Will Gadowsky Raid Princeton? (Part I)

If you're a loyal reader and/or just pay attention to this stuff, you know the story of CJHL player of the year Zach Hyman. He committed to Guy Gadowsky's Princeton program, then decommitted when PSU hired Gadowsky. The pipe dream of Hyman following Gadowsky was officially squashed by Andrew Dzurita of Lions 247, who spoke with the prospect and found that the Florida Panthers (who own his NHL rights) won't let him go to Penn State. That's fair - Hyman's stock is on the rise and (I don't mean this disrespectfully) no NHL team wants to see their guy waste a year in the ACHA.

But that whole situation got me to thinking: would Gadowsky poach other players from his former school? That doesn't seem like a tremendous stretch with not just Gadowsky, but also Keith Fisher and Matt Lindsay relocating to State College. And remember, Princeton's an Ivy League school, so there's nothing like a letter of intent tying these guys down.

Here are Princeton's current 2011 commits, per Heisenberg. One, forward Tyler Maugeri, is apparently now going to Nebraska-Omaha in 2012, but all indications are that the remaining six are still Tigers as of now. I'll list the 2012 and 2013 recruits in part two. It may also be worth pointing out that two of these guys - Aaron Kesselman (with Tim Carr) and Ryan Benitez (with Josh Daley) - were teammates with current PSU recruits last season.

Aaron Kesselman

Forward
New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs (EJHL)
5'11", 188 pounds
Mays Landing, NJ
DOB 10/13/1991

EJHL Player Page

Tucker Brockett

Forward
Chicago Steel (USHL)
5'7", 170 pounds
Shaker Heights, OH
DOB 10/15/1990

USHL Player Page

Ryan Benitez

Goaltender
Waywayseecappo Wolverines (MJHL)
5'11", 174 pounds
Denver, CO
DOB 11/24/1990

Eliteprospects.com Player Page

Tom Kroshus

Defenseman
Westside Warriors (BCHL)
6'1", 182 pounds
Calgary, AB
DOB 8/20/1992

BCHL Player Page

Kevin Mills

Defenseman
Salmon Arm Silverbacks (BCHL)
6'1", 201 pounds
Calgary, AB
DOB 9/11/1990

BCHL Player Page

Aaron Ave

Defenseman
Omaha Lancers (USHL)
5'8", 173 pounds
Chandler, AZ
DOB 4/7/1991

USHL Player Page