The early National Letter of Intent signing period opens today and lasts through next Wednesday. (The “late” signing period opens April 8, 2010 and lasts through August 1.)

The National Letter of Intent is an agreement between an athlete (a senior in high school) and the institution, where the athlete promises to attend the institution for a year and the institution promises some form of financial aid for that year. So only athletes receiving athletic scholarships sign an LOI. Also, once an athlete signs an LOI, other schools promise to stop recruiting him.

UPDATE: CC is expecting LOI’s from John Moore, Joe Howe, and Dakota Eveland (though he is expected to arrive in 2010, could come next season if CC has early departures). CC obtained letters of intent from Rylan Schwartz, Scott Winkler, and Russell Goodman in the spring. CC coaches can’t comment on recruits until they have received the LOI.

Other recruits lined up for fall 2009 include: Andrew Hamburg, who was named the NAHL South’s player of the week for his five-point weekend, and defenseman Joe Marciano, who is playing with the Omaha Lancers.

Schwartz, who just returned from a silver-medal appearance at the World Junior A Challenge, ranks second among all points-scorers (14 goals, 18 assists in 16 games) in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.

Moore, who helped the U.S. Junior Select team capture a gold medal at the Challenge, is in his second year playing for the Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League. Moore (Winnetka, Ill.) is fourth among Steel scorers and second in defenseman-scoring.

Winkler (Asker, Norway) as drafted in the third round (No. 89 overall) by the Dallas Stars last summer. He currently has seven points (2 goals, 5 assists) in his first season with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders. He spent last season with Russell Stover AAA, a midget team based in Overland Park, Kan.

Goodman, who seems to have rebounded well from a pair of serious knee injuries, leads the Nanaimo Clippers of the British Columbia Hockey League with 23 points (eight goals, 15 assists) in 20 games. Goodman hails from Saskatoon, Sask., and was named captain of the Clippers this season.

In his second season playing for the Waterloo Black Hawks, Howe is 3-2-1 through six games with a 3.10 GAA and a .892 save percentage. Howe has played the most minutes of the Black Hawks’ three goalies and just returned from the Junior A Challenge.