Thursday Morning Post

• Cousins Paul LaDue and Luke Johnson are set to make a big impact on UND during their collegiate careers.
• UND junior forward Andrea Dalen has been awarded Norway's Gold Puck for 2013.
• UND freshman defenseman Halli Krzyzaniak is preparing for her first season of college hockey.
• Johanna Fallman is a part of North Dakota's strong group of European talent.

Former Player Updates:

• Matt Frattin has had a strong preseason debut for the Los Angeles Kings' second line left wing spot. The style of play and the skill set Frattin possesses are exactly what the Kings are looking for in that spot, and that could have the Sioux alum primed for a breakout NHL season.
• Already having racked up a career's worth of accomplishments at the age of 25, the Chicago Sun-Times asks what's next for Chicago captain Jonathan Toews? Toews was recently ranked as the third best player in the NHL by a panel of NHL GM's and head coaches, while Zach Parise came in at number 23.
• Brock Nelson has made a strong push to make the New York Islander roster out of training camp, having earned enough trust of the Isles' staff along the way to have been spending time on the top penalty killing unit as an NHL rookie.
• Brad Malone is another former Sioux looking to make an opening night roster as he has had an impressive preseason thus far for the Colorado Avalanche.
• Former UND standout goaltender Jordan Parise has decided to call it a career as he is retiring from professional hockey.
• A healthy TJ Oshie could be what St. Louis needs to get them over the hump in the postseason.
• In what came as a bit of a surprise, the New York Rangers sent Danny Kristo down to their AHL affiliate in Hartford. By most accounts Kristo appeared to be having a strong preseason, and with the Rangers facing some injury and contract issues up front he appeared to be in line to take the battle for a roster spot down to the wire. Regardless, he showed several promising flashes during the preseason, so don't be surprised if he gets called up at some point during the season. 
• Travis Zajac is looking forward to putting a frustrating 2012-13 season behind him.
• Chris VandeVelde was invited to Philadelphia's training camp after signing an AHL deal with Adirondack, and he is now part of a trio trying to crack the Flyers' opening night roster.
• Andrew MacWilliam was re-assigned to the Toronto Marlies, but not before he left a positive impression on the Maple Leafs' staff.
• Quick Hits: Evan Trupp re-signed with the Alaska Aces (ECHL)...Aaron Dell signed with the Utah Grizzlies (ECHL)...Ryan Hill signed with the Mississippi RiverKings (SPHL)...Derek Forbort, one of the top players under the age of 25 within the LA King organization, was assigned to Manchester (AHL) after a solid preseason camp in LA...Darcy Zajac is lending a veteran presence to the Albany Devils (AHL)...Carter Rowney is attending Wilkes-Barre (AHL) training camp...Joe Gleason is attending Rockford (AHL) training camp...Updated Sioux in the Pros roster for 2013-14...

Recruit Updates:

• UND received a big verbal commitment this week from Christian Cakebread of the Fargo Force, a 1997-born forward who comes out of the Arizona Bobcat AAA program.
• Recruits Nick Schmaltz, Ryan Mantha, and Shane Gersich are all set to take part in tonight's All-American Prospects game in Pittsburgh (6:00 PM CDT start). Austin Poganski was originally scheduled to participate as well, but a minor injury will keep him out of the lineup. The United States of Hockey has a preview of the event, which can be viewed free of charge via FastHockey.
• The NHL's Central Scouting Service released its Preliminary Watch List for the 2014 NHL Draft, and a handful of North Dakota recruits are on the NHL's radar. Nick Schmaltz is listed as an A Skater (potential first round pick), Ryan Mantha, Austin Poganski, and Chris Wilkie are listed as B Skaters (potential second to third round picks), and Rhett Gardner and Shane Gersich are C Skaters (potential fourth round and later picks).
• Schmaltz came in at number 13 on Bob McKenzie's 2014 NHL Draft Preseason Report.
• Charlie Pelnik is expected spend the next couple of seasons playing for the Langley Rivermen (BCHL).

Sunday Afternoon Post

• The Edmonton Journal says that North Dakota senior Dillon Simpson has worked his way into becoming a solid Oiler prospect who possesses top-four NHL potential as a complete defenseman. 
• Sioux alums Zach Parise, Jonathan Toews, and TJ Oshie are among the Canadian and American Olympic hopefuls who will be attending Olympic orientation camps this week. Parise and Toews are all but locks to appear in their second consecutive Olympic tournament, while Oshie is a player who, with a strong NHL first half, could earn his way onto Team USA as a bottom six winger. This week's orientation camps will not include any on-ice activity for either nation as the cost of insuring the attendees' NHL contracts is too great.
• As part of its "30 in 30" series, NHL.com says Travis Zajac is the New Jersey Devils' X-Factor and that he must produce offensively for the Devils to achieve team success this season. His importance to the team became even more important when star winger Ilya Kovalchuk opted to return home to Russia to play in the KHL. 
• Former Sioux defenseman Aaron Schneekloth has opted to retire after twelve professional seasons. Schneekloth, the ECHL's Defenseman of the Year just two seasons ago, will remain with the ECHL's Colorado Eagles as an assistant coach. He spent the final seven seasons of his career with Colorado.
• According to a German sports website, former Sioux goaltender Jordan Parise is retiring after seven professional seasons. He spent last season with Valpellice of the Italian elite league, posting a 2.87 GAA and .906 save percentage.
• The Los Angeles Kings Rookie Camp starts next Wednesday (Sept 4) and Derek Forbort will be in attendance. While he is expected to spend this season with Manchester (AHL), Kings executive Mike O'Connell says he expects Forbort to play with bigger goals in mind.
• North Dakota goaltending commit Cam Johnson was interviewed during the Fargo Force (USHL) tryout camp this week. Here's the video of the brief interview:

Comings & Goings

It's been awhile since the last post containing transaction news, but in the last few weeks a decent amount of player movement has taken place amongst the UND hockey world. Below is a rundown of the recent comings and goings:

• North Dakota received a verbal commitment from defenseman Ryan Mantha yesterday. Mantha, who will play for Sioux City (USHL) this upcoming season, joins Nick Schmaltz, Chris Wilkie and Brendan Lemieux as 1996-born UND commitments. To learn more about UND's newest recruit, you can check out his Recruit Profile or you can catch him in action September 28th when Sioux City opens the USHL regular season against the Fargo Force at Scheels Arena.
• Taylor Dickin, who spent one and a half seasons with North Dakota, has opted to transfer to the University of Manitoba. Dickin and the Bisons will travel to Grand Forks October 6 to take on UND in an exhibition tilt.
• Jordan Parise came to terms with Valpellice of Italy's Serie A, joining Anthony Grieco as former Sioux goaltenders who have signed on with an Italian elite league club. Earlier this summer Grieco signed with Pontebba. Parise spent last season playing in Germany while Grieco played with Asiago of Serie A.
• Corey Fienhage signed an AHL contract with the Rochester Americans. He split time last season between Rochester and Gwinnett (ECHL).
• Michael Forney re-signed with the ECHL's Colorado Eagles. Forney spent the bulk of last season with Colorado, where he was one of the team's top point producers. He also spent some time with the AHL's St. John's IceCaps and Texas Stars.
• Joining Forney in Colorado is Aaron Dell. Dell, of course, recently forfeited his final season of collegiate eligibility to sign a professional contract, and he will be one of two new faces in goal for Colorado.
• Andrew Kozek has signed with Dornbirner of the Erste Bank Liga (Austria Tier 1). He spent last season with the Nikko IceBucks of the Asia League.

Thursday Morning Coffee

• The acting class Matt Greene took at UND may or may not have helped prepare him for his feature length debut, the Los Angeles Kings' Stanley Cup Championship DVD. Greene was also a guest on L.A. Today earlier this week, where he discussed LA's Stanley Cup season.
• A host of former Sioux recently took part in UND professor Frank White's charity golf tournament to help raise scholarship money.
• Dillon Simpson, who Hockey Prospectus recently ranked as the #12 prospect in the Edmonton Oiler organization, spent three segments as an in-studio guest on The Pipeline Show Tuesday night. If you care to take a listen, the audio clips can be found on this page.
• Former Sioux goaltender Jordan Parise lives a different hockey life than his younger brother Zach.
• An Anaheim Ducks blogger profiles the newly extended Matt Smaby.
• Veteran Fargo sportscaster Dan Hammer has signed on with Midco Sports Network and will be Midco's man in the booth for UND sports play-by-play.

Thursday Evening Post

• The Los Angeles Kings took a 1-0 series lead over the New Jersey Devils last night in the Stanley Cup Finals by way of a 2-1 overtime victory. None of the former Sioux taking part in the Finals figured into the scoring, but Matt Greene and the Kings are now just three wins away from hoisting the Cup. The Kings have yet to lose on the road this postseason, but the Devils are not in unfamiliar territory as this is the third time in four postseason series they've dropped game one. New Jersey sports a 1-3 record in series opening contests but is 11-4 in all other games. Game two is scheduled for Saturday night (7:00 CDT) in New Jersey.
• A little more info was released regarding Matt Frattin's season-ending knee injury. Damien Cox of the Toronto Star tweeted last night that Frattin will most likely not be ready for fall camp as his surgery requires four months of post-procedure rehab. He's apparently already had surgery and is expected to make a full recovery.
• An interesting nugget from this offseason game plan for the Chicago Blackhawks: Jonathan Toews is one of just three NHL forwards to have a double digit + rating each of the past five seasons. Pavel Datsyuk and Alex Burrows are the others.
• The agent of Lee Goren says that the former Sioux All-American will most likely either be re-signing with Skelleftea or moving to Rogle, another Swedish Elite League club (info from this Swedish article). Goren and Skelleftea advanced to the league finals this past season, where he suffered a concussion that caused him to miss the last several games of the series. Earlier this season, he expressed his desire to perhaps play a few more years in Sweden (last bullet point on the post).
• Former Sioux standouts Zach and Jordan Parise are scheduled to join a host of other stars for a charity hockey game in Minneapolis in a few weeks. The proceeds will go to Defending the Blue Line, an organization that helps military families pay for hockey expenses.
• The USHL announced its All-USHL First and Second Teams today, and two Sioux recruits earned recognition. Fargo Force goalie Zane Gothberg, who was also a co-recipient of the league's Goaltender of the Year award, and Green Bay Gambler defenseman Jordan Schmaltz were each named to the First Team. This is the second consecutive season Schmaltz has made the First Team, and both he and Gothberg are expected to arrive in North Dakota this fall.
• The recruit profiles for the incoming class of freshmen and transfers have been updated to reflect their performances during the 2011-12 season. The profiles for the recruits anticipated to arrive in 2013-14 and beyond will be updated shortly. You can find all of them on The Recruits page.

Running Down the Sioux in the Pros: ECHL & Overseas

As advertised, here is the rundown of the former Sioux playing in the ECHL and various leagues overseas. Tomorrow's post will feature updates on the Sioux recruits.

ECHL:

• Colorado Eagle defenseman Aaron Schneekloth is quite possibly having the best statistical year of his professional career. The Eagles franchise moved from the Central Hockey League to the ECHL this season, but the change in competition hasn't slowed Schneekloth. Through 17 games he has 16 points (8G, 8A), 6 power play goals, a +10 plus/minus rating, while his 16 points, 8 goals, and 6 PPG lead all ECHL defensemen. He was also a runner-up for last week's ECHL player of the week award after producing five points (4G, 1A) in three games. Earlier this month Schneekloth took part in a podcast to discuss several aspects of his career, including touching on his time spent at North Dakota.
• Schneekloth's Eagle teammate Michael Forney is also having a solid year, with 10 points (4G, 6A) in 17 games. Forney was recently featured in the Eagles' Player Profile series, and there was a decent amount of Mighty Duck talk. Here's the interview:

• Something about November must get the Toews family revved up. While brother Jonathan has been busy tearing up the NHL, David Toews has been on a nice streak of his own. The Toledo Walleye forward is currently on a 5 game point streak, during which he has accumulated 6 points (1G, 5A).

Overseas:

• Adam Calder is having a big year in the EPIHL (England Tier II). Through 20 games, he leads the Slough Jets with 21 goals and 39 points. His 39 points also rank him second in the league.
• Colby Genoway has 26 points (6G, 20A) in 19 games with Lausanne of Switzerland's Tier II league. He leads the team in assists, ranks second in points, is fifth in the league in assists, and is tied for 11th in points.
• Jean-Philippe Lamoureux is among the top goaltenders in Austria's Tier I league. He has started 23 of Olimpija Ljubljana's 24 games and has posted a 2.28 GAA and .937 Save %, both of which are second best in the league. The save percentage is his best since his high school days in Grand Forks.
• Andrew Kozek has 28 points (20 G, 8A) in 19 games for the Nikko Icebucks (Asia League). His 20 goals lead the Icebucks and rank second in the league, while his point total is tied for the sixth highest in the league.
• Curtis Murphy has notched 22 points (6G, 16A) in 24 games for EHC Linz (Austria-Tier I). He is the top point producing defenseman in the league.
• With 20 points in 16 games, Bill Trew leads the wonderfully named Landshut Cannibals (Germany-Tier II) in points and is tied for the team lead in assists. His 20 points are also 15th best in the league.
• Jordan Parise joined the Dresdner Eislowen after former Minnesota goaltender Kellen Briggs went down with an injury. In 11 games Parise leads the league with a 2.09 GAA, and his outstanding play has led to a contract with Augsburg of Germany's elite league. He is expected to make his Augsburg debut Friday against EHC Munich, which features former Sioux Jason Ulmer as its second leading scorer.
• Brandon Bochenski (Barys Astana-KHL) has 19 points (9G, 10A) in 21 games. His 9 goals are tops on the team and his point total has him tied for the team lead.