Recruit Update

• North Dakota received its latest verbal commitment from Sioux City (USHL) forward Trevor Olson. Olson is a Duluth, Minnesota native who is expected to arrive on campus in the fall of 2014. For more information, check out his recruit profile. Olson and the Musketeers (including fellow UND recruit Ryan Mantha) will be closing out their USHL regular season with a weekend set against Charlie Pelnik (featured in this video profile) and the Fargo Force. This is a good opportunity to check out three future Sioux if you can make it out to Scheels Arena either Friday or Saturday night.
• Keaton Thompson and the NTDP Under-18 team will be seeking to win the fifth consecutive Under-18 World Championship for USA Hockey, a streak that began with the 2009 event held in Fargo-Moorhead. The tournament begins next week in Sochi, Russia, and Thompson will play a key role for Team USA.
• Recruit Adam Tambellini and the Surrey Eagles begin the BCHL Finals tonight against the Penticton Vees, whose roster includes UND commits Wade Murphy and Troy Stecher. The winner of the best of seven series will hoist the Fred Page Cup as BCHL champions and advance in the RBC Cup playoffs to take on the Alberta Junior Hockey League champions. Tambellini, who earlier in the playoffs squared off against his older brother Jeff's former team, is the leading goal scorer in the BCHL playoffs and he is third in total points with 13 (9G, 4A) in 11 games.  Murphy is averaging a point per game in the postseason with nine points (3G, 6A) in nine games while Stecher has recorded four assists in nine contests.
• Nick Schmaltz will finish the regular season as the highest scoring 1996-born player in the USHL. He has recorded 50 points (17G, 33A) in 62 games for the Green Bay Gamblers and has ten more points than Youngstown forward Kyle Connor. Schmaltz and the Gamblers have already clinched a playoff spot but they will be looking to earn home ice this weekend as regular season play wraps up.
• With two games left to play, Paul LaDue holds a five point edge as the USHL's top point producing defenseman. LaDue has recorded 47 points (12G, 35A) in 60 games for Lincoln.
• Rhett Gardner recently earned the Moose Jaw Generals' Team MVP and Top Forward awards. He also made his USHL debut with the Green Bay Gamblers, but he is unsure as to whether he will play with the Gamblers next season or remain with the Generals.
• Christian Evers was recently named to the All-NAPHL Under-16 First Team. He averaged more than a point per game from the blueline in NAPHL play this season, producing 29 points (10G, 19A) in 23 games. Evers, who is expected to play for the USA Hockey NTDP for the next two years, was selected by the London Knights in the fifth round of the OHL Priority Selection last weekend. He was considered to be a second round talent heading into the draft, but he dropped to the last pick of the fifth round due to his commitment to UND and expected commitment to the NTDP.  
• Thompson and Tambellini both made NHL Central Scouting's Top 10 lists of 2013 NHL Draft-eligible players for their respective divisions.