Gophers Hockey: Nik Norman verbally commits to Minnesota

Minnesota picked up a verbal commitment Wednesday from Shattuck-St. Mary's forward Nik Norman. He made the announcement via Twitter.

Proud to announce my commitment to play college hockey at the University of Minnesota. Thanks for everyone's help along the way! #gophers〽️

— Nik Norman (@niknormann) June 8, 2016

Norman, a 2001-born forward, continues the ever-growing Shattuck-St. Mary's pipeline to Dinkytown and is the second player from the SSM bantam team to choose the Gophers. Teammate Kaden Bohlsen verbally committed back in April. Based upon his grade and age, Norman would not play college hockey until 2019-2020 at the earliest.

Listed at 5'8", 150 lbs, the 15 year-old Norman had 72 points (30G-42A) in 55 games played.

Norman committing continues a new family legacy.  The Maplewood, MN native is the younger brother of current Gopher sophomore Ryan. Their father, Todd, played at North Dakota from 1984-86.

-------------------

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 -- Follow @gopherstate