MN born players), strong academics, a cool campus set-up, outstanding social life/party life for students, terrific tailgating at Camp Randall football games, Madison, along with being the State Capitol feels like a true college town, the list is lengthy…

As much as it pains me to say it, BP is correct about Madison. There are a lot of legitimate reasons for a player to choose Bucky over the Gophers.

The REAL head scratcher is why any top player would choose to go to UMD over Minnesota.

I can’t think of anything Madison offers that Minneapolis doesn’t outside of “small town feel”.  Except Madison isn’t that small and when you’re walking around campus at UM you feel like you’re on a true, typical college campus.  Yes UW has much to offer but for anyone that grew up a UM fan?  I don’t see it.

bearpaw28 wrote…

MNNavy wrote…

bearpaw28 wrote…

maroon and gold wrote…

Astonishing to me how they still get good recruits. Why would anyone want to go to that dumpster fire.

While it’s OK for Gopher loyalists to HATE the Badgers (it’s damn near a requirement) questioning why top players want to go to Wisconsin is somewhat comical. Tradition (6 NCAA titles) a solid home rink to play in, a history placing players in the NHL (including quite a few MN born players), strong academics, a cool campus set-up, outstanding social life/party life for students, terrific tailgating at Camp Randall football games, Madison, along with being the State Capitol feels like a true college town, the list is lengthy…

As much as it pains me to say it, BP is correct about Madison. There are a lot of legitimate reasons for a player to choose Bucky over the Gophers.

The REAL head scratcher is why any top player would choose to go to UMD over Minnesota.

I was only commenting on why players choose to play for the Badgers. Most MN born players would love to play for the Gophers. But as we all know, there’s only 18 full scholarships to be divided up. As far as the Dogs, I could explain in detail how/why they landed many of their top recruits, but most on this board already have a basic idea…so I won’t at time. Suffice it to say, aside from the obvious HERMANTOWN connection, there’s a bunch of other reasons, getting a state of the art NHL configured rink built in 2011 being another one.

Some people like to get away from mom and dad for college.  If you’re from the metro, the U might not be the best option if you’re looking explore new worlds.  Duluth and Madison are nice college towns far enough away that you have your own life, but close enough that you can go home on holidays or for family matters pretty easily.

I remember hearing during the Frozen Four how Bobby Brink wanted to face a new challenge, go somewhere different.  I can respect that in someone.  Except if you choose to go to Grand Forks.  There is no reason to go to school there except to become an aeronautical engineer.