Wednesday Morning Link Roundup

-I've been trying to do some more research to familiarize myself with recent 2011 forward recruit Joseph Labate (pictured) out of the Academy of Holy Angels in the twin cities. I came across this fantastic interview that he did with McKeens hockey. The interview gives some great insight to his game and the recruiting process. Note that the interview was done February 22nd. He doesn't even mention Wisconsin as an option in the interview but committed a mere 12 days later. Shows you how fast things can move in the recruiting world.

-As you are probably already aware the United States Hockey League completed it's "Futures Draft" last week and the only player with Wisconsin ties to be selected was Notre Dame Academy forward Jason Reynolds. The DePere, WI native was selected by the Youngstown Phantoms. The club recently put out a release detailing the players selected, this is what they had to say about Reynolds.

“Jason is the top ’95 born forward coming out of the state of Wisconsin right now,” said Koehler. “Reynolds is a true competitor and he is developing into a “coaches’ favorite”. As a sophomore - he is already the top center playing on one of the elite high school hockey teams is his state and producing well at a young age compared to other older junior and senior forwards in the state.”

-As first reported on this website, Hudson forward Ryan Dau has committed to play for the Air Force Academy. Dplaya at the WSN Hockey In Wisconsin blog interviewed Dau about his decision to play at a service academy. Dau is the fourth player from this past season's Team Wisconsin squad to commit to a division 1 college program. Dau is also the fourth player to come out of the Hudson program in the past decade to division 1. (Davis Drewiske, Jake Drewiske, and Andy Bohmbach are the others)

-Minnesota picked up a goaltender recruit from the USHL in Des Moines Buccaneers netminder Michael Shibrowski. He's actually a transfer from Colorado College but decided to go back to the USHL after it became apparent that Joe Howe was going to be the guy for the Tigers. This brings up an interesting situation for the Gophers because they currently have Muskegon (USHL) goalie Joel Vienneau scheduled to come in to replace departing senior Alex Kangas.

I can't imagine Minnesota rocking three scholarship goalies next year with Kent Patterson, Shibrowski and Vienneau (they also have walk on third stringer Jake Kramer). To make things more complicated they have Green Bay Gamblers goalie Adam Wilcox committed for 2012. If I had to guess, it would be that the Gophers have pulled Vienneau's offer. He played pretty bad in the USHL this season. Should be interesting to follow.

-Internet rumors that Green Bay Gamblers head coach Eric Rud was at Michigan Tech today to interview for their head coaching opening were confirmed by Wes Hodkiewicz from the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Michigan Tech has reportedly already been turned down by Nebraska-Omaha head coach Dean Blais and Michigan assistant Mel Pearson. UNO assistant Mike Hastings has also interviewed for the position.

-Rumors are circulating from Grand Forks that North Dakota forwards Mike Cichy and Brett Bruneteau are considering transferring. According the rumors, Cichy is looking to transfer to Western Michigan in the CCHA, and Bruneteau to Vermont in Hockey East. Neither player saw much ice time for the Sioux last season so the news isn't entirely shocking.

I'll leave you with this little gem. Video of Wisconsin superstar forward Hilary scoring the game winning goal for Team USA in OT of the gold medal game at the IIHF Women's World Championships.



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Ryan Dau commits to the Air Force Academy

Another feather in the cap for Team Wisconsin.

After an in home visit late last week from Air Force head Coach Frank Serratore, the coaching staff checked in with Hudson, WI forward Ryan Dau Monday afternoon. After mulling over his full ride offer over the weekend, he felt confident in making his pledge to the Falcons hockey program.

Dau, a 6'1, 178 pound forward led his high school team in scoring with 20 goals and 21 assists for 41 points in 20 games this past season. A key member of the Team Wisconsin program, Dau registered 15 points in 21 games in the Upper Mid-West High School Elite League. Dau capped his season with the Team Wisconsin senior squad when he led TW and the entire Minnesota NIT tournament in scoring with 6 points in 3 games.

A phenomenal skater, Dau is at his best when playing higher levels of competition. He has an exceptional ability to avoid contact and has a knack for setting up teammates in the offensive zone. Known as an extremely intelligent player, Dau reports a 3.88 grade point average.

Dau's commitment to Air Force marks the fourth verbal commitment by a member of this past seasons Team Wisconsin squad. Notre Dame Academy defenseman Tim Davison and Waupaca forward Brad Navin are both locked up to head to Wisconsin and Appleton defenseman Cliff Watson has given his verbal pledge to Mark Osiecki and the Ohio State University.

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Monday Morning Link Roundup

-Many of you are already familiar with former Badger and current Chicago Blackhawks forward Jake Dowell's family history. His father John, and brother Lucas both suffer from Huntington’s disease, which results from genetically programmed degeneration of brain cells in certain areas of the brain. Eventually walking, and intellectual ability decline until it eventually costs you your life.

Ken Campbell from The Hockey News sat down with Jake and they did a phenomenal two part interview. Part 1 can be found here. Part 2 can be found here.

Dowell talks about how the disease has affected his father and their relationship. He also talks about the prospects being tested for the disease himself where he has a 50/50 chance. Make sure you check it out.

-Future Badgers Jake McCabe and Nic Kerdiles from the United States U18 team who are playing in the World Championships won an intense 4-3 game over Russia on Sunday afternoon. The United States scored the game winner with only :23 seconds remaining to snatch the victory. Chris Peters from the United States of Hockey who is over covering the tournament in Germany has a full recap.

-Speaking of internationally play, the United States is participating in the Women's World Championships. Former Badgers Jessie Vetter, Meghan Duggan, and Molly Engstrom are all on this years squad along with current Badgers Hilary Knight and Brianna Decker. USA won game 1 5-0 over Slovakia. The Badgers represented well Sunday, Knight had a goal and an assist, Duggan had a goal, Engstrom had an assist, and Decker had 2 goals and 1 assist and was named the player of the game.

-Famed goalie coach David Marcoux said that North Dakota goalie Aaron Dell has been offered a two year contract by the Montreal Canadiens. UND is also expected to lose Brett Hextall and possibly Ben Blood and Jason Gregoire. If all four go, UND could be in trouble next season. They better hope Grimaldi is the real deal. UPDATE: Dell has tweeted that he plans to return to UND next season.

-Andy Baggot has a fantastic article up with former Wisconsin goalie Kirk Daubenspeck who was critically injured in a car crash. Daubenspeck sounds like he's doing phenomenal and is appreciative of the outpouring of support. Dauber even mentioned that he could possibly be driving in the next month. That's amazing.

-Baggot also spoke with UW centerman Craig Smith who was recently tabbed by USA hockey for the Mens World Championships, a rare honor for a college player. The biggest info in the article is Smith reiterating plans to return to Wisconsin for his junior season. As a Sophomore Smith was second on the Badgers in points and led the team in goals.

-Wisconsin assistant Gary Shuchuk joined twitter has been tweeting recruiting updates. In the past few weeks he's been in Connecticut for the Tier 1 USA Hockey U18 and U16 Nationals, and recently across the Northern border recruiting in British Columbia.

-The NHL Playoff action has been excellent so far. Many former Badgers have been putting points on the board so far. Monday night you can catch former Badgers Kyle Turris of Phoenix taking on Brian Rafalski and Detroit at 9:30 on Versus. The Coyotes are down 2-0 in the series. Turris has a goal in the series and Rafalski has 2.

-The Wisconsin high school seniors finished 1-2 at the Minnesota NIT over the weekend which was a bit of a disappointment after winning it last season. Ryan Dau (Hudson) led TW in scoring and tied for the tournament lead with 6 points in 3 games. He's visited Princeton and Holy Cross. Wisconsin recruit Brad Navin had 5 points (4 goals). UW forward Jefferson Dahl's brother Alex also had 5 points for Team Wisconsin. Potential UW recruit Eddie Wittchow from Burnsville who played for the Minnesota senior all-stars did not record a point on the weekend.

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Team Wisconsin Opens At USA Nationals Tonight

I apologize for not getting to this before but It's been a crazy last five days with Easter, my birthday, and a trip to Milwaukee for Brewers opening day.

If you weren't already aware, Team Wisconsin U16's are playing in the USA Hockey National Tournament which started today in Woodbridge, Illinois.

Team Wisconsin get's underway tonight when they take on the Carolina Jr. Hurricanes at 6:00 PM. The game can be watched live on the internet at FastHockey.com for $6.99 per game. I planned on watching tonight's game and giving a scouting report in the morning but some business has come up and I unfortunately won't be able to. Team Wisconsin management has been very helpful so hopefully I can get a game recap from them either later tonight or tomorrow morning.

I saw the Team Wisconsin U16's play a few times this fall and came away very impressed. They are coached by former Badger and NHL'er Gary Shuchuk who according to DPlaya is being rumored as a potential candidate to fill Kevin Patrick's coaching opening for next season when he takes over as a USHL head coach.

Offensively TW is led by the first line of Hudson's Ryan Dau (.94 points per game), Middleton's Todd Koritzinski (.94 PPG) and Monona Grove's Trevor Okeson (.63 PPG). They have combined for 86 points this season. There is virtually zero drop off to the second line with Wausau West's Garrett Clemment (.90 PPG), Eau Claire Memorials Alex Dahl (.77 PPG), and Green Bay United's Evan Janssen (.46 PPG). Another forward of note is Beaver Dam's Nick Szopinski (.54 PPG).

Team Wisconsin had a nice stable of defensemen as well. I really like Brookfield's Matthew Fosdick and Notre Dame Academy's Tim Davison. Fosdick is the leading scorer for the defensemen with 18 points.

Here is the full schedule for Team Wisconsin at USA Nationals:

Wednesday, April 7 - vs #25 Carolina Jr. Hurricanes @ 6:00 PM
Thursday, April 8 - vs #10 North Jersey Avalanche @ 5:00 PM
Friday, April 9 - vs #1 Chicago Mission @ 5:00 PM
Saturday, April 10 - Quarter-Finals in AM (TBD) Semi-Finals in PM (TBD)
Sunday, April 11 - Championship @ 10:00 AM

Recruiting: Looking Down The Line

Looking at potential forwards down the road for the classes of 2011-2012 there are many names that come up. One of those is Hudson forward Ryan Dau. Dau is a 1993 born junior forward with the Raiders. I've gotten to see Ryan play multiple times over the past two seasons between his high school schedule and with Team Wisconsin minor. I've come away impressed every time.

I made it out to Hudson's playoff game last Thursday at New Richmond where Dau had his hands on two outstanding goals. I was very excited when I saw that d-playa found video of them on youtube.

In the first goal, a short handed goal, watch the puck patience and awareness that Dau shows coming down the ice. He is #8 on white. Most high school kids coming down would try to take that to the net or get a weak shot off. Watch how Dau has his head up and baits the defesneman and the goalie to commit to him while the whole time he knows that he has a teammate wide open breaking down the slot.



The second goal is even more impressive than the first. Hudson is again short handed and a New Richmond player finds himself wide open with the goalie way out of position. Dau dives in front of the shot and makes a ridiculous save, gains control of himself, gets out to the point and blocks a second shot! Then he picks up the loose puck, shows his elite speed and beats both defensemen to give himself a break away and scores when he gets to the other end.



Granted, we're talking about high school hockey here but those are two very nice goals. Dau played on the TW minor squad that made it to nationals last season and is trying to do the same again this season. In the fall session of TW, Dau was second on the team in scoring with 28 points in 28 games but was first in points per game.

Dau will most likely play with Hudson and TW major next season and move on the USHL for the 2011 season. He should be a real nice recruit for someone in the 2012 class. He'll be a name to remember over the next couple of seasons.

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