Recent Recruiting News and Prospect Reports
Starting off, I reviewed four high school (three MN, one prep) games this weekend: Rosemount x Minnetonka, Maple Grove x Edina and Moorhead, and Cushing x Northwood. Here’s the link to that.
The other prospect reports that have been produced this fall:
2019-2020 New England Prep Hockey Preview (free)
Prospect Currents - November 2019 (free)
Seventeen Standouts from the NJ Avalanche Showcase (free)
NEFPHL's Top Prospects (free)
Uncommitted Watchlist Release: Fall 2019 (free)
2003 Uncommitted Prospects Watchlist
01/02 Uncommitted Prospects Watchlist
99/00 Uncommitted Prospects Watchlist
U15 and U18 Avs Showcase Notebook
USHL Fall Classic U15 Notebook
Standouts from Five Elite Split Season AAA Programs
Recruiting News
The National Letter of Intent (NLI) signing period is always eventful. There already has and will be some interesting fallout over the coming weeks related to NLIs signed or not signed and so on. A number of the top prospects highlighted on my recent uncommitted prospects watchlist made their decisions, namely Ty Smilanic (Quinnipiac), Gleb Veremyev (Penn State) and Jack Harvey (BU), while there were plenty of prospects that committed in the earlier part of the month before my list released. Here’s my look at the recent recruiting action:
Big Ten
02 D Brock Faber to Minnesota
Minnesota picked up a commit (and got a signed NLI) from top in-state prospect Brock Faber, currently playing with the U18 National Team. The Maple Grove native is a big (6’0) two-way defender who should step right into the line-up next fall and provide a reliable blue line piece for second-year head coach Bob Motzko as I noted earlier in this month’s Prospect Currents column. Faber having flipped from Notre Dame has the added benefit of Motzko’s Gophers not having to see him on the other side of the ice four times a year for the Irish.
03 F Gleb Veremyev to Penn State
Veremyev is one of the first prospects I wrote about this season as I thought he was the top prospect playing in this summer’s Liberty Bell Games and highlighted him at the end of my summer prospects podcast. A former Western Michigan recruit who tore up New Jersey high school hockey for Monroe last winter, the 6’3 wing has been a standout for a #13-ranked New Jersey Rockets U16 team that is getting a lot of D1 attention this season. Veremyev was my 15th-ranked forward at the NJ Avalanche U16 showcase in September and one of only four players still uncommitted in that top 15.
NJ Rockets coach Noel Rubin on Veremyev: “Gleb is a power forward with a long reach who is lethal in the offensive zone. His ability to protect the puck and take pucks to hard areas make him very difficult to defend. He creates offense off the rush with his length and ability to find space. I’m very excited for him and anxious to watch him lead my team into the second half of the season.”
Expect to see Veremyev play for Penn State sometime after 2021 depending on how his development tracks in junior hockey. He has a tremendous ceiling and could be a player to watch in next year’s NHL draft. The Rockets have a number of uncommitted prospects to watch including defenseman Mike Rubin and forward Greg Spitznagel who are fairly likely to find D1 homes before the season ends.
99 F Mark Cheremeta to Ohio State
Ohio State picked up a nice offensive add for next season in former BU forward Mark Cheremeta, who has three years of eligibility after returning to the USHL this season. Cheremeta was ostensibly planning to return to Comm Ave after this season but after a red-hot start where he has played a critical role for one of the top teams in the league, he got a lot of interest from major D1 programs and the Buckeyes won this commitment. Ohio State will graduate some major factors up front next year, namely Tanner Laczynski, Ronnie Hein, Carson Meyer and Sam McCormick — it’s hard to see Cheremeta not figuring into the top six fairly early into his three years in Columbus.
Three other commits in the Big Ten of note:
‘03 forward Nikita Tarasevich committed to Michigan State from the #7-ranked Little Caesars 16s. Like most 16-year-olds, Tarasevich is probably not going to be on campus until 2021 or later depending on his continued development in AAA and junior. The Caesars 16 team is strong and fairly deep, but Tarasevich’s playmaking ability and sense for the game stand out. Five other skaters from that team were on my uncommitted prospects watchlist — some players to watch include forwards Will Renfrew and Evan Werner, defensemen Max Smolinski and Sam Volturo.
‘01 forward Robby Newton committed to Wisconsin from a pretty good USHL-Cedar Rapids (10-6-1) team, where he has 10 points through 16 games played. He’ll likely play the same role he does for the Badgers that he does for CR after his time in junior, adding secondary scoring and a good compete level. Depending on who leaves in Madison this off-season I wouldn’t be surprised to see Newton play another year in the USHL.
‘02 Chicago Mission product Jack Horbach committed to Wisconsin. He’s bounced up and down the forward line-up on a miserable USHL-Madison team this winter, so while he has no points, I wouldn’t knock the 5’11 right shot from Naperville (IL) too hard for that. He’s likely for a few years out.
Hockey East
One of the big stories in Hockey East recruiting is senior Gunnery standout forward Alex Jefferies signing his letter of intent to play for Merrimack, despite gossip that he would be heading elsewhere in Hockey East. After posting 57 points in 31 games as a first-year prep player last winter, the 2020 NHL draft prospect garnered a lot of attention from the blue bloods of Division 1. Had Jefferies opted not to stick with his commitment to the Warriors, he would have had his pick of schools.
While many have noted that it is great for him to stick to his word and I agree to an extent, it would have been entirely his prerogative to trade up. The topic of Jefferies potentially switching commitments strikes me as especially relevant considering the new recruiting rules that were put in place last spring. I’m going to go into some more detail on how I see this commitment as well as the bigger picture in college hockey recruiting as we close the book on a decade that will go down in recruiting infamy.
First off, a few things to note when it comes to applauding Jefferies’ decision and generally, any early commitment, simply for being kept:
For every player who keeps a commitment to a school (and vice-versa) there are plenty of commitments that fall apart. There is nothing inherently wrong with that if you are even remotely familiar with the wild west recruiting landscape. Some schools have had more of an active role than others, but college hockey recruiting at large has gotten out of control with eighth graders, freshmen and sophomores making college decisions (often through third parties) that don’t actually become relevant for another three or four-plus years. No one should be implying that players ought to stick with these decisions, especially when schools walk away from under-performing recruits all the time. It is their job to stay on top of their recruiting pipeline and if walking away from recruits who are tracking in the wrong direction makes sense for them, then a top prospect walking away from an under-performing hockey program (like Merrimack) makes all the sense in the world.
In this specific case, the player in question (Alex Jefferies) is a senior in high school this season (late ‘01) who committed to Merrimack a little over two years ago. Under the new recruiting framework, this commitment couldn’t have even been made at that point in his career — and yet there are still some who would argue he should have been compelled to “stay true to his word”. Please. If that’s what he wants to do, more power to him. If not, it is entirely his prerogative.
Most relevant is the talent disparity: Jefferies, one of the top recruits in the country, was committed (and now has signed) to one of the weakest hockey programs in the country. To applaud him for keeping his commitment is fine but any applause should not be made with the implication that it would have been shameful for him or any other player in a similar situation to trade up. Not only do Merrimack have a 2-8-2 record but the coaching staff he committed to has since been fired. Even with all other factors excluded, now would have been the appropriate time to make a change.
That said, there is actually real precedent for his decision to sign. An even more highly-touted prospect in Cale Makar did the same when he opted to stick with UMass after the staff that recruited him had been fired. We all know how that played out: Makar led UMass to the NCAA final last spring and is currently on track to win the Calder as the NHL’s best rookie player. I have no doubt that Merrimack head coach Scott Borek and his staff can cultivate a similar rise to relevance for the Warriors but there still would have been nothing wrong if Jefferies had forged a different path.
The more general point I’m trying to make here is that this — the time of year when NLIs can be signed — is always a period of flux and judgements should be made carefully or not at all. There is a lot of outside noise from those desperate for attention and rarely do these outsiders have an even-handed approach in discussing these matters. More often than not many are commenting thoughtlessly and with an archaic bias that is hardly relevant today. Things will only get more chaotic with a new recruiting framework wherein all the rising juniors (late ‘03s and ‘04s for the most part) come into play simultaneously for recruiters next August. Mistakes will be made in the new system just as mistakes were made in the old one. Some mistakes likely already have been made, as most of the currently pre-eminent ‘04 prospects are already committed to schools, with a few talented ‘05 commits shoe-horned in as well just before the rules changed.
We can infer that there are some mistakes because many of the youngest recruits in recent history have come nowhere near their touted potential (a loaded word) and a significant amount have not even ended up at the schools they committed to originally. Some do. For example, BU sophomore Jake Wise, said to be a better prospect than Jack Eichel in 7th grade — a sentence that speaks for itself — has five career points as a Terrier after committing to BU at fourteen. That was before playing a single game at the Massachusetts high school level. Wise ended up going in the third round of the NHL draft, but the idea that what he committed to at fourteen is what he should have been expected to follow through on, four years later, is logically incoherent. The same applies on the coaching staff side, as BU has a different staff than the one Wise committed to initially. Case in point, things change in sports all the time. Coaches know this better than anyone as they have to continuously recruit many of the players already ‘committed’ to their programs.
There are other examples I won’t get into, including many early commits who didn’t and likely won’t get selected in the top seventy picks of the NHL draft, as Wise did. Should a staff choose to rectify one of their early recruiting ‘mistakes’ by telling a player to take more time at a lower level — rather than solidify the charade that is early recruiting — we (media, coaches, fans) should be applauding them for making the right decision. There are a number of recent recruits aged nineteen and twenty noted further below on this page who will likely have more productive NCAA careers than many of those that had committed before sophomore year. There are also obviously some who committed early that will both meet and exceed expectations. Every player and situation really is different, therefore we should encourage players to make the best decisions for themselves instead of having any expectations that they will stick to a non-binding college commitment often made before taking a practice SAT. It is the Canadian Hockey League that asks players to make binding, life-changing decisions at an early age… college hockey should not be following their lead.
And, as of late, they aren’t: the new recruiting rules are a step in the right direction, even if some eighth-grade commits slipped in just before the changes. At the end of the day these early commitments aren’t actually in the interest of most young players as they can be a recipe for complacency and entitlement whereas the schools themselves are hardly committed at all: as noted, they can and often do quietly walk away. The National Letter of Intent (NLI), the only part of the recruitment process that is actually binding, doesn’t come into play until senior year and for good reason.
This is all to say that for players and schools both, keeping your word on a verbal commitment is great but making the right decision, whatever that may be, is better, regardless of what some may think. Jefferies very well may have made the right decision for him — time will tell. I look forward to watching him help the Warriors return to winning form.
A few forwards did opt to trade up on their previous commitments. Boston College won a commitment out of former Brown recruit Nikita Nesterenko, a skilled forward who played for Lawrenceville (NJ-Prep) the last three years before heading to BCHL-Chilliwack this season. The late ‘01 had a goal-per-game last season in prep hockey which saw him get drafted by the Minnesota Wild in the 6th round this summer. Opting to decommit from Brown after a hot start this fall, Nesterenko had a lot of interest. He’s likely to be on campus in 2020.
Another forward who sought a new Division 1 home after a nice start in junior hockey was late ‘00 forward Oliver MacDonald, who has been a big part of USHL-Muskegon’s early season turn-around. The Grosse Pointe, Michigan native committed to UMass after getting a lot of interest from top programs despite a slow, 0-4 start for Muskegon which he followed up with eight goals in ten games during a 7-2-1 run. MacDonald had previously committed to Nebraska-Omaha and is now one of UMass’ top recruits. I highlighted him when I reviewed Muskegon’s game against Waterloo this month.
UMass also got a commit out of ‘00 D Aaron Bohlinger, who had a really hot start in front of countless college coaches with a great Fall Classic performance in late September. Bohlinger’s Waterloo Black Hawks are one of the top teams in the league and he has continued to display his mobility and play at a fairly high level throughout the fall. I also highlighted Bohlinger in the game mentioned above.
BU picked up a top scorer highlighted in this month’s uncommitted prospect watchlist, Gentry Galaxy 16 forward Jack Harvey. The Stacy, Minnesota native has well over a goal-per-game over the last two years in NAPHL play, a talented playmaker who will produce in college should his development continue on this track in junior — likely to arrive on campus in 2022 or 2023.
Other commits…
‘00 defenseman Uula Ruikka committed to Providence out of USHL-Chicago. The 5’10 puck-moving Finn is in his second year with the Steel and playing a big role with 17 points in 18 games.
‘99 forward Jakob Lee committed to Merrimack out of AJHL-Brooks. The 6’0 product of Owen Sound, Ontario is in his fifth year of junior hockey and captains a 26-1-1 Bandits team that are ranked 2nd nationally in Canadian Junior A hockey. He has 21 goals and 20 assists in 25 games this year.
Late ‘99 forward Donovan Houle-Villeneuve committed to Maine out of SJHL-Flin Flon, where he has 32 points in 24 games (incuding 19 goals). The Collège Notre-Dame product and Montréal native is in his third year of junior hockey in Saskatchewan with Flin Flon.
NCHC
North Dakota got a commit from ‘00 Nick Portz, who has stepped into the USHL and played a key role for Tri-City this season with 10 points in 12 games. He had 32 points in 54 games in the NAHL last winter before previously playing three seasons of high school hockey in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
Denver picked up a commit from ‘00 Connor Caponi, third leading scorer on a terrific Waterloo (11-4-1) team in the USHL. The Pioneers may have the best recruiting pipeline in college hockey right now and they add another nice piece in Caponi, who previously played at Culver Military and for the Milwaukee Jr. Admirals. I also highlighted Caponi in the game mentioned earlier in this post.
Miami secured the commitment of ‘00 Matt Barbolini, one of the top goal-scorers for USHL-Lincoln in his third year of junior hockey.
Western got a commit from ‘99 F Luke Grainger, a former Hebron Academy (prep) standout scorer who has 36 points in 23 games for CCHL-Hawkesbury in his second season of junior hockey. Grainger had a good amount of interest from mid-tier programs.
Nebraska-Omaha committed late ‘03 forward Michael Abgrall, who has stepped into the BCHL and played a key role for Powell River as a rookie coming out of Burnaby Winter Club (CSSHL). One of the youngest players in the league, Abgrall is tied for third in scoring and points-per-game among 16 year olds in the BCHL, just behind Finlay Williams (1.15 PPG, Michigan) and Peter Reynolds (.81 PPG, BC).
Chicago Steel defenseman Luke Reid, a former North Dakota commit, came onto the market. The 2020 NHL Draft prospect is likely fielding some offers from top programs already.
ECAC
The big recruiting story in the ECAC is Quinnipiac garnering the commitment of potential first-round 2020 NHL draft prospect Ty Smilanic. The U18 National Team forward is an athletic, imposing force up front with a tremendous upside that is far from being realized. For that reason, the ECAC is a match made in heaven for the former Denver commit and Colorado native. While far from the worst conference in college hockey, the ECAC is certainly not the best conference, and has just three of twelve teams currently ranked in USCHO’s top 20 (which comprises the top-third of college hockey). Many upper-echelon prospects who opt for college hockey choose Hockey East, the NCHC or the Big Ten and have some growing pains against that level of competition. I’ve long felt the ECAC’s mix of twelve teams comprising a few national forces as well as its fair share of also-rans makes for a great conference in which to develop a top prospect. In this case, Smilanic would play for a solid (currently 6-6-1) team that can put his talents to use very early. He will have every chance to develop into a well-rounded two-way threat while occasionally playing some of the top teams in the country.
There are some red flags when it comes to the Smilanic commitment. The 6’1 Colorado Thunderbirds product committed to Denver out of AAA hockey a few years ago and came back onto the market. Denver skipper David Carle and his staff are right there at the top of the recruiting game and Grand Forks Herald hockey writer Brad Schlossman noted that the decision to drop said commitment came from their side. WHL-Regina spent a third round pick on Smilanic when he was already committed to Denver in 2017, which may have played a factor in his subsequent de-commitment. It is rare for a WHL team to expend a high draft pick on an American (committed or uncommitted) without being confident that they’ll get the player at some point. Regina very well might, as whichever NHL team selects Smilanic may prefer the CHL route for him. While I think the ECAC is a great option for prospects, thirty-one NHL teams don’t necessarily all share that line of thought.
Last but not least, the choice of Quinnipiac just comes out of left field. I can’t remember a prospect this high-profile picking the Bobcats in the past. Even if they lose Smilanic over the summer, this is kind of a win-win for head coach Rand Pecknold’s program as they may well get some recruiting momentum out of this news in the short-to-medium term.
While Smilanic is a win for Quinnipiac, Harvard secured arguably an even bigger win in a player who is a near-lock to come to campus and stay a while: St. Mark’s ‘02 defenseman Ian Moore. The 6’3 right shot defender is one of the premier NHL draft prospects on defense in the US and will be a major piece for the Lions in prep hockey after scoring sixteen goals last winter. Moore flipped commitments from a Princeton team who are 0-4-2 in conference this season and will join a Crimson defense that doesn’t lack good defenders. Harvard have a stacked set of commits for the blue line including USHLers Kyle Aucoin and Christian Jimenez, who will both get some looks from the NHL this season, Eden Prairie’s Mason Langenbrunner (likely 2021) and St. Andrew’s Jack Bar, who will head to Cambridge for his draft year next fall.
2003-born forward Justin Ertel committed to Cornell in his first season with St. Andrew’s College (Ont. Prep). Ertel is fourth on the team in scoring with 15 points (5 goals) through 15 games. A third-round 2019 OHL draft pick, Ertel was one of the players SAC coach David Manning highlighted during my interview with him: “Justin Ertel is one that is really exciting. Drafted by OHL-North Bay in the 3rd round… big body, really physical, he’s just got the nose for how to play the game. He’s got a great stick. One of the top lacrosse players in Canada for his age. Great stick, good skill, bit of an all-around type of player, so really excited about him for sure.”
Ertel’s commitment continues a pipeline of talent between St. Andrew’s and Cornell including Morgan Barron, Matt Galajda and Matt Stienburg, all of whom play for the #2-ranked Big Red this winter.
2001-born defenseman Jordan Power committed to Clarkson out of USHL-Lincoln. The Ottawa product has been very solid this season and is the Stars captain — this is his second go-around in the USHL. Last year he had 18 points (coming out of CCHL-Rockland), this season he already has 13 assists through 17 games for a pretty good team.
Brown picked up two commits off of the #3-ranked North Jersey Avalanche U16 program. Coach Vinny Smith’s ‘Avs’ are the first team I highlighted this season and eight on that 16 roster were named to my 2003 uncommitted prospect watchlist, including the two Brown picked up: defenseman Harry Meirowitz and forward Tyler Kopff. Both Meirowitz (a Long Island native) and Kopff (NJ native who played for Mid-Fairfield when he was younger) are responsible, very projectable pieces who should help the Bears sooner rather than later. Some other players to keep an eye out for include Paul Minnehan, Jack Musa, Cam Bergeman up front, Nicky Wallace on defense and goaltender Anton Castro.
Smith on Meirowitz back when I interviewed him in September: “Harry Meirowitz has had an unbelievable start to the season. He’s a smart kid from Long Island. The way we play matches his game, he loves to skate, he’s got a lot of ability getting up the sheet and involved in the offense. That’s been a great match and he’s been really good early.”
Smith on Kopff when I asked him about the commitment this weekend: “Tyler is the kid who just puts his head down and works everyday. Tremendous kid who comes from a great family. Does all the little things right consistently. Passionate about his craft and working on his deficiencies. He just gets better and better everyday. Brown got a special young man and we couldn’t be happier for him.”
The Bears staff got another nice forward prospect out of U16 hockey in Matt Brille from the NJ Rockets earlier this month — a team that was already mentioned earlier with the commitment of top prospect Gleb Veremyev. I thought Brille showed some flashes offensively with a great compete level at the U16 Avalanche showcase.
Other news…
‘02 F James Doyle committed to St. Lawrence out of NAHL-Minnesota M. The 6’2 Chicago Mission product has 5 goals and 6 assists for 11 points coming out of minor midgets.
‘00 D Jackson Munro, a 5’10 native of Vancouver (and the Burnaby Winter Club) committed to Brown. This is Munro’s fourth year of junior hockey, third in the BCHL — he has 13 points in 22 games.
‘00 D Nathan Kelly, 5’11 native of South Delta, BC, committed to Union. He’s in his third year of junior in the BCHL with Chilliwack, where he has 5 points in 24 games.
Union is reportedly losing sophomores Lucas Breault and Sam Morton to junior hockey, both ‘99s — they have a combined 5 points in 12-13 games and a collective -14.
Cornell got two more commits with ties to Canadian prep schools. ‘01 goaltender Joe Howe (6’2) is a starter for BCHL-Victoria this season as a rookie coming out of Upper Canada College while ‘02 forward Shaun Mahoney is new to Stanstead College after scoring 50 points for Séminaire St-François last winter in Quebec Midget AAA.
WCHA
Ferris State adds:
‘00 F Antonio Venuto, who has 7 points in 15 games for a 12-2-1 Dubuque team. Venuto is a nice pick-up, a 6’2 winger who should be a really good depth player for the Bulldogs.
Lake State adds:
‘99 D Jacob Bengtsson, who has 1 point in 17 games for USHL-Waterloo. Massive defenseman from Sweden.
Mankato adds:
‘00 D Steven Bellini, who has 23 points in 29 games for BCHL-Coquitlam.
Northern adds:
‘99 F Mack Byers, who has 5 points in 5 games for NAHL-Aberdeen after starting the season with USHL-Cedar Rapids.
Fairbanks adds:
‘99 F Anton Rubtsov, who has 3 points in 6 games for NAHL-Shreveport.
‘99 D Trenton Woods, a Fairbanks native who has 3 points in 23 games for NAHL-Fairbanks.
Anchorage adds:
‘99 D Tyrell Boucher who has 22 points in 30 games for BCHL-Cowichan.
‘99 F Olivier Gauthier, who has 24 points in 30 games for BCHL-Cowichan.
‘99 D Devon Mussio, who has 17 points in 28 games for BCHL-Nanaimo.
‘99 F Chong Min Lee, who has 24 points in 23 games for BCHL-Prince George.
Atlantic
Sacred Heart adds
‘99 F Carson Gallagher, who has 23 points in 26 games for NAHL-Johnstown.
Robert Morris adds:
‘99 F Randy Hernandez, who has 44 points in 28 games for AJHL-Brooks.
‘99 F Kyler Head, who has 23 points in 21 games in his fourth season with NAHL-New Jersey.
‘99 F Gavin Gulash, a long-time New Jersey Jr. Titan who has 9 points in 11 games for their NAHL team in his third season of junior with the Titans.
Army adds:
‘00 G Ryan Wilson, who has an .895 and 3.13 GAA through 16 games for NAHL-Springfield.
‘00 F Jacob Felker, who has 3 points in 18 games for USHL-Youngstown.
Holy Cross adds
‘01 D Ryan Pineault, a solid, mobile puck-mover who plays for Prep-Westminster.
Air Force adds:
‘99 F Brian Adams, who has 22 points in 27 games for BCHL-Wenatchee.
‘00 F Cole Hanson, who has 8 points in 15 games for NAHL-Minot as a rookie.
‘99 F Tom Daskas, who has 23 points in 25 games for NAHL-Lone Star.
‘00 D Fred Paine, who has no points in 12 games for USHL-Dubuque and scored 20 points in 21 last year captaining MNHS-Duluth East.