LOI Signings

With the early signing period now completed, here are the announced official signings released by schools:

BC - Matt Price
Maine - Purcell, Dee, Sill
U.Mass - Marcou, Grasso & Keane
Providence - Fayne
Colgate - MacIntyre & Williams
Quinnipiac - Duncan, Wong & Beaudoin
Alaska Faibanks - Campos, Knelsen, Lee
Bowling Green - Perkin, Ceplis, McIlrath, Greer
Lake Superior - Perkovich, George, Gysbers, Baird
Miami-Ohio - Palmer, Steffes, Wingels
Michigan - Summers, Kampfer, Lebler
Michigan State - Sprague, Rowe & Ratchuk to go with previously signed Turek.
Nebraska-Omaha - Klimek, Agosta, Kemp, Del Rosso, Olimb, Dupont
Notre Dame - Minella to go with previously signed Deeth, Lawson & Thang
Ohio State - Montgomery & Palmer
Western Michigan - Ludwig, Stockdale, to go with previously signed Letestu, Clackson & Zamparo
Alaska-Anchorage - Selby, Clark, Olthuis, Felde, Lunden, Hunt, Crowder
Colorado College - Quirico, Fredheim, Sweatt
Denver - Cheverie, Ruegsegger, Ostrow, Martin, Glasser, Rakhshani, Brookwell to go with previously signed Gifford
Minnesota - Flynn, Okposo, Carman, Johnson, Whers, Fisher
Minnesota Duluth - Stalock, Ryan, Dahlberg
Minnesota State - Mouliaret, Stewart, Irwin, Gunderson
North Dakota - Genoway, Marto, VandeVelde, Forney
St.Cloud - Gale, Noedl, Roe, Lasch, Ammerman, Gaudet
Wisconsin - Mitchell, Williams, McBain, Bearson, Geoffrion, to go with previously signed Suter
Robert Morris - Freiday
Canisius - Kostuch, Weeks
Wayne State - Bernardi


And, the US National Program announced that all of their 16 verbal commitments also executed letters of intent.

More updates as they come.

Updates during the early signing period

* Alaska-Fairbanks has secured a commitment from explosive Alberta forward Dion Knelsen, a move that was not unexpected following the verbal earlier this year from his older brother, Brandon.

* A surprise decision by Brian Lebler to commit to Michigan, who, it seemed as late as last week, was leaning toward Wisconsin.

* Vermont freshman Mike Atkinson has withdrawn from school after having been arrested for DWI, and will play for the Omaha Lancers this season. It will be interesting to see if that has any impact on the college choice of his younger brother, Chris, who has verballed to Vermont.

Playing catch up

In my last post I mentioned Erik Felde wanted out of Chilliwack, and probably would return to the USHL. Well, it turns out Vernon was able to trade for his rights, and he'll finish out the season there.

The USHL page has a profile on Des Moines center Trevor Lewis, who is selecting among Boston College, Maine, Ohio State, Ferris State, Michigan and Alaska-Anchorage.

Goalie Marc Cheverie has chosen to attend Denver in 2007, joining a class of Jesse Martin, Tyler Ruegsegger and Kyle Ostrow.

Anchorage has secured commitments from shifty center/winger Kevin Clark from Manitoba, along with Ken Selby, a 6'2 winger from Dauphin, who recently was identified as a potential NHL player by the NHL Central Scouting bureau, as he has picked up his offensive production. The third commitment up front came from Chilliwack winger Josh Lundeen.

Coming "Home"

Two committed defensemen are leaving the BCHL and returning back to the USHL. Garret Suter, who committed to Wisconsin last season while playing for the Green Bay Gamblers, has left the BCHL's Salmon Arm team and is expected to play for the USHL's Waterloo Blackhawks. He was nicked-up for part of this year, and scored only one goal and one assist in his 10 games, while compiling 31 penalty minutes.

Also returning to the USHL is defenseman Erik Felde. Last season, the former US National Development alum played forward for the Cedar Rapids Roughriders, but this off-season he elected to play defense for the Chilliwack Chiefs. There, he showcased his rushing skills on the backline, scoring 25 points in 20 games, and earning a scholarship to Alaska-Anchorage. However, he has left Chilliwack and looks to resurface back in the USHL.