Recruiting wars

[jas27]

I saw the list of recruits Cornell landed this year and it looks solid...but how did CU do vs. other schools?  What schools did we beat out to get them?  Who did we lose out on?  

[pfibiger]

Matt Connors' 'final five' were Maine, Michigan State, Yale, and Dartmouth (in addition to Cornell)
Colin Greening (06) was recruited by Clarkson, RPI, and others
Justin Milo (06) was definitely recruited by a bunch of WCHA and HE programs.
I read something a while ago about Tony Romano (06) being looked at by some Hockey East schools, but I can't find it anymore.

i don't know anything about the others, but Evan Barlow's brother played at Harvard, and he put up pretty good numbers in the BCHL, so I'd be surprised if he wasn't looked at.

[pfibiger]

We lost out on 2 goaltenders for 2006-07..both Billy Sauer and Steve Jakiel are going to UMich that season, and both had been recruited/offered by Cornell.

[ursusminor]

[Q]pfibiger Wrote:

Colin Greening (06) was recruited by ..., RPI, and others.[/q]

:`(








;-)

[atb9]

[Q]pfibiger Wrote:

 We lost out on 2 goaltenders for 2006-07..both Billy Sauer and Steve Jakiel are going to UMich that season, and both had been recruited/offered by Cornell.[/q]

Wow, that seems awefully...well done.  Geez.

[jtwcornell91]

[Q]pfibiger Wrote:

 We lost out on 2 goaltenders for 2006-07..both Billy Sauer and Steve Jakiel are going to UMich that season, and both had been recruited/offered by Cornell.[/q]

Guess the timing is wrong to blame Gartman.

[pfibiger]

I don't know if Schafer was recruiting them for 06-07 or for next year (i had read about this well before DiLeo committed). It's possible they had no interest in coming to Ithaca and sitting for 2 years, backing up McKee.

Nanaimo has a goaltender coming in next year from Sasha Pokulok/Jared Seminoff's old team (The Notre Dame Hounds), Marc Cheverie. He's apparently a smart kid and was his league MVP last year.  Since Bestwick seems to pitch Cornell to his best students/athletes, you have to imagine we've got an inside track on this kid.

[ursusminor]

Phil,
However, Bestwick may be out as coach of the Clippers when their sale goes through. The current owner is denying that BEstwick will be out http://www.nanaimoclippers.com/newsarticle.php?id=182 but there are lots of rumors elsewhere. There are many threads on the BCHL mesage board (granted not a relaible source) http://www.network54.com/Forum/146929 about what is going on there and in Vernon. See, for example, the newspaper article posted in the fourth reply in the thread http://www.network54.com/Forum/thread?forumid=146929&messageid=1117590104&lp=1118288913 which says that Bestwick may stay on as GM and Director of Player Personnel, but not as coach. In another article posted further down in that thread, Bestwick says that he wants to stay in Nanaimo. I guess the question is how much influence a GM will have on players, as opposed to a coach.

[peterg]

[Q]pfibiger Wrote:

Nanaimo has a goaltender coming in next year from Sasha Pokulok/Jared Seminoff's old team (The Notre Dame Hounds), Marc Cheverie. He's apparently a smart kid and was his league MVP last year.  Since Bestwick seems to pitch Cornell to his best students/athletes, you have to imagine we've got an inside track on this kid.[/q]

Notre Dame is also the alma mater of a number of other former Cornell players, including, I believe, goaltender Matt Underhill.

[pfibiger]

[Q]ursaminor Wrote:

 Phil,
However, Bestwick may be out as coach of the Clippers when their sale goes through. The current owner is denying that BEstwick will be out  but there are lots of rumors elsewhere. There are many threads on the BCHL mesage board (granted not a relaible source)  about what is going on there and in Vernon. See, for example, the newspaper article posted in the fourth reply in the thread  which says that Bestwick may stay on as GM and Director of Player Personnel, but not as coach. In another article posted further down in that thread, Bestwick says that he wants to stay in Nanaimo. I guess the question is how much influence a GM will have on players, as opposed to a coach.

Edited 1 times. Last edit at 06/09/05 12:25AM by ursaminor.[/q]

Just to follow up on this. The sale of the Nanaimo Clippers did go through..and it looks like Bestwick is still in place at Nanaimo, in fact he is now a part owner:

Ken Wagner and Bill Gallacher are the majority owners.
Bill Bestwick also bought a share of the team. Bestwick is also President, General Manager and Co-Coach. Mike Vandekamp will also be a Co-Coach with Bestwick. Vandekamp is also the new Director of Hockey Operations.

So it looks like the pipeline is still intact

[KeithK]

So Nanaimo has "co-coaches" now?  Never heard that one before.  Sounds like a recipe for distaster unless it's really just a pleasant way of pushing Bestwick upstairs.

[Trotsky]

IIRC, Don Cherry was involved in a co-coach situation which quickly degernated into chaos.  That may be more Cherry than structure, though.

[ursusminor]

Brendon Nash of the Salmon Arm Silverbanks committed to Cornell for 2006: http://www.sasilverbacks.com/index.php?more=546. His page http://www.sasilverbacks.com/roster.php?pid=61.

6'3"  195 lb LD. Last year's regular season stats: 59-0-17-17-40. Two years ago in Midget: 55-8-22-30-30.


Edit: Thread on the BCHL message board: http://www.network54.com/Forum/thread?forumid=146929&messageid=1121729130&lp=1121757529.

[pfibiger]

Thanks Ralph,

An article about Nash, when he was moving from midget->BCHL a year and a half ago. Apparently we had our eye on him even then:

[Q]
Nash: Preparing for BCHL
Hockey Now Reporter

There are some rugby players in B.C who are mighty glad they don’t have to worry about tackling Brendon Nash anymore.

At nearly 6-foot-4, 195 pounds, the athletic Nash was an imposing back on his Brocklehurst Secondary School rugby team. The only sore spot for Nash was that his team didn’t go very far this year.

However, there has never been much doubt that hockey is Nash’s first love, and there’s no telling how far he will go on the ice. Last winter, Nash was the blue-line leader of the North Kamloops Lions Midget AAA team, helping them win the provincial championship and represent B.C. in the Pacific Region qualifying round for the national Midget championship.

An alternate captain on the team, a leader at his school, a contributor to the Kamloops community and an Honor Roll Student, Nash was a finalist for the 2004 Minor Hockey Achievement Award.

Nash has opted to combine hockey and academics by going the Junior A/NCAA route. He’s counting down the days to the start of training camp with the Salmon Arm SilverBacks.

“I’m excited about going there. Everyone I talk to says it’s a great organization and a great place to play hockey,” Nash said. “I thought about (playing in the WHL) but I thought Salmon Arm would be great for developing.

“We’re very excited to have him make the commitment to coming here and we think he’s going to develop into a very good player,” said SilverBacks GM Garry Davidson. “His strength right now might be the offensive part of the game but he’s big and strong and we’ll see how he develops.

“I’m sure he’s going to get a lot of (NCAA) interest. I understand Cornell made an early visit after the 1st of July and we’ve had other calls about him.”

Nash is looking forward to his first foray away from Kamloops. He will complete Grade 12 in Salmon Arm, aiming to keep up the marks necessary for admission to some of the best NCAA engineering faculties as well as catching the eye of hockey scouts. He’s already done that in tournaments such as the prestigious Mac’s Tournament in Calgary, where he was selected to play in the all-star game.

In addition to rugby and hockey, he has played volleyball and lacrosse and dabbled in most sports. He’s been a referee in lacrosse, a leader in school and contributor to Minor Hockey in various programs.

“Brendon’s most enduring quality is his presence in the community,” said Brocklehurst teacher Bernie Pimm. “At our school, he has emerged as the pre-eminent leader. He officiates intramural activities, helps run fundraisers, and assists his teachers with young students, all while playing hockey, rugby and pursuing academic excellence ... He has become a model of excellence that administrators, teachers and students are proud of.”
[/Q]

[pfibiger]

[Q]ursaminor Wrote:
6'3"  195 lb LD. Last year's regular season stats: 59-0-17-17-40.
[/q]

He was also the top scoring defenseman on his team during the playoffs with a 11-1-5-6 line