Thursday, November 14, 2013

Signing day

Minnesota State won't be bringing in a huge class of freshmen next season, but the two who signed NLIs on Wednesday sure are big. The Mavericks closed the deal on Sioux Falls Stampede forwards C.J. Franklin and Zeb Knutson, both of whom committed early last season and have done nothing but get better since.

Read more about them and the future of the MSU women's team here.

Minnesota State has just two seniors on this year's roster: forward Johnny McInnis and injured defenseman Josh Nelson. However, their roster is short some bodies with forwards Zach Lehrke and J.P. Burkemper departing just before the season started. Also remember that Corey Leivermann left the team last Christmas to go to Division III Gustavus, and Charlie Thauwald transferred to D-III Wisconsin-Eau Claire over the summer.

The Mavericks are finding out that they probably need to have a roster of 28 players to account for injuries and to create competition. They have 26 players right now, although one player, Blake Thompson, won't be eligible until the first semester ends.

The point is, while Franklin and Knutson are the only players who are signing during the early signing period, I wouldn't be surprised to see others added to that class during the regular signing period in April.

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