Recruits 2024 and Beyond

[BearLover]

If the hockey gods came to me with an offer to make the ECAC mediocre for all eternity, I think I would accept. Take this year for example:
—great shot at another piece of hardware (ECAC championship) and automatic bid
—no signs whatsoever that a weak ECAC impeded our ability to play with the best (we played two of our best games of the season in the NCAAs against the #5 and #3 teams in the country)
—don't have to worry about our nemeses winning national titles before we do (let's pray Q doesn't repeat)

This post is tongue-in-cheek but I really do think a weak ECAC was good for us this year. Just as it was in 2003...

[scoop85]

With no more games to focus on :`-( here's a late season update for our listed recruits. We have plenty of talent in the pipeline:

• Erick Roest, G, Sherwood Park Crusaders (AJHL) -- 31 GP, 2.78 GAG, .907 save pct.; (BCHL) 17 GP, 3.19 GAG, 9.11 save pct.
• Alex Pelletier, LW, Avon Old Farms Prep -- 27 GP, 17 G, 23 A; listed by New England Hockey Journal as one of the top prep players in 23-24
• Cole Tuminaro, D, Sioux  City (USHL) -- 41 GP, 1 G, 5 A; a regular in the USHL as a 17-year-old
• Aiden Long -- LW, Madison (USHL) -- 52 GP, 7 G, 12 A
• Giovanni DiGiulian -- C, Kent School Prep -- 26 GP, 25 G, 24 A; New England Hockey Journal wrote recently: "DiGiulian entered this season a Cornell commit on NHL Central Scouting's list. He finished this season a Cornell commit who should be drafted. The South Burlington, Vt., native scored 25 goals and 49 points. Two of those goals came in the Large School final against Dexter Southfield. He proved himself to be impactful no matter the stakes, but he really elevated in the big moments"
• Connor Arsenault -- C, St. Andrews Prep -- 53 GP, 32 G, 28 A
• Hudson Gorski -- D, Chicago (USHL) -- 54 GP, 2 G, 5 A; not big numbers as a defenseman, but I saw a clip of one of his two goals where he made a great move in the slot and scored on a great shot
• Michael Sandruck -- RW, Rochester Jr. Americans (NAHL) -- 24 GP, 8 G, 6 A; previously, Bishop Kearney Selects 18U AAA -- 34 GP, 19 G, 24 A
• Nicholas Wolfenberg -- D, Okotoks (AHJL) -- 36 GP, 6 G, 18 A; Salmon Arm (BCHL) — 14 GP, 0 G, 5 A
• Charlie Major -- C, Chicago (USHL) -- 58 GP, 30 G, 38 A
• Donovan Hamilton -- D, Cedar Rapids (USHL) -- 39 GP, 1 G, 2 A
• Justin Katz -- G, West Kelowna (BCHL) 7 GP, 3.11 GAA, .891 save pct.; Powell River (BCHL) — 10 GP, 3.26 GAG, 9.08 save pct.
• Chase Pirtle -- RW, Victoria (BCHL) -- 53 GP, 24 G, 24 A
• Michael Dec -- C, St. Andrews Prep -- 50 GP, 22 G, 26 A

   Henry Major — F, Bishop Kearney Selects U16 AAA — 58 GP, 49 G, 57 A; U16 AAA, 1 GP, 1 G, 0 A
    Parker Murray — F, Penticton (BCHL) — 7 GP, 1 G, 4 A; Chilliwack (BCHL) — 30 GP, 9 G, 11 A
[/list]

Tyler Wishart is no longer listed by Heisenberg as a Cornell recruit so I removed him from the list

It appears both Katz and Roest will be matriculating in the fall, so unless Koepple departs it seems we'll have 4 goalies on the roster. Katz was injured for quite some time, then got traded to Powell River, a last place team, and is facing lots of rubber. His save percentage has gone up since the trade. Since Roest's team moved into the BCHL, his GAG has gone up, but so has his save percentage. Both guys seem capable of becoming solid D1 goaltenders.

I assume forwards Pirtle, Charlie Major, and Murray will all be coming in the fall, and each of them look like they can contribute. Major especially has had a monster 2nd half of the season for the Steel. Given what we expect to have coming back, the competition for playing time will be fierce. Considering a guy like Sean Donaldson, who was a finalist for the BCHL MVP award, can hardly crack the lineup, it says volumes about the depth of talent Schafer has accumulated.

On defense I assume Wolfenberg is likely the only one coming in the fall. He seems like a solid prospect, but with the entire D corps scheduled back, it will also be hard for him to crack the lineup.

With the talent on the roster and what we have on the horizon, no reason we shouldn't remain a league and national contender for the foreseeable future.

[chimpfood]

Not to be a downer, and of course I hope it doesn't happen, but I could imagine a world where guys like Mosko and Donaldson enter the transfer portal, knowing that if they didn't get much time this year the same will likely be true next season. This wouldn't be too much of a problem as I believe they were the only guys to play and not get points for us this year but I still hope they stay. Same goes for Keopple between the pipes. I really can't imagine Shane leaving so I'm not gonna worry myself thinking about that unless I hear otherwise.

[BearLover]

I just got scooped...by scoop! Seriously, I was in the middle of typing out a very similar post. I agree with much of what you said. I'm not sure how it would work regarding the goalie situation—will the Cornell coaches hold one of them back in juniors? Frankly, whoever comes next year will just be waiting behind Shane anyway, so I don't think it makes much sense from either Cornell's or Katz's/Roest's perspective for them to both matriculate next year.

I'm curious if we see any Cornell players enter the transfer portal. Competition for playing time next year is going to be fierce. At forward, we subtract Seger and add three freshmen, all of whom seem capable of cracking the lineup, with Major and perhaps Pirtle being very likely good enough to play right away. I wonder if Pirtle goes to the USHL for a year, just because of the playing time issue. Remember, next year we also get back Kovich, who missed almost this entire season with an injury. (With that said, we had very few injuries this year, so we may need depth more next season than we did this year.)

Similarly, at D, we lose nobody and have 6 shoe-ins to play next season who are already on the team. Wolfenberg was a highly regarded recruit but seems to have gotten injured this season. He and Mosko may need to wait for Suda/Rego/Kempf to graduate before seeing regular playing time. (However, we have a bunch more defensemen in the pipeline, so even then...)

Part of the nonsense regarding the fifth year eligibility was that it inflated roster size and made playing time difficult for new recruits. With Penney/O'Leary/Rego all returning, Cornell is finally experiencing some of this. I guess we will see how loyal players like Keopple and Donaldson are to the program. Both of these players on paper should (and maybe ultimately will) get playing time. But the immediate future looks very difficult.

As far as draft picks are concerned, seems the only recruit with a legitimate shot of being drafted is DiGiulian. However, the Cornell player most likely to be drafted may already be on the team (Ben Robertson).

[Trotsky]

If it's possible to hold guys for another year of USHL seasoning, now would be when to do it.

17 Forwards and 11 Defenseman fighting for 12 / 6 / +1 slots, respectively, is 9 guys sitting, not including 3 goalies not named Ian Shane.

Since all 14 returning F seem to be keepers, I wonder if we will see one or more drop back?  I could see Wallace on the blue line.

If Rayhill has been a healthy scratch for 3 years I guess he will be pursuing a fine career in sports journalism.  I don't know if Steele was hurt this season.  O'Brien is the next obvious guy on the bubble.  Then you get to Kovich and Donaldson and, wow, I guess it's a good problem to have when guys of that caliber are your perma-bench.

This is of course ignoring defections, but also portal raids like Seger.  Are there any faceoff specialists or snipers on bad NCHC / HE teams who would like to be the final piece of an F4 team? That's our world, now, and you know Rand will be backing up the truck.

Um, of academics.  The truck of academics. Yeah.

[Scersk '97]

With no more games to focus on :`-( here's a late season update for our listed recruits. We have plenty of talent in the pipeline:

I have never seen us line up the talent at center that we seem to have and are bringing in. I have to assume some of those guys are going to be converted to wing, but my god.

[BearLover]

If it's possible to hold guys for another year of USCHO seasoning, now would be when to do it.

17 Forwards and 11 Defenseman fighting for 12 / 6 / +1 slots, respectively, is 9 guys sitting, not including 3 goalies not named Ian Shane.

Since all 14 returning F seem to be keepers, I wonder if we will see one or more drop back?  I could see Wallace on the blue line.

If Rayhill has been a healthy scratch for 3 years I guess he will be pursuing a fine career in sports journalism.  I don't know if Steele was hurt this season.  O'Brien is the next obvious guy on the bubble.  Then you get to Kovich and Donaldson and, wow, I guess it's a good problem to have when guys of that caliber are your perma-bench.

This is of course ignoring defections, but also portal raids like Seger.  Are there any faceoff specialists or snipers on bad NCHC / HE teams who would like to be the final piece of an F4 team? That's our world, now, and you know Rand will be backing up the truck.

Um, of academics.  The truck of academics. Yeah.

No incoming transfers this year. I can assure you of that. There are no roster spots.

[chimpfood]

I guess Catalano may be pushed back to healthy scratches with the freshman class. He's a good physical player but he's not the game changing type that you feel like you need in the game.

[scoop85]

I just got scooped...by scoop! Seriously, I was in the middle of typing out a very similar post. I agree with much of what you said. I'm not sure how it would work regarding the goalie situation—will the Cornell coaches hold one of them back in juniors? Frankly, whoever comes next year will just be waiting behind Shane anyway, so I don't think it makes much sense from either Cornell's or Katz's/Roest's perspective for them to both matriculate next year.

I'm curious if we see any Cornell players enter the transfer portal. Competition for playing time next year is going to be fierce. At forward, we subtract Seger and add three freshmen, all of whom seem capable of cracking the lineup, with Major and perhaps Pirtle being very likely good enough to play right away. I wonder if Pirtle goes to the USHL for a year, just because of the playing time issue. Remember, next year we also get back Kovich, who missed almost this entire season with an injury. (With that said, we had very few injuries this year, so we may need depth more next season than we did this year.)

Similarly, at D, we lose nobody and have 6 shoe-ins to play next season who are already on the team. Wolfenberg was a highly regarded recruit but seems to have gotten injured this season. He and Mosko may need to wait for Suda/Rego/Kempf to graduate before seeing regular playing time. (However, we have a bunch more defensemen in the pipeline, so even then...)

Part of the nonsense regarding the fifth year eligibility was that it inflated roster size and made playing time difficult for new recruits. With Penney/O'Leary/Rego all returning, Cornell is finally experiencing some of this. I guess we will see how loyal players like Keopple and Donaldson are to the program. Both of these players on paper should (and maybe ultimately will) get playing time. But the immediate future looks very difficult.

As far as draft picks are concerned, seems the only recruit with a legitimate shot of being drafted is DiGiulian. However, the Cornell player most likely to be drafted may already be on the team (Ben Robertson).

Logically we'd want to hold a slew of these guys back, but I assume at least a few of them may be aging out of juniors (I don't have time to look it up), so that may not be an option across the board.

[Dafatone]

"We aren't losing enough players to make room for impact freshmen" is a good problem to have, but it's still a problem.

[BearLover]

I just got scooped...by scoop! Seriously, I was in the middle of typing out a very similar post. I agree with much of what you said. I'm not sure how it would work regarding the goalie situation—will the Cornell coaches hold one of them back in juniors? Frankly, whoever comes next year will just be waiting behind Shane anyway, so I don't think it makes much sense from either Cornell's or Katz's/Roest's perspective for them to both matriculate next year.

I'm curious if we see any Cornell players enter the transfer portal. Competition for playing time next year is going to be fierce. At forward, we subtract Seger and add three freshmen, all of whom seem capable of cracking the lineup, with Major and perhaps Pirtle being very likely good enough to play right away. I wonder if Pirtle goes to the USHL for a year, just because of the playing time issue. Remember, next year we also get back Kovich, who missed almost this entire season with an injury. (With that said, we had very few injuries this year, so we may need depth more next season than we did this year.)

Similarly, at D, we lose nobody and have 6 shoe-ins to play next season who are already on the team. Wolfenberg was a highly regarded recruit but seems to have gotten injured this season. He and Mosko may need to wait for Suda/Rego/Kempf to graduate before seeing regular playing time. (However, we have a bunch more defensemen in the pipeline, so even then...)

Part of the nonsense regarding the fifth year eligibility was that it inflated roster size and made playing time difficult for new recruits. With Penney/O'Leary/Rego all returning, Cornell is finally experiencing some of this. I guess we will see how loyal players like Keopple and Donaldson are to the program. Both of these players on paper should (and maybe ultimately will) get playing time. But the immediate future looks very difficult.

As far as draft picks are concerned, seems the only recruit with a legitimate shot of being drafted is DiGiulian. However, the Cornell player most likely to be drafted may already be on the team (Ben Robertson).

Logically we'd want to hold a slew of these guys back, but I assume at least a few of them may be aging out of juniors (I don't have time to look it up), so that may not be an option across the board.

I'm not certain what the exact age cutoff is, but I believe only Parker Murray will age out of juniors next season. He is the only '03 recruit.

[scoop85]

I just got scooped...by scoop! Seriously, I was in the middle of typing out a very similar post. I agree with much of what you said. I'm not sure how it would work regarding the goalie situation—will the Cornell coaches hold one of them back in juniors? Frankly, whoever comes next year will just be waiting behind Shane anyway, so I don't think it makes much sense from either Cornell's or Katz's/Roest's perspective for them to both matriculate next year.

I'm curious if we see any Cornell players enter the transfer portal. Competition for playing time next year is going to be fierce. At forward, we subtract Seger and add three freshmen, all of whom seem capable of cracking the lineup, with Major and perhaps Pirtle being very likely good enough to play right away. I wonder if Pirtle goes to the USHL for a year, just because of the playing time issue. Remember, next year we also get back Kovich, who missed almost this entire season with an injury. (With that said, we had very few injuries this year, so we may need depth more next season than we did this year.)

Similarly, at D, we lose nobody and have 6 shoe-ins to play next season who are already on the team. Wolfenberg was a highly regarded recruit but seems to have gotten injured this season. He and Mosko may need to wait for Suda/Rego/Kempf to graduate before seeing regular playing time. (However, we have a bunch more defensemen in the pipeline, so even then...)

Part of the nonsense regarding the fifth year eligibility was that it inflated roster size and made playing time difficult for new recruits. With Penney/O'Leary/Rego all returning, Cornell is finally experiencing some of this. I guess we will see how loyal players like Keopple and Donaldson are to the program. Both of these players on paper should (and maybe ultimately will) get playing time. But the immediate future looks very difficult.

As far as draft picks are concerned, seems the only recruit with a legitimate shot of being drafted is DiGiulian. However, the Cornell player most likely to be drafted may already be on the team (Ben Robertson).

After the season he had, I have to imagine at least a few NHL teams have Robertson in their sights. If he's not worthy of being drafted in at least a 5th or 6th round, then I have no idea what these teams can be looking at. In December the Hockey News listed him in their top 10 of draft eligible players who were passed up in the 2023 draft, and he only got better from there.

[Trotsky]

I just got scooped...by scoop! Seriously, I was in the middle of typing out a very similar post. I agree with much of what you said. I'm not sure how it would work regarding the goalie situation—will the Cornell coaches hold one of them back in juniors? Frankly, whoever comes next year will just be waiting behind Shane anyway, so I don't think it makes much sense from either Cornell's or Katz's/Roest's perspective for them to both matriculate next year.

Schafer goes with a clear #1 in net during the season, but he has also shown flexibility to challenge him and replace him if necessary:

1997: Experimented through the season with Pelletier, settled on Elliott
2000: Burt beat out Underhill who then re-beat out Burt in arguably the only season-long fight
2002: Infamously started with Underhill before figuring out Leneveu was a deity
2007: Started with Davenport, changed to Scrivens
2011: Ran a straight-up Iles-Garman rotation all year
2022: started with McDonald-Howe, changed to Shane.

[Trotsky]

If it's possible to hold guys for another year of USCHO seasoning, now would be when to do it.

17 Forwards and 11 Defenseman fighting for 12 / 6 / +1 slots, respectively, is 9 guys sitting, not including 3 goalies not named Ian Shane.

Since all 14 returning F seem to be keepers, I wonder if we will see one or more drop back?  I could see Wallace on the blue line.

If Rayhill has been a healthy scratch for 3 years I guess he will be pursuing a fine career in sports journalism.  I don't know if Steele was hurt this season.  O'Brien is the next obvious guy on the bubble.  Then you get to Kovich and Donaldson and, wow, I guess it's a good problem to have when guys of that caliber are your perma-bench.

This is of course ignoring defections, but also portal raids like Seger.  Are there any faceoff specialists or snipers on bad NCHC / HE teams who would like to be the final piece of an F4 team? That's our world, now, and you know Rand will be backing up the truck.

Um, of academics.  The truck of academics. Yeah.

No incoming transfers this year. I can assure you of that. There are no roster spots.

If god comes a knockin'...

[CAS]

Wonder if Charlie Major could get drafted this year. He's currently 7th in the USHL in both goals & total points.