Minnesota to Vermont pipeline gets stronger as the Catamounts land commitment from Chaska's Sam Scheetz

CHASKA, Minn. — 16-year-old Sam Scheetz is the latest Minnesotan to commit to the University of Vermont.

The Catamounts seem to be creating a pipeline of high-level Minnesotan players to their program, after receiving commitments from 2022 Mr. Hockey , Max Strand (Roseau), and 2022 USA Today High School Hockey Player of the Year , Alex Bump (Prior Lake) - and now Sam Scheetz of Chaska.

Scheetz, a 5-foot-10 forward, announced his verbal commitment to the university on Sept. 25.

"At the end of the day with Vermont, it had all of the stuff I was looking for and once I visited I knew I was going to go there," said Scheetz on his decision.

Committing to a college program wasn't an easy choice for the Victoria, Minn., native, "The hardest part for me was just making the right decision, because this is a place that I'm going to be at for four years."

After announcing his decision on social media, Scheetz got a couple of text messages from future teammate Alex Bump. The two were familiar with each other beforehand, as Chaska (Scheetz' team) lost to Prior Lake (Bumps' team) in the 2022 Section AA championship game.

The Chaska Hawks went 22-6 in the 2021-22 season and Scheetz lead the team in scoring as only a sophomore with 22 goals and 18 assists.

"I'm a fast forward that likes to use his speed to his advantage, whether it's on the forecheck or going around the D."

Scheetz is a quick player who can score all by himself, but can also make plays with teammates.

"We surprised a lot of people, not that many people thought we would go to the section final," said the Chaska forward on their season in 2021-22.

"It'll be fun to surprise some people. I think everybody is excited for the season ... Obviously our goal is to go to state so the work starts now."

Growing up in Victoria, Scheetz started playing hockey around the age of 3. His family had an unfinished basement that turned into a perfect place to work on hockey skills.

Along with hockey, the forward also played baseball growing up until around middle school. Scheetz' father played high school hockey in Iowa, but comes from an extended family of mostly baseball and football players.

Sticking with hockey turned out to be a good decision though, as now the Chaska forward has earned a D-I commitment, has been a part of the USA National 16 and 17's camps, and plays for the Upper Midwest High School Elite League.

Scheetz is now entering his junior year of high school and is currently working on multiple elements of his game, including getting stronger as well as little things like stick-handling and shooting.

When he's not playing hockey, Scheetz enjoys golfing as a hobby, or going out to the lake to surf or tube.

You can expect to see the Minnesota native hit the ice for the University of Vermont likely in 2025.