Kristo and Dell impress at Habs development camp

Ric Stephens from All Habs had his final report from the Montreal Canadians Development camp and it sounds like Aaron Dell and Danny Kristo left a pretty good impression on the All Habs bloggers and hopefully the Habs management.

On the other side of the equation, it appears that former Fighting Sioux forward Michael Cichy did not leave a very good impression during his time in the Habs development camp and kind of confirmed some of the rumblings that many of us heard about Cichy during his time at UND.

Forwards

Danny Kristo may have been the player of the game, demonstrating his raw speed and soft hands, scoring once. To a certain extent, Kristo has flown under the radar with fans and media in Montreal but until help arrives in the form of the No. 3 pick at the 2012 Entry Draft, the Fighting Sioux right-winger is the Habs most-promising forward prospect. Kristo will head back to the University of North Dakota for his senior year in the Fall in pursuit of an NCAA championship.

Michael Cichy also deserves mention after today’s scrimmage. During drills, one can’t help notice that his skating isn’t very strong and there’s nagging rumblings about his conditioning. But get him into game action and Cichy shows that he has excellent vision and a nose for offense. The smallish center scored twice during the scrimmage for Team White.

Goaltenders

Aaron Dell is listed as one of The Goalie Guild’s “Dark Horses” with a 35 per cent chance of being signed to a pro deal. In camp Dell demonstrated why he had such a successful NCAA career with solid positioning. He could improve his rebound control but was willing to be a battle to make the save when caught out of position.

Dell and Kristo at the Habs development camp

The Habs are having their development camp and you will see some familiar names on the Hab’s development camp roster. Fighting Sioux fans don't need to worry because Danny Kristo has said that he will return to UND for his senior season. Aaron Dell is said to not be coming back and will be signing a professional contract this summer - as of right now - Dell has to make his intentions know or has yet to sign a professional contract.

FORWARDS
Olivier Archambault, Alexander Avstin, Alain Berger, Michaël Bournival, Michael Cichy, Philip Desimone, Gabriel Dumont, Brendan Gallagher, Patrick Holland, Danny Kristo, Louis Leblanc, Philippe Lefebvre, Mark MacMillan, Joonas Nattinen, Daniel Pribyl, Steven Quailer, Ian Schultz, Dustin Walsh

DEFENSEMEN
Nathan Beaulieu, Josiah Didier, Darren Dietz, Morgan Ellis, Greg Pateryn, Joe Stejskal, Joe Sullivan, Jarred Tinordi.

GOALIES
Aaron Dell ,Peter Delmas, Brandon Maxwell , Robert Mayer, Joseph Quattrocchi , Cody Reichard

Here are a few observations from the first day of the Habs development camp from All Habs.

There was confirmation of things we already knew:

• Daniel Pribyl and Alexander Avtsin are magicians with the puck.
• Danny Kristo has explosive acceleration.
• Nathan Beaulieu is very smooth.
• Brendan Gallagher‘s switch goes ‘ON’ the moment his skates touch the ice.

And there were a few initial impressions that we will keep our eyes on:

• Patrick Holland may be a better skater than advertised.
• Darren Dietz looks much more confident this year.
• Aaron Dell turned heads with his goaltending at least year’s camp but may be challenged this year by Brandon Maxwell.
• Cody Reichard looked competent in goal with a good glove hand despite his try-out status.
• If this team had a captain, it would be Jarred Tinordi, hands down. Solid leadership qualities.

The group of missing players included Collin Sullivan, Peter Delmas, Morgan Ellis and Dustin Walsh.  They did not participate in Wednesday’s practise.

A couple UND early departures and MTU has a new coach.

Brett Bruneteau moves on

According to Brad Schlossman UND Junior Forward Brett Brueteau will be transferring to UVM of the Hockey East. Best to luck to Brett Bruneteau as he starts graduate school... Nice to see our athletes getting their graduate degrees. We wish Bruno the best in everything that he does.

UND sophomore forward Brett Bruneteau is graduating from UND after two years and will attend grad school in Vermont, where he will play hockey alongside his younger brother, Nick.

Bruneteau, an Omaha native, played in four games as a sophomore and finishes his time at UND with one goal, four assists and five points in 31 career games.

Michael Cichy to transfer to a new NCAA team - Destination unknown

One of the more puzzling moves is Junior Forward Michael Cichy is transferring to an unknown college. This is according to Jason Hajdu of the UND SID office.

Another junior-to-be, Mike Cichy, is also transferring. Destination not yet official. Best of luck to @MikeCichy!

To me this move is a bit of a "HEAD-SCRATCHER" because you would have to think that Michael Cichy is really close to playing in the line up on a regular basis and being a major contributor on the score sheet, because Cichy shown glimpses of greatness in his two short season at UND. The bad thing for Mike is that he is going to have to sit out for a whole season before he can play at his new college. We wish him the best of luck.

MTU has their coach

The Michigan Tech University Huskies now have a new head hockey coach. Below is the official release from MTU. Best of luck to former MTU Husky player and former Michigan Wolverines assistant coach Mel Pearson as he takes the next step his career.

HOUGHTON, Mich. - Michigan Tech athletic director Suzanne Sanregret has appointed former Huskies' player and assistant coach and long-time University of Michigan associate head coach Mel Pearson to the position of head hockey coach. Pearson, who spent the last 23 years at Michigan helping the Wolverines to a 667-243-71 record, 11 Frozen Fours and two national championships, will be introduced at a press conference Tuesday (May 10).

"I'm very excited and grateful for this opportunity," said Pearson. "Michigan Tech was the school that gave me my first chance not only as a player but as a coach, and I'm looking forward to working with the University, alumni and community in bringing back the winning tradition."

"I'm thrilled that our search has led us to someone with the quality background of Mel," said Sanregret. "He has extensive experience in all aspects of college hockey, but his reputation as a recruiter made him our top candidate. He has contacts within all of hockey from juniors to the professional ranks, and he's well connected to our alumni."

Pearson, a former winner of the Terry Flanagan Award which honors an assistant coach's career, has been hailed as one of the best recruiters in the nation. He was credited with landing the bulk of the players on Michigan's 1996 and 1998 NCAA championship teams, and has recruited dozens of All-Americans and several Hobey Baker finalists during his time in Ann Arbor. A total of 54 Michigan players have gone on to play in the NHL since 1988.