The Fargo Force will look to make another deep postseason run next year after notably adding a high-profile tender signing and a large crop of experienced players in their 2024 USHL Draft.
The Fargo Force will look to make another deep postseason run next year after notably adding a high-profile tender signing and a large crop of experienced players in their 2024 USHL Draft.
Amid their historic regular season, the Fargo Force got a head start on their future by signing forward Cole Bumgarner in mid-March to a tender agreement for the 2024-25 season.
The 16-year-old, hailing from Shakopee, Minnesota, and listed at 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds, was one of the top prospects heading into the USHL Phase I Draft. Bumgarner spent this past season with Rogers High School, scoring 15 goals and 34 points in 23 games.
"When he became an option for us, the tender process, it's a relationship where there's a certain amount of games they have to play and some regulations on that, so it really has to be two-sided where you get to know each other," Fargo head coach Brett Skinner told The Hockey News of the tender process, which requires that player will see the ice in at least 55% of the team's regular season games. "We had a real comfortable process of getting to know Cole and his family.
"As far as the talent on the ice, he's going to be a kid, with his size and his ability, he's going to be able to step in right away into the league and play, so those regulations are not as much of a concern as some other tenders. He has a high hockey IQ for his age in conjunction with a high talent level. We're really excited to get him into our development model and continue to push what his ceiling could possibly be."
Heading into the USHL Phase I Draft, Fargo had to be strategic with its first pick. As a result of acquiring assets for deep postseason runs both this year and last, the Force parted with several early-round picks.
Fargo made its first selection with the 71st overall pick in the fifth round. There, the franchise selected defenseman Phoenix Cahill. The Cottage Grove, Minnesota, native, who stands at 6-foot-2 and weighs 181 pounds as a 15-year-old, scored 13 points on three goals and ten assists in 31 games played this past season.
"With all of our picks and certainly with (Cahill), we're looking for talented kids whose games are going to translate to the USHL, and he's no different," Skinner said. " I think when you look at the size, it obviously jumps off the page at you right away as he's going to physically be able to get there. We also like the skill set that comes along with that."
Just four picks later, the Force added a highly skilled forward in Zac Zimmerman. The 16-year-old, listed at 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds and hails from Fargo, skated in the Force's prospect camp last year. Zimmerman played for Moorhead High School in Minnesota this past season and led the team in assists (29) and points (44) while finishing with the second-most goals (15).
Given the familiarity with Zimmerman and his skill set, Fargo's decision to add the young forward to the prospect pipeline with the 75th overall pick in the fifth round was relatively simple.
"We felt like that was really good value for where he was at," Skinner said of the selection. "The local piece is very nice, but more importantly, we think he's a good player, and he's going to be a good player in the USHL someday, so obviously a bonus having a local kid, but he certainly earned the right to be drafted where he was."
Here is a look at the Fargo Force's entire 2024 USHL Phase I Draft class:
Round 1, Pick 15: Cole Bumgarner, F (Tender)
Round 5, Pick 71: Phoenix Cahill, D
Round 5, Pick 75: Zac Zimmerman, F
Round 6, Pick 90: Keaton Jundt, F
Round 7, Pick 105: Jacob Monks: F
Round 9, Pick 135: Aleksei Zhukov, F
Round 10, Pick 150: Samuel Hrenak, G
A great example of how team's Phase II Draft can help them right away, need not look any further than Fargo's 2023 Phase II picks.
Notable names such as Lee Parks, Gavin Morrissey, Tate Taylor, Michael Neumeier, Tom Leppa, Iiro Hakkarainen, Reid Daavettila were all contributors to the Force's historic 2023-24 season that culminated with the franchise capturing its second Clark Cup championship. Fargo is hoping that this year's class can have a similar impact for the upcoming season.
With both Hampton Slukynsky and Anton Castro moving on to the collegiate game next season, the Force had an immediate need in net. With the 27th overall pick in the second round, Fargo targeted netminder Alan Lendak.
The 17-year-old, listed at 6-foot-1 and 172 pounds, primarily spent last season with the HK Nitra U20 of the Slovakia U20 league. There, he posted a 17-3-0 record with a 1.95 goals-against average and 0.938 save percentage in 20 appearances. Added, he represented his home county at the 2024 World Juniors, recording a 4.47 goals-against average and 0.840 save percentage in five games.
"Both (Slukynsky and Castro) are going to be gone, so obviously you can see the importance of needing to draft a goalie as high as we did," Skinner said. "Carter Krier, our assistant coach and goalie coach, really did a great job of building a list and identifying kids and building relationships to have the kids be available. Phase II is a non-linear draft, it's kind of all over the place. For us, we feel like picking where we did, based off having to trade away some assets, we felt real fortunate to get a high end goalie at that part of the draft."
With their next pick in the Phase II portion, the Force selected the highly-skilled Samuel Huck. If the name sounds familiar, Huck potted the game-winning goal in the overtime session to lift Canada West over the United States in the 2023 World Junior A Challenge.
The left-shot forward, committed to Western Michigan and listed at 5-foot-10 and 150 pounds, brings so much offensive ability to the table despite being undersized. The 19-year-old Huck recorded 37 goals and 81 points in 62 games for the Okotoks Oilers during the regular season and added another six points in ten playoff games.
"You look at that World Junior A (Challenge), the role that they put him in, obviously, the game winning-goal jumps off the page to you, but he played a hard, physical style as well," Skinner said of Huck. There was a sense that his skill level was high enough but also the rest of his game was going to be able to translate really well to the USHL, so (he's a) player that we felt had really good value at that spot."
Here is a look at the Fargo Force's entire 2024 USHL Phase II Draft class:
Round 2, Pick 27: Alan Lendak, G
Round 3, Pick 45: Samuel Huck, F
Round 5, Pick 72: Tyler Grahme, F
Round 5, Pick 75: Matt Lahey, D
Round 6, Pick 78: Ashton Bynum, D
Round 6, Pick 91: Noel Ohgren, F
Round 7, Pick 107: Lenny Greenberg, D
Round 8, Pick 111: Elias Zimmerman, F
Round 8, Pick 122: Waylon Esche, G
Round 10, Pick 152: Tomas Mikel, D
Round 11, Pick 167: Joseph McGraw, F
Round 12, Pick 182: Jack O'Hanisain, F
Round 13, Pick 197: Landon Pappas, D
Round 14, Pick 212: Felix Haibock, F
Round 15, Pick 227: Tyler Geyer, D
Round 16, Pick 242: Brooks Cullen, F
Round 17, Pick 257: Brady Kudrick, F
Round 18, Pick 272: Judd Knauft, F
Round 19, Pick 287: Tucker Lyndaker, F
Round 20, Pick 302: Zaide Penner, D
Round 21, Pick 317: Ilya Kolmakov, F
Round 22, Pick 332: Jooa Sammalniemi, G
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