College hockey continues to send more and more quality players to the NHL. This growing trend was underscored this week, when two former NCAA stars made up half the group of players named to the Hockey Hall of Fame's Class of 2009.During the NHL Entry Draft this weekend, fans of the college game had to wait around a little while for their first selection. It wasn't until the 16th pick that incoming Minnesota freshman Nick Leddy was chosen by the Minnesota Wild. From there, things got a bit more active for college hockey fans.
Leddy was one of seven active or future college players picked in the first round. He was joined by four forwards, Minnesota sophomore-to-be Jordan Schroeder (22nd to Vancouver), Notre Dame recruit Kyle Palmieri (26th to Anaheim), Boston College's Chris Kreider (17th to the Rangers), and incoming Harvard freshman Louis Leblanc (18th to Montreal), and two defensemen, Colorado College recruit John Moore (21st to Columbus) and Minnesota-Duluth signee Dylan Olsen (28th to Chicago).
Schroeder was the only one of this group to play in college last season, and he had an impressive season at Minnesota, racking up 13 goals and 45 points for a team that narrowly missed the NCAA Tournament. He also performed well for Team USA at the 2009 IIHF World Junior Championships.
All seven players are expected to play college hockey this coming season, even though mentions were made during TSN's coverage of a few of them defecting to major junior, most notably Moore and Olsen. Olsen says he plans on attending UMD this fall, and told the Duluth News Tribune he has the blessing of the Chicago Blackhawks.
As the draft moved into Saturday, a ton of players with ties to U.S. colleges came off the board. Among the notable names were Boston University goalie Kieran Millan, who went in the fifth round to Colorado after helping BU win the national championship in April. Highly-touted Denver recruits William Wrenn and Drew Shore went in the second round to San Jose and Florida, respectively.
Among the players drafted by Pittsburgh was Ben Hanowski. The third-round pick played high-school hockey at Little Falls, Minn., and became the state's all-time leading scorer this past season. Hanowski is signed to play college hockey at St. Cloud (Minn.) State.
Nine member of the United States' National Team Development Program -- based in Ann Arbor, Mich. -- were picked on Saturday. Of the nine, six of them went in the second round. It's another step forward for the NTDP program, which aims to develop players at a higher level than what can be found in a "normal" high school setting.
While it was surprising to see guys like Moore and Schroeder last as deep into the first round as they did, it was generally a good draft weekend for college hockey. Not only that, but there are plenty of undrafted talents who will have a chance to prove themselves in college and potentially move on to professional careers.
