It looks like some of the NCAA Conferences are beginning play this weekend, so I guess it's time for another thread.
Last season, we were tracking 4 Flames prospects on 3 teams in the NCAA: Emilio Pettersen (Denver), Demetrios Koumontzis (Arizona State), Mitchell Mattson (Michigan State), and Josh Nodler (Michigan State).
Pettersen signed his ELC with the Flames at the end of April, so he will not be returning to College (at least to play hockey). The other three players are expected to return to College for another season.
Additionally, the Flames drafted 2 NCAA (bound) players this year:
- Yan Kuznetsov (D) will be entering his sophomore season at the University of Connecticut (UConn). As a freshman, Kuznetsov was the youngest player in the NCAA, only turning 18 in late March. That didn't stop him from playing in all 34 of UConn's games last season, where he put up 2 goals and 9 assists.
- Jake Boltmann (D) is expected to play one more season in the USHL before starting college at the University of Minnesota next season. Last season, Boltmann split his season between High School hockey in his home town of Edina, MN and the USHL with the Lincoln Stars. This year, he will be wearing an "A" for the Stars and is expected to play the full season in the USHL.
It has been announced that Arizona State will be playing its games on the road, entirely within the Big-10 Conference, at least through the end of December. So far, the Big-10 has only announced its schedule through the 20th of December.
- ASU's season starts on Saturday with a 2 game series at Michigan.
- MSU's season starts next Thursday with a 2 game series hosting ASU.
- UConn is in HockeyEast, which has not yet announced its schedule. Although, on Friday, they did announce that the season will start on November 20, so they should be announcing something soon.
- Lincoln's USHL season starts this weekend. It appears the USHL is planning on playing a full regular season with games scheduled through late April.