— The Wisconsin men's hockey team officially gained another member with the signing of Trent Frederic to a National Letter of Intent, associate head coachannounced. Frederic is expected to join the Badgers for the 2016-17 school year."Trent is a great person. A great kid," Granato said. "He is a high-end recruit and we are real excited to have him."The St. Louis native has played the last two seasons for the U.S. National Team Development Program (USNTDP), and joins a long list of former and current Badgers who have played for the program, including current UW forwards(Chesterfield, Missouri) and(Park Ridge, Illinois).Like Kunin, Frederic is regarded as one of the best young North American skaters for the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, checking in at 47th in the final NHL Central Scouting Rankings.Frederic is currently playing for Team USA at the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Under-18 World Championship in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Just this past Sunday, Frederic potted a hat trick and added an assist to help Team USA to a 12-1 win over Latvia. Frederic has five points total (3 G, 2 A) in four tournament games so far.The 6-2 and 200-pound forward played in 23 games during the 2015-16 season for the USNTDP Under-18 team, registering 14 points on four goals and 10 assists. In 55 games for the U.S. Under-17 team in 2014-15, Frederic put up 14 points on five goals and nine assists."I've been able to watch him for a couple of years with the national team," former USNTDP coach Granato added. "He is a very skilled player and a great teammate. He makes players around him better. He is a reliable guy because he knows the game very well. At a young age, he has a lot of structure to his game, which gives him a great base."Frederic, a left-handed shot, also has international experience for Team USA outside of this year's IIHF U18 World Championship. He played four games for Team USA at the 2015 U-18 Five Nations Tournament in November, scoring the game-winner against Sweden in the second game of the tournament on the way to a gold medal for Team USA.Frederic also played for the United States at the 2014 U-17 World Hockey Challenge, scoring one goal in six games.Prior to his time with the USNTDP, Frederic skated for the St. Louis Jr. Blues U16 Team, leading the squad in scoring with 11 goals and 30 points.Wisconsin has had several players come out of St. Louis in recent years besides Frederic, with Kunin the most recent Badger to hail from the greater St. Louis area. Other former Badgers from the city include John Ramage (2009-13), Sean Dolan (2007-11) and Michael Davies (2006-10).