With Nolan Fitzhenry and the Ruck twins, UND addresses its biggest need
· Yahoo Sports
Jun. 23—GRAND FORKS — The biggest hole in UND's recruiting board was a lack of high-end, offensive difference-makers in future classes.
In the span of five days, UND took care of that.
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Last Thursday, the Fighting Hawks received a commitment from forward Nolan Fitzhenry,
the Herald's No. 1-ranked 2027 American recruit.
On Monday, twin brothers Markus and Liam Ruck, the top two scorers in all of Canadian major junior hockey,
signed with UND
for 2027.
"Our staff really puts a lot of value on character guys, 200-foot players," UND head coach Dane Jackson said. "But we all know you need special offensive players to be able to make plays for you as well. The fact that we just recruited some guys who have good two-way ability and team-first mentality, but also have some God-given ability and special instincts to do the hardest thing, which is score, is extremely exciting.
"Next year, we have a lot of good players. It's pretty exciting to be able to add names that will be at the top of our lineup in the future."
The Ruck twins had a breakout 2025-26 season with the Medicine Hat Tigers in the Western Hockey League.
After tallying 41 (Liam) and 29 (Markus) points during Medicine Hat's WHL championship season in 2024-25, the Rucks exploded for 212 points last season. Markus, a left-handed setup man, tallied 108. Liam, a right-handed goal-scorer, tallied 104.
They got better as the year progressed, too.
Liam had 15 points in his first 19 games of the regular season (.79 points per game). In his last 49 games, he had 89 points (1.82 ppg). Markus had 15 points in his first 16 games (.94 ppg). In the last 52 games, he had 93 points (1.79 ppg).
"It was a really fun year," Markus said. "I think for myself, personally, I was just caught up in my own head with draft stuff (early in the season). When I tried to have fun with it all and enjoy the experience, it kind of led to my second half being better."
They were pursued by several schools and made visits to UND, Michigan State, Western Michigan, Maine and Quinnipiac.
"We had a couple of great options we could have chosen from," Liam said. "It felt like there were no negatives at UND. The people there seemed awesome — the coaches and the people in the city. It seemed like a good fit. We're smaller-town guys. We had a really good impression. The facility is great. It seemed like a good fit for us."
Markus added: "We're super pumped for the opportunity. We've seen plenty of great clips of the crowd at North Dakota. For us to hopefully get the chance to play in front of them, it's going to be really cool. We're excited."
Some schools wanted the Rucks for 2026-27, but they opted to return to Medicine Hat for one more season.
"For us, there's no rush," Liam said. "I think we're underdeveloped guys right now. We have to put some weight on. We felt it was the right decision to go back for one more year. I think we're going to have a good team. We knew college would still be there for the next year."
The Rucks grew up in Osoyoos, B.C., following Canadian major junior hockey.
They hadn't heard of UND until May 2025, when WHL stars Keaton Verhoeff and Cole Reschny committed to the Fighting Hawks on the same day.
The Rucks visited UND in late May, then attended the NHL Combine with Verhoeff in early June.
"We talked to Verhoeff quite a bit," Markus said. "At the Combine, we asked Keaton some questions and he had nothing but great things to say about the way everything runs at North Dakota and with the staff. That was another hint that it's a great fit for us."
The Rucks finished their five on-campus visits last week with trips to Michigan State and Western Michigan. They called UND's staff over the weekend to let them know they're committing to UND.
"They treat the players so well off the ice with food, the way the trainers train the players, the way the coaches talked to us," Markus said. "It felt like home. There were tons of great options, but the way the UND coaches and staff treated us when we went out there, it was unbelievable."
The Rucks' most defining trait is the way they think the game.
"I think their brains and creativity and offensive instincts are extremely good," Jackson said. "And I think how well they work together is another impressive trait. Getting two players who really feed off each other and have special passing and shooting skills, and the ability to play off each other, is exciting. You have two-thirds of a line."
UND general manager Bryn Chyzyk said: "Their hockey IQ is on a different level, even when evaluating top players in North America — just the little plays they make, the support plays. It's NHL-level coming out of junior hockey. They're unique in how they play and they're creative offensively, but their brains are off the charts at both ends of the rink."
Jackson said the Rucks are good fits off the ice, too.
"They're blue collar," Jackson said. "They're humble. They're good team guys, really positive guys. I really like the people they are. Sometimes, the connotation is that high-end guys will be more selfish or me-first or things like that, but these guys are very selfless, team-first and win-focused guys."
Chyzyk said the Rucks have a contagious enthusiasm.
"Jax talks about different personalities of UND greats — how Jonny Toews was, how T.J. Oshie was, how Matt Greene was," Chyzyk said. "He always describes Osh as a guy who walks in with a smile on his face, and people want to be around him. They're drawn to his personality. That's how the Rucks are. They were the most-requested roommates at the NHL Combine. From what I hear about Osh, their personalities have that same effect on people."
The Rucks will be in Buffalo, N.Y., for the NHL Draft this weekend.
They're projected as second-round picks, but could sneak into the first. They've told NHL teams they want to be picked by the same team, which could make it trickier for a team to use a first-round pick on them.
"It's been a busy year for us," Liam said. "I've loved this process. It's getting close to it now. It doesn't feel real. You dream of this moment growing up. It's right around the corner now. It's pretty exciting. I don't have any expectations. I just want to go there with my family and enjoy the experience. It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I do hope I'm drafted with Markus to a team. It's definitely not easy to pull off, but we'll see what happens."
The Fighting Hawks already anticipated Verhoeff and incoming freshman defenseman Carson Carels going in the top 10, while incoming freshman defenseman Ethan MacKenzie likely slots in as a second- or third-round pick.
Now, the Rucks are boosting UND's NHL Draft board even more.
"It's a fun week," Chyzyk said. "We have criteria we look for in players to bring in to be part of our program. Sometimes, it's highly touted players. Sometimes, it's not. It just so happened that our recent recruits have higher NHL Draft status. It creates more buzz. But it doesn't change our process."