David Carl (42:13)
Yeah, it's, it is for sure. There's been, you know, there's been a lot of change in college athletics, but there's been like, college hockey's actually dealt with more change than any sport because of the CHL rule change as well. So we've had to deal with portal house settlement, roster limits or caps, all that type of stuff like everyone else. But then you throw in 60 teams worth of players, you know, into the development model, it really, you know, can throw up for a loop. I think we were pretty patient last year when the rule changed because I mean, to be honest, we're, I don't even know if I can talk about it, but we were named in. Some kid sued DNA and named us as one of the schools because of the rule and how it was, and it was an attempt to, to get the rule changed. So we were named with a number of schools and it kind of like we didn't even know if we'd be able to recruit from the CHL during litigation. And you know, it's still ongoing, so there's not a lot really I can say about it. But we were able to finally actually be able to do it. So we were watching it. We weren't having to make decisions and, you know, rush into it. And I think that actually helped us because a lot of our commitments didn't come until the later half of last year. And we brought in 10 freshmen. Again, a lot is made of the portal and obviously Polkamp and Salman and our players on our team, we got out of that. But we, we really do like to try and bring in freshmen when we can. And. But of the 10 freshmen, six of them have CHL on their resume. And we really wanted to get the right kids the first go around. I think with it something new. You don't want to bring in, you know, the wrong kids who don't want anything to do with the social experience or the academic experience. And so our, our 10 guys, they, they did a great job. You know, in the fall quarter, every one of our fresh, all of our players take four classes at a time. So 10 freshmen, four classes. That's 40 classes, biz. And not one. There was only one B out of the 40 classes out of our 10 freshmen. And there was, I think three or four B pluses and the rest raised like. So the, the perception is like CHL guys aren't. They don't care about school or, you know, and certainly that's, that's indicative anywhere. Like you could get that kid in the USHL or the Western League or the O. But for us, it was really important to get kids who wanted the whole experience of Denver who fit in culturally. And you know, those guys came in and, and they crushed it. Like again, there's six of them. James, Jameson, Upperson, Hicks, Miller, Jasowski and Caswell. So did a great job in the USHL, Guy. I mean, McMorrow, Varcone, Milburn was in the BCHL and missing one. Peyton Nelson was in the BCHL as well. So. And it, I mean, to answer your question, like going forward, it's all blended together now. I mean, we have. Betty Macbeth was playing in the AJ rule changes. He was already committed to us. Now he's in Calgary. You know, he's a potential first, second round pick. So there's a lot of kids that were committed to college in Western Canada that are now in the Western Hockey League. It's obviously opened up the door for kids who didn't have that path available to them, but I think it's all blending together now. Probably Quicker than we thought it would, but it's pretty seamless. Now that the nice part for us, we can stay in the USHL in really the Western League. And when Denver goes to a western League game, 95% of the kids in the game are in our area. Like geographically, we go to USHL game. Great league. We'll still recruit out of it, but there might only be eight or 10 players that are geographically in our area. So it's a really good use of our time, you know, to make sure that we know that league and, and spend time in it.
