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Nico Sacchetti
Topic Started: Oct 20 2006, 02:21 PM (139 Views)
Ryan
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Sacchetti Commits to Gophers
Blogger is all messed up today so I can't get a permalink, but the Gopher Puck Blog is reporting that Virginia-MIB HS forward Nico Sacchetti has committed to Minnesota for the 2008 season. It's a huge recruiting victory for Minnesota over Minnesota-Duluth for one of the Iron Range's best players. It's a tough break for Duluth, as Sacchetti is a local player, and his former Virginia HS teammate Matt Niskanen plays for the 'Dogs. North Dakota was also reportedly in the mix for Sacchetti's services.

http://westerncollegehockey.blogspot.com/



Nico Sacchetti commits to the Gophers
Virginia HS hockey star Nico Sacchetti has committed to play his college hockey with the Gophers. Sacchetti, a junior forward, told the Gopher coaching staff of his decision on Thursday. He had been taking some unofficial visits recently and reportedly had his final three schools narrowed down to the Gophers, North Dakota and UMD. Sacchetti is considered one of the state's best forwards and he has been on many people's radar since his freshman year with the Blue Devils on Da Range.

Sacchetti really cemented his status as a top flight recruit at the Select 16s in 2005 in which he was the tournament's overall leading scorer. Although he didn't score as proficiently at the Selects 17s this past summer (of course, mixing the teams as they do for the Selects makes stats a bit more misleading), he still managed to stand out. He was one of five Minnesotans (joining fellow Gopher recruits Patrick White and Mike Hoeffel as well as CC recruit Tyler Johnson and Badger recruit Ryan McDonagh) to be selected by USA Hockey to represent our country in the annual trek overseas to play international competition in August (the USA team lost to Canada in the finals). He has been among the top 10 in scoring in the Elite League this fall and should have a good junior season ahead of him. I don't know as of yet what his plans will be for his senior year but he was selected #8 overall by Indiana in the USHL Futures Draft earlier this month. The Central Scouting Bureau has him among their players to watch for this next year's draft so they will be watching his progress with interest in the coming months.

As I have mentioned here before, I have ties to the Virginia area so this commitment is a little extra special for me. As anybody who has followed the Blue Devils can tell you, they really haven't had very good hockey teams up there the past few decades. This changed a bit when they made their trip to the state tourney a few years ago when Sacchetti was a freshman on a team led by current UMD defenseman Matt Niskanen. Sacchetti is a great example of how their youth program seems to be improving in developing players. I have a family member that has helped play a decent sized role in their youth program up there and I must give an anonymous tip of the cap to him. I don't tend to cheer for any particular HS team but I would like to see them make it to state again this year since they were knocked out in their first game a few years ago in their first ever trip to the big show in St. Paul

Congrats Nico and welcome to the U.

http://gopherpuck.blogspot.com/
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