Christmas has come early for UW-Stevens Point men’s hockey coach Wil Nichol. Travis Erstad, a 2007 fourth-round draft choice of the St. Louis Blues and UW-Madison recruit has announced his intentions to enroll at UWSP and play for his former coach.
Erstad, a standout forward at SPASH and the USHL’s Lincoln Stars has made the decision to play for his hometown Pointers this season. Erstad played for Coach Nichol at SPASH before joining the Stars in 2006-07 season. He played in eight games his first year and became a staple for the Stars in 2007-08.
“Travis stopped by my office, out of the blue, and said ‘I want to be a Pointer,’” said second-year head coach Wil Nichol. “ I just can’t believe it. It’s not every day a fourth round NHL draft pick says they want to be a Pointer.”
Nichol has good reason to be excited. The 6-4 200 pound Erstad played in 52 games last season for the Lincoln Stars at forward, notching nine goals and 10 assists.
“He can do it all,” said Nichol. “He has worked on the physical part of his game in juniors, which makes him a huge addition to a team that has a lot of components from last year coming back. From a hockey standpoint, this is huge.”
The Pointers open the 2008-09 season on Saturday, October 25 when they host Northland College at Willett Arena at 7:30 p.m.
So, does this mean that Erstad won't be a Badger, or does this mean he has some academic eligibolity problems that he's working on and is planning to transfer later to Wisconsin? Although, in the latter case XYZ indicates that Erstad would have to sit out a year if he transferred from UWSP to Wisconsin, so that seems like the less likely possibility.
I am curious about the timing of this in relation to Meuer's committment. I'm assuming that Erstad decided to enroll at UWSP shortly before Meuer committed?
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