UND commit Carson Carels 'embodies everything we're looking for in a player'
· Yahoo Sports
May 18—GRAND FORKS — UND general manager Bryn Chyzyk couldn't pick out an exact timeframe on how long he's been drawn to Carson Carels.
"For a long, long time," Chyzyk said with a laugh.
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So, when it came time to choose which one of the four Western Hockey League superstar defensemen to prioritize in the 2026 recruiting class, UND zoned in on Carels, a 6-foot-1, left-shot blue liner for the Prince George Cougars.
Not only is he from Cypress River, Man., a three-hour drive from Grand Forks, UND's staff felt his playing style was a perfect fit.
"He's big and plays a physical game," UND coach Dane Jackson said. "He's really strong defensively. He also really moves pucks well. He can pound a puck from the point. He's dangerous with his shot. The thing that really stands out to me most is the character guy he is. He's really presence-filled. He's a leader. He's just really competitive and really embodies everything we're looking for in a player."
Chyzyk added: "He's an extremely smooth-skating defenseman who doesn't sacrifice defense for offense. He takes care of his own end of the rink. He makes a good first pass. When he gets a chance to create, he does it without sacrificing defense, which is so rare nowadays."
Carels
committed to UND on Monday,
ending a long, gradual process.
UND penciled him in as their No. 1 target from this WHL class long ago, but the Fighting Hawks waited until after his season ended to crank up the recruitment.
"Carson was very focused on his team and making sure he was all in with his group (in Prince George)," Chyzyk said. "There were small conversations along the way with him and with his family. It didn't really pick up until after the season completed."
Prince George was eliminated from the WHL playoffs on April 19 with a Game 6 overtime loss to Penticton in the second round.
Carels visited UND on May 7-8, and began preparing a commitment. He posed for photos in a UND hockey jersey during his visit.
He made it official less than two weeks later. It was a similar process to what Cole Reschny and Keaton Verhoeff went through a year ago.
Carels fills a key spot for UND on the back end, where three of its big-minute defensemen are gone from last year's NCAA Frozen Four squad. Jake Livanavage (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Abram Wiebe (Calgary Flames) signed after the college hockey season and are already in the NHL. Captain Bennett Zmolek graduated.
"With us losing three of our best defensemen, we needed some guys who could come in and be impact guys and play in all situations," Jackson said. "Carson is a guy we believe can absolutely take those minutes and excel in those situations.
"He's going to be able to play a lot of key minutes against all matchups. He's a guy that can play big minutes on the penalty kill, run a power play, defend against top players. He has a ton of substance and a lot of maturity to his game."
Carels is eligible for the 2026 NHL Draft. He could go in the top five along with Verhoeff, his future UND teammate.
Only two UND hockey players have ever gone in the top five of the NHL Draft — Jonathan Toews (No. 3, 2006) and Jake Sanderson (No. 5, 2020).
Carels has referenced in previous interviews that his favorite player is Sanderson.
"He takes what the game gives to him at such a high level," Chyzyk said of Carels. "He's not necessarily trying to beat guys 1-on-1. He takes what the game presents and pounces on it."
Chyzyk said he expects Carels to mesh well with his teammates, the campus and the city.
"He fits our culture to a T," Chyzyk said. "To have a player of this caliber that's such a seamless fit with the type of people we want in our program — similar to Keaton Verhoeff — it's our type of person for our culture while also being an outstanding talent."
UND's defensive corps will be one of the youngest it has ever had, but it will have some elite talent, including four 2026 World Junior Championship blue liners — Carels (Canada), Verhoeff (Canada), Ethan MacKenzie (Canada) and E.J. Emery (United States).
Carels, Verhoeff and Emery (No. 30 overall, New York Rangers, 2024) will give UND three first-round picks on its back end for the first time in program history.
The Fighting Hawks have had two first-round picks on the same defensive corps in four seasons — Brian Lee and Joe Finley (2005-07), Derek Forbort and Jordan Schmaltz (2012-13), and Jacob Bernard-Docker and Jake Sanderson (2020-21).
The back end will be young, though.
UND won't have a senior on defense.
Emery and Brasen Boser are juniors. Verhoeff and Sam Laurila (New York Islanders fifth-rounder) are sophomores. Carels, MacKenzie and Garrett Lindberg are freshmen. UND is expected to add one more rookie defender to that group.
"We could have some growing pains early as we all find our way, get comfortable playing at this level and playing in our league," Jackson said. "But I really believe that once everybody in that core gets playing to their true abilities, in the second half, we can be extremely strong."