Monday, May 21, 2018
Commits Claim Junior Titles
Champions crowned in USHL, NAHL and RBC Cup.
Dozens of Division I commits will come to campus with championship pedigrees after capturing USHL, NAHL and RBC Cup titles in the past two weeks.
Half of all teams – 30 of 60 in Division I – had a recruit on either the Fargo Force (USHL), Shreveport Mudbugs (NAHL) or Chilliwack Chiefs (RBC Cup). All six conferences were represented among the champions, while independent Arizona State is the only program with recruits on all three championship teams.
USHL
Fargo captured its first Clark Cup as USHL champions with a 3-1 series win against Youngstown, closing the series with a 4-2 victory Saturday night. Northern Michigan commit Griffin Loughran earned Clark Cup MVP honors after scoring seven goals in 13 playoff games.
Maine, Michigan, Minnesota and North Dakota each had a pair of commits among the 21 future college players who suited up for the Force in the playoffs. Former North Dakota player and assistant coach Cary Eades led the Force as head coach, earning his second Clark Cup in the past four years.
NAHL
Shreveport captured the NAHL’s Robertson Cup with a 2-1 victory against the Minot Minotauros on Monday, May 14. The Mudbugs erased a 1-0 deficit with goals from uncommitted prospects Brendan VanSweden and Cole Quisenberry.
Robertson Cup MVP Jaxon Castor stopped 15 shots for the Mudbugs to secure the victory. The Arizona State commit was joined on the all-tournament team by a pair of future UMass Lowell defensemen in Nolan Sawchuk (Minot) and Dominick Procopio (Shreveport).
RBC Cup
The host Chilliwack Chiefs of the BCHL stood atop the five-team RBC Cup after beating the OJHL’s Wellington Dukes, 4-2, in Sunday’s championship game. The Chiefs scored three third-period goals to become the second host team in as many years to win Canada’s Junior A national championship.
The Chiefs won under new head coach and Michigan State alum Brian Maloney despite a nine-week layoff following a first-round BCHL playoff loss. Ten schools had commits on the Chiefs roster, including a pair headed to both Holy Cross and Michigan State.
RIT commit Will Calverley scored six goals in the tournament, including one in the title game, to capture RBC Cup MVP honors.
Commits to Win Junior Titles
| Fargo Force (USHL) | ||
| Evan Bell | D | Penn State |
| Ryan Bischel | G | Clarkson |
| A.J. Drobot | F | Maine |
| Ty Farmer | D | Massachusetts |
| William Fallstrom | F | Quinnipiac |
| Xan Gurney | D | Western Michigan |
| Grant Hebert | F | Robert Morris |
| Griffin Loughran | F | Northern Michigan |
| Strauss Mann | G | Michigan |
| Jonathan McDonald | D | UMass Lowell |
| Spencer Meier | D | St. Cloud State |
| Ben Meyers | F | Minnesota |
| Ross Mitton | F | Northeastern |
| Carter Randklev | F | North Dakota |
| Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup | F | Maine |
| John Schuldt | D | Omaha |
| Mark Senden | F | North Dakota |
| Jordan Seyfert | F | Merrimack |
| Sammy Steele | F | Arizona State |
| Robbie Stucker | D | Minnesota |
| Garrett Van Wyhe | F | Michigan |
Shreveport Mudbugs (NAHL) |
||
| Jonatan Asplund | D | Michigan State |
| Jaxon Castor | G | Arizona State |
| Jack Clement | D | Miami |
| Cameron Cook | F | Niagara |
| Kieran Durgan | F | Air Force |
| Gueorgui Feduolov | F | Mercyhurst |
| Gustavs Grigals | G | Alaska |
| Dominick Procopio | D | UMass Lowell |
| Jake Transit | F | Ferris State |
Chilliwack Chiefs (BCHL) |
||
| Corey Andonovski | F | Princeton |
| Harrison Blaisdell | F | North Dakota |
| Skyler Brind’Amour | F | Michigan State |
| William Calverley | F | RIT |
| Powell Connor | D | Michigan State |
| Jake Gresh | D | Alaska |
| Tommy Lee | F | Rensselaer |
| Pietro-Jiovanni Marrocco | D | Arizona State |
| Ryan Miotto | F | Canisius |
| Caden Pickering | F | St. Lawrence |
| Matthew Slick | D | Holy Cross |
| Anthony Vincent | F | Holy Cross |