Minot, ND – The Minotauros are proud to announce that alum David Raisanen is joining the Michigan Tech University Huskies for the upcoming NCAA DI hockey season. Raisanen becomes the 10th member of last year’s team to make an NCAA DI commitment and 46th overall in franchise history.
Raisanen’s story is an unlikely one as he took a year off of hockey between high school and joining the Tauros. His time as a student during that year started his NCAA eligibility clock which kept running during his time in Minot. After a dominant performance at the 2017 NAHL Showcase the obstacles continued after an injury limited him to 34 games and eight points in his first season in Minot.
Undeterred Raisanen returned to Minot for his final season of juniors and wrote his name all over the franchise record book. Raisanen finished his Tauro career last spring as just the 7th Tauro to reach 50 points in a season with 24 goals and 26 assists. His 24 goals was the third most by a Tauro in a season all time and his 58 career points is 17th.
Tauros’ Head Coach and General Manager Marty Murray had nothing but praise for his former forward: “We, as an organization are very proud of David. When you take a step back and realized what he accomplished, this is an exceptional story. To go from not playing for essentially a year and a half to now a D1 athlete is mind boggling. David is a big body with soft hands and you can’t teach that. I really believe he’s just scratching the surface and has a chance to do some very good things at the D1 level.”
Raisanen, who plans to study mechanical engineering at Michigan Tech pointed to several reasons he chose the school, “They have a great engineering program and a historic hockey program. I also have friends and family who have gone here.” “Big Dave,” was quick to credit Minot for his continued journey saying, “Playing in Minot was huge for my development. It’s a first-class operation and a great place to play.”
Raisanen had several “thank you’s” to pass on as well, “I would like to thank Marty, Shane, and Brad Porter for giving me the opportunity to play for the Tauros. I would also like to thank my two billet families (The Ruelle’s and the Burckhard’s) and everyone else involved with the Tauros.”
It is perhaps fitting that the news would come on the eve of the 2019 NAHL Showcase as Raisanen posted seven career points in eight games at NAHL Showcases. Stay tuned to GoTauros.com as the season kicks off tomorrow with the Tauros taking on the Springfield Jr. Blues on Day One of the 2019 NAHL Showcase.