The Gophers men's hockey coach Bob Motzko on Sunday announced the addition of forward Colin Schmidt, a transfer from Union, to Minnesota's roster for the 2020-21 season.
Schmidt, former Wayzata High School standout, played in 32 games for Union as a freshman in 2019-20, collecting one goal and four assists for the Dutchmen. Union opted not to play in 2020-21 because of COVID-19 concerns, and Schmidt, 6-4 and 225 pounds, entered the transfer portal.
Because of a back injury to Noah Weber that Motzko said likely will sideline the sophomore for the rest of the season, the Gophers were down to 13 forwards before the addition of Schmidt.
Schmidt was a Minnesota Mr. Hockey finalist in 2018 and helped Wayzata win the Class 2A state championship in 2016. He had 38 goals and 58 assists in 90 games for the Trojans, earning All-Lake Conference honors three consecutive years.
Schmidt verbally committed to Minnesota in May of 2016 but ended up at Union after spending the 2018-19 season mainly with Jamestown of the NAHL. He had eight goals and 19 assists in 41 games for Jamestown. He also appeared in six regular-season games and one playoff contest for Waterloo of the USHL in 2017-18 and 2018-19, finishing with two assists.
At Union, Schmidt also earned AHCA All-America Scholar and ECAC Hockey All-Academic honors in 2019-20.
The top-ranked Gophers begin the second phase of their 2020-21 season with a nonconference series against Arizona State at 3 p.m. Sunday and 7 p.m. Monday.