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Gophers Hockey: Colin Schmidt commits to Minnesota

The 6'5", 216 lbs Schmidt is a 2000-born power forward who helped lead Wayzata to the Class AA championship this season.

By Nathan Wells
Matt Christians/SBN College Hockey

Wayzata (HS-MN) sophomore center Colin Schmift verbally committed Friday to the University of Minnesota, per his Twitter account.

Schmidt had 26 points (13G-13A) in 31 games for the Class AA champion Trojans, including a goal in the state title game against Eden Prairie. The 2000-born forward led Wayzata in goals during the regular season.

Our own Chris Dilks had this on Schmidt earlier in the week:

Colin Schmidt-F-Wayzata-Schmidt is a true power forward that isn't afraid to use his size to play in dirty areas. He's not necessarily the prettiest player, but his skating and puck-handling ability is good enough, and he can really be a force when working down low in the offensive zone.

Schmidt was selected by Waterloo with the 10th overall pick in the 2016 USHL Phase 1 Draft. With his verbal and players turning down the US Development program, Minnesota has 4 of the top 10 picks. Defender Ben Brinkman (Edina) was also selected by Waterloo with the fifth overall pick. Forwards Blake McLaughlin (Grand Rapids) went one pick later to Chicago and Jaxon Nelson (Luverne) was tendered earlier by Sioux Falls with the 8th overall pick.

Despite being drafted by a team which has had a steady stream of Gopher players in recent years - two are presently in Waterloo a year after Tyler Sheehy and Tommy Novak were both there - he isn't expected to play for the Black Hawks next season. He also played for the Omaha U16 AAA team prior to the high school season.

Prince George owns Schmidt's WHL rights, having drafted him in the 11th round of last year's Bantam Draft.

Schmidt wouldn't be expected on campus until 2018-19 at the earliest.

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Nathan Wells is a college hockey columnist for SB Nation mostly covering both the University of Minnesota and Big Ten. You can also follow him on Twitter --