Proctor goaltender A.J. Reyelts will be a Bulldog – Duluth News Tribune

DULUTH — Proctor’s A.J. Reyelts has committed to Minnesota Duluth for the future. The former Rails goaltender announced his commitment to the Bulldogs on Wednesday

via Instagram.

“I am extremely proud and excited to announce my commitment to play hockey for the UMD Bulldogs,”

Reyelts wrote on Instagram.

“I would like to thank God, my family, friends, teammates, and coaches who have helped me get to this point.”

The 19-year-old Reyelts

was previously committed to Lindenwood,

but re-opened his recruitment this spring. Lindenwood head coach Bill Muckalt has since left the Lions

to become the head coach at Michigan Tech.

The

2024 Duluth News Tribune All-Area Player of the Year,

Reyelts played junior hockey in the United States Hockey League in 2024-25 with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders. He’ll play in major junior in the Western Hockey League in 2025-26 with the Penticton Vees, the now former British Columbia Junior Hockey League franchise that is making the move up from Canadian Junior A.

Major junior players will be eligible to play NCAA hockey

starting in 2025-26. UMD already has

one major junior player from the Western Hockey League verbally committed

for 2025-26, defenseman Grayden Siepmann.

Reyelts posted an .890 save percentage and 2.66 goals against average in 46 regular season games with the RoughRiders in 2024-25 after finishing with a .942 save percentage and 1.72 GAA as a senior at Proctor in 2023-24.

Jake Przytarski / File / Duluth Media Group

UMD has one other goaltender in its recruiting pipeline, 18-year-old

Carl Axelsson of Sweden.

He played most of 2024-25 in the North American Hockey League with the Austin Bruins, finishing with a .937 save percentage and 1.74 GAA in 19 games.

The Bulldogs

have two new goaltenders arriving on campus in the fall of 2025

following the departures of freshman Klayton Knapp and junior Zach Sandy via

the transfer portal

following 2024-25. Scott Sandelin is bringing in sophomore

Ethan Dahlmeir,

a freshman transfer from Miami, and

Cole Sheffield

will be a freshman. Chicago Blackhawks draft pick Adam Gajan is back for his sophomore year.

Kyle Ross / IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Former Bulldogs captain Noah Cates has signed a four-year contract extension with the Philadelphia Flyers

worth $4 million per season.

The native of Stillwater, Minnesota, has 102 career points in 235 NHL games, having posted 40 goals and 62 assists in his first three-plus NHL seasons.

Cates, 26, is coming off a career-best 16 goals in 2024-25. A 2017 fifth-round draft pick of Philadelphia, he made his pro debut with the Flyers shortly after his Bulldogs career came to an end in April 2022.

Cates played four seasons at UMD from 2018-2022, winning an NCAA title as a freshman in 2018-19 and serving as captain as a junior and senior. He played for the United States at the 2019 World Junior Championship and 2022 Olympics.

• Former Bulldogs forward Ben Steeves has reached the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup Finals with the Charlotte Checkers, who now await the winner of the

  Abbotsford-Texas series in the West.

  Steeves played two seasons with UMD from 2022-24 before turning pro early, signing with the Florida Panthers as an undrafted free agent. Steeves has 13 goals and 20 assists through 72 games of his rookie season, including three goals and two assists in 12 postseason games.