Daily Skate: UND to find out soon whether Gavin Hain or Mark Senden will use their fifth year

GRAND FORKS — The NCAA ruled that the pandemic-impacted 2020-21 season did not count against anyone's eligibility.

That means everyone who played on UND's hockey team that year can play five years of college hockey.

Last season, the Fighting Hawks had eight seniors who were eligible to come back for a rare fifth year. None did, though. Six of them turned pro. One finished school in Canada. And another, Peter Thome, used his fifth year at St. Thomas.

That might not be the case this offseason.

UND has two players on the roster who have spent four years on UND's campus and have been asked to come back for a fifth — forwards Gavin Hain and Mark Senden.

"They were leaders on our team here," UND coach Brad Berry said at a press conference last week. "I think they're going through the process right now. . . giving them a little time and space to sort things out. It was known to them, by me, that we'd love to have them back. They have an extra year of eligibility. I think they're going through a process right now of where that's at."

Berry said he hopes to know this week.

"We'll check back with them and see where everything's at," Berry said.

After UND's season ended with a 2-1 overtime loss to Notre Dame in the Albany Regional, Berry indicated at the postgame press conference that two of the three players sitting next to him would probably be moving on. He was referring to Connor Ford, a fifth-year senior transfer from Bowling Green, and Senden.

But since then, Senden has been reconsidering.

Senden, the team captain, has 56 career points in 131 games. He tallied five goals and a career-high 17 points this season.

Hain, an alternate captain, has 37 career points, but suffered a season-ending knee injury on Jan. 7 against Cornell. Hain, a Philadelphia Flyers draft pick, was UND's top goal-scorer in the two months preceding his injury.

Berry said Hain will be ready for the start of next season — whether that's in Grand Forks or elsewhere.

"He had that longterm injury that wouldn't permit him to play in the second half here," Berry said. "He's doing everything on his own right now. He's not skating yet, but it's still early in the (offseason) here. He'll absolutely be ready to go in the preseason to train and different things like that. He'll be fully healthy for the year ahead."

The last UND player to play five years in Grand Forks was Chay Genoway, who received a medical redshirt after only playing nine games in 2009-10, which would have been his senior season. He came back for a fifth year in 2010-11.

UND did have two fifth-year senior transfers last season in Ford and goalie Zach Driscoll, who came in from Bemidji State.

Both Driscoll and Ford made their pro debuts over the weekend.

Driscoll earned his first professional start Saturday night for the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL. He stopped 38 of 41 shots to lead Toledo to a 4-3 victory.

Ford played twice for the Henderson Silver Knights, the top minor-league affiliate of the Vegas Golden Knights. On Saturday night, Henderson opened its new arena.

Ford, who played fourth-line center, didn't tally any points.

UND forward recruit Dylan James had a huge weekend for Sioux City in the United States Hockey League.

James scored seven goals and tallied nine points as the Musketeers won three times.

On Friday night, James scored four goals at home against Lincoln. On Saturday, he scored a goal at Lincoln. On Sunday, he scored two more and added two assists at home against Sioux Falls. To make the weekend even more special, his mother, Michelle, made the trip from Alberta for the games.

James, who is eligible to come to UND as soon as next season, has 25 goals and 53 points in 55 games for Sioux City. He has cracked the top 20 in both goals and points after piling up nine goals and 14 points in the last eight games.

Colorado College announced Saturday night that its captain, defenseman Bryan Yoon, is coming back for a fifth season.

Yoon, who was named Colorado College's team MVP, has 57 points in 129 games during his career.

Although the Tigers are bringing back Yoon, they are continuing to turn over large parts of their roster under coach Kris Mayotte, who just completed his first season at the helm.

Six Colorado College players are currently in the transfer portal — goalie Dominic Basse (.888 save percentage), defenseman Hugo Blixt (1 goal, 0 assists, 1 point) and forwards Jackson Jutting (3-7—10), Jackson Ross (0-0—0), Cooper Fensterstock (0-0—0) and Marc Pasemko (1-0—1).

Western Michigan's starting goalie Brandon Bussi signed with the Boston Bruins last week and the Broncos' other two goalies on the roster — sophomores Alex Aslanidis and Ross Hawryluk — entered the transfer portal over the weekend.

That leaves Western Michigan with no goalies on its current roster and needing to bring three aboard this offseason.

The Broncos have two committed goalies in Will Hambley, who plays at Winkler in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, and Cameron Korpi, who plays at Muskegon in the United States Hockey League.

Hambley, 19, is likely to arrive in Kalamazoo this fall as one of the three goalies, but Korpi is young and needs time to develop.

That means Western Michigan still needs to pick up two goalies this offseason. One will likely come out of the transfer portal. The second one could be out of the portal or could be a freshman recruit.

There aren't a ton of options in the transfer portal for goalies right now.

Many of the top ones are already snatched up — Michigan State's Drew DeRidder is headed to UND; Alaska's Gustavs Grigals is headed to UMass Lowell; Mercyhurst's Kyle McClellan is headed to Wisconsin; Northeastern's T.J. Semptimphelter is headed to Arizona State; Colgate's Mitch Benson is headed to Boston College; Omaha's Austin Roden is headed to Providence.

Perhaps the most curious destination is McClellan to Wisconsin, because the Badgers already have two scholarship goalies on the roster in Cameron Rowe and Jared Moe. It would not be a surprise to see Rowe go in the portal considering Moe has already transferred once.

Western Michigan isn't the only National Collegiate Hockey Conference team that needs to get a goalie out of the portal. St. Cloud State and Omaha also do.

With a lot of teams needing a goaltender, you have to wonder if someone will go after Omaha Lancers netminder Kevin Pasche, who posted a 55-save shutout Friday against the Fargo Force.

• Quinnipiac, which plays two games in The Ralph next season, appears like it's going to be a force again. Several of its key players have announced they're coming back for a fifth year, including defenseman and leading scorer Zach Metsa, fourth-leading scorer Ethan de Jong and fifth-leading scorer Michael Lombardi.
• Providence forward Parker Ford, a coveted free agent, will return to school for his senior season, according to the New England Hockey Journal's Mark Divver. Ford had 13 goals and 27 points in 38 games.
• Omaha forward Joey Abate, the NCHC's penalty-minutes champion in 2020-21, has signed an AHL deal with the Providence Bruins.
• A pair of drafted players have entered the NCAA transfer portal in UMass defenseman Slava Demin (who previously played at Denver) and Michigan State forward Josh Nodler, a Calgary Flames pick. Don't be surprised if Nodler ends up at UMass.
• East Grand Forks Senior High graduate Casey Kallock, who plays defense at Minnesota-Crookston, earned all-Central Region third-team honors by the ACHA.