COLLEGE TIER: MAX NAGEL, COLGATE UNIVERSITY

Longtime APX member Max Nagel earned College Tier Player of the Month honors after a successful and promising offseason of training as a whole. Our coaches and staff members say that Nagel demonstrates all of the attributes and habits of an athlete that is striving to get better each and every day. 

“He’s very driven on the details of his game, he loves to put time in with new skill development and he’s always interested in getting better in different facets of the game,” said APX Director of Player Development Wes Jirovec. “He’s also remarkably competitive and his presence is a huge boost towards what was a very exciting summer for our college group.”

Nagel is now off to join Colgate University for his sophomore season of college hockey. The former St. Thomas Academy forward had a promising freshman season by scoring 24 points through 36 contests for the Raiders, which was tied for third in overall scoring on the roster, and is set up to have another successful year in the NCAA. 

18 SELECTS TIER: COLE CHEESEMAN, ACADEMY OF HOLY ANGELS

Academy of Holy Angels forward Cole Cheeseman earned Player of the Month honors in August after showing lots of growth on the ice even after coming off of an injury from the past high school season. Even though it’s only his second year with APX he has impressed the coaching staff and everyone is excited to see what he can do in his senior year at Holy Angels before making the jump up to junior hockey.

“He’s been on a really strong developmental trajectory with rounding out the hard skill and the 200-foot impact of his game,” said Jirovec about the summer that ‘Cheese’ has had. “There’s a lot of maturity with how he approaches his work and now you’re seeing that maturity reflect into what his game looks like out on the ice.”

18s TIER: BRETT WYNES, LAKEVILLE NORTH

Brett Wynes is in his first year with APX but he has already shown tremendous growth in his game and an incredible desire to become the best player possible. Wynes is a defenseman who moved from Colorado to Minnesota last year and had a successful 2024-25 season with Lakeville North High School.

“Brett has been a tremendous fit with the culture of the program here, specifically when it comes to details, habits, compete level and coachability,” said Jirovec. “He’s a very driven young man when it comes to contributing to the game in whatever facets or with whatever circumstantial impact needs to be made. He’s a winner and guys like that are really fun for us to work with. It’s exciting to see how much his game has improved over the spring and summer so far.”

16s TIER: JAKE CAMPBELL, CHASKA

Campbell is in his first year with the APX program after a promising freshman campaign with Chaska High School. As just a 15-year-old, ‘Soupy’ was tied for first in overall scoring for his high school team and he is set up to have an even bigger season this winter for the Hawks. 

“It’s been really impressive for us to see how detailed and how motivated he is on a daily basis here,” said Jirovec about Campbell. “His presence and intention on attacking, working points in his game, and on wanting to boost the exciting attributes that he already has makes him a favorite amongst the staff. We’re excited to see what he does in his second year of varsity hockey at Chaska.” 

15s TIER: LUKE BECKER, EAGAN

Becker is in his third year with the APX program. The skater from Eagan has played as both a forward and a defenseman but might be leaning a bit more towards the forward side of things as of late. The staff say that Becker has grown a lot over the summer and he has successfully been learning how to use his size to his advantage. 

“What I notice mainly is that he’s becoming more smooth and fluent with his hockey abilities. He’s growing and maturing and figuring out how to use his size and body to protect pucks, bring them to the net, and being a little bit more physical,” said APX Director of Development Kyle Osterberg. “His tenacity away from the puck is what he is excelling at the most. Every time he didn’t have the puck he was doing a lot of great things away from the puck to get it back or just battling.” 

14s TIER: ELI PILSCH, STILLWATER

Pilsch is in his second year at APX and lately he has shown that he can be the ultimate competitor out on the ice. The coaching staff likes to say that he lives for the gritty aspects of the game and excels in any kind of battle drills or any sort of competition where he can use his physicality. 

“He’s a kid who has been so hungry to come to APX every day to get better. He’s had a really good summer and we’ve noticed that he encourages physicality and physical play more than any other player in his tier and maybe more than anyone in the entire program,” said Osterberg about what makes Pilsch stand out. “He’s had a really good month where he’s one of the hardest players to play against and he does all the right things of playing a good sound game and not being too risky on offense and being more of a stay-at-home defenseman.” 

13s TIER: GRAHAM FERGUSON, COTTAGE GROVE

Ferguson is in his first season with the APX program but he is already turning heads amongst the staff as someone who has been an exciting offensive-defenseman to watch. His playmaking skills and decision-making as a young skater has already been impressive to those around him, which is a big part of why he was honored for this month.  

“He’s had a heck of a summer, he’s a defenseman who is doing really well away from the play but he’s very electric when he does have the puck and joins the rush,” said Osterberg. “He’s picking and choosing his times to be offensive correctly as a defenseman and just the things he is doing with the puck and the plays that he is making is just like ‘woah, you’re kind of a step ahead of everybody right now’.”

GOALTENDING TIER: LUCAS ANDERSON, CRETIN-DERHAM HALL

Anderson, who is preparing to enter high school hockey this winter at Cretin-Derham Hall, has been chosen as the Player of the Month for the Goaltending Tier. He has had opportunities to compete in showcase games for APX this summer and did a great job and the staff are excited to see what he can do as he makes the jump from Bantams to High School.

“He’s a great communicator with our staff, both players and goalies, so he’s very well liked and he represents the high character attributes that we look for at APX. He’s a high-level athlete and is very technically sound,” said APX Director of Goaltending, Drew Fielding. “One of the biggest areas we’ve seen his game improve is in his play-reading ability. We like to challenge the tactical side of things with our goalies and he’s really accepted that challenge and has made strides in that area.”

GIRLS TIER: KENDALL MCINTYRE, MINNEAPOLIS

McIntyre has been a part of the APX family for a couple of years now and the coaching staff praises her leadership ability in the way that she carries herself, in her attitude, and with her habits out at the rink. The defender is heading into her senior season of high school hockey for Minneapolis this fall. 

“Kendall is a force on and off the ice. She is by far one of the hardest workers and is always looking to improve her game. I’m looking forward to watching her compete this season,” said APX Director of Girls Development Karyn Bye.

“As a veteran member within the girls ranks, she’s a quiet leader to us because of her mentality in the work that’s in front of her,” added Jirovec. “She’s very diligent, always excited to be at the rink. She’s excited to be coached and likes to be pushed. She’s gained a lot of confidence in her hard-skill attributes out on the ice within that girls college tier level of competition.”