As of publication time, 27 players born in 2005 have made commitments to a college hockey program. Outside of four players committed prior to May 1, 2019 when there wasn’t a moratorium on young recruiting, the rest have all committed over the past week.
Eighteen forwards, seven defensemen and two goaltenders are among the `05 players to have committed to a college, as of Sunday, August 8. This breakdown shouldn’t come as a surprise given that the goaltending position is the hardest to project and there are double the amount of forwards as defensemen on most rosters.
Boston College and Boston University each have three committed 2005 players. Harvard, Denver, Nebraska-Omaha, North Dakota, Notre Dame and Wisconsin each have a pair of `05s committed. Eight other schools have one `05 commit each.
Six `05s who are on the NTDP have made college commitments. St. Sebastian’s and Junior Eagles product Will Smith (Lexington, Mass.) committed to Northeastern prior to the recruiting moratorium. Ryan Leonard (Amherst, Mass.) surprised many by committing to Boston College, instead of UMass. Mid Fairfield’s Salvatore Guzzo and Ryan Fine pledged to Harvard and Boston University, respectively. Austin Burnevik and Carter Slaggert committed to St. Cloud and Notre Dame, respectively.
Three USHL tenders, Tanner Adams, Tanner Walos and Jayden Perron, have made commitments. Adams, who spent 2020-21 with Mount Saint Charles and is tendered to play for Tri-City, is committed to Providence. Walos, a tender of Fargo, is going to play for Wisconsin. Perron, from Winnipeg, Manitoba and committed to North Dakota, is a tender of Chicago.
Three `05 commits are first round picks in the USHL. Cooper Pierson, a first round pick of Lincoln out of Shattuck-St. Mary’s, is committed to Denver. Jayson Shaugabay, from Warroad, Minn., and a Minnesota Duluth commit, was Green Bay’s first round pick. Dubuque first rounder Mikey Burchill is committed to UMass.
The other six `05 commits were all picked later in the USHL draft. Second round picks Dashel Oliver and Cameron Briere are both committed to Nebraska-Omaha while Logan Renkowski is bound for Harvard. Kai Matthew (Denver), Chris Pelosi (Quinnipiac) and Thomas Klochkov (UConn) are the remaining `05 forwards who have pledged to a college hockey program.
Of the seven `05 defensemen who are committed, four are slated to play for the NTDP U-17 team. Aram Minnetian and Drew Fortescue are both committed to Boston College while Brady Cleveland and Paul Fischer have pledged to play at Wisconsin and Notre Dame, respectively.
Two are USHL tenders. Buffalo Junior Sabres product and Muskegon Lumberjacks tender Gavin McCarthy is committed to Boston University. Tri-City Storm tender Andrew Strathmann, who played for Chicago Young Americans, is committed to North Dakota.
The lone `05 defenseman committed who isn’t expected to play in the USHL in 2021-22 is Jack Willson. The Michigan commit who played for Honeybaked in 2020-21 will play for Compuware 16-U this upcoming season, but he was drafted in the fourth round by the Omaha Lancers.
Michael Chambre, a Florida Alliance product headed to the NTDP, is the only `05 American goaltender committed. The Floridian has committed to Boston University. Canadian Daniel Heroux, who is headed to play at Kimball Union in 2021-22, is committed to Vermont.
