Daily Skate: UND recruit hits 30 goals in USHL

Apr. 3—GRAND FORKS — Michael Emerson will be a freshman forward at UND in the fall.

He will come to campus with a notable accolade.

This weekend, Emerson became a 30-goal scorer in the United States Hockey League. He hit that mark with a tally Saturday for the Chicago Steel against the U.S. Under-18 Team.

In the last 20 years — the span of online records in the USHL — only six other UND commits have scored 30 in a USHL season.

They are Riese Gaber (34 in 2019-20), Brock Boeser (35 in 2014-15), Chris Wilkie (35 in 2014-15), Mike Cichy (34 in 2008-09), Jason Gregoire (37 in 2007-08) and Rastislav Spirko (35 in 2003-04).

Emerson is different from most others on the list.

While Gaber, Boeser and Wilkie are pure goal-scorers who can wire wrist shots from beyond the dots, that's not how Emerson scores his goals.

The 6-foot-1, 197-pound forward is constantly skating to the top of the crease and is adept at putting away pucks from there. According to InStat's database of goals, only three of his goals have come from beyond the faceoff dot — and one of those was an empty-netter.

The others are almost all coming from the top of the paint.

Emerson has the ability to play both center and wing. Next season, he will likely line up at wing.

UND has several potential centers in Cameron Berg, Jake Schmaltz, Owen McLaughlin, Louis Jamernik V and Ben Strinden.

The forward group for next season is almost set.

UND is expected to have 10 returning forwards: Jackson Blake, Gaber, Dylan James, McLaughlin, Jamernik V, Schmaltz, Strinden, Griffin Ness, Jackson Kunz and Dane Montgomery.

Emerson and Jayden Perron, currently Chicago Steel teammates, are guaranteed to come in as freshmen, putting the number of forwards to 12.

Berg,

who is transferring in

from Omaha, is a 13th.

That leaves two open spots to get to 15, which is usually where UND lands (last season, it had 16 forwards, so it could go there, too).

Senior Carson Albrecht is graduating, but if he opts to return for grad school and a fifth year, he could be one.

The other will likely be a transfer to fill the void left by

Judd Caulfield's signing

Sunday.

Considering UND is losing a lot of size and strength with Caulfield and fifth-year seniors Mark Senden and Gavin Hain, it seems likely the Fighting Hawks will fill that spot with a big winger from the transfer portal.

Among those currently in the portal who fit that profile: 6-foot-4 Joe Cassetti of Miami (10 goals), 6-foot-3 Ryan Mahshie of RPI (15 goals), 6-foot-3 Sam Colangelo of Northeastern (Anaheim pick) and 6-foot-1 Jack Malone of Cornell (Vancouver pick).

Former UND defenseman Cooper Moore will head back to his home state of Connecticut next season.

Moore will play at Quinnipiac, which is located in Hamden.

The Bobcats have four fifth-year seniors on defense and are re-loading with the portal. They already received a commitment from Omaha defender Davis Pennington.

Moore, a Detroit Red Wings draft pick, had three goals and 13 points in 31 games last season. Moore has two years of college eligibility remaining.

Jonathan Toews, who has been battling the effects of long COVID and Chronic Immune Response Syndrome, returned to the lineup for the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night.

It marked his first game since January.

Toews tallied an assist in 14 minutes of play.

The former UND star's contract is up at the end of this season. He's spent his entire pro career with the Blackhawks, but it's possible this is the end of that run. Toews has even

hinted at the possibility of retirement

due to health reasons.

Toews has played 1,061 regular-season games with Chicago, tallying 371 goals and 881 points. He's captained Chicago to three Stanley Cups.

Minnesota State-Mankato head coach Mike Hastings left last week to become the head coach at the University of Wisconsin.

The next question was whether his top assistant, Todd Knott of Red Lake Falls, would take over the head job in Mankato or follow Hastings to Madison. On Sunday night, MSU-Mankato answered that by announcing Knott passed on the job and the Mavericks will conduct a search.

It's the end of an era in Mankato, where there will be considerable turnover.

In addition to losing Hastings and Knott, the Mavericks are turning over a large portion of their roster.

The Mavericks' job is expected to gain quite a bit of interest.

Journalist Dan Myers

wrote a blog entry

detailing Knott's departure.

UND commit Mac Swanson of the Fargo Force hit the 40-assist, 50-point total over the weekend.

Only one 2006-born player has more points in the USHL this season than Swanson — BU commit Macklin Celebrini, who is the frontrunner to be the No. 1 overall NHL draft pick in 2024.

UND's other 2006-born forward commit, Sacha Boisvert of the Muskegon Lumberjacks, also is having a fantastic season. He's up to 38 points in 50 games.

The top 2006-born scorers outside of the National Team Development Program: Celebrini 83 points, Swanson 52, Providence commit Trevor Connelly 43, Boisvert 38, Will Felicio 26 and BU commit Owen Keefe 10.

* Michigan finally pulled the interim tag from coach Brandon Naurato after he led the Wolverines to the Frozen Four. He is now the full-time head coach.

* Former UND defenseman Ryan Sidorski made his pro debut this weekend for Milwaukee in the AHL. Sidorski played in three games for the Admirals.

* Former UND defenseman Ty Farmer also made his pro debut for Allen in the ECHL. Farmer has played in three games, registering one assist and a plus-3.