Aaron Ness decides to leave 'U'.
Photo by Craig CotnerAccording to multiple reports, including a Tweet from @hammyhockey, Gophers junior defensemen Aaron Ness has decided to forgo his final season of eligibility and will sign with the New York Islanders, the team that drafted him in the second round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.
The University of Minnesota has yet to confirm nor deny the reports.
Ness came to the Gophers after becoming a star defenseman while playing for Roseau. He was named Minnesota Mr. Hockey for the 2007-08 as a junior / senior as he accelerated his studies to join the U a year early. He helped lead the Rams to a AA state title in 2006-07 and became known to fans across the state for his offensive skill despite being very undersized. He was listed at 5-10, 170 lbs. as a freshman at the U.
Ness had 17 points in his freshman season – including two goals – and appeared as though he was poised to take some big steps as his career as a Gopher went on. However, the team as a whole struggled to score big-time in the next two seasons, so Ness never developed into that next offensive superstar defensemen that Gopher fans thought he may be while watching him tear things up at Roseau.
As a sophomore, he had just two goals and ten assists. In his final season as a third-year player, he had two goals and 14 assists, ending his Gopher career with 43 points in 111 games.
His play in his own end improved as time went on and as he got physically stronger, but in the end he turned into another Minnesota player that excelled at neither end of the ice and wasn’t big enough to make a physical impact. Perhaps on Gopher teams of the past that had way more skill and better coaching, he could have been an elite defenseman, but that opportunity never presented itself during his tenure here for a variety of reasons.
Ness has a long road to go before he ever graces an NHL rink given his size, but hopefully he’s able to crack an NHL lineup at some point down the road.
For the Gophers, it leaves when without three of their top six defensemen from this past season’s team heading into next year, as seniors Cade Fairchild and Kevin Wehrs also depart. Fairchild and Ness were by far the team’s best puck-movers, so look for that to be an issue come next fall.
Chris Student, who transferred to the U from Northeastern and sat out this past season, will join the team this fall as a sophomore and it also an undersized, puck-moving type d-man. He was listed at 5-9, 170 lbs. this past season.
Seth Helgeson will be a junior while four guys – Mark Alt, Justin Holl, Nate Schmidt, and Jake Parenteau – are slated to be sophomores this fall. Ben Marshall will be an 18-year-old freshman this fall after having played this past season for Omaha in the USHL. The team will likely look to bring in another older freshman defender with junior hockey experience at some point to fill the somewhat unexpected departure of Ness, who had offers to leave last offseason. Head Coach Don Lucia was recently quoted though saying he didn’t expect any early departures.
