Minnesota Mallard Defenseman Cottingham makes NCAA DI Commitment

The Minnesota Mallards of the North American Hockey League (NAHL) are proud to announce that defenseman Landon Cottingham has committed to play NCAA Division I hockey for the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The 17-year-old hometown kid of the Mallards was in his first season playing junior hockey. He played nine games before returning to his high school squad, the Hill-Murrary school, for their season. In those nine games as a Mallard, he tallied a goal and an assist.

The ‘07 righty had specific goals in mind in developing his game while with the Minnesota Mallards. 

Cottingham stated that he “made it pretty clear with the coaches that [he] had the intention of developing [his] defensive zone. In practice and during games, the big emphasis was the zone. [He] would do some individual sessions during the day with [his] coach learning stick positioning, man on man, just basic stuff like that to grow [his] diversity and toolbox of defensive players.”

Cottingham additionally shared a little more about his decision to go to the University of Alaska Fairbanks. 

“Yeah, honestly, the coaching staff is the big thing. They're all just great guys. You get to meet all of them individually. One of the coaches came to my house for a few hours, had dinner with me, old-school recruiting,” said Miller, “Just getting the opportunity to know them, build relationships with them was probably the biggest thing. And their schedule, they play some of the top teams in the nation.”

Cottingham is the fourth player to commit to play Division I Hockey on the Mallards this season.