Brock Faber

A pair of defensive prospects – Brock Faber and Mike Koster – signed national letters of intent with the Gophers men's hockey program and will join the team for the 2020-21 season, coach Bob Motzko announced Friday.

Faber, a 6-foot, 182-pounder from Maple Grove, is in his second season with the U.S. National Team Development Program in Plymouth, Mich., and is in his first season with the U.S. Under-18 National Team. He has one goal and four assists in 20 games with the under-18 team this season after collecting three goals and 12 assists in 56 games with the U.S. Under-17 team in 2018-19. In USHL play the past two seasons, he has three goals and 10 assists in 41 games. Faber helped the U.S. win a silver medal in the 2018 Under-17 Four Nations Tournament. Faber is considered a second- or third-round prospect for the 2020 NHL draft by NHL Central Scouting.

Mike Koster

Koster, a 5-9, 175-pounder, signed his letter of intent last year and was a fifth-round pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2019 NHL draft. He spent the past four seasons at Chaska High School, amassing 19 goals and 40 assists in 24 games as a senior captain for the Hawks. The Star Tribune's Metro Player of the Year for the 2018-19 high school season, Koster is now playing for the Tri-City Storm of the USHL this season and has one goal and three assists in 10 games.

"They are two of the top defensive prospects in the nation right now,'' Motzko said in a statement. "They can't wait to be Gophers, and we can't wait to have them.''