Duluth East senior forward Dom Toninato, 17, has made an oral scholarship commitment to Minnesota Duluth, according to his dad, Jim, a former Bulldog forward.
Jim Toninato, originally from Bemidji, Minn., played on some of the best teams in UMD history as a forward from 1982-86, and had 54 points in 155 games.
Dom Toninato, 6-foot-1 and 170 pounds, is the second-leading scorer for Duluth East with 19 goals and 28 assists for 47 points in 18 games. The Greyhounds are 17-1.
“UMD was always on the top of Dom’s list, but he also had some other options and had some other schools interested, and he also had to look at those,” Jim Toninato said Tuesday.
Toninato is expected to play for Fargo (N.D.) in the U.S. Hockey League in 2012-13 and come to UMD in 2013-14 or 2014-15.
On Monday, East scoring leader Jake Randolph made a commitment to Nebraska-Omaha.
Two current Bulldogs also had dads who played at UMD — senior center Travis Oleksuk (his dad, Bill) and freshman defenseman Derik Johnson (his dad, Jim). Junior winger Dan DeLisle had an uncle (Joe DeLisle) play for the Bulldogs.
Good to see Dom going to UMD!!!!! Man UMD is landing some great talent!!!
Not sure why Randolph wasn’t part of the mix, but this is GREAT news. (And Weegman says he’s a better prospect for college anyhow!) It’s most important to win, of course, but to be able to win with so much local talent is icing on the cake. it’s a fantastic way to finally build this program into an elite status and to keep the community involved in the program. In the past, too may of these blue chip local guys were leaving town to play college hockey. Now UMD is getting their share and more. Few other schools in the nation, except maybe in Boston and to some extent the Rodents, can do that. Way to go Dogs!
BBP- UNO is reported to have given Randolph a full ride, so I assume that greatly influenced his choice. I doubt UMD was willing to match that type of offer
I see Randolph dissed UMD’s coaching staff.
Well, as they say “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”?