2025-26 Incoming Freshman and Transfers

[The Rancor]

I'm excited for the new batch of Big Red hockey players. Does anyone have a full list of who to expect this fall?

[chimpfood]

We are losing 6 starting forwards and 4 starting defensemen and our goalie. Goalie is easiest to fill, probably just throw keopple in there, he's earned it, but I'm sure Erick Roest also comes in this year to back him up.

I think we're actually in a fine spot in terms of forwards. The return of Devlin, Wallace, and Murray fills half the spots and we bring in Aiden Long, Chase Pirtle, and Gio Diguilian, who should be ready to play right away and can fill up the rest of the lineup. We also will bring in Reegan Hiscock, who can compete for the lineup and will mean that our forward group will have a ton of size. We probably have to bring in at least one more forward, my guess is Caton Ryan if no new recruits are added but I would prefer he get another year in the juniors.

Defense could be a little shaky. I think wolfenberg likely steps into the lineup returning from injury and incoming freshman Xavier Veilleux and Hudson Gorski also step in along with transfer Michael Fisher. I would guess that Jack O'Brien and Marian Mosko battle for the extra skater spot. We probably bring in more than just those two freshman though, likely Luke Mccrady or Donovan Hamilton.

[Trotsky]

That is a great preview, thank you.

Are the predictions based on age or perceived progress in Juniors or what?  As a naif I just see a menu of 25 possibilities.

[chimpfood]

That is a great preview, thank you.

Are the predictions based on age or perceived progress in Juniors or what?  As a naif I just see a menu of 25 possibilities.

Yeah trying to guess based on their production primarily, but age as well because you never really see us being in 22 year olds. This is my first year following the recruits really so I don't know what I'm talking about tbh but thought I'd throw some guesses out there

[sah67]

I only recently discovered that Malinski has a brother playing D at UVM: anyone know if he's any good? And any chance Sam can convince him to consider a transfer? **]

[BearLover]

We are losing 6 starting forwards and 4 starting defensemen and our goalie. Goalie is easiest to fill, probably just throw keopple in there, he's earned it, but I'm sure Erick Roest also comes in this year to back him up.

I think we're actually in a fine spot in terms of forwards. The return of Devlin, Wallace, and Murray fills half the spots and we bring in Aiden Long, Chase Pirtle, and Gio Diguilian, who should be ready to play right away and can fill up the rest of the lineup. We also will bring in Reegan Hiscock, who can compete for the lineup and will mean that our forward group will have a ton of size. We probably have to bring in at least one more forward, my guess is Caton Ryan if no new recruits are added but I would prefer he get another year in the juniors.

Defense could be a little shaky. I think wolfenberg likely steps into the lineup returning from injury and incoming freshman Xavier Veilleux and Hudson Gorski also step in along with transfer Michael Fisher. I would guess that Jack O'Brien and Marian Mosko battle for the extra skater spot. We probably bring in more than just those two freshman though, likely Luke Mccrady or Donovan Hamilton.

There's a difference between (1) having recruits at these positions and (2) having recruits at these positions who will make a difference next season. I'm really worried about next year. First of all, the most important position (goalie) is a massive question mark. While it's true Keopple will probably be the starter, the coaching staff clearly thought Shane was way ahead of him. Shane had a tough year, but still Keopple almost never saw the light of day. Second, the departure of Robertson was devastating. It is much worse than the departure of Bancroft or any departing senior. For many reasons. We're really short on D now, with only two returning. Add in the graduation/pro signing of so much forward production and we are going to be lacking at every position next year. Based on sheer numbers we will have enough kids at every position, but we on paper don't have the talent for an at-large bid, so we'll need another ECAC tourney miracle.

[marty]

We are losing 6 starting forwards and 4 starting defensemen and our goalie. Goalie is easiest to fill, probably just throw keopple in there, he's earned it, but I'm sure Erick Roest also comes in this year to back him up.

I think we're actually in a fine spot in terms of forwards. The return of Devlin, Wallace, and Murray fills half the spots and we bring in Aiden Long, Chase Pirtle, and Gio Diguilian, who should be ready to play right away and can fill up the rest of the lineup. We also will bring in Reegan Hiscock, who can compete for the lineup and will mean that our forward group will have a ton of size. We probably have to bring in at least one more forward, my guess is Caton Ryan if no new recruits are added but I would prefer he get another year in the juniors.

Defense could be a little shaky. I think wolfenberg likely steps into the lineup returning from injury and incoming freshman Xavier Veilleux and Hudson Gorski also step in along with transfer Michael Fisher. I would guess that Jack O'Brien and Marian Mosko battle for the extra skater spot. We probably bring in more than just those two freshman though, likely Luke Mccrady or Donovan Hamilton.

There's a difference between (1) having recruits at these positions and (2) having recruits at these positions who will make a difference next season. I'm really worried about next year. First of all, the most important position (goalie) is a massive question mark. While it's true Keopple will probably be the starter, the coaching staff clearly thought Shane was way ahead of him. Shane had a tough year, but still Keopple almost never saw the light of day. Second, the departure of Robertson was devastating. It is much worse than the departure of Bancroft or any departing senior. For many reasons. We're really short on D now, with only two returning. Add in the graduation/pro signing of so much forward production and we are going to be lacking at every position next year. Based on sheer numbers we will have enough kids at every position, but we don't have the talent to make the NCAAs barring another miracle.

October came early this year.

[BearLover]

We are losing 6 starting forwards and 4 starting defensemen and our goalie. Goalie is easiest to fill, probably just throw keopple in there, he's earned it, but I'm sure Erick Roest also comes in this year to back him up.

I think we're actually in a fine spot in terms of forwards. The return of Devlin, Wallace, and Murray fills half the spots and we bring in Aiden Long, Chase Pirtle, and Gio Diguilian, who should be ready to play right away and can fill up the rest of the lineup. We also will bring in Reegan Hiscock, who can compete for the lineup and will mean that our forward group will have a ton of size. We probably have to bring in at least one more forward, my guess is Caton Ryan if no new recruits are added but I would prefer he get another year in the juniors.

Defense could be a little shaky. I think wolfenberg likely steps into the lineup returning from injury and incoming freshman Xavier Veilleux and Hudson Gorski also step in along with transfer Michael Fisher. I would guess that Jack O'Brien and Marian Mosko battle for the extra skater spot. We probably bring in more than just those two freshman though, likely Luke Mccrady or Donovan Hamilton.

There's a difference between (1) having recruits at these positions and (2) having recruits at these positions who will make a difference next season. I'm really worried about next year. First of all, the most important position (goalie) is a massive question mark. While it's true Keopple will probably be the starter, the coaching staff clearly thought Shane was way ahead of him. Shane had a tough year, but still Keopple almost never saw the light of day. Second, the departure of Robertson was devastating. It is much worse than the departure of Bancroft or any departing senior. For many reasons. We're really short on D now, with only two returning. Add in the graduation/pro signing of so much forward production and we are going to be lacking at every position next year. Based on sheer numbers we will have enough kids at every position, but we don't have the talent to make the NCAAs barring another miracle.

October came early this year.

Do not worry my friend. I've edited my above post to clarify that while we don't have the talent on paper for an at-large bid, there is still hope that the rest of the ECAC is so bad that we can dodge/upset Quinnipiac and beat everyone else to win the ECAC tournament again.

And of course there are still outs to get someone really good in the portal (a Seger-level player) or the team plays above expectation and squeaks in as an at-large.

[BearLover]

BTW I think we have a very strong class coming in. Don't let my pessimism about the immediate future obscure this. Next year or two will be hard but I think we project to not be down for long.

[Dafatone]

We are losing 6 starting forwards and 4 starting defensemen and our goalie. Goalie is easiest to fill, probably just throw keopple in there, he's earned it, but I'm sure Erick Roest also comes in this year to back him up.

I think we're actually in a fine spot in terms of forwards. The return of Devlin, Wallace, and Murray fills half the spots and we bring in Aiden Long, Chase Pirtle, and Gio Diguilian, who should be ready to play right away and can fill up the rest of the lineup. We also will bring in Reegan Hiscock, who can compete for the lineup and will mean that our forward group will have a ton of size. We probably have to bring in at least one more forward, my guess is Caton Ryan if no new recruits are added but I would prefer he get another year in the juniors.

Defense could be a little shaky. I think wolfenberg likely steps into the lineup returning from injury and incoming freshman Xavier Veilleux and Hudson Gorski also step in along with transfer Michael Fisher. I would guess that Jack O'Brien and Marian Mosko battle for the extra skater spot. We probably bring in more than just those two freshman though, likely Luke Mccrady or Donovan Hamilton.

There's a difference between (1) having recruits at these positions and (2) having recruits at these positions who will make a difference next season. I'm really worried about next year. First of all, the most important position (goalie) is a massive question mark. While it's true Keopple will probably be the starter, the coaching staff clearly thought Shane was way ahead of him. Shane had a tough year, but still Keopple almost never saw the light of day. Second, the departure of Robertson was devastating. It is much worse than the departure of Bancroft or any departing senior. For many reasons. We're really short on D now, with only two returning. Add in the graduation/pro signing of so much forward production and we are going to be lacking at every position next year. Based on sheer numbers we will have enough kids at every position, but we don't have the talent to make the NCAAs barring another miracle.

October came early this year.

Do not worry my friend. I've edited my above post to clarify that while we don't have the talent on paper for an at-large bid, there is still hope that the rest of the ECAC is so bad that we can dodge/upset Quinnipiac and beat everyone else to win the ECAC tournament again.

And of course there are still outs to get someone really good in the portal (a Seger-level player) or the team plays above expectation and squeaks in as an at-large.

I'll worry about Q in Lake Placid when Q wins in Lake Placid.

[underskill]

I wonder if Casey is going to try to rebalance the class sizes at some point

[Trotsky]

I wonder if Casey is going to try to rebalance the class sizes at some point

It tends to happen on its own.  Large classes have a tail of frosh who never see the ice, hence they never develop, hence they continue to get beat out by incoming guys the next year, and eventually they leave.

[chimpfood]

Something interesting is that USHL numbers seem to be deflated all around. Highest scorer is at 74 points, the leader hasn't been below 80 since 2019/20. The highest save percentage is .912, the leader hasn't been below .920 since 2019/20 as well. Wonder if this means it is a weak class, a good defensive class, or this is just happening by chance.

[pjd8]

I wonder if Casey is going to try to rebalance the class sizes at some point

It tends to happen on its own.  Large classes have a tail of frosh who never see the ice, hence they never develop, hence they continue to get beat out by incoming guys the next year, and eventually they leave.

Regression to the mean.

[upprdeck]

the teams with NIL money will also lose some players with roster limits perhaps