SSM forward commits, Murdock chooses Lake St.

According to Chris Heisenberg's college-hockey recruiting website, Shattuck-St. Mary's forward Teddy Blueger has committed for Minnesota State for 2012 or 2013. This looks like a tremendous get for the Mavericks. Blueger, a native of Riga, Latvia, had 24 goals and 42 assists in 54 games for Shattuck's prep team this past season, ranking third on the team in scoring as a junior.

If he's part of the 2012 recruiting class, that's a group that already has six players committed, including five forwards and a goalie.

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Staying on the subject of those recruits, Dan Carlson helped the U.S. Under 18 National Team win the world championship on Sunday. The United States defeated Sweden 4-3 in overtime. The picture at right, taken from the USA Hockey website is of Carlson kissing the championship trophy.

Carlson had one goal and one assist in the tournament but was used primarily on a checking line. It sounds like he'll be one to move up to a more skilled role in the future as some pretty good teammates move on to college next year.

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Remember Kevin Murdock? Well, the ex-MSU goaltender, who returned to junior hockey last year, is heading back to college in the fall but not to Minnesota State. Murdock committed to play for Lake Superior State. This season with the Lincoln Stars, the lefty went 29-15-4 with five shutouts. He had a .907 save percentage and a 2.91 GAA.

A hot prospect when arriving in Mankato, Murdock eventually fell out of favor with the coaches, playing in just five games. He went 1-3-1 with a .895 SV% and a 3.46 GAA. Falling behind Phil Cook and Austin Lee, he didn't play after mid-November and opted to return to the USHL after the season.

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Four teams remain in the USHL playoffs, and there is Minnesota State interest in those two semifinal series. In the East, the Green Bay Gamblers take on the Cedar Rapids Rough Riders. Green Bay has MSU recruits Jean-Paul LaFontaine and Brett Stern on the team. In the West, the Dubuque Fighting Saints will take on the Sioux Falls Stampede. Sioux Falls has future MSU goalie Stephon Williams leading the way.

Mavs get two '12 commitments (updated)

Minnesota State got another commitment for the 2012 season this week when forward Bryce Gervais gave his verbal to the Mavs. MSU appears to be getting back into Canada a bit, as Gervais plays for the Salmon Arm Silverbacks of the British Columbia Hockey League. He was named the top rookie in the BCHL's Interior Conference this season, scoring 29 goals and getting 22 assists in 58 games.

A 1992 birthday, Gervais is 5-foot-8, 155 pounds. He is a native of Battleford, Saskatchewan. Interestingly, he wears number 71 for the Silverbacks (who have a great logo, by the way); I wonder if the Mavs will let him do that.

Read more here.

UPDATE: Click on the above link and you'll also see that Silverbacks forward Brett Knowles has also committed to the Mavericks for '12. Awarded as Salmon Arm's most-dedicated player this year, he had 30 goals and 28 assists in 57 games this season. Read his coach Tim Kehler's quote and he sounds like a typical MSU player: "Brett  has made huge strides in his play this season, moving into an offensive role with our club but still maintaining that physical edge in his game that makes him hard to handle as a power forward."

That's three four players for '12, as Gervais and Knowles join goalie Stephon Williams and forward Dylan Margonari.

The '11 class includes forwards J.P. Lafontaine and Max Gaede and defensemen Zach Palmquist, Brett Stern and Mat Knoll.

St. Louis is done; one more game for Fargo

Tyler Bruggeman's St. Louis Bandits didn't make it to the finals of the Robertson Cup championship over the weekend in Wenatchee, Wash. The Bandits lost on Saturday to Wenatchee, however, Bruggeman did not play in (and did not appear to dress for) that game after starting St. Louis' first three games in the tournament. The North Mankato resident and West graduate went 1-2 in those games, allowing 10 goals (including four power-play goals) and stopping 86.8 percent of the shots he faced.

Meanwhile, in  Fargo on Saturday, the Green Bay knotted the Clark Cup championship series with the Fargo Force (or as one blogger called them, the MSU-Mankato JV) to force a decisive Game 5 on Wednesday night in Green Bay. Not only does it appear that Mankato's Corey Leivermann will miss the game but so will another MSU recruit and Force captain Chase Grant, who suffered a knee injury early in Game 4.