Could the other Nanne grandson be far behind?
Go Gophers!!
Nice commit. A very hard working player who will most likely stay for 3 or 4 years and could end up putting nice point totals up if he develops a lot. Still only going to be a junior. Wish list going forward ranked in order:
Forward
1. Taylor Cammarata - Waterloo (USHL)
2. Hudson Fasching - NTDP program Formerly of Apple Valley
3. Gabe Guertler - Fargo (USHL) From Florida
4. Vinni Lettieri - Minnetonka
Defense
1. Ian McCoshen - Waterloo (USHL) Formerly of Hudson, WI
2. Michael Brodzinski - Blaine
3. Willie Raskob - Shattuck, formerly of Hastings
Than you have guys like Jake Guentzel (Hill Murray), Parker Reno (Edina), and Clint Lewis (NTDP) that seem to fit the bill of a high level D1 recruit that I am a little unsure of/don't know enough about them. All players listed would be juniors in high school this year. TJ Roo (Totino) also seems to be highly skilled with good size but I'm not sure he would warrant an offer over the other players mentioned
I completely agree with the Guertler assumption. Right now even though I love having great minnesota talent on this team because it is who we are and have been for a long time, there simply is just too much talent outside of Minnesota that we keep losing out on because of tradition. Now what is really interesting about this situation is the onset of the B1G conference. We will now have a much larger recruiting net we can spread out IMO with the addition of Michigan/Michigan State/Penn State and the BTN.
Personally I would love to add a few players from our neighbors up to the north.
Parker Reno - is there even interest from the Gopher staff though? He seems like he is a great player with nice size and offensive instincts but I was unaware of his injury he had last year so maybe that is why I haven't heard of him much lately. He has definitely piqued my interest, to say the least. Will be interesting to see how he does at Edina this year.
Cammarata/Guertler/Lettieri - Personally, I would not like to bring in all 3. I feel like we will land Cammarata/Lettieri and after that you have to really look hard at Guertler. I think we will need to bring in someone with more size to go along with Fasching. Is there anyone else that we might be interested in who would fit the mold of a player more like Fasching and less like the small skilled players? Maybe there is room for all 3 but I am too lazy to look the scholarship situation.
Brodzinski - I really hope you are wrong about that and I realize you have more connections to the program than I do but he is going to be a great player. Maybe having Bjugstad at the U could have gave him aspirations of wearing the M sweater if he looked up to him while he was younger? I guess that is a major reach to assume.
My gut says we land Mccoshen. I think he is a must get IMO.
I think we have done fine outside of the state. We just haven't really landed "big fish" types. Although I suppose Haula kind of qualifies to some degree.
My focus on Guertler is mainly because he is among the top few kids in the US at that age group. I don't care if he isn't on the NTDP. He is among that group's best. With his ties around the area, I just think it would be pretty beneficial to get him.
I guess I am lukewarm on it. Don't really care whether they are from Canada or not. Big Ten or not, we'll probably never be a big player for Canadian kids and I am fine with that as long as we maintain are strong hold locally and supplement it well with some quality junior hockey kids in the USHL.
From what I understand, they are pretty high on Reno. He messed up his knee last year in the elite league. I believe it was an ACL. In any case, he didn't play during HS season because of it. I'm sure he is getting close to normal so I'd suspect a pretty good year out of him. He started off the elite league season pretty well this past weekend with a 1 goal and 3 assists.
I'd take all three. Mainly because I am of the mindset that skill players that don't have the optimal pro frame (i.e. 6'+) are more likely to stay 3 or 4 years in college and do some real damage. I want that kind of continuity. That is the main reason why UMD won the title last year. As much as I want Fasching to be a Gopher, the reality is he is probably no more than a two year player before he goes pro. So I can understand why they may be interested in focusing more on the average size kid with very good skill.
I agree we will need some size to balance things out up front but you can find hard working, gritty players that can skate more easily than you can find elite skilled players that can put the puck in the net. Besides, it really isn't about size as much as it is about showing a willingness to play physical. Troy Riddle wasn't big but he'd certainly didn't shy away from throwing his body around.
I heard this summer that UND, UNO, Notre Dame and SCSU were the schools showing most interest. The dad is a big SCSU backer and his brother will be headed there. I get the feeling he won't be going to SCSU though.
It'll be interesting. He's a WI kid but is far closer to the U than he is Madison. I'm sure we have a pretty solid chance. Hard to say for sure with him. Wittchow is another kid too. Gophs, UW and CC was mentioned for him. I know he has ties to UW so I'd probably say they are the favorite but we'll have to see. He did turn down a spot on their team for this next season so he could play in the USHL so maybe he isn't necessarily locked in there. Besides, I think Guentzel is a better guy to have than Butters. Butters has done some good things too but I think Guentzel connects with kids much better.
I loved Vinni's Dad back in the day when he played for the Minnesota Strikers. He used to throw a stuffed parrot into the crowd before each game. Now he makes great pizza!
who else offered Vinni? Will the Nanne grandsons be in the same class or will they enter the u at different years?
Solid Pick up, obviously. Things are starting to get rolling a little bit here...I wonder if the Nanne commitment was used to steer Vinny towards the program at all since he was highly sought after?
I think we lock up Fasching next. Just a hunch.
They were recruited on their own merits. Nanne was getting interest from some good schools in his own right. But it obviously doesn't hurt to have a cousin on the team too.
I can't say 100% but I think Fasching will take a little while yet. I am pretty sure there will be a few others before he decides.
Well JackiO,
We're not done. It is great vibes back for the team... and recruiting.
Its about time we have some good Gopher Hockey talk on this board and I love your blog, Hammy. Please keep posting here...especially with recruiting updates. I miss the old Pride On Ice web site...
Don't you ever check out gopherpucklive? or the uscho forums?
I do but they don't seem to be as active as the old Pride on Ice web site was. GopherPuckLive is starting to pick up now with more recruiting news with the recent commitments. There are a ton of very smart hockey-minds on that site. Let's go Fasching and Mario....make this a complete recruiting class!
Its about time we have some good Gopher Hockey talk on this board and I love your blog, Hammy. Please keep posting here...especially with recruiting updates. I miss the old Pride On Ice web site...
I do but they don't seem to be as active as the old Pride on Ice web site was. GopherPuckLive is starting to pick up now with more recruiting news with the recent commitments. There are a ton of very smart hockey-minds on that site. Let's go Fasching and Mario....make this a complete recruiting class!
I think I would rather have Cammarratta over Mario but if Mario wants to come and we get all three that would be pretty sick. However, you have to start monitoring how many spots we will have available since we already have so many committed. We are are still going to need to bring in some D.
Bischoff and Mccoshen hopefully.....
I'm not concerned about roster numbers. We have a large sophomore class right now. So we'll have definite needs in 2014 (and some of these guys will be coming in that year).
No doubt that the focus will be more on defense once we see a few of these forwards finally decide. Could be one happening soon.
I hear defensive recruiting may be a little more patient on the next move. If nobody went pro on defense, the Gophers will have everybody returning next year plus potential add ons in Skjei and Reilly. If somebody like Alt goes pro next spring, we'd still have nine potential d-men for 2012 (and only Helgeson would be a senior). So we really don't have much need to fill right now on defense for 2012 or 2013. I guess we'll see though. Things could always change if they like somebody a lot and feel they have to become more aggressive sooner.
I definitely get what you are saying. It seems to me that some of the potential defenseman that we would be pursuing would be of the talent level where they would probably like to play right away once they are eligible to play collegiality. Still to me it seems like you would want to bring in 1 or 2 of these high talent guys regardless to create competition at the least. Who knows if guys like Mccoshen and Bischoff and Lewis would be willing to play an extra year of juniors before coming in...I guess that would be the major factor in pursuing some of them.
Also, I am quite surprised that we haven't had a Fasching commitment yet.
How worried would you be about him playing Canadian juniors and how long do you think he would ultimately play in college if he chose to do so? Cammaratta and Fasching seem to me seem like 1 and 2 or done players for sure.
It is pretty uncommon to have more than 8 defensemen on a roster. We will already be plenty covered for next year as it is. I could see them going for a guy that can come in 2013 if needed to cover our bases. But I don't see a ton of need with what we know right now.
I'm not surprised at all. He has the luxury of taking his time because he knows the offers will still be there months from now. It would not surprise me if we don't know anything from him until next spring/summer.
Not at all worried about Cammarata playing Canadian Juniors. I can agree that Fasching is going to be a short timer in college. Maybe two seasons at best. I disagree with you on Cammarata. The kid is small. Even the very best small players in college hockey tend to play three or four years.