Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

[Pucky-Bucky Backer]

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Since you are from GB, wasn't Notre Dame formerly Premontre? In the early 80's I remember Premontre as having one of the premier private school hockey teams in the state.

Yes, NDA is formerly known as Premontre. Three private schools merged and they had to change the name to avoid faculty staffing issues.
I went to Premontre in the early 80's and I don't remember much about the hockey program.IIRC the program was disbanded for a while. Being a premier school in the private school sector is kinda like saying that Michigan Tech is the premier college in the U.P. There was little interest for hockey in the WISAA conference.

 

[Chuck Schwartz]

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Two recruiting posts this week:

Recruiting: Potential Recruits In Mad-Town This Weekend

Cap Ice in Middleton is hosting the WAHA Tier 1 playoffs this weekend. Going to be a ton of great players in attendance. Get over there to see some future WCHA players.

Recruiting: Hesketh at Minnesota State Tournament

2011 defense recruit Troy Hesketh has his Minnetonka Skippers in the State tounament at the Xcel center this weekend. They open up on Thursday night against Lakeville North.

 

[Chuck Schwartz]

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Recruiting: Badgers Focusing On Chicago Talent

When USA Hockey released the names of the 47 players invited to the NTDP Tryout Camp a little over a week ago, there was one obvious trend. Chicago looks absolutely loaded at the 1994 level (2012 recruits).

Overall 11 players from the state of Illinois have been invited to the tryout which starts Friday and runs through Tuesday. 9 of those players are currently playing midget hockey in Chicago including 6 from the Chicago Mission program alone (2 from CYA, 1 from Fury).

With the proximity of the Wisconsin campus, the lack of a Division 1 program in the state of Illinois, and the tradition and prestige of the Wisconsin hockey, it's only natural for many of these players to have a strong interest in the Badger program. Looking through Rivals new site, CollegeHockey247.com, it becomes very apparent that Eaves and company are taking a good hard look at the boys from the windy City.

The first player is an interesting prospect. Alex Galchenyuk (pictured) from the Chicago Young Americans program was born in the states but his family is from Russia. Besides living in the states, he's also spent time living in Russia and Italy. He's an absolute stud but is a serious flight risk to the OHL. Galchenyuk absolutely obliterated the Tier 1 U-16 league in scoring this season. He recorded 87 points in 38 games, 33 points more than the second place finisher.

Galchenyuk, a 6'1, 184 pound forward has heard from Yale and Wisconsin and has been invited to the NTDP camp next weekend, but he's still undecided on his next team. I've seen projections that have Galchenyuk as high as a top 5 pick in the upcoming OHL draft. His coach mentions in the article linked above that it's going to depend on how high and what team drafts him. In the end this is a kid who is probably going to end up hearing "Oh Canada" before the start of his games next season.

The Chicago Mission program, which I mentioned earlier got 6 invites to the USA tryout, houses two potential Badger recruits at the U-16 level. Forward Ray Pigozzi, and defenseman Justin Wade.

Pigozzi is a smaller forward, but a very dynamic forward. He's listed at 5'11, 165 but has two and a half years before he would ever even step onto a college campus. In the CollegeHockey247.com article that I linked above, his coach talks about how strong his lower body is and how skilled he is with the puck. Pigozzi has already visited the campus according to CollegeHockey247.com during the football season. From the sounds of the article, Pigozzi loved everything about his visit. He is also currently considering New Hampshire, Michigan, and Minnesota-Duluth. I've seen projections as high as the second round in the upcoming OHL Priority Selection for Pigozzi. I think in the end Pigozzi ends up in college.

Chris from Western College Hockey has had some nice things to say about Pigozzi. He saw him this fall at the NAHL Showcase and said this, "Really impressive. Great offensive instincts, and isn't the biggest guy, but isn't afraid to throw his weight around."

Justin Wade is a shutdown defender in the Johnny Ramage mold. He's also not short on confidence, which I love in a player. In the article listed above his coach also talks about his high hockey IQ. Wade is already listed at 6'2, 197 pounds as a 15 year old. CollegeHockey247 says that he may be a high pick in the upcoming OHL Priority Selection, but from every indication, it sounds like he's committed to the college game. According to the article he's been getting a ton of interest but at this time he only lists Wisconsin as a possible destination.

I also wanted to remind you that 2012 committed forward recruit Nick Kerdiles who I interviewed after he committed in February will also be at the tryout camp. If you remember from the interview, he has already been offered and has accepted a spot in Ann Arbor with the USA NTDP U17's for next season. With Kerdiles, Corbin McGuire, and Jordan Schmaltz already lined up for 2012, adding 1 or 2 of the guys listed above would make this an absolutely sick class.

 

[bothman]

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Recruiting: Badgers Focusing On Chicago Talent



I also wanted to remind you that 2012 committed forward recruit Nick Kerdiles who I interviewed after he committed in February will also be at the tryout camp. If you remember from the interview, he has already been offered and has accepted a spot in Ann Arbor with the USA NTDP U17's for next season. With Kerdiles, Corbin McGuire, and Jordan Schmaltz already lined up for 2012, adding 1 or 2 of the guys listed above would make this an absolutely sick class.

Is Corbin McGuire staying at Taft next season? From what I heard, he had a down year this season.

 

[Chuck Schwartz]

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Is Corbin McGuire staying at Taft next season? From what I heard, he had a down year this season.

I haven't heard. I don't see why he wouldn't. He will probably play there next year and then one season in the USHL before Wisconsin in 2012. That would be my guess. I'll see what I can find out though.

 

[bothman]

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

I haven't heard. I don't see why he wouldn't. He will probably play there next year and then two seasons in the USHL before Wisconsin in 2012. That would be my guess. I'll see what I can find out though.

My thought was that Wisconsin may want him to get out of prep hockey and into the USHL or a better and deeper league asap.

 

[Chuck Schwartz]

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

My thought was that Wisconsin may want him to get out of prep hockey and into the USHL or a better and deeper league asap.

Need to keep in mind that he's still only a sophomore in high school. He's still at least a full two years away from contributing at the college level. I would assume that Wisconsin would like him to get a full USHL season in before coming to school, but I don't think they are going to request that he makes the move right now. If he does it on his own, you could assume they aren't going to be upset though.

Fargo drafted him last spring in the second round of the USHL futures draft. It wouldn't shock me for them to make a push for his services.

 

[GB Puck Fan]

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

I hope UWGB steps up and forms a D-3 team. Maybe St. Norberts can move up in class to D-1? They would have natural rivals with NMU and MTU. The GB newspaper gives those two schools better press than they give to the UW.

Neither will happen due to NCAA rules.

UWGB is a Division 1 institution and cannot offer a team at the D3 level. A push in the mid-80s to create a hockey team there was effectively killed by the basketball boosters. Budgets being what they are - and the lack of a facility to play (since PMI isn't going to rent out a bdg to competiton of the Gamblers) - this isn't going to happen, either.

St. Norbert did an extensive study, wanting to move men's hockey and women's soccer to D1. NCAA rules prohibit the school from offering scholarships and playing D1. It decided it couldn't be competitive without scholarships and dropped the idea. The schools which are D3 for all other sports but offer a D1 sport with scholarships (i.e. Colorado College for hockey and a few east coast lacrosse schools) are grandfathered in.

As for GB media coverage of the Badgers, they aren't local enough to be regularly featured and don't have the interest locally that the hoops or football teams do to demand coverage.

Now back to our regularly scheduled thread topic...

 

[DPlaya]

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Kevin Patrick flew back to Madison from Minneapolis Saturday night and drove up to Fond du Lac Sunday morning for the 8 AM game between Team Wisconsin Minor and the St. Louis Jr. Blues Midget Minor squad (at the Tier I Central District Championship). I assume his scouting will be beneficial for both his current employer and future employer .

Team Wisconsin Minor won the Central District and will play at Nationals in two weeks in Chicago.

 

[HighToTheGloveSide]

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Thanks for the recruiting update Chuck!!!

 

[Chuck Schwartz]

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Wisconsin Committed Recruits

Wisconsin Potential Recruits

 

[Badgerpuck]

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Chuck: Assuming we lose some guys to early departure, do you think we will take any of the 2011-2012 recruits in a year early or do you see us rolling with what we have slotted for 2010-2011?
-If so who do you see us bringing in early?

-Also do you have any leads on the likely canidates to replace Coach Patrick?

 

[Hokydad]

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

when they call, give them jerry yorks phone number

 

[Chuck Schwartz]

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Chuck: Assuming we lose some guys to early departure, do you think we will take any of the 2011-2012 recruits in a year early or do you see us rolling with what we have slotted for 2010-2011?
-If so who do you see us bringing in early?

-Also do you have any leads on the likely canidates to replace Coach Patrick?

I think we've built in the early departures for our incoming recruits.

Incoming defense: Simonelli and Drake
Outgoing defense: McDonagh and Smith (likely)

That would leave us at 9 defensemen which we also had this season. If we lose another defenseman, I think we still only bring in Simonelli and Drake. If God forbid we lose 4, we would bring in Hesketh.

Outgoing forwards: Mitchell, Geoffrion, Bendickson, Davies, Grotting, Street, Bohmbach, Thurber
Incoming forwards: Barnes, Clark, Zengerle, Dahl, Little, Mersch

That would be 6 forwards to replace 8. Have to keep in mind we need to fill Thurbers spot after he was kicked off the team. Overall that leaves us at 14 forwards. Usually we'd like to have at least 15 forwards. I don't see us picking up a late forward commitment for 2010 at this time but it wouldn't shock me. Most likely they will bring in either Matt Pappe or Gavin Hartzog. I could see them bringing in Hartzog beacause he's struggled in junior and the coaches may want to get their hands on him before it's too late.

No idea on the coaching opening yet.

 

[Almington]

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

That would be 6 forwards to replace 8. Have to keep in mind we need to fill Thurbers spot after he was kicked off the team. Overall that leaves us at 14 forwards. Usually we'd like to have at least 15 forwards. I don't see us picking up a late forward commitment for 2010 at this time but it wouldn't shock me. Most likely they will bring in either Matt Pappe or Gavin Hartzog. I could see them bringing in Hartzog beacause he's struggled in junior and the coaches may want to get their hands on him before it's too late.

IIRC, Bohmbach was brought in late because of the early departure of Pavs. I'm sure that they coaches are considering their options on who to bring in for next year. The staff will also have to wait and see what may happen with Stepan.

It's unfortunate that things are such recruiting wise that UW isn't able to reload as much as having to rebuild with such high turnover at forward.

 

[Gandalf the Red]

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

IIRC, Bohmbach was brought in late because of the early departure of Pavs. I'm sure that they coaches are considering their options on who to bring in for next year. The staff will also have to wait and see what may happen with Stepan.

It's unfortunate that things are such recruiting wise that UW isn't able to reload as much as having to rebuild with such high turnover at forward.

That group of forwards coming in is actually pretty good. Clark, Zengerle and Barnes should all be impact players (hopefully) right out of the gate, which will be required if the team is going anywhere next season. Dahl and Mersch should see a lot of time (even though Mersch will be a senior in HS in age) and Little will be there to grind and play some 4th line minutes if he can crack the lineup. Bringing in Hartzog wouldn't be the worst, he has size, something that can't be taught and a year in WI working hard might be more to his benefit.

 

[Chuck Schwartz]

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

IIRC, Bohmbach was brought in late because of the early departure of Pavs. I'm sure that they coaches are considering their options on who to bring in for next year. The staff will also have to wait and see what may happen with Stepan.

It's unfortunate that things are such recruiting wise that UW isn't able to reload as much as having to rebuild with such high turnover at forward.

Your memory is correct. He was brought in pretty late in the summer actually. Too late to even get a dorm room.

I think we're a little bit more prepared now than we were back then which is why I think we'll most likely bring in a player that's already committed like Paape or Hartzog rather than pick up another player.

There is a player out there that I think we need to consider but this is for 2011. I can't say his name right now but he will be leaving a WCHA program. I just hope his current school lets him transfer within the conference.

 

[Almington]

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

That group of forwards coming in is actually pretty good. Clark, Zengerle and Barnes should all be impact players (hopefully) right out of the gate, which will be required if the team is going anywhere next season. Dahl and Mersch should see a lot of time (even though Mersch will be a senior in HS in age) and Little will be there to grind and play some 4th line minutes if he can crack the lineup. Bringing in Hartzog wouldn't be the worst, he has size, something that can't be taught and a year in WI working hard might be more to his benefit.

I learned that planning on having freshmen step in and be impact players right away is a recipe for disaster from an expectation standpoint. It's one thing to expect for freshmen to contribute, it's another thing to expect them to carry a team.

I am cautiously optimistic about next season, how optimistic will be dependent on early departures.

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

That group of forwards coming in is actually pretty good. Clark, Zengerle and Barnes should all be impact players (hopefully) right out of the gate, which will be required if the team is going anywhere next season. Dahl and Mersch should see a lot of time (even though Mersch will be a senior in HS in age) and Little will be there to grind and play some 4th line minutes if he can crack the lineup. Bringing in Hartzog wouldn't be the worst, he has size, something that can't be taught and a year in WI working hard might be more to his benefit.

Zengerle should but up 30+ pts easy, I think 40+ is more realistic. To me the key is Stepan coming back. If he leaves, it's back to the future in goal scoring. If he stays, Smith, Stepan and Zengerle are an excellent scoring core of F.

 

[Gandalf the Red]

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Re: Wisconsin Recruiting: What are you going to do, when NHL-U, comes calling for you?

Zengerle should but up 30+ pts easy, I think 40+ is more realistic. To me the key is Stepan coming back. If he leaves, it's back to the future in goal scoring. If he stays, Smith, Stepan and Zengerle are an excellent scoring core of F.

I feel the same way about Stepan. Either the team has a all-american type center on the 1st line or they don't have anything close to that if he leaves early.

You can add Jordy Murray and Derek Lee to that list of scorers. Sure Lee didn't play this year, but there wasn't a spot in the lineup for him that worked IMO, and he has the talent. A year in the weight room has to have helped him a lot. I think a top line of Murray-Stepan-Lee wouldn't be too bad at all.

Move Craig Smith to center next year and have him man the 2nd line.