The U of M released the names of six new recruits who signed letters of intent last week. Five are from Minnesota, one from Wisconsin. Four play in the USHL.

 The signees were the six players who were expected to sign. All of them were written about last week in the daily newspaper on Wednesday when the signing period began.

“We have six new guys,” Gophers coach Don Lucia said. “I think we have a good blend of size, speed. They bring a little different element, all of them. How that ends up playing out next fall, who is here and who is not, we are not real sure yet.

“We are waiting to see how their years go in junior hockey. And we will wait to see what happens with our roster.

“We have to make sure we protect our program and the kids understand that. They are better off playing in the USHL than being in and out of the lineup here.”

Best guess is that four or five of these players will be Gophers next season. The U has two seniors, Justin Bostrom and R.J. Anderson. And a couple other players may leave early, including  junior Ryan Stoa. In a weird way, the better Stoa plays, the more likely it is Colorado may want to sign him.

He was a second round draft pick of the Avalanche in 2005. 

Without further adieu, the signees are:

* Josh Birkholz. He is a 6-1, 185-pound forward for the expansion Fargo Force in the USHL. He is from Maple Grove and last season was a junior at Blake. He had 34 goals and 25 assists for 59 points last season in helping the Bears reach the Class 1A state tournament.

* Zach Budish. He is a 6-2, 210-pound forward who will miss most if not all his senior season at Edina H.S. He had ACL knee surgery last week; it was an injury suffered in football. He was a standout linebacker for the Hornets. He had 26 goals and 37 assists for 63 points last season in hockey. That 2007-08 Edina team went 26-2 and was the Class 2A state runner-up losing to Hill-Murray 3-0.

Lucia said there is no health issue with Budish. “Obviously, Ryan Stoa came back from that injury, Mike Hoeffel has come back from that injury,” Lucia said. “We are not worried at all that he is going to be able to come back from that injury.

“It is obviously disappointing for him because he is a great kid and a great leader. It’s a big loss for Edina and their high school hockey program this winter.”  

* Nate Condon. He is a 6-0, 185-pound forward who played for Wausau West, a Wisconsin high school, until joining Fargo of the USHL this seaosn. he has five goals and two assists for seven points in 12 games. Last season he hasd 33 goals and 26 assists for 59 points for Wausau West.

* Seth Helgeson. He is a 6-3, 220-pound defenseman from Faribault H.S. This is his second season with Sioux City of the USHL. He has two goals and three assists in 11 games. Last season he had three goals and eight assists in 58 games for the Musketeers.

* Nick Leddy. He is a 5-11, 180-pound defenseman for Eden Prairie H.S. He had five goals and 22 assists for the Eagles last season.

* Jake Youso. He is a 6-0, 185-pund forward from International Falls. He had 33 goals and 36 assists for the Broncos last season. He is playing for Des Moines of the USHL now and has one assist through 13 games.

LUCIA SUPPORTS BSU

The WCHA, at a January meeting in Washington, D.C., will vote on whether to lift the ban on conference expansion. Six votes are needed; there are 10 schools.

Gophers coach Don Lucia is one of the four members of the WCHA’s executive committee. On Tuesday, it unanimously approved adding that action item to the January agenda.

A day later, Lucia talked about the issue which centers around the plight of Bemidji State University.

“I personally am in favor of Bemidji coming into the WCHA,” Lucia said. “They have a rich tradition in their program. They have been very successful for 50 years. They are a building a new facility what we have here in the WCHA. It’s more opportunities for kids to play college hockey, especially Minnesota kids and its coaches.

“I don’t think we want to be in a position to lose hockey programs. And the reality is, it would be pretty hard for Bemidji to continue to exist without a conference. But I’m speaking for me, not for anybody else.”

BSU is in College Hockey America, a conference which has shrunk to four teams this season; it’s future is in doubt.

“The discusson [on Bemidji State] is coming more to a forefront now because of the demise of the CHA,” Lucia said. “One of the things our commissioner did a terrific job over the years, Bruce McLeod, was helping foster in the CHA a place for emerging programs to go and have a home. And the automatic [NCAA] bid was good for their league. But once Air Force left to go to the Atlantic League and Wayne State [which folded] couldn’t get into the CCHA, they really didn’t have that commitment.

“That’s one of the things that is different. Bemidji has a commitment to its program. They are certainly in a location, right in the middle of Minnesota, geographically for our league. One of  the things that is unique about our sport, is that we are a sport where Divisison II and III institutions, if they have the commitment, which they do, can compete with Division I institutions in the sport of hockey. And maybe that couldn’t be done in other sports. But in our sport, it can be. That is one of the great things that is unique about men’s ice hockey.”

If the ban on expansion is lifted in January, it still might be a tough sell to add Bemidji State. Eight votes is needed to add a team.

The trouble is, there are 10 teams in the conference already and teams play only 28 conference games. So every season, a team like Minnesota for example, plays five teams home and away, and four teams in only one series.

This season, for example, the Gophers play at Denver this weekend but the Pioneers don’t come to Mariucci. Minnesota also has only one series with North Dakota, at Grand Forks. No Fighting Sioux in Minneapolis. Boo. That was a great series last season. OT, the finger from Hakstol, fights, a highlight reel goal.

Two other teams the Gophers only play at home are Alaska Anchorage and UMD.

See where I am headed with this. Adding an 11th team would make an even more unbalanced schedule. Schools and teams won’t like losing series with their archrivals because they have to play Bemidji State at least one series each year. 

So getting eight votes to add BSU could be tough.

It would make it easier if a team dropped out. My candidates are Michigan Tech and Alaska Anchorage. But the question is, where would they go?

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