Gopher Hockey Gains Commits From Local Stars

The August Recruiting Period has started out well for the Gophers

The annual Hockey recruiting calendar begins on August 1st of each year when the next age group of future college players is allowed to commit to schools. It’s only been four days, but the Minnesota Golden Gophers men’s hockey team has made an immediate splash gaining commits from a trio of highly ranked in-state stars, and a potential fourth heading their way.

Everyone knows that Gopher coach Bob Motzko spend several years coaching St. Cloud State before being hired at Minnesota. It appears those long connections with the Huskies may be paying off now in Dinkytown as Motzko landed commits from a pair of players whose fathers stared at St. Cloud State in the 1990s and early 2000’s on top of the one he got earlier this spring when former Denver Commit Finn McLaughlin decided to switch from the Pioneers to the Gophers. His dad Kyle played for SCSU from 1995-1999.

The first one of this cycle was announced on Friday when Minnesota eaned a commit from Lakeville forward Gunnar Conboy.

Conboy’s dad Tim Conboy played for St Cloud State from 2002-2004 before he went pro. Conboy played portions of three seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes before playing in Europe for several years.

The next shoe dropped Monday morning when Minnesota received a surprise commit from Moorhead forward Wyatt Cullen.

As is stated in the tweet above, Cullen is the son of former St Cloud State star and NHLer Matt Cullen. Many of the recruiting “experts” thought that Minnesota did not have much of a chance to land Wyatt because his brother Brooks who is a year older committed last season to Michigan State, and it’s long been thought that the brothers would want to play together in college. They also have a younger brother Joey who is 15 and is thought to be the best brother of the three and was the 2025 Minnesota Bantam Player of the Year.

Well, after the Wyatt Cullen commitment news came out Monday morning, Grand Forks Herald Hockey writer Brad Schlossman tweeted this our.

Some observers did think this was a possibility just based on the fact that the commitment graphic for Wyatt Cullen shows his jersey with a W. Cullen rather than just Cullen—indicating there were more than one on the roster.

So while Brooks has not officially committed to Minnesota-there is a very good chance that will happen in the very near future.

Earlier last week, the Gophers got their commitment hot streak started by finally landing an in-state goalie recruit for the first time in a very long time. Grand Rapids native Carter Casey committed to Minnesota last Monday.

Casey played two seasons for Grand Rapids before joining the Waterloo Blackhawks in the USHL for the end of the 2024-25 season. Due to injuries he had to play down the stretch and was amazing going 11-2 with a .925 SV% and 2.08 GAA during the playoffs, helping Waterloo to the USHL finals. He will played in the WHL for the next two seasons with the Medicine Hat Tigers before likely coming into the U for the 2027-28 season once Nathan Airey and Luca DiPasquoa have graduated.

Hopefully the Gophers can keep up this great start to the 2025 recruiting season and continue to add players to make Minnesota a threat at the top of the nation yet again.