Aaron Crandall To UMD

It's come to our attention that former Wisconsin goalie commit Aaron Crandall has given his verbal commitment to the University of Minnesota Duluth for next fall. Crandall, a 6'1 goaltender from Lakeville, Minnesota backstopped the Des Moines Buccaneers this season to the second worst record in the USHL. His goals against average was over 5, and his save percentage an eye sore .858.

Crandall was originally committed to attend Wisconsin for the 2009 season. After two putrid seasons in the USHL, Wisconsin gave Crandalls scholarship to first team all USHL goaltender Brett Bennett. Crandall was offered a chance to walk on and earn a scholarship in the future but declined.

Minnesota Duluth was looking for a goaltender after WCHA goalie of the year Alex Stalock left school early to sign a professional contract with the San Jose Sharks. The Bulldogs are left with sophomore to be Brady Hjelle who is a very good goaltender, and walk-on Kenny Reiter. They do have a goaltender committed for 2010 with Mac Carruth, but they needed a scholarship goaltender right now.

Not a bad move on Crandalls part. Hjelle is a good goaltender but not someone who is absolutely unbeatable for the starting position. Good luck to Crandall in the future.

Derek Lee finishes off weekend strong

The Victoria Grizzles won again yesterday, going 3-0 on the weekend, and Derek Lee did his part w/ two goals and an assist. On the weekend, Derek went 3-6-9, which is quite impressive. A few weeks back he was about 50th overall in league scoring, now he's tied for 19th w/ 13-42-55. Can't wait to see him in the Cardinal and White next season!

In some other recruit news, Craig Smith had a good weekend for the Waterloo Black Hawks. Craig had a goal and two assists on friday night as Waterloo hung 10 goals on Des Moines and Aaron Crandall (more on that in a bit). On saturday, Craig had a PP goal in a loss to Cedar Rapids. Craig is still 2nd in the USHL in scoring w/ a lot of season left to go. I just noticed that he will be 20 years old when the 2009 season starts. This is a huge bonus having an older experienced player coming in.

Keegan Meuer also had a goal against Crandall on friday night. Also in the game Keegan went toe to toe w/ future gopher puke Ryan Walters. Dplaya over at HIW had this video linked. Walters gets the better of the fight til the end when Keegan gets in some nice shots.

Also in that link is Keegan's goal on Aaron Crandall. As Dplaya says, "With defense like that, it's no wonder Crandall only stopped 44 of 54 shots...." While I think Crandall is definately struggling, if that video is what the defense in front of him is normally like, I feel sorry for the kid.

Recruit Update: USHL Part II

Time for the 2nd part of this update featuring all of the non-Waterloo Black Hawk recruits.

Gavin Hartzog is in his first season in the USHL w/ the Fargo Force. He's a big kid standing 6'3" 215 lbs. He was a 2009 or 2010 recruit, and right now that is looking like 2010. Probably best for his development in the long run.

Gavin had an assist on New Year's Eve, but hasn't cracked the scoresheet since. In 8 games since the Holidays, he is 0-1-1, -3, w/ 11 PIM.

Overall on the season, in 28 games he is 3-4-7, -4, w/ 23 PIM. His team currently sits 3rd in the Western Division w/ 33 pts, which is impressive since they are an expansion team this season.


Sean Little is currently playing w/ the Green Bay Gamblers, and will join his brother Ryan in Madison in 2010. He battled an injury earlier in the season.

Sean has not cracked the scoresheet yet this season and in 18 games is -2, w/ 56 PIM. He racked up 22 of those minutes last weekend against Chicago.

Maybe tomorrow night will be his night to get his first USHL point, since I'll be there to watch the Gamblers take on Tri-City.


Joining Sean in GB is 2008 Mr. Hockey Jefferson Dahl. He is also part of a large group of forwards coming in 2010.

Since Christmas, Jefferson has been pretty quiet, in 7 games he is 1-1-2, +3, w/ 2 PIM. He lone goal during that stretch came in a 8-4 win last saturday over Indiana.

Overall has is having a pretty good rookie season in 29 games he is 9-6-15, +5, 8 PIM, 3 PP goals and shooting 16.4%. He's tied for 5th on the team in goals and PP goals, while keeping it clean tied for the fewest PIM on the team.

The Gamblers are tied for 1st in the East Division w/ 46 points, which is a huge improvement over their last place league finish a year ago.


Aaron Crandall should be arriving in Madison next season to join the Badgers and back up Scott Gudmandson.

To start the season, he was traded from GB to Des Moines, from a good team, to the 2nd worst in the league. Des Moines is in last in the East Division w/ 15 points.

In his three starts in January, Aaron is 0-3 w/ roughly a 6 GGA and 83.5% save %. Overall on the season, he is 5-10-1 w/ 4.85 GAA and 85.8 % saving rate. I'm cringing just typing that.



Chase Drake is actually wearing the wrong jersey in that picture. Right before the season started he was traded from GB to Sioux City. It is currently planned for Chase to join the Badgers in 2010.

Chase has not cracked the scoresheet yet in his USHL career. In 7 games since the break, he is E w/ 6 PIM. The highlight was a +4 game last friday against Tri-City.

On the season, Chase is 0-0-0, -1 w/ 19 PIM.

His team is currently in 5th in the Western Division w/ 27 pts, but only 5 pts out of 4th place, right in the playoff hunt.

"A rejuvinated Aaron Crandall"

I don't think it would be unfair to say Badger fans have had some concerns about future Badger goaltender Aaron Crandall over the past year or so. In 32 games with Green Bay last season, he had a .882 SV% and 3.50 SV%. In 15 games with Des Moines this season, he has a .862 SV% and 4.66 GAA. Ouch. Of course, it's hard to say how much of his stats are a function of his performance and how much is a function of being on a couple of pretty bad teams. Green Bay finished last season at the bottom of the East Division with a 13-41-6 record, and Des Moines currently sits at the bottom of the East Division with a 5-14-3 record. Clearly it's hard to have good stats when playing for bad teams, but it's awfully hard to chalk it all up to the team, thus the concerns about his performance.

Therefore, I am quite pleased to post this blurb from the Des Moines Register. I know that Gandalf already posted a link in his fantastic recruit update, but I felt like pointing it out again this morning for those who may have missed it.

Rejuvinated Crandall lifts Bucs to another victory

Ryan Walters' even-strength goal 15:35 into the third period broke a tie and lifted Des Moines to a 2-1 U.S. Hockey League win over Sioux Falls before an announced crowd of 2,415 Saturday night at Buccaneer Arena.

J.P. Burkemper also scored on a power-play goal at the 18:43 mark of the first period for Des Moines (5-13-3), which has won two straight games.

Des Moines' Aaron Crandall made 32 saves in goal. The 18-year-old from Lakeville, Minn., has allowed 10 goals in his last four starts - three of them wins.

Coach J.P. Parise said Crandall, who has committed to play at Wisconsin, has been a different goalie.

"He had absolutely no confidence. We sent him home for a week to take some time with his main goaltending coach," Parise said. "Since he's been back, he's been back to calmness and reconfirmed that he has regained his skills."

"He's been outstanding the last four games."

Good to hear that Crandall seems to be getting back on track. I look forward to seeing how he plays throughout the second half of the season.

Since Crandall hasn't been much discussed lately, I thought I'd take this opportunity to refresh our memories . . .

Here's are Milewski's and Baggot's reports of Crandall's committment (Nov 2007).

A few fun quotes from Crandall:

"They're consistently one of the top teams in the country," Crandall said. "It's all pretty awesome."

"Everything just was awesome, the way they treat their players and all the help they give them," Crandall said. "It was just hard to turn down, I thought."

"If you look at just the goalies they've produced like (Mike) Richter and (Curtis) Joseph and (Brian) Elliott, there's been some studs," Crandall said. "That's obviously huge in the decision."

"I've heard a lot of really good things about coach Howard," Crandall said. "Look at some of the goalies that he's produced in the NHL. I don't see many better goalie coaches around."

Crandall said the opportunity to work with long-time Badgers goaltending coach Bill Howard "definitely factored into my decision big-time."

Obviously Bill Howard isn't around anymore, but I'm a big fan of Mike Valley as the new goaltending coach -- hopefully Crandall will be, too.

Both aforementioned reports point out that Crandall was one of the top prep goaltenders in Minnesota:

Baggot: Crandall, listed at 6-foot and 181 pounds, was one of the top prep goaltenders in Minnesota last season when he went 21-4-1 with a 1.33 goals against average, .930 save ratio and seven shutouts for St. Thomas Academy.

Milewski: Crandall, listed at 6-foot and 181 pounds, has been a part of some high-level experiences. Two years ago, he helped St. Thomas Academy of Mendota Heights, Minn., win the Minnesota Class A state championship. Last season, the Cadets finished third at state, and Crandall went 21-4-1 with a 1.51 goals against average and a .935 save percentage.

In August, Crandall played for the United States in the under-18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament in Slovakia

When Crandall verballed, DPlaya had a nice little post on HIW in which he pointed out that Crandall had recently received USHL Goaltender of the Week honors and was the best goaltender statistically at the USA Hockey Select 17 Festival.

Last February, Crandall's player profile was featured on USHL.com. I'm not sure I can bring myself to call him the Crandallion Stallion, but I like his reasons for picking Wisconsin, and his advice for young players is interesting as it seems pretty apt for his current situation.

You're committed to the University of Wisconsin. What made it the right choice for you? There were many different factors that made the University of Wisconsin the right choice for me. To start off I was very impressed with their coaching staff. They were all very professional and all very passionate about UW Badger hockey and developing their players. Also, the facilities at Wisconsin were second to none and the WCHA is a premier league.

What advice do you give to young players? To always work hard at what they are doing, and to always be confident in their abilities even when times get rough. More importantly hockey is fun, so make sure to have fun playing it.

EDIT: I neglected to post links to a couple of posts that Chuck and Gandalf wrote earlier -- Chuck had a nice Aaron Crandall Recap this summer, and Gandalf had a nice Central Scouting post in Novermber, in which Crandall was listed as a "B" player to watch (a player scouts note if they are in the area, a potential selection in the third to fifth round in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft). No goaltenders were listed as "A" players.

Also, in October, the RLR said the following about Crandall:

"Showed overwhelming improvement from last year and is playing solid and disciplined in net, but still will give up an occasional weak one. Comes out and challenges and holds position well. Has above-average glove and is a decent puck handler.''

Much needed Recruit Update

Before I get to the recruits, yesterday at Canada's WJ scrimmage Brendan Smith scored a goal for Team White in a losing effort, as they fell to Team Red. On friday, I thought Smith was w/ Team Red, now I'm confused. The last day of camp is today, and rosters should follow soon after. Already known, Ryan McDonagh will be representing Team USA.

Let's start in the BCHL where Mark Zengerle continues to play exceptional hockey. Last weekend (Dec 5-7), Mark was named 1st Star in a friday win where he notched 2 goals. One 1st star wasn't enough for him on the weekend as he dished out 5 assists on saturday night helping the Salmon Arm Silverbacks to another victory. He added another assist the following sunday in a win. This weekend Mark continued to light up the score board. In a close one friday, he had an assist on the game tying goal. Finally, last night Mark had a goal and two assists and earned another 1st star. Salmon Arm is 5-0 in their last five, and Mark Zengerle has been a huge part of that w/ 3-9-12. Overall Mark is 2nd in the BCHL in scoring, while averaging 2 pts/game, which leads everyone. This commitment is looking better every shift he plays.

Over on the Westside Warriors, Justin Schultz isn't doing so bad either. Last weekend (Dec 5-7), Justin had a goal friday night in a winning effort. This past tuesday he had an assist on a PP goal in another Westside win. While Justin was held off the scoresheet on friday, he made up for it last night w/ two goals (both on the PP) and an assist. A nice stretch for the young dman. He continues to lead the BCHL in scoring for defensemen, and is 24th overall. Justin and Mark were both named to the Interior Conference All-Star squad.

Let us not forget about Derek Lee of the Victoria Grizzles. Last weekend (Dec 5-7) Derek had a goal and two assists friday, and was named 3rd star in a win. Derek went several games following, not cracking the scoresheet, but this afternoon, had two assists, helping his team to victory. Derek is 25th in scoring in the BCHL.

Over at the NTDP, there was a post by Andy Baggot about the commitment of John Ramage that hasn't made it up here yet. Some more information on his decision to come here, he picked UW over Maine, Mich St and CC. So far, I haven't heard anything but positives about this kid, and frankly I'm pretty excited to have him join the Badgers next season. He sounds like a more defensive dman, w/ a booming slapshot. He's a big kid too. Wisconsin needs a player like this, I'm just wondering what he was doing still uncommitted w/ the apparent talent he has.

Over in MN, Tyler Lapic (2010 forward recruit in case you forgot) is back on the ice skating his senior year of hockey after an injury kept him out of the HS Hockey Elite League this fall. He has goals in wins over Lourdes and Mankato West.

In Wisconsin HS action, Dplaya over at HIW went and saw Matt Paape play the other weekend. Cody Strang had two goals and an assist on friday to lead Madison Edgewood over Oregon. I need to find my Edgewood schedule and catch one of his game's this season.

Finally onto the USHL. There was some good news this weekend for Badger fans, Aaron Crandall seems to have turned things around collecting two wins. On friday, Aaron stopped 30 of 33 shots helping Des Moines to a 5-3 victory, and followed that up last night stopping 32 of 33 shots in another win. Sounds like Des Moines' coach gave him a week off awhile back, and upon his return Aaron has been playing well. I know a lot of Badger fans have been concerned about Crandall w/ Shane Connelly's graduation right around the corner, and Scott Gudmandson's stumbles so far this season. To compound that, Mike Johnson (Verona native) is playing w/ Cedar Rapids and having a great season while uncommitted.

The following USHLers have been pretty quiet lately: Tyler Barnes, Chase Drake, Sean Little and Jefferson Dahl.

Gavin Hartzog is starting to put things together w/ the Fargo Force, after a slow start. Last saturday, Gavin had a goal in a Fargo win, while on thursday he had an assist in winning effort. Finally, friday Gavin's was one of the three pucks that future teammate Aaron Crandall let by.

Keegan Meuer is having a good season w/ Waterloo. He's notched assists in three of his last four games.

Finally to wrap everything up, Craig Smith continues to dominate the USHL. Overall, Craig is 8th in the league in scoring w/ 12-14-26, +12, though on a pts/game basis Craig is 3rd. He missed some games due to the Junior A Challenge where he captained Team USA and was an all-tourney selection. Recently, he was named Captain of the Waterloo Black Hawks (though the link eludes me). Craig has a point in each of his last four games, included an assist last friday in a loss to GB, a goal and an assist last saturday in a win over Omaha, a goal friday night in a win over Sioux City and finally a goal and two assists last night in a win over Tri-City. Last night Craig was also named 3rd star. His breakout season is upon him.

NHL Central Scouting Players to Watch

NHL Central Scouting has released their list of players to watch for the 2009 draft. All of the USHL players can be found here, and Chris over at Western College Hockey has a more complete but harder to read list here.

From the USHL article:

"A" Players: A player scouts must-see who is predicted to be a potential first or second round draft selection in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft.
"B" Players: A player scouts note if they are in the area, a potential selection in the third to fifth round in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft.
"C" Players: A player that Central Scouting is tracking, a potential late round selection in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft.
Goaltenders: All goaltenders, regardless of whether they are an A, B or C player, fall into one category.
Limited Viewing: A player that intrigues scouts but, at this time, they have seen very little of. This category is for both skaters and goaltenders.

Players of interest to Badger fans are as follows:

D Chase Drake - "B" Player
F Gavin Hartzog - "B" Player
F Tyler Barnes - "C" Player
G Aaron Crandall - Goaltenders
F Tyler Lapic - Limited Viewing

Unlike the past two seasons, I don't think 2009 will be a big draft year for Wisconsin recruits. Probably a couple guys will get drafted, maybe a few freshman like Jordy Murray or Matt Thurber could go too, but it won't be like past seasons. Personally I don't think this is a bad thing, Wisconsin is still landing a fine 2009 recruiting class, even if they don't have all the top draft pick w/ in.

A few Wednesday afternoon items

• As mentioned yesterday, the Badger Men began working in small groups with the coaching staff. Todd mentions that the beginning of the season is still over a month away. To be precise, Todd, it's 37 days 'til the puck drops in Boston.


• A number of Badger men and women have attended prep schools prior to arriving at Wisconsin. Off the top of my head, Tom Bardis (Cushing Academy) and Ben Grotting, Jordy Murray, and Derek Stepan (Shattuck St. Mary's) come to mind on the men's side, and Meghan Duggan and Erika Lawler (Cushing Academy) come to mind on the women's side. The New England Hockey Journal has an interesting article on prep schools as a stepping stone to college hockey. (Thanks to The World of Junior Hockey for the link.)


• HIW has a link to a Youtube video that consists of 10 minutes of Gamblers highlights. As DPlaya points out, Aaron Crandall and Ryan Little make appearances.


• For those who don't follow recruiting much (Ma 60, this is for you!), The Bronco Hockey Blog has a nice primer on the recruiting process.
  
  

Monday night Badger hockey links

What I figured to be a slow news day turned into a very busy one for me. Here are a few new links of interest. This is my 5th post today so make sure you check out the posts below as well. Have an awesome night everyone. Awesome week to be a Badger so far.

Hockeys Future listed it's top draftable players from the USHL. 2009 defensive recruit Patrick Wiercioch is listed as the third best available prospect. Other notables with Badger ties are goaltender Aaron Crandall and Brock Montpetit.

I missed this from Thursday and 60 would shoot me if I didn't post this, but Tom Gilbert has been named to the NHL all rookie team. Jonathon Toews from UND was the only other college player selected.

NHL.com did a profile on Shattuck St. Marys Friday for the upcoming NHL draft.

NHL.com also profiled Minnesota high school defensemen Aaron Ness and Wisconsin recruit Jake Gardiner.

North Dakota recruit Mike Chichy spurns the QMJHL a week after the Q stole a Sioux recruit. Not Badger news but we want to keep the best players in college hockey regardless.

Comcast and the Big Ten network are reportedly close to a deal. If Comcast gets a deal done then I'm assuming it's only a matter of time before Charter does the same.

2008 NHL Entry Draft Guide Update

NHL Central Scouting must have finished their long long coffee break because they have finished their previews of every players that they have ranked in their 2008 Draft Guide. That includes several Badger recruits.

Tyler Barnes #114

Chase Drake #136

Jordy Murray #173

Brock Montpetit #199

Nick Pryor #208

Aaron Crandall #24 (for North American goalies)

Most don't include much, but hey they all deserve some recognition.

USHL Recruit Wrap Up Part I

Since we have ten USHL recruits, I thought I would break this up into two posts.

Aaron Crandall spent last season w/ the Green Bay Gamblers where he split time w/ Neil Conway.

Stats: 32 games, 5 wins-21 losses-2 overtime losses, 1 shutout, 3.50 GAA, 0.882 Save%, 17 PIM

I don't have much more to say about Aaron since Chuck did a great job talking about him a few weeks back. At the start of the recent USHL draft, Aaron was traded to Des Moines. Des Moines also kept one of their goalies from last season, but Aaron should get plenty of ice time next season. His stats this season were not very good, but he played for a bad team. Badger fans should take heart, he has three more years of development (1 in the USHL and 2 under Coach Howard) before he'll be called on to backstop Wisconsin.

Chase Drake only spent the last 10 games w/ the Green Bay Gamblers after completing his senior year at Mosinee.

Stats: 10 games, -5, 4 PIM

Senior Year including playoffs: 24 games, 12-19-31 w/ 20 PIM

Don't know much about Drake since he is a recent addition to the stable of top recruits coming to Wisconsin, but I look forward to seeing him play often next season in GB.


Chris Hickey spent the season w/ the Tri-City Storm, and I'm sure he's happy to get out of Nebraska.

Stats: 55 games, 15-16-31, -24, 34 PIM, 2 PPG, 2 GWG, 12.5% shooting

If you read the blog, you know Chris is the recent addition to the 2008 recruiting class.




Travis Erstad played last season w/ the Lincoln Stars. His playoffs stats are here.

Stats: 52 games, 9-10-19, -10, 104 PIM, 3 PPG, 3 GWG, 11.4% shooting

Travis was the 2007 "Mr. Hockey" in Wisconsin. When I was compiling these stats the other night the one thing that stuck out at me was that his +/- was much improved compared to earlier in the season, where I remember it being around -25.



Ryan Little finished his third season w/ the Gamblers and will be on Wisconsin's blue line this Fall.

Stats: 58 games, 2-11-13, -21, 100 PIM, 1 PPG, 2% shooting

Career USHL Stats: 162 games, 7-23-30, -28, 251 PIM

Ryan wore the Captain's C this past season for the Gamblers and should provide Wisconsin w/ a solid, more defensive Dman down the road after some solid tutoring by Coach Osiecki. Don't let his +/- fool you either, Green Bay was not a very good team this season. Little was also selected to the USHL All-Star game.

Badger Recruit Recap: Aaron Crandall

This spring/summer I plan to do an update on every currently known UW committed recruit. (I'm going to try and do it alphabetically by last name if possible) I have no idea if that will be once a week or once a month, it all depends on my free time. The first recruit we profiled was Tyler Barnes from Burnsville high school in Minnesota. Todays profile is goaltender Aaron Crandall who played this season with Green Bay in the USHL.




Name: Aaron Crandall
Position: Goaltender
Team: Green Bay (USHL)
Commit date: 11/8/2007
Season entering Wisconsin: 2009
Height/Weight/Birth year: 6'/181/1990

Last Seasons Stats
Record: 5-21-2
Goals Against Average: 3.55
Save Percentage: .882

Numbers wise, last season for Aaron Crandall looks like an absolute disaster. And, as a Badger fan, it kind of makes you cringe a bit. Looking at it a little deeper, the Gamblers were the disaster, and Crandall just went along for the ride. Green Bay was the worst team in the USHL last season only registering 13 wins in 60 games. Scoring the least amount of goals in the league and giving up the most is not exactly a recipe for success.

Crandall is only a senior in high school this season. He left St. Thomas Academy after leading them to the State Tournament once again last season. As a Junior, Crandall had a .930 Save Percentage and a 1.513 GAA for the Cadet’s. As a Sophomore he took the Cadet’s all the way to the title and won the Class A Championship.

Crandall also has been recognized on an international level. He was selected last summer to represent the United States U-18 squad in an international competition in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. That team was chosen from the USA Select 17 festival. (NTDP players were not allowed to go)

Wisconsin is on a 2 year rotation for goaltenders which works out very well for goaltending coach Bill Howard’s, “break them down, build them back up” training style. Crandall will be entering for 2009 after Shane Connelly graduates. Wisconsin wasn’t Crandall’s only choice. Niagara had already offered for next season and Dartmouth and Princeton also wanted him for 2008. He had also according to Todd Milewski and Andy Baggot, talked to North Dakota, Minnesota (where he went on a visit), Michigan Tech, Quinnipiac, and Rensselaer.

The USHL did a sweet feature on Aaron this year that you can find here. He talks about what it was like to play high school hockey in Minnesota and the reason why he chose the University of Wisconsin.

While I’m linking things, here is a link to Chris Dilks blog after the 2007 State Hockey tournament. At that time he predicted that Crandall would be the best goaltender in the state of Minnesota in 2008. (Who knows if this would have been true since he went to the USHL)

One thing that Crandall has to look forward to this summer, (besides forgetting about how bad the Gamblers were this season) is the NHL draft. He is ranked as the #17 goaltender in North America. Committed to Wisconsin I wouldn’t be surprised to see an NHL team take a shot at him with the understanding he is going to have 4 years with Bill Howard.

McKeens Hockey had this to say about Crandall last fall before he committed to Wisconsin: Goaltender with quick pads and good flexibility .. has a quick and smooth lateral-pad-slide across the crease .. calculates the positioning of his pads and adjusts the angle to the ice as he reads the play .. easy to tell when he is ready for and anticipating a shot, as he gets into a compact stance, which allows him to butterfly quickly .. is not immune to laying a stick on attackers who interfere with him .. has not committed to a college .. (Fall Classic stats: 2 gp, .974 SvP).

Overall I am very excited about Aaron Crandall and can’t wait to see what he can do for Green Bay next season. Hopefully the Gamblers hire a good coach who can go out and get some quality players for Crandall. (Rumor has it former Gamblers assistant and current Houston Aero’s assistant Luke Strand is in the running) By the time 2009 rolls around Crandall should be a very solid backstop. Throw in a few years with Bill Howard and it will be a seamless transition from Connelly to Gudmandson to Crandall.

Oh yeah...and he can fight!

LINK

Other Badger Recruit Recaps:

Badger Recruit Recap: Tyler Barnes