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Like many draft picks who are destined to go the NCAA route, there was a one-year gap between his NHL draft and his enrolment. Kesselring used it to advantage, playing a full season in the USHL after getting a 12-game trial (0-2-2) in that loop in his draft year. He got the full meal deal with dessert in 2018-19, when he played 66 games in a league where the teams themselves only play 62. That was the result of a mid-season trade from Des Moines Buccaneers to Fargo Force, just at a time that his new team had 4 games in hand on his old one.

Overall his 9 goals ranked 6th among USHL defencemen and his 34 points 11th, while his 135 shots on net were 5th among rearguards.

More encouraging were the significant improvements he showed over the course of the season.The timing of his trade to Fargo had one fortuitous outcome in that Kesselring played exactly 33 games for each club, allowing for perfect splits:

Des Moines:33 GP, 2-10-12, 62 shots

Fargo Force:33 GP, 7-15-22, 73 shots



Redistributing those splits into thirds gives an even greater indication of his upwards trajectory:

First 22 GP: 1-6-7, 31 shots

Middle 22 GP:3-6-9, 49 shots

Last 22 GP: 5-13-18, 55 shots

About his progression, Kesselring told Paul Gazzola of EdmontonOilers.com “”I think in Fargo they just let me play. I learned a lot on how to move the puck and join late because in prep school I could carry it around a little bit more.”

A key change came off the ice, when the player de-committed last summer from Merrimack College, where his dad Casey once played, after a coaching change at that school. By September he had come to terms with higher-profile Northeastern University in Boston, where he will be a freshman this fall. At that time the scouting service Neutral Zone designated him a four-star prospect, with a positive assessment of his game: