The Gust in from Chicago

The United States Hockey League Entry Draft has two phases. The first phase gets each team to 23 players and the picks generally consist of players that are expected to contribute next season.

The Fargo Force used the 99^th overall pick and their final pick on David Gust. He has three sisters that play Division I sports. One plays hockey, one plays basketball, and one plays football. Talk about good genes. And a good work ethic.

“He’s a good, hard worker,” Assistant Coach and Director of Player Personnel Jesse Davis said.

“[He’s] a good worker, brings a little grit to his game,” Interim Coach Byron Pool added.

With bloodlines like he has, it would be a crime not to mention his talent as well. Not only does he have three Division I sisters and a dad that was a pretty good football player, but he has a lot of talent of his own.

“[He’s a] very, very high-end skilled hockey player with a ton of speed. Very high end hockey sense, hockey-minded playmaker,” Davis said.

The 5-8, 170 pound forward scored 20 goals and tacked on 22 assists in just 40 games for the Chicago Fury last season. Six of those goals came on the power play in the top Midget Major league in the United States. In five years, he tallied 106 points in 140 games at various levels of the Chicago Fury/Chill program.

“He adds a lot of ability. He adds a lot of talent. And he’s definitely going to play in our league one day, for sure,” Davis said.

At 17 years old, Gust already has a good relationship with the Fargo Force. Tack that on to a great blood line, an outstanding work ethic, and a fair amount of talent and it looks like a steal of a pick at 99^th overall. His relationship with the organization may have been a key factor in the team selecting him in phase one of the draft.

“I’ve coached David in the past and he’s come out and skated with us here and we’ve skated there twice on the way for road trips just to stop to skate,” Davis said. “So, he’s skated with us quite a few times.”

The coaching staff compared him a little bit to Zach Pochiro and maybe even Max McHugh. The club sees all three players as potential fits on the roster, whether that be this season or next. One thing that Gust doesn’t have yet is a lot of size. Davis described him as short, but well built and very strong.

The size issue could go away very quickly. All three of his sisters hit a growth spurt shortly after high school and Gust is almost to that point in his lift. With a nice growth spurt, he could become a very dangerous player. One that could do a lot of damage with some of the young talent the Fargo Force has coming in.

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By: Tim How