Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Brodzinski chooses St. Cloud State

Press Release

Johnny Brodzinski is the newest member of the Fargo Force and he is now the most recent Division I commit. The high school senior and Force forward has committed to play at St. Cloud State University under Bob Motzko following his USHL career.

When he arrives in St. Cloud, Brodzinski will join fellow Force teammate Nick Oliver and former Fargo head coach Steve Johnson. Oliver will be a freshman for the Huskies next season and Johnson is an assistant coach.

St. Cloud State certainly wasn’t the only team after Brodzinski. Maine made him an offer a couple of months ago and Michigan and Minnesota-Duluth, who were both in the NCAA national championship game, were also interested in the talented forward. Bemidji State was also in the mix.

Mike Brodzinski, Johnny’s father who played at St. Cloud State, told the Minnesota Hockey Hub that he went to on an official visit to St. Cloud State on Monday. On Wednesday, Motzko told the Brodzinski’s that they had a scholarship offer that was good through Saturday. Johnny pulled the trigger just in time.

Brodzinski helped lead Blaine High School to three straight Minnesota state tournaments. He scored 31 goals and grabbed 29 assists for an impressive 60 points in 30 games in his senior season. Brodzinski grabbed a goal in both state tournament games this year and Blaine went two-and-out. It may have been a blessing in disguise.

The Minnesota Mr. Hockey candidate headed to Fargo immediately following a double overtime loss to White Bear Lake at the state tournament. Brodzinski wants to play for Fargo next season, so he needed to get 10 games in to earn veteran status. When his high school career came to an abrupt end, the Force had only 10 games left. The desire to play for Fargo saw him play two games in one day – one in the morning for Blaine H.S. and one in the evening for Fargo.

In 10 regular season games, Brodzinski notched two goals and three assists with the Force. He saw time on the top line and has also played some on the first power play unit.

Next season, Brodzinski will be back in Fargo and will look to play a large part in the Force offense that will be losing the likes of Jimmy Mullin, Colten St. Clair, and Nick Oliver after this season.

(Nathan can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)

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