North Dakota Hockey Update: Transfers and Professional Deals Signed

NORTH DAKOTA HOCKEY UPDATE.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (KVRR)–The Hockey transfer portal has been active and a lot of professional deals are being signed for North Dakota Hockey. Riese Gaber offically signed a contract with the AHL (Charlotte Checkers) and Hunter Johannes signed with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins this week.

On Friday, a lot of news broke regarding the UND hockey roster. In the midst of all the departures for UND, NoDak added Alaska defenseman Caleb McDonald. McDonald scored two goals in the series at the Ralph against North Dakota earlier this year and will have three years of eligibility remaining. He is the third Alaska defenseman to transfer to UND in the last four seasons.

Keeping with the theme of NoDak players heading Pro, Griffin Ness signed with the Maine Mariners of the ECHL, professional hockey’s developmental league. The deal runs through the rest of this season.

Defenseman Garrett Pyke signed with the AHL Friday evening as well. The deal is for an amateur try out for the remainder of this season and a standard 2-year deal through the 2025-26 season with the Colorado Eagles, the affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche. Pyke played is first and only season in grand forks this past year and was regarded as NoDak’s top defenseman. Previous to UND, Pyke spent his previous years with Alaska. He had 25 points this past season.

Finally, graduate defenseman Logan Britt has a new professional home as he inks a deal with the ECHL. Britt signed with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits and is expected to make his pro debut Friday night. Britt had 14 points this past season for UND on 7 goals and 7 assists.

Earlier this week UND also added a new goaltender and Arizona State’s T.J. Semptimphelter. This move comes as current netminder Ludvig Persson is expected to sign a professional deal in the coming days/weeks.