St. Cloud State picked up an interesting commitment over the weekend from St. Francis star Joey Benik . Benik currently leads the state in scoring, but St. Francis, historically a very weak team, plays one of the state's weakest schedules, which allows Benik to put up huge numbers. It should be interesting to see how Benik adjusts to higher levels of hockey, because at St. Francis, his team is almost completely dependent on his line to score goals, meaning he skates every other shift and rarely crosses the red line into his own zone.
The Huskies have become known for taking risks on offensively gifted players though, it has worked out for them, with players like Ryan Lasch, Garrett Roe, and Jared Festler.
Michigan picked up their first '93 born commitment in Ontario forward Nick Cousins. It looks like a very nice pick-up for Michigan if Cousins does indeed stick with the college route, since options may be slim for Michigan-born kids in that age group. He's eligible for the OHL Draft this spring. Update: As of later Monday afternoon, it looks like Cousins never committed to Michigan.
North Dakota picked up Alberta goalie Aaron Dell. It's always difficult to tell with goalies, but Dell's numbers this year have been pretty good, so he may be able to split some playing time with Brad Eidsness.
A couple more commits via Chris Heisenberg...
Shattuck U16 forward Jimmy Mullin committed to Miami. It's rare to see a player commit from the U16 team rather than the top Prep team, but Mullin leads the U16s in scoring with 41 goals and 26 assists through 39 games played.
Fargo Force forward Andy Taranto committed to Alaska. Taranto is a native of the Chicago suburbs and came out of the Chicago Chill hockey program.
Bentley picked up a commitment from Floridian Brett Hartung, a veteran NAHL player that is among the league leaders in goals scored.