According to US Hockey Report (subscrption site) the University of Denver has received a commitment from 15 year-old Tyler Pham of Team Illinios. He is a Sophomore in high school and is scheduled to enroll at DU in the Fall of 2012.Originally from Ft. Collins, Colorado, Pham's Mountain States Renegades won the Colorado Amateur Hockey Association state championship with a 2-1 double-overtime victory over Littleton in 2007. Pham scored the game winning goal. The team not only won the state title, but finished with a 30-5-3 overall record and won the Continental Divide Youth Hockey League championship.
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Pham is considered to be on the same level as some other high profile Colorado developed players including Tyler Ruegsegger and the Shore brothers. Ruegsegger made an immediate impact at DU and Drew Shore scored the game winning goal on Friday night against North Dakota.
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As Wisconsin, Colorado College & Michigan have found out, recruiting 15 year-olds can be fraught with danger. Some young recruits may not continue to progress, may switch their commitment to a different school or end up playing major junior hockey in Canada.
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DU has recruited Paul Phillips & Jason Zucker at a similar age and have yet to get burned, but its still probably more reliable to stock your recruiting classes with older more established recruits. However, landing highly touted American kids destined for the US Development Program, Pham falls between the median age group.
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Pham's ties to Colorado obviously made him too valuable to pass up.
2010 Recruiting ClassF Jason Zucker (U.S. Under-18)D David Makowski (Green Bay, USHL)F Nick Shore (U.S. Under-18).2011 Recruiting ClassD Scott Mayfield (Youngstown, USHL).2012 Recruiting ClassF Tyler Pham (Team Illinios)
6 comments:
15 is much too young to be making college commitments. Those over paid NCAA beaurocrats should set 16 as a minimum for verbal commitments and the senior high school year for a written commitment.
Everyone would agree with you, but the thinking is that if the schools don't make a commitment to the kids, they will jump to Canada and play Major Juniors.
These verbal commitments are "non-binding" and can be easily broken by the players and in rare instances by the schools.
Nate Dewhurst is another player who committed to DU when he was pretty young.
Not sure what other schools or OHL programs where chasing after Pham, but its a safe bet that CC was probably interested.
Of course all this will be forgotten if Jason Zucker, Nick Shore or Tyler Pham become the next Paul Stastny. I would suspect that DU has been following Pham since he was 12 years old and they probably have seen him play more than they did when they were recruiting Tyler Bozak.
Welcome to the phamily, Tyler
Way to go Tyler! The whole Pham Phamily is very proud of you. I love you MOM
Tyler Pham is the real deal people, be glad he committed to DU, he's definately gonna better the program. I've seen this kid play for a few years now and beleive me...keep an eye out for him.
Tyler Pham is the truth. Congrats DU for realizing that early--they will be rewarded with greatness and glory. Expect big things from this one...
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