Glen Buries, Glen's Boss (and Coffee's For Closers)

Spruce Grove Saints center David Glen has become Guy Gadowsky's latest 2012 commit, according to an AJHL press release. Because the release isn't particularly lengthy, here's the entire thing.

20 year old forward David Glen will be joining the new Penn State Division 1 Hockey program in the 2012-2013 season. Over the last 2 seasons with the Saints Glen has scored 38 times while adding 40 assists in 96 games played. Glen will be returning to the Saints for his 20 year old season, where he will try to lead his team back to the Enerflex Cup Finals and beyond before heading to the NCAA.

"I am very excited and honoured to be joining the prestigious Penn State University as the institution is experiencing some exciting times." says Glen. "However, I am anxious to rejoin my current teammates and work towards another championship before heading to school. I'd like to thank my parents Donna and John for their continuous support and of course the Saints organization, my teammates and coaches for getting me to the next step."

"David can and will play in all situations for us." explains Head Coach and General Manager Jason McKee. "He is a very well rounded forward that plays a solid 2-way game. This season David will be relied upon heavily for leadership and be an example for what it means to be a Saint."

David Glen

Forward
Spruce Grove Saints (AJHL)
6'0", 175 pounds
Fort Saskatchewan, AB
DOB 2/14/1991

Eliteprospects.com player page

Season   Team                   Lge    GP    G    A  Pts  PIM
-------------------------------------------------------------
2008-09  Fort Sask. Rangers     Mdgt   29   19   24   43   48
2008-09  Spruce Grove Saints    AJHL    4    0    0    0    0
2009-10  Spruce Grove Saints    AJHL   36   12   13   25   23
2010-11  Spruce Grove Saints    AJHL   56   26   27   53   72

On the surface, there haven't been too many patterns to PSU's recruiting so far. Pre-Guy Gadowsky commits Pete Sweetland and Josh Daley stand out as the only two Pennsylvanians. Of course, they're outnumbered by Steve Edgeworth, P.J. Musico and Kenny Brooks from the southwest (I don't mean the Pittsburgh area when I say "southwest"). And new Penn State hockey players have also come from hockey hotbeds Grimes, IA, Brookings, SD and Virginia Beach, VA - while none have come from Minnesota or Massachusetts. Here's what it all looks like visually.

One thing to keep in mind is that this map shows everyone - 2011s, 2012s, transfers, pre-Gadowsky and post-Gadowsky. What if we limit things to those believed to be Gadowsky recruits (and what if we cheat and spread out the markers in one cluster)?

Now it becomes a little more clear. Especially when you throw in something Gadowsky said at his introductory press conference.

As you know, there's some great student athletes in Canada, great student hockey players in Canada. I think they're just going to love Penn State. Obviously the spirit, but other things.
 
I think sometimes, where I'm from, in the prairies (Edmonton, Alberta), some of us, we get a little intimidated by big city sidewalks and lights, and I know Kelsey loved it when she came here in comparison to that. I think the Canadian hockey players are going to love it here. They're just going to eat it up.

And they're great students. We've had a lot of success in Princeton with some of our best students coming from Canada. So it's something I absolutely want to explore.

With all of that in mind, it probably shouldn't come as much of a surprise that Glen joins Jessi Hilton and Reed Linaker to become PSU's third 2012 commit from the Edmonton area. For good measure, Ontario natives Jonathan Milley and Luke Juha were included in the fun. Even SoCal surfer dude Musico played junior in Flin Flon, a small town on the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border, adding yet more Canadian flair to the makeup of Penn State's first NCAA teams.

Of course, there is one other pattern: Gadowsky recruits winners. Some win pretty big, as in Milley with the RBC Cup, Justin Kirchhevel with the NAHL's Robertson Cup, or Juha with a silver medal from the World Jr. A Challenge. Glen, for his part, brings a pair of AJHL Enerflex Cup titles to the table. The wisdom of this recruiting method should become apparent when Penn State has a winning culture in the room before playing a single NCAA game - an asset for any program, but especially a new one.

Glen's Saints, as mentioned, have mowed down the AJHL to the tune of the last two playoff titles, thanks in part to Glen's 14 points over those playoff runs. He assisted on Josh Koper's OT winner in Spruce Grove's first game of the 2010 playoffs and scored in the title clinching game this past year, just to cite a couple examples of his big-game chops. And while the Saints fell in the Doyle Cup (between the BCHL and AJHL champions, one step before the RBC Cup national championships) in seven games to the Vernon Vipers both times, Glen still played an important role with a game-winning goal in game 6 last season to force a deciding tilt.

Glen (right) does this a lot.

It's not as if the Saints just turn it on for the playoffs either - 102-10-8 over the last two regular seasons pretty much means that they're flattening the league all over the place. It would be understandable if Glen didn't stand out statistically on a team like that, but he did: third in points, and his seven game-winning tallies led the way. In fact, toss in Linaker and Hilton, and three of the AJHL's top 20 goal scorers last season are PSU-bound. In a league that features five other players committed to Big Ten schools, I'd qualify that as nice to know.

Special thanks to John Tecce - a guy who helped make student participation at PSU sporting events cool - for the original tip on Glen's commitment. Be sure to follow him on Twitter, and check out his work for Onward State.