Wisconsin State Journal writer has confirmed that Team Illinois Midget Minor forward Michael Mersch has committed to Wisconsin. He joins Team Illinois Midget Major defenseman and friend Frankie Simonelli who I had already confirmed committed last week.Baggot claims that the earliest Mersch could get there is 2010 but from the information I have, he graduates high school in 2011. Unless he accelerates his studies he wouldn't be in Madison until the fall of 2011.
Mersch is by all accounts an extremely talented forward prospect with boat loads of potential. He, like Simonelli was invited to the NTDP tryout. If he were to be offered a spot and accept it, that could become a bit fishy for Wisconsin. He would be entering the NTDP as a sophomore in high school. That means that once he ages out of the program, he will still have 1 season left to finish of high school. This falls into the same category as Peter Mueller, Pat Kane, Phil Kessel, Nick Pryor, Etc. Mueller and Kane decided to go play major junior after they aged out (although Mueller couldn't get into school any ways), Kessel accelerated his studies to enter Minnesota a year earlier, and Pryor is going to play a season in the USHL while he finishes high school. So it should be interesting to see how this unfolds.
But regardless it's great to have these guys on board whenever they get here.
Here are some links to Simonelli and Mersch when I first found out that they may have committed to Wisconsin.
This is what his Team Illinois head coach Jon Hull had to say about him: "Michael is big and strong, and his physical play opens up the ice for Nick and Danny," said Hull, who played six years of junior hockey in Canada before evolving into coaching and transplanting to the Chicago area.
Chris Dilks (Western College Hockey): "Power forward with good scoring ability."
He also had this to say about him after the USA Select 15 camp last summer: "Finished the week as the leading scorer. Very active player that always seems to be involved in the play. Showed the ability to hit, as well as score points."
Michael Mersch was also invited to the NTDP Tryout.
USHR had this to say about Mersch at the Beantown Fall Classic: "6’1” late ’92 forward Michael Mersch was excellent, a cut above the rest and a hard worker to boot."
Here is Mersch's Point Streak Page.
I have not gotten to personally see Mersch play but he almost seems like a Blake Geoffrion type player. Ability to put points on the board but he's going to hammer it out on the boards too.
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