G Kam Hendrickson - Chanhassen High School, USHS-MN (2024 Draft)

[Hockeyville USA]

Ya, most teams have Canadians because there are a lot of good Canadian hockey players... The Gophers don't NEED to have any Canadians.

BC, the best team of the last 15-20 years, has one Canadian, and he has 7 points.

Perreault is a dual citizen but you're right. They do have some Swedes (Jellvik & Bengtsson). The point is Minnesota shouldn't just recruit 90% Minnesotans. The California and Illinois talent pool has boomed, the Western PA (Pittsburgh) talent pool has grown as you know with Cooley and Mooney, plus more top tier Canadians and more Europeans coming over to play NCAA.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I have no problem with the tradition of mostly Minnesota players. I think with the U having their own players play for them has a meaning that many schools don’t have.

Minnesota is the state of hockey in the USA and tradition in that state matters more than anywhere in the country when it comes to hockey.

In soccer Atletico Bilbao in the Basque country in Spain only fields players with Basque roots. They also manage to be competitive that way. Theres nothing wrong with trying to keep alive a tradition at the potential expense of some extra wins. It’s not like they aren’t competitive to begin with. Bringing in a few extra mercenaries to play at the bottom of the roster isn’t putting them over the top.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

I have no problem with the tradition of mostly Minnesota players. I think with the U having their own players play for them has a meaning that many schools don’t have.

Minnesota is the state of hockey in the USA and tradition in that state matters more than anywhere in the country when it comes to hockey.

In soccer Atletico Bilbao in the Basque country in Spain only fields players with Basque roots. They also manage to be competitive that way. Theres nothing wrong with trying to keep alive a tradition at the potential expense of some extra wins. It’s not like they aren’t competitive to begin with. Bringing in a few extra mercenaries to play at the bottom of the roster isn’t putting them over the top.

Jack Devine, Macklin Celebrini, Gavin Brindley, Quinn & Lane Hutson, Sean Behrens, Zeev Buium, Gleb Vermyev, Massimo Rizzo, TJ Hughes, Dylan James, Isaac Gordon are all guys from areas with fewer to no cultural ties to NCAA programs who Minnesota could get if they recruited out of state harder. And they would help Minnesota a ton.

 

[Bonin21]

Jack Devine, Macklin Celebrini, Gavin Brindley, Quinn & Lane Hutson, Sean Behrens, Zeev Buium, Gleb Vermyev, Massimo Rizzo, TJ Hughes, Dylan James, Isaac Gordon are all guys from areas with fewer to no cultural ties to NCAA programs who Minnesota could get if they recruited out of state harder. And they would help Minnesota a ton.

You just listed a bunch of the best players in the country. Of course they would help any team but to say they could get them like it's easy is just not true. Also no one on this message boards knows how much they recruited any of those guys.

 

[Obvious Fabertism]

The Gophers primarily recruit Minnesotans because they are the ones that want to play there the most, and they have enough talent to choose from every year that they generally are overly full with very few slots open. If a top Canadian or whoever player came out and said they wanted to play for the U of M I am sure they would entertain it, but it’s a waste of resources to actively pursue those guys when the pipeline is already backed up.

Lucia got a lot of flack for going after the top echelon guys from wherever, while those players ended up good in the NHL, most of them left the program by their sophomore years or earlier, NCAA championships tend to come on the backs of the older players, age means a whole lot from 18-23. Loading up on raw talent makes for an entertaining product, but not necessarily a more winning one.

 

[95snipes]

The Gophers got Cooley and Knies onboard, had Eiserman until he deco'd, and have a top '07 in Mooney. I'd say they are doing just fine.

I watched the game from last night. Thought Hendrickson looked a bit small in net to me, but was quick in his movements and thought he was reading the game and anticipating well. Some rebounds I didn't like, some luck from the posts, but overall if yesterday was any indication, looked like someone who should get drafted.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Does it result in a National title if they get some of these players?

The margins are small between the best teams. Minnesota was very close last year. If one or two things go differently, it's an entirely different discussion of why they haven't won a National Title in a long time.

If they weren't able to be competitive with the rosters they have, it's a completely different discussion. The team is competitive. Results haven't always went their way. Only one team can win the National Title. I don't think it's time to change strategy.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

40 of 41 saves tonight. Only 6 games, but has a .924. Is drastically outplaying Yegorov since he got there.