UND Releases list of Incoming Freshmen

by Redwing77

UND is going into next season with 10 brand new faces.  This is the largest freshman class since 2011-2012.  Here's an overview:

Forwards:

Brock Boeser (pronounced BESS-er):  Highly skilled forward taken in the first round in the 2015 NHL draft by Vancouver.

 Ht: 6-0    Wt: 191      Pos: F     Hometown: Burnsville, Minn.                 Previous Team: Waterloo (USHL)    

Drafted by the Vancouver Canucks in the first round (23rd overall) of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft ... Spent the 2014-15 season with the United States Hockey League’s (USHL) Waterloo Blackhawks … Earned USHL All-Star First Team and USHL All-Rookie Team honors … Appeared in 57 games for the Blackhawks … Tied for the league lead with 35 goals and finished third in the USHL scoring race with 68 points …  Invited to the 2015 U.S. National Junior Evaluation Camp Roster by USA Hockey … Captained USA to a bronze medal at the 2014-15 Ivan Hlinka Tournament and led the team with six goals in five games … Tied for the team scoring lead with seven points in five games and led USA to a silver medal at the 2013-14 Ivan Hlinka Tournament … Helped lead the U.S. to a gold medal at the 2013-14 Five Nations Tournament.

Redwing77's Take:  I've seen him play a few times against Omaha.  He did quite a good job on the ice.  He was always a factor in the game for Waterloo, despite the fact that the closest Waterloo came to beating Omaha was a shootout loss (Boeser shot second and Oldham made the save).

Name: Rhett Gardner                   Ht: 6-2    Wt: 215      Pos: F     Hometown: Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan                Previous Team: Okotoks (AJHL)                                                       

Spent the past two seasons with the Okotoks Oilers of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL), where he totaled 37 goals and 54 assists for 91 points in 106 career games … Appeared in 54 games in 2014-15 and led the Oilers in points (54), goals (24) and assists (30) … Added a team-leading six points in seven playoff games … Earned AJHL All-Rookie Team honors in 2013-14 when he collected 13 goals and 24 assists in 52 games … Represented Canada West each of the last two years at the World Junior A Challenge, serving as team captain in 2014-15 and winning a bronze medal in 2013-14.

Name: Shane Gersich                   Ht: 5-9    Wt: 174      Pos: F     Hometown: Chaska, Minn.                      Previous Team: Omaha (USHL)        

Drafted by the Washington Capitals in the fifth round (134th overall) of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft … Spent the 2014-15 season with the USHL’s Omaha Lancers and led the team in goals (27), power-play points (16), power-play goals (10) and game-winning goals (5) … Added 23 assists for 50 points in 52 games … Represented the U.S. at the 2014-15 World Junior A Challenge … Spent the 2013-14 season with the U.S. National Team Development Program … Had 16 goals and 16 assists in 61 games with the U.S. Under-18 Team and helped team to a gold medal at the U-18 World Championship.

Redwing77's take:  I've watched him play all year long.  He started out being pretty much the SOLE goal scorer for the Lancers, during which they were AWFUL at home.  As the season progressed, the Lancers got better and, though Gersich didn't necessarily diminish in performance, he became less noticeable.  Shane is an energy player and he LOVES to shoot the puck.  It's hard to predict what he'll be like in Grand Forks, but he's served on a scoring line in Omaha and on a checking line with the U.S. NTDP.  He could be just about anywhere... adding grit to a scoring line or adding scoring to a grit line.  My armchair prediction is that he'll be on the third or fourth line as a freshman.

Name: Mike Gornall                     Ht: 5-9    Wt: 201      Pos: F     Hometown: Irwin, Pa.                              Previous Team: Topeka (NAHL)       

Spent the past two seasons with the Topeka Roadrunners of the North American Hockey League (NAHL) … Amassed 21 goals and 50 assists in 113 career games with Topeka … Added 10 goals and 14 points in 19 career playoff games … Served as team captain in 2014-15 and collected 15 goals and 34 assists in 58 games … Had a team-leading seven goals and nine points in eight playoff games … Was a teammate of fellow UND freshman Matej Tomek in 2014-15.

Name: Joel Janatuinen                Ht: 6-0    Wt: 176      Pos: F     Hometown: Espoo, Finland                    Previous Team: Sioux City (USHL)   

Spent the 2014-15 season – his first in North America – with the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers and registered 21 goals and 29 assists in 50 games … Also owned a plus-20 rating … Added a team-leading three goals in five playoff games … Spent the 2013-14 season in Finland’s Jr. A. SM-Liiga league and led the Blues U20 to a league championship … Had 22 goals and 26 assists in 46 games, tying for second on the team in goals and tying for third in points … Won the league’s Jere Lehtinen Award as Gentleman of the Year … Joins fellow freshman Matej Tomek, Slovakia’s Rastislav Spirko (2004-06), Denmark’s Lars Oxholm (1991-93) and the Czech Republic’s Zdenek “Stan” Marek (1950-51) as the only Europeans to play men’s hockey at UND.

Redwing77's take:  I've watched him play 3 times last season and, though he scored 1 goal and 1 assist in the first game of the year last year, he was pretty good overall.  To be honest, though, I really wasn't paying too much attention to him at the time because all three games took place before he committed to UND.

Name: Chris Wilkie                      Ht: 6-0    Wt: 195      Pos: F     Hometown: Omaha, Neb.                       Previous Team: Tri-City (USHL)        

Drafted by the Florida Panthers in the sixth round (162nd overall) of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft …  spent the past two seasons with the USHL’s Tri-City Storm and was named to the USHL Second All-Star Team in 2014-15 after tying for the league’s goal-scoring lead with 35 goals … Added 20 assists for 55 points in 59 games … Had 17 goals and 19 assists in 57 games as a USHL rookie in 2013-14 … Won a bronze medal with Team USA at the 2012-13 Under-17 World Championship … Father, David, was a defenseman who spent parts of six seasons in the NHL with Montreal, Tampa Bay and the New York Rangers.

 Redwing77's Take:  Ok, I'm not going to give you stats, but I watched Chris play a lot this year and he was ALL over the place when I was watching him.  He was by far the most fun player to watch on a very talented Tri-City team.  He seemed to play in every situation and he also manned the point on the Power Play.  He was very effective in that capacity vs. Omaha.  I really liked Wilkie's play, even if he's more inconsistent than Boeser and not as good defensively as Boeser or Gersich.

Defensemen:

Name: Danys Chartrand              Ht: 6-1    Wt: 188      Pos: D    Hometown: Winnipeg, Manitoba           Previous Team: Flin Flon (MJHL)      

Spent the past three seasons with the Flin Flon Bombers of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) … Amassed 11 goals and 39 assists in 146 career games with the Bombers … Earned Flin Flon’s Academic Award in 2014-15 … Received the team’s MVP and Best Defenseman Awards in 2013-14 after totaling eight goals and 14 assists in 56 games … Named Flin Flon’s Rookie of the Year in 2012-13 … Father, Ken, attended UND … Sister, Nik, swam collegiately at Delta State University.  Name prounounced:  Danny SHAR-trand

Redwing77's Take:  Ok, I don't have much to say about this guy except Coach Berry said that he's used up his junior eligibility and talked about needing depth in case of injury.  My guess is that this guy is much like a Coltyn Sanderson and Jim Senkbeil type guy.

Name: Hayden Shaw                    Ht: 5-9    Wt: 191      Pos: D    Hometown: Woodbury, Minn.                Previous Team: Dubuque (USHL)     

Spent the previous two seasons in the USHL, playing for the Waterloo Blackhawks in 2013-14 and splitting the 2014-15 season between Waterloo and the Dubuque Fighting Saints … Earned USHL First All-Star Team honors in 2014-15 after tying for third among the league’s defensemen in scoring with (6-36—42) and plus-minus rating (plus-20) in 46 games … Tied for the playoff scoring lead among defensemen with 12 points (3 goals, 9 assists) in eight games for Dubuque  … Was named to the 2013-14 USHL All-Rookie Team after amassing eight goals and 21 assists in 53 games … Son of UND assistant coach Matt Shaw.

Redwing77's Take:  I liked Shaw.  He factored in most of his games vs. Omaha this past season despite splitting time between two teams.  I think he's a puck mover and an offensive defenseman.  One thing I noticed (though not live) is that he seemed to be far more noticeable in the playoffs.  This is a good thing.

Name: Christian Wolanin             Ht: 6-1    Wt: 177      Pos: D    Hometown: Rochester, Mich.                 Previous Team: Muskegon (USHL)  

Drafted by the Ottawa Senators in the fourth round (107th overall) of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft … Spent the last three years in in the USHL … Named to USHL Second All-Star Team in 2014-15 after scoring 14 goals and 27 assists in 41 games for the Muskegon Lumberjacks … Ranked second among USHL defensemen in goals and fifth in points … Totaled six goals and 28 assists in 109 games over his previous two seasons with Muskegon and Green Bay … Father, Craig, was an NHL defenseman who enjoyed a 13-year career with New Jersey, Quebec, Colorado, Tampa Bay and Toronto.

 Redwing77's Take:  This kid interests me.  He is listed on the release as being from Rochester, Michigan but on the NHL Draft ticker as being from Quebec City, Quebec.  It's not a big deal but it was interesting to me.  What's also interesting is that he's a convert.  He started out playing forward and switched to defense either in high school or at the USHL level.  With UND's tendency to play "fast and loose" with positions (see Senkbeil, Poolman, and Chay Genoway as a few examples) it would not shock me to see him play just about any skating position.  The only meaningless note from my personal observations is that he served this year as Captain of the Lumberjacks.  I mention this because he spent an awful lot of time complaining to the refs when he faced Omaha.

Goaltender

Name: Matej Tomek                     Ht: 6-2    Wt: 179      Pos: G    Hometown: Bratislava, Slovakia            Previous Team: Topeka (NAHL)       

Drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in the third round (90th overall) of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft … Spent the 2014-15 season with the North American Hockey League’s (NAHL) Topeka Roadrunners, where he was a teammate of fellow UND freshman Mike Gornall … Named NAHL Goaltender of the Year and earned All-NAHL Team honors after going 24-7-2 with a 1.83 goals against average and .928 save percentage … Also had six shutouts, tied for second-most in the league … Joins fellow freshman Joel Janatuinen, Slovakia’s Rastislav Spirko (2004-06), Denmark’s Lars Oxholm (1991-93) and the Czech Republic’s Zdenek “Stan” Marek (1950-51) as the only Europeans to play men’s hockey at UND.  Pronounced:  Matay Toe-mak.

Redwing77's Take:  In my opinion, goaltending is the biggest question mark going into next season for UND.  Yes, our D has a big new look, but the Cam Johnson I saw in the USHL and the Cam Johnson I saw last year were two different players and, sadly, rather shaky.  That being said, Tomek played well enough to get drafted...but he comes from a league that isn't as solid as the USHL.  My hope is that Tomek is another coming of two former NAHL goaltending superstars:  Ryan Miller or Ben Bishop (despite Bishop being 4-5 inches taller).