The recruiting window for high school juniors has officially been open for one week today.

Eight Minnesotans have verbally committed to Division I college programs to date, with each committing to a different school. Two of the eight - St. Michael native Bode Laylin and Hermantown native Victor Plante - have committed to teams in the state of Minnesota, with Laylin choosing the familiar University of St. Thomas and Plante following his family's footsteps to Minnesota Duluth. 

Continue reading for capsules on all eight players who have committed so far. 

Tyden Bergeson
Verbal commitment: Augustana 

Moorhead's Tyden Bergeson started hot last season, scoring 11 goals and 16 points in 18 games in the Upper Midwest High School Elite League before his first year of high school hockey. During the 2023-2024 campaign, he hardly slowed down, leading Moorhead with 20 goals and finishing third among all skaters with 37 points. 

Bergeson's commitment to Augustana looks good for the Vikings, indicating that the team's appeal can filter down to the newly recruitable. Given how early Bergeson is in his hockey journey, only time will tell if the original Viking staff that recruited him is still in Sioux Falls by the time he's ready to sign a National Letter of Intent with the program. 

Cole Bumgarner 
Verbal commitment: North Dakota

Former Rogers standout Cole Bumgarner won't have to go far from his USHL team to his future college program after verbally committing to North Dakota last week.

Bumgarner will take his elite shot to the Fargo Force of the USHL this season, which will provide a considerable jump in competition from the high school level. 

The Force is coming off a season in which the franchise swept the postseason USHL awards, winning the Clark Cup, Player of the Year and Forward of the Year (Mac Swanson), Defenseman of the Year (Leo Gruba), Goaltender of the Year (Hampton Slukynsky), Coach of the Year (Brett Skinner) and General Manager of the Year (Cary Eades). There will be a plan for Bumgarner, and he's in arguably the best developmental spot possible among junior hockey programs. 

Bumgarner scored 15 goals and totaled 34 points last season for the Royals, who fell to Centennial in the Class AA, Section 5 semifinals.

Dylan Dean
Verbal commitment: Maine

Given his time spent on the east coast the last two seasons, the assumption that Dylan Dean would verbal to a program on the eastern seaboard seemed a safe bet.

The Maple Grove native did just that last week, committing to Maine alongside Long Island Gulls 15-Only teammate Rhys Medved. Dean recorded 74 points in 60 games last season as the Gulls advanced to the national finals before falling to the Chicago Mission. Dean will play for the Gulls' 16U team this season.

Fun fact: Gulls 15-O coach Justin Agosta played part of his college hockey with New Hampshire, a bitter rival of the Black Bears. 

Jimmy Egan
Verbal commitment: Colorado College 

One of two area players (along with West Faro native Lincoln Kuehne) to verbally commit to Colorado College in the last couple of days, Mahtomedi's Jimmy Egan is another big-bodied skater with a heaviness to his game that mirrors the type of lineup the Colorado College coaching staff is trying to build in Colorado Springs. 

The incoming 2024-2025 class features eleven skaters and one goaltender. None of the players stand shorter than six feet, and six of the players (including goaltender Carsen Musser) are 6-foot-2 or taller. According to Elite Prospects, Egan is listed at 6-foot-2 and over 180 pounds.

The Mahtomedi sophomore finished tied for fifth among all players in the state with 43 assists. In two years with the Zephyr varsity, he's totaled 13 goals and 73 points. He also lit up the USA Hockey National Select 16 camp this offseason, dishing out seven helpers and finishing with eight points in five games. 

Bode Laylin 
Verbal commitment: St. Thomas 

St. Thomas had the inside track on Bode Laylin from the start, considering his brother Luc is already on the St. Paul campus, brother Casy is slated to join the Tommies this season, and dad Cory has been a UST assistant for the past four seasons. Given the age difference between Bode and Luc, there is an outside chance that all four members of the clan could be in the program at the same time. 

Laylin recorded 10 goals and 43 points last year for NorthStar Christian Academy's U16 team, appeared in 15 games for the USHL's Tri-City Storm, and participated in this summer's USA Hockey National Select 17 camp.  

Nate Pederson 
Verbal commitment: Miami (OH) 

Shakopee's Nate Pederson verbally committed to Miami (OH) last week. The program has two Minnesotans on the roster (Blake Mesenburg and Ethan Dahlmeir) but no tangible coaching staff connection to Minnesota. It's an interesting commitment. 

Pederson scored 20 goals and added 32 assists for the Sabres last season, tried out for the NTDP U17 team this spring, and will compete on the international stage for Team USA during this summer's Five Nations Tournament. 

Victor Plante
Verbal commitment: Minnesota Duluth 

A virtual lock to verbally commit to Minnesota Duluth, Victor Plante pledged to the Bulldogs last weekend. Older brothers Zam and Max are already in line to play for the same program that helped their father, Derek, to a lengthy NHL career and a Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars.

The family matriarch, Kristi, is one of the most decorated athletes in UMD history, starring for the Bulldogs' basketball and softball teams for four seasons and winning the university's Outstanding Female Senior Athlete and Top Scholar-Athlete in 1999. 

Victor has played the last two seasons with perennial national power Chicago Mission after coming up through the Hermantown youth system, making the move after Derek was named an assistant coach for the Chicago Blackhawks.

Plante led the 15-Only Mission to the national championship last spring, tying for the tournament lead in scoring with four goals and 10 points. Plante also scored the team's most important goal of the tournament, netting the overtime game-winner in the Mission's quarterfinal win over the New Jersey Rockets.

Parker Trottier
Verbal commitment: Notre Dame 

For Golden Gopher fans, Parker Trottier could have seemed next in line to continue the Edina to Dinkytown pipeline. However, that would ignore the fact that Trottier spent just two seasons in the Hornet youth program before moving on to Shattuck-St. Mary's for his 14U and U16 seasons. Players with high-level experience outside the Minnesota youth system tend to have a more worldly view of the college hockey landscape. 

The grandson of New York Islanders legend Bryan Trottier, Parker captained Team USA to a gold medal at the 2024 Youth Olympics, recording two goals and five points in four games. He recorded 13 goals and 26 points last season for the Shattuck-St. Mary's U16 squad.