The team will be returning productive offensive players in junior Ryan Schmelzer, who ranked third in goals, assists and points (10, 22, 32) for the Griffs a year ago, as well as sophomore Dylan McLaughlin who ranked fourth among all rookies in points in the AHC, with 26 (8G,18A).
The Blue and Gold have fortified their goaltending depth, adding two freshman Daniel Urbani and Blake Weyrick. Charles Williams, a fifth year transfer from Ferris State, was also added to this year’s roster, joining forces with returning sophomore Simon Hofley.
“This season we’re in a bit of a transition in terms of responding after losing Ralph Cuddemi and Shane Conacher. We won the championship in 2013 and that team is turned over completely now. We want to get back to the championship game and we’re doing it with a different style. Guys that can skate, guys that can get up and down the ice at a high pace, overall we want to play up tempo. We have some guys in positions that they haven’t been in before in college and they’re getting back to their roots,” Coach Smith said. “We will be a fast paced, deep team, where everybody plays. It will be scoring by committee. I think we’re going to get back to our roots from a few years ago, which is hard to play against. If we do that we’ll find success.”
“Ryan (Schmelzer) is an extremely important piece of our offense this season,” said Smith. “Although we lose Conacher and Cuddemi, we have more experience. With the fact that we had so many freshman last year, those guys are now sophomores, so we now have more experience and depth. We expect increases in production from Schmelzer and McLaughlin, as well as Chamberlain and Murray.”
“Dylan had a weekend last year at Bentley where he was dominant and flashed what is to come. He is an elite skill player. He has all the tools to be a dynamic smaller player, and now he needs to round out his game and use the experience he gained last year to make other’s better. He has all of the skills to be a top five scorer and top five plus-minus guy.”
“Geoff’s our captain, he’s played right from the beginning and is at the top of the experience list,” said Smith. “Now with Cameron Heath, Jimmy Mazza, David Bennett and Jack Stander, we’re returning a lot of guys that have experience. We’re looking for them to contribute more on the offensive end. That experience that we didn’t have last year, we have that now. We want to push the pace, be way more active than in the past, and I think all of those guys are capable of it. They all can skate, move the puck, and that’s what we’re going to strive for.”
“We have four goalies, two have experience,” said Smith. “Simon (Hofley) played 27 games for us last year. He has a high compete level, he came in expecting to be a number three goalie, beat everyone out and played a lot. He has a great work ethic and we feel we can put him in any game. Charles Williams comes to us with four years of experience from Ferris State, and is looking for an opportunity to compete for playing time and win a championship. The experience Charles has had is great for the locker room. Our guys need to know the way to do it, and it’s like trading for a veteran guy in the NHL at the deadline.”
“We also bring in, what I believe, are two high-profile recruits that are both 6-2 or better, Urbani who was named the top goalie at the RBC Cup and Weyrick is a former USNTDP goalie, so the talent is there and were excited for the competition.”
“We brought in three guys from the BCHL (Hoover, Hutchinson, Stief), which is a great league,” noted Smith. “We have seven freshman and nine new players total. They bring skill, they bring hockey IQ, they bring good compete. Our guys did a really good job identifying the right people and the right players for our program.”
The Griffs open the 2016-17 season with a pair of games at defending national champion North Dakota, Friday and Saturday.
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