The Gophers men's hockey team on Thursday received a verbal commitment from Jacob Kvasnicka, a high-scoring forward from Wayzata who's playing for the U.S. National Team Development Program in Plymouth, Mich.

Kvasnicka, 16, announced on Instagram his intention to join the Gophers, and he is projected to be with the team starting in the 2025-26 season.

In 14 games with the USNTDP Under-17 team, he has five goals and three assists. He helped the United States win a silver medal in the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, scoring four goals and assisting on two in three games. The NTDP website lists Kvasnicka at 5-11 and 158 pounds.

As a freshman at Wayzata High School in 2022-23, Kvasnicka had 11 goals and 34 assists in 28 games for a team that lost in the Class 2A, Section 6 final 2-1 to Edina. A year earlier, he had 39 goals and 50 assists in 48 games for Wayzata's Bantam AA team.