Recruits 2025 and Beyond

Cowichan valley is playing their fourth game in six days and roest still can’t sniff playing time even after dropping down leagues. I don’t have much trust for him or Katz at this point so hopefully Keopple steps up next year and we can recruit a stud for 2026/27.

chimpfood
Cowichan valley is playing their fourth game in six days and roest still can’t sniff playing time even after dropping down leagues. I don’t have much trust for him or Katz at this point so hopefully Keopple steps up next year and we can recruit a stud for 2026/27.

reading the kovich article i saw that umd had a goalie in the portal. maybe a trade?

CAS
Wishart is currently a freshman at Middlebury College.

I had heard this as well but he plays for the St Cloud Norsemen in the NAHL. Since 1/24 he’s got 12g/14a/26 pts in 24 games. Don’t think he’s coming to Cornell but would hope he gets to play somewhere.

End of regular season lines for our USHL guys, in order of my favorite to least favorite recruit:

Xavier Veilleux(D): 61 games, 8 goals, 33 assists, 41 points, +24, 30 PIM.
I really like Veilleux because a. We stole him from Harvard and b. I think he can fill the offensive void that we have on defense right now after losing Rego and Robertson, I think he is a sure bet to come next year and hopefully can produce right away.

Aiden Long (F): 62 games, 22 goals, 37 assists, 59 PIM.
I like Long as a prospect but the penalty minutes scare me, you really cant play like that in college when each game is so important. He’s a great scorer and wears the A for his team. Can also be counted on to come in next year and should produce immediately.

Gio Diguilian (F): 58 games, 22 goals, 29 assists, 51 points, 32 PIM.
For me Diguilian marks the end of our top tier of recruits. The one thing that concerns me is his weight, 6 feet 160 sounds a little small to thrive in the ECAC which is why I put Long above him. But, He’s pretty much a point a game which is very impressive and he should be another guy that definitely comes next year and produces.

Cole Tuminaro (D): 1 game, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 points, +1, 2 PIM.
It feels like cheating to include Tuminaro but he exclusively play in the USHL this season, presumably getting a season ending injury in his first game. I would wager that he stays in the juniors another year given that he only turned 18 in January but I really like this kid as a prospect when he does come. He was on some NHL draft rankings at some point if I remember correctly.

Hudson Gorski (D): 59 games, 3 goals, 16 assists, 19 points, -2, 94 PIM.
I could see Gorski being a good all around defenseman for us but again the penalty minutes are ridiculous and not going to be acceptable in college. He starts on his team so he is probably good defensively and has fine offensive numbers. I’m hopeful for him if he can fix that though and he probably comes and gets a spot in the lineup for us next year.

Alex Pelletier (F): 60 games, 16 goals, 21 assists, 37 points, 30 PIM.
Pelletier seems like a solid supporting player who could fit into a Jake Kraft type of role for this team, just a bit taller. He is also very likely to come in for next season.

Henry Major (F): 54 games, 4 goals, 7 assists, 11 points, 12 PIM.
Charlie’s brother, of course. Although I’m sure he’s eager to join his brother he certainly needs at least one more year in the juniors, and he just turned 18. Not too worried about the point production for a young guy but he’s only 5 foot 8 which isn’t ideal. We’ll probably see him in 26 or 27.

Micheal Sandruck (F): 43 games, 5 goals, 5 assists, 10 points, 146 PIM.
Another guy with a ridiculous penalty minutes total and he certainly does not have the points to back it up. He’s 19 so I hope we can get him another year in the juniors before we see him here. Just not enough production to entice me to want to have him here in the fall.

That’s all of our guys that ended the season in the USHL, I’ll probably do the same thing for the BCHL when it ends.

Alex Pelletier - son of JM Pelletier?

Do these guys play in leagues with fighting with the higher penalty minutes?

All it takes is a couple 10min Misconducts to really skew the numbers as well.

The Rancor
Alex Pelletier - son of JM Pelletier?

Alex born Grandy, CT Jun 01, 2005. JHean-Marc was playing for Springfield, MA. Driving distance 24 miles.

Let's say 67% chance of yes.

chimpfood
End of regular season lines for our USHL guys, in order of my favorite to least favorite recruit:

Xavier Veilleux(D): 61 games, 8 goals, 33 assists, 41 points, +24, 30 PIM.
I really like Veilleux because a. We stole him from Harvard and b. I think he can fill the offensive void that we have on defense right now after losing Rego and Robertson, I think he is a sure bet to come next year and hopefully can produce right away.

Aiden Long (F): 62 games, 22 goals, 37 assists, 59 PIM.
I like Long as a prospect but the penalty minutes scare me, you really cant play like that in college when each game is so important. He’s a great scorer and wears the A for his team. Can also be counted on to come in next year and should produce immediately.

Gio Diguilian (F): 58 games, 22 goals, 29 assists, 51 points, 32 PIM.
For me Diguilian marks the end of our top tier of recruits. The one thing that concerns me is his weight, 6 feet 160 sounds a little small to thrive in the ECAC which is why I put Long above him. But, He’s pretty much a point a game which is very impressive and he should be another guy that definitely comes next year and produces.

Cole Tuminaro (D): 1 game, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 points, +1, 2 PIM.
It feels like cheating to include Tuminaro but he exclusively play in the USHL this season, presumably getting a season ending injury in his first game. I would wager that he stays in the juniors another year given that he only turned 18 in January but I really like this kid as a prospect when he does come. He was on some NHL draft rankings at some point if I remember correctly.

Hudson Gorski (D): 59 games, 3 goals, 16 assists, 19 points, -2, 94 PIM.
I could see Gorski being a good all around defenseman for us but again the penalty minutes are ridiculous and not going to be acceptable in college. He starts on his team so he is probably good defensively and has fine offensive numbers. I’m hopeful for him if he can fix that though and he probably comes and gets a spot in the lineup for us next year.

Alex Pelletier (F): 60 games, 16 goals, 21 assists, 37 points, 30 PIM.
Pelletier seems like a solid supporting player who could fit into a Jake Kraft type of role for this team, just a bit taller. He is also very likely to come in for next season.

Henry Major (F): 54 games, 4 goals, 7 assists, 11 points, 12 PIM.
Charlie’s brother, of course. Although I’m sure he’s eager to join his brother he certainly needs at least one more year in the juniors, and he just turned 18. Not too worried about the point production for a young guy but he’s only 5 foot 8 which isn’t ideal. We’ll probably see him in 26 or 27.

Micheal Sandruck (F): 43 games, 5 goals, 5 assists, 10 points, 146 PIM.
Another guy with a ridiculous penalty minutes total and he certainly does not have the points to back it up. He’s 19 so I hope we can get him another year in the juniors before we see him here. Just not enough production to entice me to want to have him here in the fall.

That’s all of our guys that ended the season in the USHL, I’ll probably do the same thing for the BCHL when it ends.

Tuminaro has been on both NHL central scouting rankings so far. Though, in the midterm rankings he was listed under “limited viewing” because of his injury. Because he’s been out all season, he probably won’t get drafted and will need to spend another year in juniors. We will really need to hope he is able to recover and reach his (apparently very high) potential.

As for the penalty minutes, it’s probably a function of fighting and game misconducts more than bad discipline.

I am pretty sure Vellieux, DiGiulian, Long, Pelletier, Gorski come next year, and the others the following year.

You guys are right about the fighting causing the high penalty minutes, sorry about that, I forgot the U allows fighting

DiGiulian is listed at 178 lbs by his USHL team,
the Lincoln Stars. Gio has also been ranked by NHL Central Scouting.

Our recruiting looks good in general BTW.

My worry is that the bar has been raised a lot due to CHL players becoming eligible. Guys averaging a point per game in the USHL still project to be good college players. But now opponents won’t have a bunch of NAHL guys but rather CHL guys. So we need to improve our own recruiting at the same rate to keep up.

Trotsky

The Rancor
Alex Pelletier - son of JM Pelletier?

Alex born Grandy, CT Jun 01, 2005. JHean-Marc was playing for Springfield, MA. Driving distance 24 miles.

Let's say 67% chance of yes.

Pretty sure it’s no. In 2011 looks like he only had a daughter and she not yet college aged

[news.cornell.edu]

Looks like one recruit made the NHL Central Scouting Final Rankings: Gio DiGiulian at 132nd. Gio was on last year’s list too but went undrafted. It doesn’t seem too common for someone to make the list a second year after they went undrafted the first year, so Gio must have looked impressive in the USHL this season.

Cole Tuminaro dropped off the rankings after being injured the whole season. Awful luck for him. Maybe he will get another shot next year.

Even though having just one recruit on the list isn’t great, I believe nobody born after 9/15/07 is eligible, so that excludes Kirkwood, Emerson, DiPlacido, Peckham, and Broderick. And then the rest of our recruits are mostly overeagers who were already eligible in one or more past years. Veilleux was already drafted. So it’s not too surprising we don’t have a great representation this year.

Still, I’d like to see recruiting pick up. William Moore, whose family attended Cornell and whose grandfather was a Cornell professor chose, BC over Cornell. He is 29th in the rankings.

With the addition of Vellieux & Fisher, we should have 7 drafted players on next year’s team. If DiGuilian gets drafted, we will have 8. When was the last year Cornell had 8 or more draftees on the team? Long, Pirtle, & Hiscock all had outstanding years, but assume are too old to be drafted.

CAS
With the addition of Vellieux & Fisher, we should have 7 drafted players on next year’s team. If DiGuilian gets drafted, we will have 8. When was the last year Cornell had 8 or more draftees on the team? Long, Pirtle, & Hiscock all had outstanding years, but assume are too old to be drafted.

I think Cornell had 9+ drafted players at points in the mid-2000s. We were recruiting amazingly back then. We also had several first and second round picks during that time. (There were more draft rounds back then though.) In the mid-2010s we again saw a bunch of players drafted.

Looking at the draft history on the cornell athletics website, you can see this on display. In the twenty years from 1999 and 2019, only one single year (2010) did we have nobody drafted. Recruiting seems to have peaked in the early 2000s, when we averaged well over two players drafted per draft including eight in 2003 and 2004 combined.

We are currently staring at possibly the first two consecutive years of no Cornellian drafted since 1995 and 1996.

With that said, I don’t think we’ve had 8 drafted players on the same team since 2015 or so.

For what it’s worth, last year DiGiulian was 124th in the rankings and went undrafted. Maybe it is a little worse than a coin flip that he gets drafted this year.

BearLover

CAS
With the addition of Vellieux & Fisher, we should have 7 drafted players on next year’s team. If DiGuilian gets drafted, we will have 8. When was the last year Cornell had 8 or more draftees on the team? Long, Pirtle, & Hiscock all had outstanding years, but assume are too old to be drafted.

I think Cornell had 9+ drafted players at points in the mid-2000s. We were recruiting amazingly back then. We also had several first and second round picks during that time. (There were more draft rounds back then though.) In the mid-2010s we again saw a bunch of players drafted.

Looking at the draft history on the cornell athletics website, you can see this on display. In the twenty years from 1999 and 2019, only one single year (2010) did we have nobody drafted. Recruiting seems to have peaked in the early 2000s, when we averaged well over two players drafted per draft including eight in 2003 and 2004 combined.

We are currently staring at possibly the first two consecutive years of no Cornellian drafted since 1995 and 1996.

With that said, I don’t think we’ve had 8 drafted players on the same team since 2015 or so.

[www.tbrw.info]

You are obviously omitting the two drafted players coming next year - both who were drafted in prior years. When was the last year a Cornell team had 3 players drafted in the first 3 rounds?

One player doesn't mean anything, but now is as good as time as any to note that our highest draft pick ever (14th overall), Sasha Pokulok, played two alright-but-not-great seasons for Cornell then never made the NHL.

CAS
You are obviously omitting the two drafted players coming next year - both who were drafted in prior years. When was the last year a Cornell team had 3 players drafted in the first 3 rounds?

Oh I forgot Veilleux. You are right. He should count. In that case we did have a player drafted last year.

Dafatone
One player doesn't mean anything, but now is as good as time as any to note that our highest draft pick ever (14th overall), Sasha Pokulok, played two alright-but-not-great seasons for Cornell then never made the NHL.

His freshman year couldn’t have been that bad, given he was drafted right after it ended.

I forgot that he was drafted after his freshman year.

He wasn't bad at all. Just not terribly impressive. Showed some capability shooting and passing, though he wasn't a noticeable puck handler. Respectable defensively, but didn't really use his size well.

He was big and not bad, and that must project well (if you're 6'5" and move in a way that isn't described as lumbering, you get attention). But he also wasn't really a huge loss when he left early, as far as I remember.

Would also be nice to recruit guys from Ithaca better. Jack parsons and cooper Dennis would be really nice to have as recruits but they are headed to providence and Michigan. I can understand losing a guy to Michigan but a good player from Ithaca going to providence instead of Cornell, come on.

CAS
You are obviously omitting the two drafted players coming next year - both who were drafted in prior years. When was the last year a Cornell team had 3 players drafted in the first 3 rounds?

I think 2005 and 2006 were the last two years. Pokuluk (1st), Sawada (2nd), Hynes (3rd), O’Byrne (3rd) in 2005, and those four minus Hynes in 2006. Hynes went pro after his junior year so he wasn’t there for 2006.

chimpfood
Would also be nice to recruit guys from Ithaca better. Jack parsons and cooper Dennis would be really nice to have as recruits but they are headed to providence and Michigan. I can understand losing a guy to Michigan but a good player from Ithaca going to providence instead of Cornell, come on.

Wow, I didn’t know about Parsons. Literally from Cortland. It’s nuts that Harvard pulls some of the best players from a city as big as Boston, but we can’t even get the best players from tiny Ithaca/Cortland.

Losing Dennis really sucked as well. He attended Cornell hockey games as a kid. I believe his family sort of knows Topher as well. Maybe they attended his camp in Ithaca. But we still didn’t land him.

BearLover

chimpfood
Would also be nice to recruit guys from Ithaca better. Jack parsons and cooper Dennis would be really nice to have as recruits but they are headed to providence and Michigan. I can understand losing a guy to Michigan but a good player from Ithaca going to providence instead of Cornell, come on.

Wow, I didn’t know about Parsons. Literally from Cortland. It’s nuts that Harvard pulls some of the best players from a city as big as Boston, but we can’t even get the best players from tiny Ithaca/Cortland.

Losing Dennis really sucked as well. He attended Cornell hockey games as a kid. I believe his family sort of knows Topher as well. Maybe they attended his camp in Ithaca. But we still didn’t land him.

Parsons was the one who stood on his head and almost stole the game when we played the USNTDP last year. Elite prospects says he’s from Ithaca not cortland.

BearLover

chimpfood
Would also be nice to recruit guys from Ithaca better. Jack parsons and cooper Dennis would be really nice to have as recruits but they are headed to providence and Michigan. I can understand losing a guy to Michigan but a good player from Ithaca going to providence instead of Cornell, come on.

Wow, I didn’t know about Parsons. Literally from Cortland. It’s nuts that Harvard pulls some of the best players from a city as big as Boston, but we can’t even get the best players from tiny Ithaca/Cortland.

Losing Dennis really sucked as well. He attended Cornell hockey games as a kid. I believe his family sort of knows Topher as well. Maybe they attended his camp in Ithaca. But we still didn’t land him.

Having grown up in a tiny town, I can tell you that kids from tiny towns tend to want to leave the tiny town.

Boston people tend to be cult-like in their devotion to all things Boston, even the mediocre things about it.

One of the issues Cornell and the Ivies have is getting recruits through admissions on short notice. Is there recent precedent for a player committing to Cornell in the spring and arriving on campus the following fall? A billion high scoring CHL players recently committed to Clarkson and Quinnipiac and will be coming in the fall. Is that option even on the table for Cornell? If not, it would kind of kill their ability to get anybody out of the portal too. Maybe it’s not as big an issue as I imagine, though. This team badly needs another player or two for next year, particularly on D.

BearLover
One of the issues Cornell and the Ivies have is getting recruits through admissions on short notice. Is there recent precedent for a player committing to Cornell in the spring and arriving on campus the following fall? A billion high scoring CHL players recently committed to Clarkson and Quinnipiac and will be coming in the fall. Is that option even on the table for Cornell? If not, it would kind of kill their ability to get anybody out of the portal too. Maybe it’s not as big an issue as I imagine, though. This team badly needs another player or two for next year, particularly on D.

When North Dakota cut its women's team (in late March, I think), Cornell was able to get one of its incoming players into school that fall as a freshman (Willow Slobodzian).

Dafatone
One player doesn't mean anything, but now is as good as time as any to note that our highest draft pick ever (14th overall), Sasha Pokulok, played two alright-but-not-great seasons for Cornell then never made the NHL.

IIRC Pokulok was pretty good at Cornell but had concussion/injury issues in some of his early years in the pros before decamping overseas.

ugarte

Dafatone
One player doesn't mean anything, but now is as good as time as any to note that our highest draft pick ever (14th overall), Sasha Pokulok, played two alright-but-not-great seasons for Cornell then never made the NHL.

IIRC Pokulok was pretty good at Cornell but had concussion/injury issues in some of his early years in the pros before decamping overseas.

I don't remember concussions, although that would explain things. I remember him never putting it together.

He felt Fegares-ish -- highly touted, not greatly delivering.

Trotsky

ugarte

Dafatone
One player doesn't mean anything, but now is as good as time as any to note that our highest draft pick ever (14th overall), Sasha Pokulok, played two alright-but-not-great seasons for Cornell then never made the NHL.

IIRC Pokulok was pretty good at Cornell but had concussion/injury issues in some of his early years in the pros before decamping overseas.

I don't remember concussions, although that would explain things. I remember him never putting it together.

He felt Fegares-ish -- highly touted, not greatly delivering.

Fegaras is pretty good. Breaks it out well, plays on the second PP. Will have a much bigger role next season.

BearLover

Trotsky

ugarte

Dafatone
One player doesn't mean anything, but now is as good as time as any to note that our highest draft pick ever (14th overall), Sasha Pokulok, played two alright-but-not-great seasons for Cornell then never made the NHL.

IIRC Pokulok was pretty good at Cornell but had concussion/injury issues in some of his early years in the pros before decamping overseas.

I don't remember concussions, although that would explain things. I remember him never putting it together.

He felt Fegares-ish -- highly touted, not greatly delivering.

Fegaras is pretty good. Breaks it out well, plays on the second PP. Will have a much bigger role next season.

I hope so. He certainly has the opportunity now.

I did read someplace the incoming NU D was the PP anchor at his last team, but I could also see Fegares challenge for that role.

Trotsky

BearLover

Trotsky

ugarte

Dafatone
One player doesn't mean anything, but now is as good as time as any to note that our highest draft pick ever (14th overall), Sasha Pokulok, played two alright-but-not-great seasons for Cornell then never made the NHL.

IIRC Pokulok was pretty good at Cornell but had concussion/injury issues in some of his early years in the pros before decamping overseas.

I don't remember concussions, although that would explain things. I remember him never putting it together.

He felt Fegares-ish -- highly touted, not greatly delivering.

Fegaras is pretty good. Breaks it out well, plays on the second PP. Will have a much bigger role next season.

I hope so. He certainly has the opportunity now.

I did read someplace the incoming NU D was the PP anchor at his last team, but I could also see Fegares challenge for that role.

Seems Vellieux may be our next PP guy from the blueline.

scoop85

Trotsky

BearLover

Trotsky

ugarte

Dafatone
One player doesn't mean anything, but now is as good as time as any to note that our highest draft pick ever (14th overall), Sasha Pokulok, played two alright-but-not-great seasons for Cornell then never made the NHL.

IIRC Pokulok was pretty good at Cornell but had concussion/injury issues in some of his early years in the pros before decamping overseas.

I don't remember concussions, although that would explain things. I remember him never putting it together.

He felt Fegares-ish -- highly touted, not greatly delivering.

Fegaras is pretty good. Breaks it out well, plays on the second PP. Will have a much bigger role next season.

I hope so. He certainly has the opportunity now.

I did read someplace the incoming NU D was the PP anchor at his last team, but I could also see Fegares challenge for that role.

Seems Vellieux may be our next PP guy from the blueline.

Maybe it was him.

BearLover

Fegaras is pretty good. Breaks it out well, plays on the second PP. Will have a much bigger role next season.

I think his thumb injury lingered through the whole season.

ugarte

Dafatone
One player doesn't mean anything, but now is as good as time as any to note that our highest draft pick ever (14th overall), Sasha Pokulok, played two alright-but-not-great seasons for Cornell then never made the NHL.

IIRC Pokulok was pretty good at Cornell but had concussion/injury issues in some of his early years in the pros before decamping overseas.

He got his head rung in his first or second game as a pro- might have even been in the pre-season. He's still playing in the LNAH I believe.

The Rancor

ugarte

Dafatone
One player doesn't mean anything, but now is as good as time as any to note that our highest draft pick ever (14th overall), Sasha Pokulok, played two alright-but-not-great seasons for Cornell then never made the NHL.

IIRC Pokulok was pretty good at Cornell but had concussion/injury issues in some of his early years in the pros before decamping overseas.

He got his head rung in his first or second game as a pro- might have even been in the pre-season. He's still playing in the LNAH I believe.

hockey db doesn't have anything after 2023

VIEWfromK

BearLover

Fegaras is pretty good. Breaks it out well, plays on the second PP. Will have a much bigger role next season.

I think his thumb injury lingered through the whole season.

He's a terrific skater and had nearly 1/2 a point a game in the 30 games he did play. Also no stats but it feels like a lot of his assists were primary: he got the puck to the net for a tip-in or it went off a body. Looking forward to seeing what he can do next year.

Veilleux scores to help Muskegon to the second round. Our PP should be fine with him and Fegaras on the blue line.

chimpfood
Veilleux scores to help Muskegon to the second round. Our PP should be fine with him and Fegaras on the blue line.

I’ve got to admit it’s getting better, a little better all the time (it can’t get no worse)

RichH

chimpfood
Veilleux scores to help Muskegon to the second round. Our PP should be fine with him and Fegaras on the blue line.

I’ve got to admit it’s getting better, a little better all the time (it can’t get no worse)

Yeah, it can, but we're not talking about hockey then.

USHL playoffs today:
Veilleux 2 assists, Muskegon wins game one.

Pelletier 1 goal 2 assists, Lincoln goes up 2-0, DiGiulian an assist.

chimpfood
USHL playoffs today:
Veilleux 2 assists, Muskegon wins game one.

Pelletier 1 goal 2 assists, Lincoln goes up 2-0, DiGiulian an assist.

Our higher end guys coming next year look good

I still believe we are one F, one D, and most importantly one G away from being a class above the non-Q teams in the ECAC

I’m optimistic about our recruiting. We have a lot of guys who are producing in juniors who are coming next year. And then we have a younger crop of recruits, many of whom are currently playing in or soon headed to the CHL (eg. Kirkwood, Emerton, Dec, DiPlacido), who seem to have potential. We also have some guys who aren’t really producing, but you can’t expect every commitment to be a home run.

I worry about a lag period of a couple of years where we suffer from the following issues:
—mass exodus of talent from graduating seniors, early departures, and Robertson’s transfer
—goalie issues
—inability to bring in quick fixes via CHL/portal (other teams with these issues can fix them immediately via CHL overagers/portal)

In exchange I hope we are bringing in want to be here, and stay here, which unfortunately has not always been the case lately.

Caton Ryan with the game-winning goal &
1st star in Vees BCHL playoff win last nite.

Veilleux 1 assist, Muskegon up 2-0 in the series

Heisenberg for some strange reason lists Michael Fisher as having committed to Notre Dame. I assume this is just a mistake, because everything else I can find on the internet says Cornell. Heisenberg lists the commitment as 4/2/25, but that is the same day the Penticton Vees official instagram account posted about him committing to Cornell.

BearLover
Heisenberg for some strange reason lists Michael Fisher as having committed to Notre Dame. I assume this is just a mistake, because everything else I can find on the internet says Cornell. Heisenberg lists the commitment as 4/2/25, but that is the same day the Penticton Vees official instagram account posted about him committing to Cornell.

Has anyone contacted Heisenberg about this?

Swampy

BearLover
Heisenberg for some strange reason lists Michael Fisher as having committed to Notre Dame. I assume this is just a mistake, because everything else I can find on the internet says Cornell. Heisenberg lists the commitment as 4/2/25, but that is the same day the Penticton Vees official instagram account posted about him committing to Cornell.

Has anyone contacted Heisenberg about this?

uncertain

ugarte

Swampy

BearLover
Heisenberg for some strange reason lists Michael Fisher as having committed to Notre Dame. I assume this is just a mistake, because everything else I can find on the internet says Cornell. Heisenberg lists the commitment as 4/2/25, but that is the same day the Penticton Vees official instagram account posted about him committing to Cornell.

Has anyone contacted Heisenberg about this?

uncertain

I hate you.