Recruits 2023 and beyond

[Trotsky]

I like Ithaca.

If I grew up in Ithaca, Ithaca would be the last place I'd go to college.

I grew up in Ithaca.  I like Ithaca.  I attended Cornell for 10 years (12 if you count nursery school).

it's less about the town than the fact that many 18 year olds want to move away from wherever they are from

Exactly.

You could not have offered me anything to stay in my hometown.  Even 5 hours away was really pushing it as too close.

[Chris H82]

Yup. For me, it was "get me to the other side of the country."

[scoop85]

New goalie recruit, Erick Roest from the AJHL. Given that he's 19 he would seemingly be coming next fall; wonder if this means Justin Katz is no longer Ithaca bound

[ugarte]

New goalie recruit, Erick Roest from the AJHL. Given that he's 19 he would seemingly be coming next fall; wonder if this means Justin Katz is no longer Ithaca bound

sounds like erick roest is the one who we got justin katz

[Trotsky]

Tough room.

Dry den.

[Pghas]

update on Tyler Wishart - back from injury and seems to be hitting his stride - 4 points in 2 games over the weekend, primary helper on OT winner, player of the game, and now 7 pts in 8 games.  Charlie Major (from Skaneatlas aka Skinny atlas) also having a solid year for the Chicago Steel w 13 points in 18 games.

[scoop85]

Charlie Major, a 17-year-old forward from up the road in Skaneateles, committed to the Big Red today. He's currently playing in the U-18 circuit, and has been drafted by the Chicago Steel of the USHL.

Katz still listed as a Cornell commit, so perhaps we're bringing in 2 goalies next year.

[scoop85]

update on Tyler Wishart - back from injury and seems to be hitting his stride - 4 points in 2 games over the weekend, primary helper on OT winner, player of the game, and now 7 pts in 8 games.  Charlie Major (from Skaneatlas aka Skinny atlas) also having a solid year for the Chicago Steel w 13 points in 18 games.

Also worth commenting that Chase Pirtle, with 23 points in 22 games for Nanaimo, is the top scoring 2005 birth year player in the BCHL.

[BearLover]

You beat me to it Bear!
Bill Howard - you are a very wise man and 100% correct with the comment "followed by soul-crushing setbacks."  Yesterday may not have been soul-crushing but it was not good on the recruiting front.  As Bear mentioned one of the guys, Aiden Lane, that I was hoping would commit to Cornell, has instead chosen Harvard. Oh well, his loss and poor choice, not Cornell's concern. Harvard really did well yesterday though as they cleaned up on day 1.  Clarkson got a highly regarded prospect and Yale came away with two guys but I'm not sure of their potential.  SLU and Dartmouth also picked up a player each as did a bunch of out of conference schools. (This is all through Chris Heisenberg's recruiting website). Not a big issue; Cornell often times isn't in on the first day kids and their are a huge number of exceptional players remaining.  Still holding out hope for Cooper Dennis and William Moore!

With Lane committing to Harvard and Dennis to Michigan, that leaves Moore, who still isn't committed anywhere. Which is interesting, because NeutralZone.com ranks him as the #1 prospect among all North American 2007-born players. I'll go out on a limb and predict he will not be coming to Cornell...

BTW, does anyone have a subscription to Neutral Zone? They apparently rank the top 575 or so North American players by birth year. I'd be curious to see where our recruits fall on the list.

[Redpucks1!]

Tomorrow is a big day on the college hockey recruiting calendar - 8/1 is the first day that '07 birth years can commit.  (First day they could be contacted by schools was 1/1/23).  I have no inside connection to Cornell Hockey, just a fan, but I'm really hoping they are in on these 3 players.  In no particular order they are:

1.  Cooper Dennis - Ithaca, NY!!  On the small side but, who cares, the guy can score.  Plays for the Bishop Kearney Selects and has lit it up at each level.  Some are saying he has the best shot in his age group and have heard that he should have made the USNTDP U17's but did not.

2.  William Moore - NTDP U17 team for the 2023-'24 season.  Elite Prospects lists him as hailing from Mississauga, Ontario but the USA Hockey U17 roster lists him as being from Ithaca.  (Not certain but think his father may be a Cornell professor so that may be the reason behind listing Ithaca as his hometown).

3.  Aidan Lane - Will be playing for St. Andrew's College this season and obviously Cornell has had tremendous success recruiting there.

These players are all extremely high end and therefore it may be a long shot getting any of them since they will all be heavily recruited by the typical college hockey powers.  Really tough when you have the built-in recruiting disadvantages that Cornell has; fewer games, lack of scholarships, stringent admissions standards and extremely challenging academics.  CU does however seem to have a connection with these players through Ithaca or St. Andrew's College so who knows?  Let's Go Red!!!

[BearLover]

Tomorrow is a big day on the college hockey recruiting calendar - 8/1 is the first day that '07 birth years can commit.  (First day they could be contacted by schools was 1/1/23).  I have no inside connection to Cornell Hockey, just a fan, but I'm really hoping they are in on these 3 players.  In no particular order they are:

1.  Cooper Dennis - Ithaca, NY!!  On the small side but, who cares, the guy can score.  Plays for the Bishop Kearney Selects and has lit it up at each level.  Some are saying he has the best shot in his age group and have heard that he should have made the USNTDP U17's but did not.

2.  William Moore - NTDP U17 team for the 2023-'24 season.  Elite Prospects lists him as hailing from Mississauga, Ontario but the USA Hockey U17 roster lists him as being from Ithaca.  (Not certain but think his father may be a Cornell professor so that may be the reason behind listing Ithaca as his hometown).

3.  Aidan Lane - Will be playing for St. Andrew's College this season and obviously Cornell has had tremendous success recruiting there.

These players are all extremely high end and therefore it may be a long shot getting any of them since they will all be heavily recruited by the typical college hockey powers.  Really tough when you have the built-in recruiting disadvantages that Cornell has; fewer games, lack of scholarships, stringent admissions standards and extremely challenging academics.  CU does however seem to have a connection with these players through Ithaca or St. Andrew's College so who knows?  Let's Go Red!!!

Dennis—UMich
Moore—BC
Lane—Harvard

Cornell strikes out with these elite recruits.

[Redpucks1!]

Disappointing to say the least.  I really thought there was a decent chance that CU would get at least one of the three with their connections to either Ithaca or St. Andrew's College.
The good news is that Cornell continues to do an incredible job of identifying players that fit their style and culture.  This past years freshmen class is a prime example.  As Herb Brooks said, "we're not looking for the best players, we're looking for the right ones."  Cornell does exactly that knowing that the blue chippers aren't likely to come to CU.  Cornell is very fortunate to have Coach Schafer - a devoted alum that has stuck around all these years.  In my opinion he's the best coach in the country.  Can't imagine what he would have accomplished at Michigan, Denver, BU, BC, Minnesota, UND, etc.

[BearLover]

Disappointing to say the least.  I really thought there was a decent chance that CU would get at least one of the three with their connections to either Ithaca or St. Andrew's College.
The good news is that Cornell continues to do an incredible job of identifying players that fit their style and culture.  This past years freshmen class is a prime example.  As Herb Brooks said, "we're not looking for the best players, we're looking for the right ones."  Cornell does exactly that knowing that the blue chippers aren't likely to come to CU.  Cornell is very fortunate to have Coach Schafer - a devoted alum that has stuck around all these years.  In my opinion he's the best coach in the country.  Can't imagine what he would have accomplished at Michigan, Denver, BU, BC, Minnesota, UND, etc.

I can't disagree with any of this. But that doesn't make it any less incredible that we NEVER get any of these recruits. Very few programs have had more success than Cornell over the past decade, but we don't seem to be remotely competitive for these blue chippers. A recruit could have been born in Ithaca and his entire family could have gone to Cornell, and he'd STILL pick BC or Michigan. With respect to any given player, this is not surprising. But I would have thought that once in a blue moon ONE of these kids would come to Cornell. It doesn't seem THAT far-fetched, in theory. Harvard gets these kids all the time. There are examples of blue chippers ending up at random schools. Cale Makar went to UMass, who was hockey nobody at the time. And here we had the stars aligning, with amazing recent program success, blue chip kids who grew up in the area/whose families went to Cornell, and they still chose to play somewhere else. Oh well—guess it's never gonna happen.

[Redpucks1!]

I agree with you 100%.  I would love to see what Coach could do with some absolute stud recruits, but, as you said, it apparently isn't going to happen.  Thankfully Coach Schafer is dedicated to his alma mater and didn't seek out other opportunities where he could have competed for championships on equal footing with the hockey factories.  It will be a sad day when he retires.

[CAS]

Cornell did have 5 drafted recruits enter last fall, including two 3rd rounders.  If Ben Robertson gets drafted later this month, that would give Cornell six drafted players from last year's freshmen class.  We are getting very good recruits.