Both the University of Michigan and Notre Dame have dominated the recruiting trails in 2020. A pair of Big Ten programs, the Wolverines and Fighting Irish, have locked down half-a-dozen of the top 04-birth year players this summer.
Michigan secured a verbal commitment from current U.S. National Team Development Program (USNTDP) forward Frank Nazar 12 months ago. Since then, the Wolverines have added two more NTDPers in the form of defensemen Hunter Brzustewicz and Seamus Casey.
Similarly, Notre Dame has maintained a verbal commitment from the top-ranked forward in the ‘04 class, as Rutger McGroarty has had plans of joining the Irish since 2018. In the last month, though, coach Jeff Jackson has added both defensemen Tyler Duke and forward Maddox Fleming.
All six players are among the top performers in the U.S. from the ‘04-birth year, and will be on full display during the 2020-21 season for the NTDP.
Which trio of prospects are you going with?
The CCM World Invite Chicago is a staple in the youth hockey calendar. Powered by 200×85, the company behind the event, the World Invite is far and away the largest youth hockey tournament in the world with more than 500 teams at the event last fall.
Like many major upcoming events in hockey, it looks like the World Invite has also been impacted by COVID-19 and the global pandemic, as organizers announced the postponement of the event from its originally scheduled Nov. 6th date. Now slated for Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, the tournament is set to run Jan. 18 – 21st.
Such a drastic change to an event that has been a fixture in the hockey calendar will certainly have an impact on the youth landscape. Delaying the World Invite makes sense in the current climate, as teams in several states are scrambling just to jumpstart the season in the midst of COVID-19 restrictions and guidelines. Team schedules seem to be altered week-to-week, making it a challenge for decision-makers to project out tournament plans for an event just two months away. By delaying the event, it should afford several teams with the luxury of time and the ability to project further out while still making the most of their present weekly schedule.
The other side of the coin will leave additional teams to alter their plans in order to accommodate for the new MLK weekend dates. The third weekend in January is a popular tournament date, with multiple prime events across North America. Adding the biggest tournament of them all to that same weekend will make for a very crowded time as events compete for teams and teams make difficult scheduling decisions.
How does this change impact you?