Recruiting News

Mankato fans were rightfully excited about 6'5" Swedish forward Johan Ryno reportedly committing to play for the Mavericks. The only problem is that Ryno recently told the website Red Wings Central "No I didn't. Ryno denies he ever committed to the Mavericks and said his main goal is playing in the Swediish Elite League next year.

BCHL goalie Brad Thiessen reportedly visited North Dakota last weekend. The Sioux are looking for another goalie after another BCHL goalie, Marc Cheverie, committed to Denver earlier this season.

St. Cloud picked up a goalie for 2007 in AJHL goalie Jase Weslosky. He'll be added to the 2007 Recruiting Board once I can find some more info on him besides that he has a somewhat goofy name.

One of the more highly sought-after recruits for the 2007 season will be Salmon Arm(BCHL) forward Ben Winnett. He's having a great rookie year in the league and has attracted serious attention from a lot of schools including North Dakota and Michigan.

2007 Recruiting Board prospect Nick Dineen, who is an Omaha native, was spotted attending the UNO/MSU this weekend. Dineen should be a solid grinder-type in the NCAA.

Probably the biggest recruiting war going on in college hockey right now is between Michigan and Boston University for the services of Pat Kane. The folks over at the Michigan Rivals board seem confident in Kane attending Michigan. Jack Johnson even decided to make a recruiting pitch to Kane *during* Michigan's exhibition game against the NTDP. Kane will visit BU later this spring and many think they may have the inside track due to many of Kane's teammates recently deciding on BU.

The third factor in play is that Kane's OHL rights are owned by the very agressive London Knights organization, who has shown proficiency in luring kids away from college hockey. London reportedly gave Kane a big sales pitch last summer for his services, which Kane declined. It will be interesting to see if they make another attempt at Kane this summer, since it seems kind of up in the air as to where Kane will play next year.