St. Cloud State’s season ends in a 4-1 upset loss to Air Force in the #1 vs. #16 seed matchup at the NCAA West Regional. The Huskies finish with a 25-9-6 record overall. pic.twitter.com/QPPEFcmvXk
Sabres GM Jason Botterill now has yet another highly impressive collegiate prospect that he can sign to an amateur tryout contract.
Junior defenseman Will Borgen and his #1 ranked St. Cloud State team had their Cinderella party end abruptly when they lost to Air Force in round one of the NCAA Mens College Hockey Tourney on Friday.
The defeat was the Huskies second-straight in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and just the second time in tournament history that a #16 team eliminated the top overall seed.
The Rochester Amerks sure could use another smart, mobile, tough defensive defenseman like Borgen right now.
Borgen was a fourth round draft choice of pick of the Sabres in the 2015 NHL Draft. Borgen scored five goals and 33 assists in 96 career NCAA games.
Borgen was one of four college players to represent Team USA at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang. Though he didn't play in any games at the Olympics, Borgen certainly benefitted from a growth and development standpoint by practicing with Team USA.
The 21-year-old Minnesota native is 6'2", 190 lb. defenseman previously represented his country at the World Juniors in 2016, notching three assists in seven games en route to a bronze medal finish.
Sabres forward prospect Judd Petersen is also senior on the St. Cloud State squad.
Botterill would be wise to sign Borgen, Petersen and Mittelstadt to amateur tryout contracts and ship them to Rochester pronto.
Adding three dynamic hockey players to an already impressive collection of prospects in Rochester will only serve to strengthen a formidable Amerks team.
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St. Cloud State head coach Bob Motzko is now a serious contender to become the successor to Don Lucia at the University of Minnesota mens hockey program.
Motzko was head coach of the last two Team USA squads that competed at the IIHF World Junior Championships.
Thanks, St. Cloud State
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The Rochester Amerks can clinch a playoff berth tonight as they host their rival Binghamton Devils.
Rochester finds itself in the hunt for a playoff berth in the North Division standings, where only two playoff spots remain.
The Amerks can handle their own business with a victory tonight over Bingo in conjunction with a Laval loss (regulation or OT loss or shootout loss) against Charlotte, OR, by gaining at least one point against Bingo and a Laval regulation loss to Charlotte.
In the event the Amerks clinch a playoff berth tonight, they will become just the third team to earn a postseason invitation. Second-place Syracuse Crunch and the AHL-leading Toronto have already secured their reservations to the AHL playoffs. The Amerks currently occupy third place, just nine points back of the Crunch, and hold a four-point lead over the fourth-place Utica Comets.
The top four teams in the North Division are guaranteed a playoff spot.
All this Amerks hockey talk gets me to wondering more and more about the short term future of Sabres top prospect who was selected by Sabres GM Jason Botterill with the 8th overall pick at the 2017 NHL Draft. The 19 year old offensive whiz kid recently completed his freshman season at the University of Minnesota. Last Sunday, the Gophers were not selected for the a berth in the 2018 NCAA Mens Hockey Tournament.
Since then, there has been a domino effect of exits from the highly regarded University of Minnesota men hockey program. Namely, their long time head coach steeped down while two of the program's best players not named Mittestadt signed amateur tryout contracts with their respective NHL teams. Add in five seniors graduating this spring and you see a pattern of behavior forming.
The mass exodus from Gopherland leads one to believe that Mittelstadt will also be trading in his back pack and lab assignments in exchange for bus rides and Calder Cup playoff games.
Two days after his program failed to qualify for the NCAA mens hockey tourney, long time bench boss Don Lucia stepped down.
Who will be the next head coach of the Gophers? When will he be hired? Will the next head coach have an opportunity to sell Mittelstadt and all of Lucia's recruits on the benefits of staying and playing for Minnesota next season and beyond? Or, will the exit doors continue to be used?
Ryan Lindgren, a Gopher top-pair defenseman left Minnesota earlier this week to sign an amateur tryout contract with the New York Rangers. By signing an ATO, Lindgren voided his junior and senior seasons at Minny. Lindgren, a second-round draft pick of Boston in 2016 who had his rights traded to the Rangers in the Rick Nash blockbuster trade last month. Lindgren is now a Hartford Wolfpack player.
Lindgren did not attend the meeting earlier this week where Lucia informed his team of his decision to step down from the bench boss job that he had held for 19 seasons.
Lindgren scored two goals and seven assists for the Gophers this season. Lindgren was an integral defenseman on Team USA at the past two IIHF World Junior Championships. Lindgren was a force for Team USA in their bronze medal in Buffalo earlier this year.
Also earlier this week, Gophers defenseman Steve Johnson, who just completed his senior season, signed an ATO with the LA Kings' AHL affiliate Ontario Reign of the AHL. The Kings selected Johnson in the fourth round of the 2014 NHL Draft.
Inquiring minds want to know:
What now becomes of Mittelstadt?
Will he stay or will he gopher the opportunity to play pro hockey for the Amerks the Calder Cup playoffs?
Mittelstadt finished second on the Gophers with 11 goals and 19 assists in 34 games.
He earned Most Valuable Player homors at the IIHF World Junior Championships where he mesmerized hockey fans from all around teh globe with a WJC tournament-high four goals and seven assists in seven games played.
Mittelstadt and his camp have been radio silent this week.
Earlier this week, Sabres GM Jason Botterill was unavailable to meet with Mittelstadt and his family advisor as he was attending the NHL GM meetings in Boca Raton, Florida.
My guess is that if he hasn't done so already that Botterill and Camp Casey will be having a face to face in the very near future to debrief his freshman season at Minnesota. You won't find a more passionate, loyal and ardent supporter of NCAA men hockey than Jason Botterill.
The Sabres GM starred for the Michigan Wolverines for four seasons. Botterill is a proponent of kids playing NCAA rather than go the Canadian major junior route. Botterill values the college education and the on-campus experience. He likely isn't hard-selling Mittelstadt on trading his college books for Nick Tahou's "garbage plates" in Rochester, NY.
However, Botterill can speak eloquently and anecdotally to the benefits of leaving NCAA hockey and transitioning to playing in the second best league in the world in the American League. Mittestadt owes it to himself to ask as many questions as he can about the AHL lifestyle and what his role will be when he lands in the Lilac City.
Botterill is a straight shooter. He won't allow Mittestadt to leave Minny if his heart isn't 100% in it. In his ten seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Botterill hand selected, fdfrafted, developed and cultivated dozens of NCAA hockey players and made them Stanley Cup champions. Botterill's formula is tried and true. He bleives wholeheartedly in drafting talented college kids and watching them grow and mature at the correct pace in the AHL incubator. When the time is right for promotion to the NHL then so be it.
Like Paul Masson, Jason Botterill will sell no wine before it's time.
Just ask Jake Guentzel, whom Botterill selected 77th overall out of University of Nebraska-Omaha in 2013. Guentzel played three seasons of NCAA hockey then transitioned to the Wilkes Barre Scranton Penguins, where he played in 11 games in 2015-16 and another 33 games in 2016-17 where he scored 21 goals and 21 assists. In January 2017, Botterill called up Guentzel to the Penguins where in 40 games played he scored 16 goals and 17 assists. He added another 13 goals and 8 assists in 25 playoff games. Today, Guentzel is a Stanley Cup champion because he got a taste of the best of both worlds in the NCAA and AHL.
Isn't it ironic that Mike Guentzel, Jake's father, was an assistant coach to Mittelstadt on Don Lucia's Minnesota staff this season? Yes, Jake's father is also one of teh hot candidates to succeed Lucia as bench boss at Minnesota. Jason Botterill knows Mike Guentzel well having drafted and developed Jake at WSB and in Pittsburgh. I'm sure they enjoyed Stanley Cup victory parade beers together last summer.
Casey Mittelstadt has to do what's best for Casey Mittelstadt.
I think he will reprise his role as "Young American".
In my opinion, that's saying goodbye to his friends at the University of Minnesota and skating his way to Rochester, NY where Botterill, Randy Sexton and Chris Taylor want to win the 2018 Calder Cup. Mittelstadt could be the catalyst that starts the championship poder keg for the Amerks. What better way for Mittelstadt to transition to the Buffalo Sabres next season than to help the Rochester Amerks win a championship this spring.
Three #Gophers have earned All-Big Ten honors as Casey Mittelstadt brings home All-Freshman Team accolades while Tyler Sheehy and Ryan Lindgren earn Honorable Mention. pic.twitter.com/BqbFdp93oR
From Minnesota high school hockey legend to USHL star to NCAA freshman phenom and Team USA junior star, Mittelstadt continues to blaze an impressive path for himself across the rinks of the United States.
Mittelstadt finished his freshman season ranked second among all Gophers in scoring with 30 points (11G, 19A) in 34 games with the Gophers, one-point shy of the team’s scoring lead. He scored 4 PPG and 2 GWG.
Mittelstadt ranks tied for sixth among all NCAA freshmen with 30 points.
Mittestadt-Eichel would be sick. Zito will have a ton of talented USA forwards to choose from in Jack, Pat Kane, Gaudreau, Keller, Larkin, Kreider, Pacioretty, Galchenyuk, Tkachuk, Trochek, Boeser, Bobby Ryan. Possibly Kesler.
Bill Zito has been named Team USA GM for IIHF Worlds in Denmark. Zito is AGM Columbus and was a candidate for Sabres GM job last summer. You know he'll be calling Eichel to play at Worlds, right?
Jumbo. Tarps Off. Facial Salad on point. Just another day that ends in "day". It's his solar system. We're just passing through #Adonishttps://t.co/HU4Y8bLl0P
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