I’ve been saying lately that it’s been a long time since UMass got its last commitment.  It appears to be worth the wait.

Chris Heisenberg’s recruiting site is showing that Kenny Gillespie has  committed to UMass.  According to this he’ll be heading to the USHL next season (Omaha owns his rights) before coming to Amherst.  Gillespie, a North Carolina native, currently plays for Shattuck St Mary’s, a private school in Minnesota that has produced hockey talent like Pat Eaves, Jack Johnson, Kyle Okposo, Zach Parise, and Jonathan Toews.  Even Sidney Crosby attended there for a time.

Gillespie is a 5’11” 195lb right wing who current has 7 goals and 17 assists in 22 games for SMS.  That puts him at 5th on the team in points, though he has played 5 games less than most of his teammates.

Gillespie was on the USA Under-17 Team in the Summer of 2009.  His was rated a 4 on a scale of 5 in the USHL draft scouting report when he was taken in the 3rd round.  This blog post from 2008 says he is a quick skater with decent size but needs work on his puck skills.  Like with any other talented recruit Coach Cahoon will have to fend off the OHL until Gillespie actually gets to campus. His OHL rights are owned by the Plymouth Whalers.  It’s probably no coincidence that the Whalers took the North Carolina native since they’re owned by Carolina Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos, better known as the guy who moved the Whale.  Gillespie played for the Junior Hurricanes in NC.

More on Gillespie as I find things in the coming days.

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Andrew Merritt grades the Hockey East teams at the winter break point, giving the Minutemen a C-.  I’m not sure if that’s graded against expectations or flat out results.  I hope the latter.