Recruits 2023 and beyond

[ursusminor]

Chris Heisenberg recently added Giovanni (Gio) DiGiulian of the Kent School and the Yale Jr. Bulldogs 18U AAA team for 2024 or 2025. He's from Vermont, not Italy.

https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/884325/giovanni-digiulian

[Trotsky]

The hell are the Yale Jr. Bulldogs 18U AAA and how do we get one of those?

[ursusminor]

The hell are the Yale Jr. Bulldogs 18U AAA and how do we get one of those?

I assume that DiGiulian played for them before the Prep School season began. Here is their tweet about DiGiulian:

https://twitter.com/JrBulldogHockey/status/1617920507076304901

[Trotsky]

Wow, they have an entire system.  That's better than CM --> BC.

"Yale Youth Hockey Association, Inc. is neither sponsored nor affiliated with Yale University. "Yale" is a registered trademark and used with the permission of the University."

That's OK, Yale really hasn't been "Yale" since the 1930s anyway.

[scoop85]

Chris Heisenberg recently added Giovanni (Gio) DiGiulian of the Kent School and the Yale Jr. Bulldogs 18U AAA team for 2024 or 2025. He's from Vermont, not Italy.

https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/884325/giovanni-digiulian

His father, who played at Hamilton, is the coach at St. Michael's college, a D3 school in Vermont.

[abmarks]

Chris Heisenberg recently added Giovanni (Gio) DiGiulian of the Kent School and the Yale Jr. Bulldogs 18U AAA team for 2024 or 2025. He's from Vermont, not Italy.

https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/884325/giovanni-digiulian

His father, who played at Hamilton, is the coach at St. Michael's college, a D3 school in Vermont.

That's a tough get.  The kid grew up in south Burlington, with means he lived within a 15 minute drive, at most, of UVM/gutterson.  I don't have the actual stats, but Burlington area kids who are good enough to play D1 have quite often stayed in town to play for UVM.  (See Leclair, John)

[adamw]

His father, Damian, also was an assistant coach at Vermont, back in the day. Had him on our podcast a couple years ago.

[Trotsky]

Chris Heisenberg recently added Giovanni (Gio) DiGiulian of the Kent School and the Yale Jr. Bulldogs 18U AAA team for 2024 or 2025. He's from Vermont, not Italy.

https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/884325/giovanni-digiulian

His father, who played at Hamilton, is the coach at St. Michael's college, a D3 school in Vermont.

That's a tough get.  The kid grew up in south Burlington, with means he lived within a 15 minute drive, at most, of UVM/gutterson.  I don't have the actual stats, but Burlington area kids who are good enough to play D1 have quite often stayed in town to play for UVM.  (See Leclair, John)

LeClair and Ducolon are the only Vermont-born players I can think of.  Both from St. Albans, both went to UVM.

Geoff Raynak is the only Vermont-born Cornellian.  Franklin, which is nearly closer to Montreal than Burlington.

[abmarks]

Chris Heisenberg recently added Giovanni (Gio) DiGiulian of the Kent School and the Yale Jr. Bulldogs 18U AAA team for 2024 or 2025. He's from Vermont, not Italy.

https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/884325/giovanni-digiulian

His father, who played at Hamilton, is the coach at St. Michael's college, a D3 school in Vermont.

That's a tough get.  The kid grew up in south Burlington, with means he lived within a 15 minute drive, at most, of UVM/gutterson.  I don't have the actual stats, but Burlington area kids who are good enough to play D1 have quite often stayed in town to play for UVM.  (See Leclair, John)

LeClair and Ducolon are the only Vermont-born players I can think of.  Both from St. Albans, both went to UVM.

Geoff Raynak is the only Vermont-born Cornellian.  Franklin, which is nearly closer to Montreal than Burlington.

You weren't paying attention Trotsky.  Let the Vermonter fill in the blanks for you...

Vermonters who played at UVM from 2000 to present. The first column is the last season they were on the roster, the third column their class that year.

16 17   Tom Forgione   SR    F   South Burlington, Vermont / Sioux Falls (USHL)
13 14   Pete Massar   SR    F   Williston, Vermont / Green Mountain (EJHL)   Previous College: Clarkson (2010-11)
12 13   Ben Albertson   SR    F   Williston, Vermont / Indiana (USHL
11 12   Brett Leonard   SR    F   South Burlington, Vermont / Green Mountain (EJHL)
08 09   Peter Lenes   SR    F   Shelburne, Vermont / Sioux City (USHL)
07 08   Reese Wisnowski   JR    F   East Middlebury, Vermont / New Hampshire Junior Monarchs
06 07   Andy Corran   SR    F   Burlington, Vermont / Wisconsin-Stevens Point
05 06   Brady Leisenring   SR    F   Stowe, Vermont / US National Team
05 06   Travis Russell   SR    G   Essex Junction, Vermont / Taft School
05 06   Ben Driver   SR    F   Georgia, Vermont / Taft School
04 05   Tim Plant   SR    F   Barre, Vermont / Taft School
03 04   Spencer Morton   SO    F   Stowe, Vermont / Green Mountain Glades
03 04   Thomas Child   SR    F   Shelburne, Vermont / Babson College
02 03   Baron Becker   FR    F   Waterford, Michigan / Cleveland Barons
01 02   Tim Peters   SR    G   Saxtons River, Vermont / Dubuque 
00 01   Graham Mink   JR    F   Stowe, Vermont / Northfield Mount Hermon 

[Trotsky]

Like I said, the only Vermont-born players I can think of are LeClair and Ducolon.

[abmarks]

Like I said, the only Vermont-born players I can think of are LeClair and Ducolon.

Point taking. Those are the better ones. My point was just that kids tend to stay home at UVM

[abmarks]

Like I said, the only Vermont-born players I can think of are LeClair and Ducolon.

Point taking. Those are the better ones. My point was just that kids tend to stay home at UVM

Trotsky, since you're as old as Methuselah, you don't recall Randy Koch. UVM '78?   162pts in 128 games over four years. And 2 goals, 2 assists in 7-2 win over Cornell in 1975 ecac consolation game.

https://www.tbrw.info/seasons/1975/box19750308.pdf

[Trotsky]

Like I said, the only Vermont-born players I can think of are LeClair and Ducolon.

Point taking. Those are the better ones. My point was just that kids tend to stay home at UVM

Trotsky, since you're as old as Methuselah, you don't recall Randy Koch. UVM '78?   162pts in 128 games over four years. And 2 goals, 2 assists in 7-2 win over Cornell in 1975 ecac consolation game.

https://www.tbrw.info/seasons/1975/box19750308.pdf

Wow, I do not.  That is impressive!

[BearLover]

With Big Red Puckhead defunct and having a bit of time to kill I thought I'd provide an statistical update on our recruits. The number in parentheses is the age they will be at the close of 2023:

• Jacob Kraft, C, Cedar Rapids, USHL (20) — 26 GP, 11 G, 8 A
• Connor Arsenault, C, St. Andrews, CA Prep (17) — 23 GP, 9 G, 2 A
• Nick Wolfenberg, D, Okotoks, AJHL (19) — 36 GP, 6 G, 18 A
• Hoyt Stanley, D, Victoria, BCHL (18) — 32 GP, 1 G, 22 A
• Michael Sandruck, F, Bishop Kearney, US Prep (17) — 43 GP, 21 G, 18 A
• Hudson Gorski, D, Salisbury Prep, US Prep (18) — Unknown
• Donovan Hamilton, D, Nichols Prep, US Prep & Lincoln Stars, USHL (18) — Nichols: 21 GP, 3 G, 5 A; Lincoln: 10 GP, 0 G, 0 A
• Ryan Walsh, F, Cedar Rapids, USHL (20) — 31 GP, 11 G, 26 A
• Justin Katz, G, West Kelowna, BCHL (19) — 20 GP, 12 W, 5 L, .892 save pct., 3.44 GAA
• Jonathan Costagna, C, St. Andrews Prep, CA Prep (18) — 23 GP, 13 G, 19 A
• Chase Pirtle, F, Mt. St. Charles, US Prep (18) — 19 GP, 8 G, 9 A
• Charlie Major, F, Chicago, USHL (19) — 25 GP, 5 G, 5 A
• Marian Mosko, D, Lincoln, USHL (19) — 22 GP, 1 G, 2 A
• George Fegaras, Muskegon, USHL (19) — 33 GP, 1 G, 17 A
• Tyler Catalano, C, Youngstown, USHL (19) — 31 GP, 5 G, 3 A
• Liam Steel, D, Chilliwack/Silver Arm, BCHL (19)— 24 GP, 2 G, 7 A
• Ben Roberton, D, Waterloo, USHL (19) — 33 GP, 1 G, 23 A
• Ty Wishart, F, Nanaimo, BCHL (19) — 32 GP, 3 G, 9 A
• Luke Devlin, C, West Kelowna, BCHL (19) — 31 GP, 7 G, 17 A

Kraft and Walsh, as 20-year-olds, will surely be coming in the fall. I believe Katz will be coming the fall of 2024; I believe the other 19-year olds are slated to come next fall, but often we have a deferral or two each year depending upon how the rest of the roster shakes out. While there appears to be talent at all positions, the defensemen look particularly strong.

The recruiting pipeline continues to look strong on paper. A few highlights:
—Fegaras and Devlin have already been drafted. Wolfenberg, Stanley, Castagna, and Pirtle were all ranked on the NHL Central Scouting Midterm Rankings as potential draft picks this year.
—Walsh is second overall in the USHL in points per game.
—Robertson is 11th among defensemen in the USHL in points per game.
—Fegaras is 22nd among defensemen in the USHL in points per game.
—Kraft is 43rd overall in the USHL in points per game despite recovering from mono earlier this season.
—Stanley is 14th in the BCHL among defensemen in points per game.
—Wolfenberg is 16th in the AJHL among defensemen in points per game.
—Most of the above players are still 18; Walsh and Kraft are 19. To find success in junior hockey at 18 is impressive. This year's freshman class saw junior hockey success, but generally at age 19 and/or 20.
— Marian Mosko and Liam Steele were rated by NHL Central Scouting in last year's Final Rankings, but went undrafted.
—Major and Catalano are putting up okay numbers in the USHL (the top junior league). They are both 18, and if Major stays in juniors another year we could see his numbers balloon next season.
—Katz had strong numbers in the BCHL last season as a 17-year-old but has struggled a bit this season. He should have another year of juniors ahead of him with three goalies already slated to be on the roster for next season.
—I would expect a second year of junior hockey for Tyler Wishart to develop more.
—The other players are too young to have much data on.

For forwards, we should see Kraft, Walsh, Devlin, and Catalano next year. We are losing a ton of strong players at forward (Andreev, Stienburg, Berard, Malone, Tupker). I think we may end up short a player or two; I wonder if the coaches will look to the transfer portal or elevate one of the other recruits early.

As previously discussed, it looks like there could be a logjam at defense. Wolfenberg, Fegaras, Robertson, Steele, Mosko, and Stanley could all reasonably matriculate next fall. Stanley, as the youngest, may get held back even if he gets taken in the draft, but even then we would still have five incoming defensemen with only Mitchell, Malinski, and Dirven slated to graduate.

[Trotsky]

As previously discussed, it looks like there could be a logjam at defense. Wolfenberg, Fegaras, Robertson, Steele, Mosko, and Stanley could all reasonably matriculate next fall. Stanley, as the youngest, may get held back even if he gets taken in the draft, but even then we would still have five incoming defensemen with only Mitchell, Malinski, and Dirven slated to graduate.

We also have 2 current Dmen (Rayhill and O'Brien) who IINM have never played.  So we will return Kempf, Suda, and Rego as regular D men and Lagerstrom who is an injury backup.  So pulling in 4 or 5 guys may not be the worst thing.