Recruits 2026 and Beyond

[BearLover]

Alex Pelletier absolutely going off in the USHL. 7 goals and 2 assists in 7 games.

Pelletier is an interesting recruiting case. The following is based off what I can find on the Internet. Someone with more knowledge of his situation/junior hockey generally may want to fill in some details. 

He's from Connecticut, committed to Cornell while at Avon Old Farms prep school. Back in 2021 he was a first round pick in the QMJHL American draft. (I'm not sure how competitive this draft is, as it's just of American players, but first round sounds good. Also, did the team who drafted him have reason to believe he'd leave prep school and go play Canada major juniors?) He ended up finishing prep school, and committed to Cornell in the fall of his senior year. After graduating he was a second round (19th overall) pick in the USHL draft. By the time he started in the USHL, he had already turned 19. He had a good first year. Now, in his second season, at 20 years old, he leads the USHL in goals.

His case is an illustration of why recruiting is hard to predict from stats and rankings alone: when he committed, he was an 18-year-old senior in prep school and it was impossible to tell if he was a good recruit. Now, he's having a great season in the USHL, so we have a lot more to go on. Still, how much of his USHL success is due to him being 20?

Overall, he looks like a strong recruit. But as always, there's a lot of uncertainty in recruiting.

[Swampy]

Still, how much of his USHL success is due to him being 20?

Overall, he looks like a strong recruit. But as always, there's a lot of uncertainty in recruiting.

Unless his age decreases, his current performance suggests his potential going forward.

[chimpfood]

Looking at Pelletier's box scores with Lincoln every night cracks me up. The guy has scored 5 goals and gotten 3 assists over the last 3 games and he did so while taking a ridiculous 24 shots, 10 of them coming tonight. The kid can clearly score but he's not gonna be allowed or able to take that many shots in college so I don't know how much it's gonna carry over. Pretty much the polar opposite of him is recruit Michael Dec, a forward for Owen Sound in the OHL who has 1 goals and 11 assists in his 12 games. Get these two on a line together and it might just work.

[BearLover]

NHL Central Scouting Players To Watch list dropped today. The are two Cornell recruits listed in the "W" category, indicating a candidate for a 6th/7th round pick: Tuminaro and Puglisi. Harvard is recruiting well again, with five on the list, including a B, three Cs, and one W. Quinnipiac has two Ws. Dartmouth surprises with one C and one W. Brown, Yale, and Colgate each have a W as well. Don't see any for Clarkson, StL, RPI, Union, or Princeton.

Usual blue blood programs at the top of the list except Minnesota only has two Cs.

Overall I'd like to see us step up our recruiting a bit. The bar is higher now with so more talent pouring into college hockey.

https://www.nhl.com/news/gavin-mckenna-tops-central-scouting-preliminary-players-to-watch-list

[BearLover]

If I understand eligibility rules correctly, 16 of our 17 current recruits (all except Declan Wotton) are eligible to be drafted in the spring. So it's disappointing to only have two listed in the rankings, both as potential late round picks.

You could view our recruits in three batches:
1. Pre-Casey [Sandruck, Tuminaro, Pelletier, Dec, Major]
2. Casey hired, Schafer and Leivermann still on staff [Marmulak through Dontigny]
3. Current coaching makeup, with Schafer and Leivermann gone and two new assistants [Wotton, Puglisi, Long]

I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to assess the promise of the different batches and/or ascertain any sort of causation.

One thing I will say is that a lot of recruits are under 6', which hurts their draft stock even if they end up as strong college players.

[chimpfood]

Assuming Heisenberg meant Cornell and not "Corbell," we have picked up a new recruit from Saint Andrews, Charlie Sullivan.

Heisenberg's 2026 list can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/2/d/1bCxOl1bl2oSsBb-nE28c5BaS4QMqcRCyJDIxqkaOOjk/htmlview#gid=1310221579

[ursusminor]

A public post on Neutral Zone about recent commitments. https://neutralzone.com/2025/10/27/ncaa-commitments-oct-20-oct-26/

Re: Sullivan

Charlie Sullivan (D, L, 6'1, 183, St. Andrew's College, 03/21/2009, Cornell)

A draft pick of the Guelph Storm, Sullivan is currently playing at St. Andrew's College. In 2028, the defenseman will head to Cornell.

Sullivan put in a great performance at the OHL Cup, where his Don Mills Flyers placed second.

"Throughout the OHL Cup, Charlie showcased his strong compete level, skating, and shot. Looking at his compete level, Charlie backchecked consistently. He rarely trailed the play and was consistently one of the first players back to limit zone entries for his team. Charlie won numerous puck battles. Due to his strong physical game, Charlie delivered many hits to opponents away from the puck, enabling him to gain puck possession and initiate breakouts. Charlie frequently positioned himself in shooting lanes, demonstrating a willingness to put his body on the line. He blocked many shots, limiting scoring chances against his team. Regarding his skating, he was agile. Charlie demonstrated the ability to utilize both his inside and outside edges effectively."

[scoop85]

A public post on Neutral Zone about recent commitments. https://neutralzone.com/2025/10/27/ncaa-commitments-oct-20-oct-26/

Re: Sullivan

Charlie Sullivan (D, L, 6'1, 183, St. Andrew's College, 03/21/2009, Cornell)

A draft pick of the Guelph Storm, Sullivan is currently playing at St. Andrew's College. In 2028, the defenseman will head to Cornell.

Sullivan put in a great performance at the OHL Cup, where his Don Mills Flyers placed second.

"Throughout the OHL Cup, Charlie showcased his strong compete level, skating, and shot. Looking at his compete level, Charlie backchecked consistently. He rarely trailed the play and was consistently one of the first players back to limit zone entries for his team. Charlie won numerous puck battles. Due to his strong physical game, Charlie delivered many hits to opponents away from the puck, enabling him to gain puck possession and initiate breakouts. Charlie frequently positioned himself in shooting lanes, demonstrating a willingness to put his body on the line. He blocked many shots, limiting scoring chances against his team. Regarding his skating, he was agile. Charlie demonstrated the ability to utilize both his inside and outside edges effectively."

Sounds like a prototypical Cornell defenseman.

[chimpfood]

Dec traded to Erie.

[scoop85]

Dec traded to Erie.

Erie has been offensively challenged, and Owen Sound wanted a more physical foward. Dec has a lot of skill and will almost certainly be a key PP guy when he arrives in Ithaca.

[Redpucks1!]

Looking at the Chris Heisenberg website it looks as if one of our top recruits may have decommitted. Alex Pelletier's name has been crossed out under the list of Cornell commits as has Michael Sandruck's.  In looking at the Lincoln Stars roster they don't have Pelletier listed as going to Cornell any longer.  Sandruck is not a surprise, that may have been Cornell's doing seeing as he hasn't progressed as was hoped.  If true about Pelletier that is a big loss.  I haven't been able to find out where he may be committing or if he is just reopening the recruiting process with his huge start to the USHL season.

[chimpfood]

Looking at the Chris Heisenberg website it looks as if one of our top recruits may have decommitted. Alex Pelletier's name has been crossed out under the list of Cornell commits as has Michael Sandruck's.  In looking at the Lincoln Stars roster they don't have Pelletier listed as going to Cornell any longer.  Sandruck is not a surprise, that may have been Cornell's doing seeing as he hasn't progressed as was hoped.  If true about Pelletier that is a big loss.  I haven't been able to find out where he may be committing or if he is just reopening the recruiting process with his huge start to the USHL season.

Yeah looks like he took down his commitment post and elite prospects also has him as decommitted. I can't think of why unless someone offered to bring him in over winter break, because he's going to have to wait until next year anyway.

I did expect him to come in over guys like Caton Ryan and Connor Arsenault. With Ryan being a first liner right now I can understand bringing him over Pelletier, but bringing in Arsenault a year early and losing a top recruit in return is not great.

To be honest I wasn't totally sold on him anyway thanks to a combination of size, age, and huge shot volume that he won't get in college but it's too bad we couldn't at least see what we had with him. Opens the door for Jones to work some magic and maybe get us a good CHLer to fill his spot though.

[BearLover]

Looking at the Chris Heisenberg website it looks as if one of our top recruits may have decommitted. Alex Pelletier's name has been crossed out under the list of Cornell commits as has Michael Sandruck's.  In looking at the Lincoln Stars roster they don't have Pelletier listed as going to Cornell any longer.  Sandruck is not a surprise, that may have been Cornell's doing seeing as he hasn't progressed as was hoped.  If true about Pelletier that is a big loss.  I haven't been able to find out where he may be committing or if he is just reopening the recruiting process with his huge start to the USHL season.

Yeah looks like he took down his commitment post and elite prospects also has him as decommitted. I can't think of why unless someone offered to bring him in over winter break, because he's going to have to wait until next year anyway.

I did expect him to come in over guys like Caton Ryan and Connor Arsenault. With Ryan being a first liner right now I can understand bringing him over Pelletier, but bringing in Arsenault a year early and losing a top recruit in return is not great.

To be honest I wasn't totally sold on him anyway thanks to a combination of size, age, and huge shot volume that he won't get in college but it's too bad we couldn't at least see what we had with him. Opens the door for Jones to work some magic and maybe get us a good CHLer to fill his spot though.

I totally agree with all of this. Him being 20 made me question how high his ceiling actually is. But he was still clearly one of our better recruits. With respect to bringing in someone else last year, maybe I'm missing something but I guess some of these choices that look crazy on paper do end up being crazy. Arsenault is a year younger and didn't put up numbers in junior, they couldn't let him develop in the minors an extra year and bring in Pelletier, who had a solid USHL year last season? Again, I may be missing something, but seems like a huge mistake by the coaching staff.

[BearLover]

Well that really sullied a good weekend. WTF

[scoop85]

Well that really sullied a good weekend. WTF

Only if you let it. I'm confident we'll continue to recruit very well despite it all.