Minnesota Duluth men’s and women’s hockey programs gave us a sneak peak this week of who they will be bringing in as freshmen for the 2016-17 season, revealing the first part of their recruiting classes during the National Letter of Intent early signing period.
UMD officially announced the first members of the women’s class Thursday. Goaltender Catherine Johnson of St. Paul Academy, Jayln Elmes of Brandon, Manitoba, Brooklyn Schugel of New Ulm and Sydney Brodt of Moundsview High School have all signed National Letters of Intent to become Bulldogs next fall.
Brodt for the United States and Elmes for Canada both participated this year in a three-game-series between the American and Canadian U18 teams. Johnson and Schugel have also participated in USA Hockey national team development camps.
UMD hasn’t officially announced its men’s fall signees yet, but coach Scott Sandelin said Wednesday he expected four to sign NLIs and four of UMD’s verbal commitments have already tweeted out photos of themselves signing on the dotted line to become Bulldogs next fall.
Signing NLIs this week were Hunter Miska, a 20-year-old goalie for the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints (formerly of the BCHL’s Penticton Vees); Joey Anderson, a 17-year-old forward of the U.S. National Team Development Program U18 squad; Jarod Hilderman, an 18-year-old defenseman with the Fargo Force (but former teammate of Miska’s in Penticton); and Riley Tufte, a 17-year-old forward who is back at Blaine High School after starting the season with Fargo in the USHL.
With eight seniors graduating at the end of this season, and the strong possibility of early departures from the junior class, the men’s recruiting class will only grow. I’d project defenseman Nick Wolff (7/21/96) of the USHL’s Des Moines Buccaneers, forward Josh Laframboise (8/30/96) of the BCHL’s Salmon Arm Silverbacks and forward Nick Swaney (9/9/97) of the USHL’s Waterloo Blackhawks to be next in line to make the jump to the college ranks. Forward Luke Simpson will also be eligible next season after sitting out this year after transferring to UMD from St. Scholastica.
The fall early NLI signing period runs through Nov. 18. After that, players must wait until April 13 to sign an NLI.