I am a Minnesota fan but I think it is a real cop out to complain about
recruiting of juniors. Minnesota has recruited junior players but I think
has generally felt that it could get the best of the HS products so why
bother except for niche spots--deBus, the long time goalie was a junior
player as were many others.  But, if you recruit the wrong players or don't
coach them well it doesn't matter who you get. NoDak has many junior players
but also a number of HS kids from MN, but Blais seems to do more with his
talent than Woog. Similarly, the current Gopher goalie may be only 18 but
played a year of juniors by playing for the US 18 and Under team last year.
The problem is that it is difficult to rely on one frosh goalie with no one
to give him relief.
 
When the Gophers were winning with MN players right from HS you didn't hear
many complaints about their inability to compete.  Get a good coach and they
will win again.  Juniors are a great opportunity for players to see whether
they can ultimately play college hockey.  Most are kids who didn't get
offered scholarships out of college but earn them as they develop. No coach
is going to let a kid escape to juniors if he really thinks the kid is ready
to play college hockey.
 
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