The spring signing period for men’s hockey starts on Wednesday, April 9. Expect Roseau defenseman Aaron Ness to sign with the Gophers that day or shorly thereafter.

He will be in Russia by then with the U.S. team preparing to play in the under-18 World Championships, but the University of Minnesota is going to fax him the proper paperwork.

Ness is on pace to graduate at the end of May, no small task for him since he is taking junior and senior classes at the same time to graduate from high school in three years.

“He’s very excited,” said Jay Ness, Aaron’s father, when asked about playing in Europe. “He was in Slovakia last summer but this is bigger. This is the World Championships for 18 and under players.”

Last summer the Gophers hockey players all took summer classes. But Jay Ness said he is unsure if Aaron will do that. He might be one young man who needs a break from the books.

The U.S. team plays an exhibition game against Denmark on Thursday.  

LOCAL TIES TO FROZEN FOUR

The Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association just sent me an e-mail, pointing out how many former high school players in the state are in the Frozen Four. Here is the list:

North Dakota: T.J. Oshie, Warroad; Chris VandeVelde, Moorhead; Michael Forney, Thief River Falls, Landon Snider, Brainerd.

Boston College: Carl Sneep, Brainerd; Joe Adams, Breck.

Notre Dame: Ryan Guentzel, Hill-Murray; Garrett Regan, Hill-Murray; Mark Van Gilder, Roseville.

One liners 

One of the most often heard quote during the 2007-08 season: 

Coach Don Lucia: “We have a small margin for error every night we play.”

This entry was posted on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 8:24 pm and is filed under Gophers men's hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.