U hockey: Denver takes opposite recruiting approach
Posted on April 23rd, 2008 – 8:28 AMBy Roman Augustoviz
A few grumpy Gopher fans have recently written me e-mails complaining about the U’s approach to recruiting: All the recruits are from Minnesota. The Gophers need to recruit the best players, wherever they are, to win national titles, they say, like other teams do.
A prime example of that other approach has to be Denver, the Final Five champion this past season.
DU signed four players from widely scattered parts of the continent and world in one case, the school announced Monday. They are:
* David Carle from Anchorage, Alaska: He was a 6-1, 185-pound defenseman for Shattuck-St. Mary’s this past season. He had 10 goals and 35 assists for 45 points in 55 games for the Sabres. SSM was 42-11-3 and won the USA Hockey Tier I under-18 championship. He is the brother of San Jose Sharks defenseman Matt Carle.
* Joe Colborne from Calgary, Alberta: He led the Camrose Kodiaks to thier second consecutive Alberta Junior Hockey League title this season and was the AJHL playoffs MVP. The 6-5, 195-pound Colborne had 33 goals and 47 assists in 55 games. He had eight of those goals and eight assists in the AJHL playoffs.
* Nate Dewhurst from Johnston, Iowa: The 5-9, 170-pound forward played for the Des Moines Buccaneers of the USHL. He had nine goals and five assists.
* Stepan Novotny from Prague, Czech Republic: He had four goals and 11 assists for the Indiana Ice of the USHL. He is a 6-1, 190 forward. He helped the Ice win the East Division regular-season title.
There is also a fifth incoming recruit for next season, who signed in the fall. He’s a Minnesota kid, defenseman John Lee of Moorhead. Lee was a finalist for Mr. Hockey in 2007.
He is 6-2, 185 and had one goal and 11 assists in 59 games for Waterloo of the USHL this past season. Lee also led the Black Hawks with 106 penalty minutes. His brother, Brian, played for North Dakota from 2005-07.
Obviously, the Pioneers are not going to find all their players in Colorado. [Seven of 27 players on the 2007-08 roster were from Colorado.] DU has to look in a lot places.
“These four young men are talented hockey players and quality students,” Denver coach George Gwozdecky said in a DU news release, “who will represent the University of Denver in a first-class manner.”
I’m sure GG would say the same about Lee, too, but he was talking just about the recent signings.
The Gophers incoming class is up to 10 players, one from Pennsylvania, the rest from Minnesota, and coach Don Lucia will start interviewing goalies when he returns from Florida next week. He wants to add two, one to back up Alex Kangas, another to be a practice goalie.
16 Responses to "U hockey: Denver takes opposite recruiting approach"
I’m one of those grumpy Gopher fans that thinks we need to recruit the best players, no matter where their from.
Funny, that since we’ve returned to the all-Minnesota lineup, the program has taken a downturn.
Where are the Grant and Ryan Potultny’s, the Thomas Vaneks, the Danny Imrmans, the Chris Chuckos, the Phil Kessels? All of those players were respected leaders, and guess what?…they weren’t from Minnesota.
End the elitist Minnesota-only policy and get back to winning NCAA titles.
Lucia doesn’t away from non-MN players as he himself recruited some non-MN players. If he believes he’s getting the best players available then it’s merely a coincidence that they are nearly all in-state recruits.
Mark S. I agree 100% we need some diversity back with the program. All kids from one state can lead to a rutt for the program.
This year GScott from Pennsylvania is coming in and in 2009 Condon from Wisconsin.
They are recruiting Jacob Fallon from Texas for beyond 2009. Also Adam Murray, a goalie from Alaska, was recruited but chose Denver.
Lucia goes after guys he thinks will help his program. It just happens that most come from Minnesota because that is what the coaching staff scouts the most. When there is a can’t miss kid like a Kessel, MN goes after him.
With UND getting improving so much the past 10 years, its hard to sway a Potulny type away from No Dak. So, why waste the energy?
I am surprised that we don’t look to the north or to Austria, etc. Look at the success that other WCHA schools have had with foreign kids (Nodl, Lamoreux to name a few)
Minnesota is bringing in a few kids from the East in the future.
If Colorado had the high school talent Minnesota had, how many home state kids would be on their team? Roman, I enjoy reading your articles, but this one is offbase and is comparing apples to oranges.
To Mark S.:
Danny Irmann left early
Chris CHucko left early
Phil Kessel left early
Thomas Vanek left early
Ryan Potulny left early
Please explain how Chucko, R. Potulny & Kessel were leaders? Really, his play did not show that. Here are some other “leaders” from gopher past:
Jordan Leopold-Golden Valley, MN
Johnny Pohl-Red Wing, MN
Travis Weber-Greenway, MN
Paul Martin-Elk River, MN
Look how many MN kids are on other college teams. The fact is that this state produces the best talent in the country. So yes, the in state school is going to get a majority of kids from right here. Should Lucia go after kids from other states when necessary? Absolutely. Should he go after kids from other states to appease the dillusional gopher fans that make Kentucky basketball fans look tame? No!
The players Lucia gets from Minnesota are all recruited by other teams, Lucia isn’t taking them just because they are from Minnesota, he goes after the best players. The fact most of them are from Minnesota is a bonus.
The majority of you guys are fair weather fans that probably complain that too many in-state recruits in football go play for other states. You should be proud that Minnesota can recruit and win national titles with homegrown players. You note that this is a downturn year, while the gophers made the national tournament and lost to the eventual champions. How do you think that we would have fared with last year’s best player All-American Alex Goligoski who would have been the best defensemen in the country unless Eric Johnson, who was the first pick in the NHL draft, wouldn’t also have left early. Did you notice that Jim O’Brien, also from Minnesota and also first-round draft pick left after his freshman year, was player of the week in his conference two consecutive weeks and Kyle Okposo was the number one star for the Islanders in his second game. I’m surprised that some of you guys are crying about the fact that there were 4 Minnesotans that made all-WCHA first team (Hillen, Rau, Chorney, Oshie), none of whom played for the gophers–but what if we had those Minnesotans on the team? Or, that of the four kids from Minnesota that were in the NHL leaders for rookies in scoring, only Eric Johnson (tied for 10th overall; 2nd for defensemen) went to the University and for only one year, whereas Mueller (3rd), Gilbert (also 10th overall; 2nd for defensemen), and Niskanen (17th overall; f#4 for defenseman; number one in P/M) all went elsewhere. If you want to criticize Lucia’s recruiting, criticize them for the Minnesotans got away. By the way, of the five out-of-state guys you mentioned, only Vanek has had any notoriety in the NHL.
Jim,
Well said, people demand the best, but only look at the surface of things. The best players in the country typically come from MN, so why not keep getting them on the Gophers. The Gophers had a down season because of other factors, not the recruiting style and philosphy!
Minnesota has some great hockey players, unfortunately they end up playing at some other university. I beleive Boston College has two from Minnesota, several from Canada and
many other players, from places all over the United States.
I would suggest giving Lucia a Road map that shows him the way to Thunder Bay, Ontario. Last time I checked, that community had more players in the NHL and its minor league programs, than any single city in North America.
If he goes this route it probably won’t leave room for his son and friends of the family on the team. Maybe the wrong coach left the Minnesota program?
Hey brew, first i do not know where greenway, mn is and travis weber is from hibbing, mn. I do not believe you will find too many better prospects than from MN i will agree. Remember, guys from out of this country go to play hockey in MN not to win a national title, but to open door for the NHL. The guys that want to win the national championship are the same rink rats that want to win the MN state title. Ask the WI, MA, ND and Co etc.. hockey players how their state titles match up with MN’s
WEBER IS FROM HIBBING
JIM hit it on the head about this past season…
How many other programs could take the hit that the gophers did this past season and still finish the way they did?
Look at what we had on our defense this past season. How many true freshman were playing? True freshman goalie on top of that.
I give this team AND Lucia a ton of credit. How on Earth can you put a plan in place to replace guys that leave after their freshman year? On top of that how do you put a plan in place when your players leave in the middle of the season? On top of that how do you replace all of the previously mentioned players and then deal with injuries?
2002 National Championship team was entirely Minnesota boys, with the exception of Potulny. The 2003 National Championship team won it with a young stud from Austria. I think that alone shows we’ve done well recruiting here at home and out of state. And since then, we continue to keep a majority of the best instate talent and we’ve also had a goaltender from CO, another potulny from ND, WI’s favorite son Kessel, etc… I think the Gophers recruiting seems fine to me.
James, right on the money.
Mitch, go cheer for St.Cloud and stay away from this blog.
