St. Thomas Academy(Minn) defenseman Jack Dougherty has verbally committed to play hockey for Ohio State. Dougherty was a junior defense for the Cadets last season.
Dougherty is a bit raw as a defenseman, but has good size and good potential that is likely to be on the radar for the 2014 NHL Draft. He was invited to play with the US Select-17 team last summer at the Five Nations tournament. Dougherty ranked 17th among high school juniors in Minnesota in our latest high school player rankings, though among those 17 players, only five were 1996-birthdates like Dougherty is.
Dougherty's commitment continues a nice run by the Buckeyes making recruiting inroads into Minnesota, especially the southern suburbs that were once the stomping grounds of OSU head coach Mark Osiecki. Three of OSU's last four commits--Tyler Sheehy(Burnsville), Drew Brevig(Lakeville), and Dougherty(Cottage Grove)--have all come from that part of the Twin Cities.