2010 Recruits

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Sorry if this has been posted, but what are the hockey recruits looking like for next season?
 

I expect big things from Bjugstad and Gardiner. Both guys should make an impact early on. Justin Holl is having a fantastic season for Tonka.
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There look to be several impact newcomers coming in next year. I'm not sure which year Nick Bjugstad is coming, but the kid has a lot of natural ability. Max Gardiner is coming from Minnetonka and is the best player on an undefeated and top-ranked Skipper team. The Finnish kid, Erik Haula, is having a really nice year for Omaha in the USHL. Haula is also playing with another future Gopher in Seth Ambroz in Omaha, although I'm not sure when Ambroz is coming. All indications are he's a stud however. Ryan Walters is also due to come in from DeMoines in the USHL. He's a very good player. I think Christian Isackson, St. Thomas Academy's best player, is going to take a year in juniors next year, although I suppose we could see him earlier if necessary.

The guys I think that will come in and help right away will be Gardiner, Haula, Walters, Nate Condon (the leading goal scorer for Fargo in the USHL), Nate Schmidt (who is second amongst scorers for defensemen in the USHL currently) and possibly Bjugstad. But the kids that will help out offensively immediately (and that's where we need the most help quite honestly) will be Haula and Walters imo.

Here are their numbers as of 1/25/10

Erik Haula 35 games played, 18 goals, 29 assists, 47 total points, +23 rating
Ryan Walters 37 games played, 13 goals, 29 assists, 42 total points
Nate Schmidt 36 games played, 9 goals, 18 assists, 27 total points
Nate Condon 36 games played, 16 goals, 14 assists 30 total points

High School kids:

Nick Bjugstad, Blaine High School 16 games played, 20 goals, 25 assists, 45 total points
Max Gardiner, Minnetonka High School 10 games played, 12 goals, 19 assists, 31 total points
Justin Holl, Minnetonka High School 13 games played, 15 goals, 10 assists, 25 total points
Christian Isackson, St. Thomas Academy, 13 games played, 16 goals, 12 assists, 28 total points.
 

Thanks MRJ that helps a lot. How many schollies do we actually have for next season / how many guys are leaving this yr? I know we have six seniors but I dont know if anyone else is leaving. Hope someone can become a leader like Stoa was, it seems our offense just cant do it without one. on a random note, does anyone know how good Kremer is in goal? Haven't been impressed w/ Patterson when he's played this year at all, although last year i was. idk what happened
 

I am not a big Patterson fan either but I don't know much about Kremer. Adam Wilcox is a junior at SSP and committed to the U of M, but I'm not sure when he'll get here. As for a Stoa type player, a guy I have always thought is a similar type of player and has a chance to be that good is Mike Hoeffel. I see him having a huge next year. I would be surprised if both Gardiner and Bjugstad weren't playing here next year. Bjugstad is young but has the physical tools and is arguably the best player in the state right now.
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ya i could easily see him stepping up, him and cepis are the only ones playing with any sort of spark. i'm a little disappointed schroeder hasn't stepped up
 

Thanks MRJ that helps a lot. How many schollies do we actually have for next season / how many guys are leaving this yr? I know we have six seniors but I dont know if anyone else is leaving. Hope someone can become a leader like Stoa was, it seems our offense just cant do it without one. on a random note, does anyone know how good Kremer is in goal? Haven't been impressed w/ Patterson when he's played this year at all, although last year i was. idk what happened

That's a tough one right now. We have the six seniors, but you also never know who will turn pro amongst the underclassmen, so it's really tough to get a full read on how the entire scholarship situation looks right now. This is also why I'm not fully sure when Isackson, Ambroz or even Bjugstad will arrive for that matter. We also have a couple of other kids that are slated to come in next season in Mark Alt and Jake Youso, although I'm not sure Alt will ultimately come or not (he just received an offer from Iowa for football). On top of that, I know there are some rumblings about Jordan Schroeder possibly turning pro, but the way he's been talking, it seems like he wants to stick around for awhile. It's even possible that Walters, Bjugstad and Holl will end up coming a year later and join other recruits for 2011 in Conor and Ryan Reilly, Ben Marshall, Sam Warning and Adam Wilcox. It all depends on how the coaching staff feels and how many other unexpected defections the program suffers.

Don't know much about Kremer other than the fact that he's decidedly third-string. I've only seen him play once and that was in an exhibition and he looked okay. I actually think Patterson will be alright once he becomes the top guy. Will he be as good as Kangas? I have no idea, but Patterson is a pretty good sized kid and seems to move around all right. I think at this point he needs seasoning. Some of Kremer's future will also depend upon how Wilcox fares when he arrives on campus in 2011.
 

Seth Ambroz

Seth should arrive the fall of 2011. Seth has great skill with great size for a 16 year-old. (6-3, 215lbs) Seth has been playing in Omaha for 3 years after playing varsity at New Prague as a 7th- grader. He committed to Minnesota as a 14 year-old. He is the real deal and people will be pleased with his skill-set and abilty to score while being a tough player. Can't wait to see him in a Gopher uniform in a couple years.
 

I like that Ambroz will have 3 years of USHL experience.

60+ games per year is better than 30.
 



Seth should arrive the fall of 2011. Seth has great skill with great size for a 16 year-old. (6-3, 215lbs) Seth has been playing in Omaha for 3 years after playing varsity at New Prague as a 7th- grader. He committed to Minnesota as a 14 year-old. He is the real deal and people will be pleased with his skill-set and abilty to score while being a tough player. Can't wait to see him in a Gopher uniform in a couple years.

14?!?!?!? Holy crap is this guy the real deal?
 

14?!?!?!? Holy crap is this guy the real deal?

At the time, Ambroz was considered the top seventh grader in Minnesota and was also considered one of the best in the nation for his class. He absolutely tore it up during his eighth grade year at the high school level and then made the move to the USHL where he has also made a very good impression. Like others, I'm really looking forward to seeing him in maroon and gold in the future.

Just for reference, here are Ambroz's numbers for Omaha so far this year

35 games played, 13 goals, 15 assists, 28 total points, +12 rating.
 

Still need:

They still need a big, aggressive defencemen who pays attention inside his own blue line, They have a tendency to only recruit small, offensive minded D.
 

They still need a big, aggressive defencemen who pays attention inside his own blue line, They have a tendency to only recruit small, offensive minded D.

I'm hoping that Seth Helgeson will eventually fill that role somewhat and perhaps Nate Schmidt, although Schmidt is also very good offensively. But your point is well taken, we need some more banging types on the blue line.
 



I'm hoping that Seth Helgeson will eventually fill that role somewhat and perhaps Nate Schmidt, although Schmidt is also very good offensively. But your point is well taken, we need some more banging types on the blue line.

Would Mark Alt be able to fill that role? Good size and should be able to use it.
 

Would Mark Alt be able to fill that role? Good size and should be able to use it.

Possibly, although there are some rumblings that he may change his mind regarding his commitment to the Gophers and pursue football at Iowa. If that doesn't happen, and a lot of people seem to think he'll stick with his hockey commit, he'll add some nice size alongside Helgeson for next year.

FYI, Rivals.com recently released their top 50 national rankings of hockey recruits for 2010 (wow, sounds weird to mention "Rivals" and "college hockey" in the same sentence doesn't it?). Anyway, Gopher recruits ranked this way:

9. Nick Bjugstad, 5-star
11. Seth Ambroz, 5-star
12. Erik Haula, 5-star
14. Max Gardiner, 5-star
28. Mark Alt, 4-star
45. Justin Holl, 4-star

The Gophers finished with six recruits in the top 50, second to Notre Dame which had 7.
Of other WCHA teams, North Dakota had 4, Denver and Colorado College each had 3, UMD, Wisconsin and St. Cloud State each had 2, and Minnesota State had 1.
 




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