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Prospect Watch: Early summer NCAA commitments

By: Ryan Kennedy on July 16, 2014

Filed under: Carolina Hurricanes, Draft, Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers, NCAA, Prospects

Commitments tend to slow down a bit in the late spring and early summer, so I’ve put together a batch of pledges from recent months for another roundup of NCAA news. As per usual, these commitments were culled from College Hockey Inc. and the excellent page it maintains on the topic.

Brendan Collier, LW, Northeastern University

Collier, who was selected 189th overall by Carolina in 2012, was reportedly cut by Boston University after his freshman season this year and has now signed on to play across town with the rival Huskies. The undersized left winger was a great high schooler in Massachusetts, lauded for his passion on the ice and the intangibles he brought, but the Terriers have a big recruiting class coming in and it seems as though he wasn’t in their future plans. Collier will miss a year in the transfer process and suit up for Northeastern in 2015-16.

Kieffer Bellows, C, Boston University

The son of former NHLer Brian Bellows has already made noise in his home state of Minnesota, winning a state high school title with Edina. Bellows is very highly acclaimed as a scorer and burgeoning power forward, while his name is already being mentioned in relation to the 2016 NHL draft. He’ll join the Terriers in 2016-17.

Robby Jackson, C, St. Cloud State

I recently saw Jackson in action and Huskies fans can mark down the 2015-16 campaign as his arrival date in Minnesota. The skilled center will return to the United States League’s Chicago Steel in the fall, where he will likely put up big numbers.

Jacob Olson, D, Michigan Tech

Like Jackson, Olson was in Buffalo for the Select 17s tournament and earned a spot on Team USA’s entry at this summer’s Ivan Hlinka Memorial tourney in the Czech Republic/Slovakia. Olson is a big boy at 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds already and not the type of player you want to go into the corner against. He is slated to return to the Minnesota high school ranks for 2014-15 as a member of the Hill-Murray Pioneers, a top-flight program. He’ll head up to Houghton in 2016-17.

Miguel Fiddler, LW, Ohio State

A fifth-round draft choice of the Florida Panthers in 2014, Fiddler was a teammate of Bellows’ with Edina and led the Hornets in scoring. The talented winger will head off to the USHL’s Lincoln Stars next year before decamping for the Buckeyes in 2015-16.

Jeremy Bracco, RW, Boston College

Undersized but immensely talented, Bracco played for the U.S. NTDP last year, where he led the under-17s in scoring with 71 points in 54 games, largely as a playmaker. An early Harvard commit, Bracco recently switched to Boston College, but it will also be interesting to see what kind of push the Ontario League’s Kitchener Rangers make. If he stays on the college path, Bracco will head to the Eagles in 2015-16.

Liam Coughlin, LW, Boston University

A fifth-round pick of the Edmonton Oilers in 2014, Coughlin is a late-1994 birthday who played in the B.C. League for Vernon last season, where he posted OK numbers. The real sell here is size, as Coughlin comes in at 6-foot-3, 201 pounds with plenty of power forward potential. He’ll join the Terriers in 2015-16.