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USHR's June News 6/29/99 Harvard Moving Closer A major new contender for the Harvard job has moved into the picture. Last week, Miami of Ohio coach Mark Mazzolleni journeyed to Cambridge and, according to a source close to the scene, had "a very strong interview." Middlebury coach Bill Beaney is the other leading contender. Look for Harvard to make a decision within a week. More on the Coaching Front Craig Norwich, who for the last couple of years headed up the Vail Avalanche program before accepting a job this spring as head coach/GM of the Rochester Mustangs (USHL), has been released from his contract after a dispute with the team's owner. Todd Huyber, an assistant at Army for the past four years, will be taking over the Mustangs immediately. The Mustangs have had six head coaches in the last three years. Garrett MacDonald, formerly an assistant at Northern Michigan, is headed to Colorado College to join Scott Owens' staff. John Michelletto, an assistant at Union for the past three years and, before that, the head coach at the Hill School in Pennsylvania, will be going to Notre Dame to work as an assistant under head coach Dave Poulin.
6/26/99 Select 16's -- Time to Drop the Puck The 1999 U.S. Select 16 Festival gets underway late this afternoon and the U.S. Hockey Report will be there to bring you exclusive coverage. Each night, shortly after the conclusion of the last game, we'll be posting recaps of the day's action, so please check the site before nodding off. Last summer, as 15's, Central won the gold medal game, beating Michigan, and Minnkota topped Pacific to take the bronze. This year, we're picking Minnkota to win the whole thing. They return all of their key forwards from last year and have also added talented newcomers Barry Tallackson and David Boguslawki. They are not deep on the blue line, but do have a pair of goaltenders --- Travis Weber and Jeff Jakaitis -- to bail them out if necessary. Michigan is pretty much the same team -- we see them finishing second. Central could be strong, too, but will miss Barclay Anderson in goal -- pick 'em third. Pacific will be missing center Ryan Hollweg, who this spring was made the #1 pick overall at the WHL Bantam draft. Don't look for them the make the same impression as last year.
6/22/99 Parisé Best of Camp In the first two days of the Minnesota Select 15 tryouts, which run through Friday in St. Cloud, Minnesota, the camp standout has been forward Zach Parisé, who played for the Shattuck-St. Mary's Bantams this past season. Parisé, a 5'7" left-shot center, plays with a combination of passion and skill. He's gritty, fiesty, and unafraid of mucking it up in the corners. In open ice, he's extremely dangerous. A smart player who reads the ice well, Parisé is strong in all areas except size -- he plays big, though. Parisé, by the way, is the son of J.P Parisé, who played 14 years in the NHL, and now coaches the Shattuck Bantams. Parisé may be heading up the list at camp, but his Shattuck linemate, Patrick Eaves, is right up there, too. Like Parisé, Eaves is the son of a former NHLer who went into coaching. A right-shot center, the younger Eaves is extremely smart, has great hands, and great speed. Others playing well include the following 18 players: LD Mark Stuart of Rochester, Minn. Big -- 6'0", 180 -- and steady. Holds boards. Tough to beat 1-on-1. Didn't rush the puck much. Best defensive prospect in camp. LW Nick Licari, who played for Duluth East as an 8th grader this past season, is small at 5'5" but is an excellent skater, with excellent hands, and a great playmaker. Has a great shot. Patient -- doesn't overhandle the puck. LC Tom Dickhudt, who played varsity for Hill Murray last winter, has perhaps the best size/skill combination in camp. He can skate. He has a shot. He's very strong physically, but he doesn't use it to great advantage yet. Needs to add intensity to his game. Winger Ian Ross of Hibbing was another we liked. He's big and tall, has good hands, and goes to the net hard. RW Jim McKenzie of Woodbury is big, and raw. He's a good skater who likes to hit. Played on a line with Parisé. Scott Thauwald is a 5-10" -- maybe 5'11" -- LW from Rochester, Minn. He's a bit on the skinny side but he can really scoot. Great speed with the puck. Excellent hands. LD Matt Czeck of Oakdale is a stocky 5'9" defenseman. Has good hands and can skate. Breaks puck out of zone nicely. Our top-rated goalie was Will Harper of Edina. He's very agile, covers everything down low, and moves well. He makes the basic saves and comes up with big ones, too. He's sound fundamentally. Played well for host Edina in National Bantam Tournament in April. Winger Dan Kronick of South St. Paul is big, rugged, and loves to hit and create havoc for the opposition. Crashes the net. We liked Mike Franks (Apple Valley) and Matt Hayek (Moorhead). We lump them together here because they're kind of similar. Both are huge right-shot centers -- approximately 6'2" -- and both skate quite well for players of their size and age. They both have huge feet -- so they may get even bigger.
LW Alex Miller of Kasson, Minn. He's 5'9", fairly stocky, and his skills complemented his linemate Parisé well. LC Mike Twaddle, of Virginia, Minn. Worked extremely hard. 6'0" and pretty raw as a skater, but still manages to get around the sheet. Fights through checks well. We liked center Mike Sertich of Roseville. Small, but skilled. LW Nick Pernula of Osseo is smallish at 5'9", but also skilled. Good hands. Played on Eaves' line. Tim Madsen, a LW from Elk River, was terrific on Sunday -- he has an extra gear he burns defensemen with. On Monday, though, we didn't really notice him. -- J.P. Platisha, a LC from Baxter, is a bit raw, but also manages to get where he's going. Had a great wrap-around goal in Monday's game. 6/20/99 NMH Seeking to Bounce Back Northfield-Mt. Hermon, seeking to bounce back from an off-year, is bringing in a strong group of players for next season. 6'3", 225 lb. Marty Paepelow of BFA-St. Albans in Vermont will be one of four PG forwards. Other PG's include Brendan Clark, who's the son of NY Islanders director of scouting Gordie Clark, and played for Reading (Mass.) HS last year; Hunter Greely from Falmouth HS; and Brendan Roache from the Washington Capitals Jr. B. 11th grade forwards will be Erik Roos of Notre Dame-Fairfield (Conn.) High School; Sammy Vatrano of Springfield (Mass.) Cathedral; and Gabriel Beauchamp of Brossard, Quebec. Coming in as a sophomore will be Brian Bova of St. John's Prep (Mass.) High School. On defense, Ryan Jefferies, from Minnetonka, Minn. and Hopkins HS, is coming as a PG. Coming in as juniors will be Mark Lucier of Ithaca (NY) HS, and Coleman Bello of Sandwich (Mass.) HS. 6/19/99
In the wake of the LA Kings' hiring of Andy Murray to take over as head coach earlier this week, a number of Shattuck-St. Mary's players -- particularly the talented group of PG's who had been fending off other offers in order to develop their game for another year under Murray -- have put their future plans on hold while they wait to see who will be taking over the squad. Defenseman Ryan Caldwell, Denver University's first recruit for the fall of 2000, may stay at Shattuck but is also considering Cedar Rapids (USHL) or the BCHL or the SJHL. Center Max Bull, and defensemen Cliff Loya and John Van Pelt are also sitting tight. Center Ben Eaves, who will be going into his senior year, is being reapproached by the U.S. National Team Development Program. Murray's son, Brady, who'll be a ninth grader in the fall, is likely to stay at Shattuck next season. The young Murray, along with Patrick Eaves and Zach Parise, were the leading scorers on Shattuck's powerhouse bantam team this past season. Andy Murray is working on Shattuck's schedule for next season as well as helping the school find his replacement. In other Shattuck news, the school's midget coach, Alex Moody, is moving east to take over the hockey program at the Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts. 6/19/99
A tender constitutes a pre-draft commitment between a player and a team. This commitment binds the player to the team that tendered him, thus he cannot be drafted by any other team in the league. In addition, a tendered player cannot be traded during the summer. He must stay with the team that tendered him until at least the start of the season. For some teams, a tender is also the organization's commitment to a player. In other words, that player will make the team and play. For others, it isn't always so, because a tendered player can be signed, and then dropped at a later date. Or, as mentioned above, he can be traded once the season starts. If a player wants out of the commitment, his only recourse is to request a trade or skip leagues, which he's free to do at any point. 6/19/99 Siggins to RPI Add Noble & Greenough forward Wally Siggins to the list of players RPI is bringing on this fall. Siggins, from Framingham, Mass., along with Justin Dziama, Mike Murray, John Cronin and others, led Nobles to its second consecutive New England Prep School playoff berth this past season. 6/17/99 Mass. Select Teams Gearing Up The Massachusetts Select 16 Team, which swings into action a week from Saturday in St. Cloud, returns 16 players from the team that went 3-2-0 in last summer's 15 Festival. The top players on that team were Thayer forward Brian McConnell (2-3-5), Arlington HS forward Brendan Timmins (3-2-5), Thayer defenseman Ryan Whitney (0-4-4), and Arlington Catholic goaltender Tim Warner (2.80 gaa). Once again, a number of the top rated '83s in the state either chose not to try out or were not invited. Missing from the festival will be forward Sean Collins of Reading HS, and defensemen Marvin Degon (Cushing) and Danny Spang (Winchester HS). Even so, the Mass. 16's -- if they play more consistently this year than last -- could contend for a medal. The Select 16 Festival runs concludes July 2nd, then the 17's move in until the 9th. The Select 15 Festival runs July 18-25 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
In a real departure for Massachusetts, the 17 team is being helped out with the addition of two at-large players, forward Jay Vidrine of the Red Deer Rebels (WHL); and defenseman Sean Curry of Minneapolis' South Suburban Steers Jr. B. The 17's will be returning nine players from last year's team, which struggled, going 1-3-1 and finishing in 9th place.
Goaltenders (2): Adam Geragosian (N. Andover); Kevin Regan (S. Boston). Defensemen (6): Brian Caldarelli (Swampscott); Colin Greenhalgh (Marshfield); Brad Lombardi (Stow); Chris Murray (Dover); Kyle Sibley (Hanson); Adam Staniech (Stoneham). Forwards (12): Michael Aylward (Milton); Brian Boyle (Hingham); Bryan Ciborowski (W. Springfield); Kevin Colwell (Wellesley); Phil Dufault (Shrewsbury); Todd Fletcher (Chelmsford); Brian Keene (Sherborn); William LeClerc (Acton); Raymond Ortiz (Charlestown); John Robertson (Whitman); Kenneth Roche (S. Boston); Danny Schribman (Swampscott). Head Coach: Mike Cavanaugh (Chestnut Hill) *** Mass. Select 16 Team (1983 birthdates) Goaltenders (2): Tim Warner* (Waltham); Nick Hankes (Braintree). Defensemen (6): Ryan Whitney* (Scituate); Jesse Lane* (Needham); Dan Grover* (Rockland); Brian Yandle* (Milton); Seamus Young* (Dedham); Phil Youngclaus (Newburyport). Forwards (12): Brian McConnell* (Norfolk), Mike Morris* (Dorchester), Brian Carthas (S. Boston); Marco Albano (Arlington); Mike Derderian* (Randolph); Dan Murphy* (N. Andover); Rob Flynn* (Canton); Jack Greeley* (Scituate); Derek Boudreau* (Weymouth); Mark Pandolfo* (N. Andover); Andrew Jewett* (Belmont); Brendan Timmins* (Arlington). Head Coach: Mark Bavis (Roslindale). *** Mass. Select 17 Team (1982 birthdates) Goaltenders (2): Peter Cohen (Medfield); Matt Hanson (Peabody). Defensemen (5): Jerry Burke (Milton); Tony Coskren (Walpole); Jeff Lang (Westwood); Mike Walsh* (Milton); Noah Welch* (Brighton). Forwards (11): Brian Bova* (N. Andover); Chris Connerty* (Raynham); Tim Coskren* (Walpole); Scott Darci (Marblehead); Jon Goodwin (Taunton); Ben McManama* (Medfield); Daniel O'Brien (S. Boston); Mark Noble* (Hanover); Brian Swiniarski* (Newburyport); John Toffey (Barnstable); Matthew Walsh* (Arlington) Head Coach: Bob Deraney (Shrewsbury). Hanson was an at-large player at last summer's festival, playing for Pacific. Joining the Mass. Select 17's as at-large players will be forward Jay Vidrine, of Anchorage, Alaska and the Red Deer Rebels (WHL); and defenseman Sean Curry of Burnsville, Minn. and the South Suburban Steers Jr. B. 6/16/99 Staying Put Two of the top assistants in Hockey East have gone west, looked around, listened to the offers, and then, after mulling them over, decided to stay put. First, Providence College assistant Brad Willner, who's worked for Paul Pooley the past three years, turned down Notre Dame's offer of an assistant coaching position. A couple of weeks later, Northeastern assistant Mark Carlson went out to Colorado College, where new head coach Scott Owens had a job waiting for him if he wanted it. However, Carlson, who's worked with Bruce Crowder since the two were at UMass-Lowell, felt he wanted to finish what the two set out to do when they took over from Ben Smith several years ago -- that is, bring Northeastern up to the level of the pernennial Hockey East Powers. 6/16/99 Andover Opts Out of New League Andover has decided not to join up with Cushing, Exeter, Tabor and others in the new prep league that will begin play this fall. Our calls to Andover coach Chris Gurry have not been returned, but several reliable sources pointed to an unwillingess to travel outside the Greater Boston area as the reason for the school's decision. Andover thus becomes the only Division I school east of the Connecticut River without a league to play in. As of this writing, the league looks to be made up of the following seven schools: Cushing, Exeter, Tabor, Northfield-Mt.Hermon, Kimball Union, Holderness, and New Hampton. An eighth team may be Winchendon. However, if Winchendon doesn't get in this year -- and they're still hoping they can -- look for them to join the league next year. Pomfret, Gunnery, Berkshire, Albany Academy, and Canterbury are other schools aiming to join the as yet unnamed league, which will top out at 12-14 teams. 6/16/99 It's the Palazzari Era USA Hockey has named Doug Palazzari as its new executive director, replacing Dave Ogrean, who stepped down in April to take a position with the U.S. Olympic Committee. For the past eight years, Palazzari, a 46-year-old native of Eveleth, Minn., has been overseeing USA Hockey's Youth and Education Programs. In his new position, he'll oversee the day-to-day operations of USA Hockey. Palazzari, who starred at Colorado College in the early '70s, went on to play eight years in the St. Louis Blues organization, playing in 108 NHL games and twice winning the Central Hockey League's MVP award ('78, '80) while with the Salt Lake City Golden Eagles. In his new position, it's expected that Palazzari will be able to help ease the factionalism that's plagued USA Hockey. As a former player, he may also be able to prevail upon the NHL, currently thriving in US markets, to kick some money back into US player development programs. 6/16/99 Second Time Around St. Lawrence University coach Joe Marsh is recruiting Russell Bartlett -- again. Back in the winter of 1996-97, Marsh tried to recruit Bartlett while the latter was playing at Exeter, but Bartlett chose Boston University. This spring, after finishing his sophomore season as the team's third-leading scorer, Bartlett was cut from the team simply because his style of play, which hasn't changed a lick since he was being recruited, was deemed too soft. B.U. has taken their lumps for this decision, and opponents will surely use it against them while recruiting. As for Bartlett, he'll have to pay for it all season long, as he'll be ineligible at whatever school he chooses to go to. It's an NCAA rule, of course, but what good is a rule that keeps a young man from pursuing his ambition? Time to send it back to rewrite, or maybe just dump it. 6/15/99
This year's Atlantic/Southeastern District Select 17 Team will be returning 13 players from last year's 16 Team that reached the semis only to lose to Michigan, 4-1, thus settling for a 4th place finish, the highest-ever for the district. In the recent tryouts for this year's team the top forwards were Dennis Packard, who's headed for the US National Program, Zecheriah Klann of the Hill School, Matt Scanlan of Lawrenceville, and Jeff Corey of the Junior Flyers. On D, which lacks depth, Steve Mead of Andover Academy and Mark Blatterfein of the American Eagles Midgets will lead the way. Lawrence Academy's Bo Christini is the man in goal. The Select 16 Team returns 10 players from the team that finished 6th at last summer's 15 Festival. The top forward is Ryan Murphy, who played for St. Paul's School last winter and will be joining the U.S. Under-17 team in the fall. The top defenseman is Bryan Miller, who's going from the NJ Jr. Devils to the Chicago Freeze (NAHL). Other forwards to watch are Josh Ciocco of the Berkshire School, Jeremy Hall of the Junior Flyers, and Brendan Reilly of the Little Flyers. Rob Brougham and Mike MacMullen are strong along the boards and in the corners. Other D to watch: Jon Saunders of Seton Hall Prep -- he's the nephew of ESPN's John Saunders -- and Jason Ortolano of the Bricktown Midgets. At the 15 tryouts, the standouts up front were Brian Liamaro and Alex Minicucci, linemates on the New Jersey Junior Devils bantam team that bowed to Honeybaked in the national championship game in April. Little Cap's Bantam Steven Werner, already 6'0", is another forward to keep an eye on. The top defenseman was Mike Gershon, also of the NJ Devils Bantams. He's followed by Jonathan Ralph of the NJ Rockets Bantams and Bryan Sobanya of the Little Caps Bantams. The 16 Festival will run June 25-July 2 at St. Cloud, Minnesota. The day the 16's finish up, the 17's move in until July 9. The 15 Festival will be held July 18-25 in Ann Arbor Michigan.
***
# Klann played for New England at last summer's Select 16 Festival.
6/14/99 Vets and Youngbloods Rule Hingham In the championship game of the New England College Development League Tournament, held yesterday at the Pilgrim Arena in Hingham, Mass., the NECDL Veterans rolled over the Rhode Island Sharks, 9-0. In the semis, however, the games were tight, with NECDL beating the Whalers Alumni, 5-3; and the Sharks edging Applecore, 3-1. Following is the all-tournament team along with the individual awards.
The Paul J. Leman Memorial Award, essentially a 7th player award, is restricted to a player who has come up through the NECDL system. It went this weekend to Cushing defenseman Marvin Degon, an '83 birthdate who'll be entering his sophomore year in the fall. Others standouts this weekend included recent Deerfield grad Trevor Byrne, Avon Old Farms D Mick Mounsey, Cushing F Jeremy Wilson, Thayer F Scott Selig, Mt. St. Charles F Justin Laverdiere, NY Applecore D Brian Escobedo, Catholic Memorial F Jonathan Goodwin, and BC High grad Mike Ryan. 6/14/99 Shattuck's Murray Takes Over in L.A. Andy Murray will be leaving Shattuck-St. Mary's and taking over the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings, who fired Larry Robinson in April, will be holding a news conference today (Noon Pacific time; 3 pm EST) to announce their new coach. The news conference will take place at the soon-to-be-completed Staples Center, which the Kings (as well as both the Lakers and Clippers) will move into this fall. Murray, 48, was at Shattuck just one year, leading the Prep team to the National Midget title in April. He took the Shattuck job when he was passed over for the Anaheim Mighty Ducks job last spring and was looking for a way to spend a quiet year with his wife and three children. Murray, who played college hockey for Brandon University in Manitoba, has coached at all levels -- junior, Canadian college, minors, international, and NHL. Before coming to Shattuck, he led the Canadian men's national team to a gold medal at the 1997 World Championships. He was also an assistant with the Canadian Olympic Team in Nagano in 1998. Prior to that he served on the coaching staffs of the Philadelphia Flyers, Minnesota North Stars, and Winnipeg Jets. Murray, who interviewed for other jobs this off-season, became a serious candidate two weeks ago, after an interview with Kings GM Dave Taylor. The other serious candidates were John Van Boxmeer, Dave King, Ted Nolan, and Dave Lewis. 6/11/99 NAHL Signings Here is an up-to-date list of the players who've signed tenders with NAHL teams. Those noted as New are players who've signed since our last posting of this list on May 7th.
6/10/99 OHL Draft -- Some Final Thoughts In a previous article we listed the nine U.S. kids taken in Sunday's OHL Bantam Draft (as opposed to the regular phase of the draft on Saturday). In the Bantam phase, the only U.S. kids allowed to be selected were natives of either Michigan or Pennsylvania, the two states recognized by the CHL as OHL territory. If you think this is all too byzantine, you're right. Even the drafting teams get tripped up. On Sunday, the Sudbury Wolves drafted 16-year-old forward Justin McCutcheon, only to be told that he was ineligible becuase he was from out of region. McCutcheon, who played in Ontario all winter for the Shelburne Wolves (OPJHL), is from Marathon NY. Anyway, here are a few additional comments on OHL teams and the picks they made last weekend. Saturday 6/5, Regular Phase. Peterborough took Stratford LC Matt Craig in the 5th round on Saturday, but many believe he'll be going the college route. Milton LW Ryan Stewart, picked by the Plymouth Whalers in the 7th round, could also be NCAA-bound. Guelph, looking for toughness, took Fort Erie center Nathan Brooks in the10th round. Brampton got Petrolia LW Daryl Arvai in the 10th round -- we aren't sure why he was still around, particularly after his strong showing at Prospects the week before. Mississauga picked up two solid late-round prospects in Elmira RW Matt Sheridan (8th round), and Georgetown RD Bryden Butterworth (9th round). Belleville took Tecumseh C Kyle Wellwood in the first round, then added Elgin-Middlesex Bantam RW Cody McCormick in the second. The Bulls' staff took a flyer on Wexford Raiders C/LW Marco Rosa in the 14th round. An all-round strong draft. ***
*** Sunday 6/6, Bantam Draft. Here are some draft-day steals -- and the teams that made them:
Sarnia also did well in getting Marlies Bantam goaltender Robert Gherson (3rd round) and Kitchener Bantam RW Mike Emrich (6th round).
The Soo got a pair of good future D's with Guelph Bantam Chris Martin (1st round) and Thunder Bay Bantam Dustin Van Ballegooie (2nd round). Guelph: We were very surprised Soo Mini Mart Bantam D Niko Tuomi wasn't taken on on Saturday's regular phase, but Guelph grabbed him fourth overall on Sunday. He'll be a very good player. Both St. Mike's and Erie had excellent drafts. St. Mikes came away with St. Thomas Stars D/LW Drew Fata, Wexford Raiders G Andy Chiodo, Stratford Cullitons D Travis Hoffstettor, and G Scott Talbot, another St. Thomas Star. Not bad at all. But Erie could be the sleeper of the draft. We were surprised LW Scott Dobben of the Waterloos Bantams was passed over on Saturday. He was there on Sunday, however, and Erie, who'd made Ottawa West C Patrick Lamesse their first Bantam pick, grabbed him. In the third, Erie grabbed Quinte Bantam D Mike McKeown, and in the fourth took Markham Waxers center Joel Kitchen. All are good picks.
West Point's Lundbohm Signs NHL Contract Here's something rarer than hen's teeth -- a U.S. Military Academy grad signing an NHL contract. But it happened yesterday, when Andy Lundbohm signed with the San Jose Sharks. It's not like Lunbohm came out of nowhere. He was a star at Roseau (Minn.) HS, graduating in 1995. At 6'3", 225 lb. he appeared on Central Scouting Bureau lists at the time, but when he went to West Point the NHL backed off, knowing there would be a minimum two-year military commitment at the back end. Matt Keator, a Boston-based agent for Steve Bartlett's Sports Consulting Group, talked to Lundbohm in February, put together a tape and got it out to NHL teams. San Jose scouted him in the North American Challenge Seniors All-Star game in April. And the rest is history. Right now, Lundbohm's military status is being clarified, but it looks like he could conceivably be assigned to an Army post at Fort Knox, Kentucky, where the San Jose Sharks have a minor league affiliate.
NECDL Tourney Gets Underway Tonight The New England College Development League Tourney gets underway at 8:30 tonight (Thursday) at the Pilgrim Arena in Hingham, Mass. Featured will be a number of college standouts -- Brooks Orpik, Willie Levesque, Donnie Richardson, et al -- mixed in with current college recruits and prospects for the future -- Brian Collins, Steve Greeley, Nick Cammarata, Sharam Fouladgar-Mercer, Brian McConnell, Ben McManama, and numerous others. The NECDL web site has rosters and schedules. Go to www.necdl.com
6/06/99 Plymouth Plan Foiled: Notes from the OHL Draft The Plymouth Whalers failed to get their anticipated first-round pick, D Tim Gleason of the Leamington Flyers, when the Windsor Spitfires cut in line and took him 7th overall Saturday morning. Reportedly, Windsor hadn't even spoken to Gleason or his family before the draft. Now, Windsor will have to do a serious selling job, for Gleason is less-than-thrilled about the Spitfires' move. Despite not getting Gleason and having to pick twentieth in most rounds, Plymouth had a solid draft, selecting C Steve Weiss, the nephew of Plymouth assistant coach Steve Spott as their first round pick, taking both D Cole Jarrett and RW Stephen Morris in the 3rd, and D Nate Kiser in the 5th. G Aaron Molnar, an '81, went back into the draft and was selected by the Whalers in the sixth round. Plymouth's most interesting flyer? Big New England Coyotes defenseman Michael Komisarek in the 11th round.. Windsor not only gambled on Gleason -- he still has the leverage of choosing the U.S. National Program -- but took gambles in the 4th on LW Mike Knoepfli, who could choose the college route, and in the 5th on Rob Globke, who's ticketed to the U.S. National Program. Of course, if Windsor gets these players, it'd be a heck of a draft. But that's a big if... We believe that Erie got a steal when '83 D Carlo Colaiacovo was still there in the middle of the third round. We had him rated high in the second. Erie took a couple of late flyers on U.S. National Program teammates Neil Komadoski and R.J. Umberger. The latter, it should be noted, is a Pennsylvania resident. Speaking of Pennsylvania residents, Peterborough took three of them -- all in the 7th round, too. First, they selected LW Matt Herneisen of the U.S. National Program, which is smart. Herneisen has expressed an interest in going to the O for the 2000-01 season. Right after that, Peterborough re-drafted big D Arthur Femenella, also of the U.S. Program. To cap off their 7th-round picks, they took big power forward Dennis Packard, who's going to the U.S. Program in the fall. Kitchener had a good draft, picking up the best D available in the first -- Steve Eminger -- and then finding the forward they wanted all along, Derek Roy, still there in the second. Sudbury stepped up and took the first goaltender selected in the draft: Miguel Beaudry of Collingwood. They got a good second round pick when D Dennis Wideman was available in the middle of the 2nd. Wideman's pre-draft ranking had slipped due to a below-average Under -17 camp, but when the game's on the line, he's somebody we like to see out there. Fortune shone once again on Sudbury when forward Paul Varteressian was still there in the 6th round. Belleville surprised some by taking 5'9" C Kyle Wellwood of Tecumseh in the first round. We saw Wellwood more as a late second/early third round pick. Ottawa took a lot of flyers, staring with Brendan Bell in the first. Bell wasn't even at the draft, as he's reportedly taking the U.S. college route. Selecting LW Josh Tataryn in the third was another risky pick, while taking D Carter Trevisani in the 9th was a total flyer. Owen Sound got two of the most individually skilled centres with their top two picks -- Greg Jacina and Dan Sisca. Owen Sound re-drafted Aaron McKenzie and Steve Clarke -- both are 81's and have accepted U.S. college scholarships. Owen Sound also drafted Merrimack College-bound forward Anthony Aquino late. LW Trevor Blanchard, who was sitting near us, nearly jumped from the 10th row to the floor when he heard his name called late in the fourth round. Blanchard, you see, was the 40th and last '83 chosen. If another player had been selected, then Blanchard would have had to wait until the OHL's Bantam Draft yesterday, which would also have meant that he would have been unable to play in the O until the fall of 2000. St. Mike's took RW Jeff Doyle and LD Mike Sellan, teammates this year with the Vaughan Bantams, as their first two picks. St. Mike's also took a big flyer when they selected University of Michigan-bound forward Mike Cammalleri in the 8th round. Mississauga surprised observers by taking D Marcus Smith with the top pick in the second round. Recently, Smith was set to go to the U.S. National Team Development Program. Brampton took a gamble by taking 6'3" Milton LW Chris Rowan in the fourth. He's reportedly interested in the U.S. college route. Even after selecting five forwards, they were still able to get a couple of good D's late -- Paul Flache (5th round) and Todd Meehan (8th round). The Soo Greyhounds took native son Alan Nolan, a LW and a nephew of Ted Nolan, in the 4th round. Oshawa surprised some by taking Oshawa midget Pat Montgomery in the 2nd round. Certainly surprised us, anyway -- we had Montgomery pegged for the 11th round! However, North Bay got C Peter Veltman in the 4th round. We think Veltman's more of a second-round pick who only dropped down to fourth because he's often invisible in showcase tournaments. In regular games, he's fine. Sarnia got a few steals -- C Eric Himelfarb in the fourth and goaltender Andrew Gallant from Summerside, PEI in the 7th. Most PEI and Newfoundland players, who have a choice of leagues to play in, opted into the Qubec Major Junior Hockey League Draft, also held Saturday. Sarnia also took flyers on C Mark Wires (6th round), LW Joe Testa (12th round), and C Chase Watson (13th round). 6/06/99 Travis Parent: Big Guy for the Next Millenium Nine U.S. kids were taken in the OHL Bantam Draft today, with 6'5" defenseman Travis Parent of the Compuware Bantams being taken second overall. The Bantam Draft, instituted this year, differs from the regular OHL draft, held yesterday, in that none of the selected players are allowed to play in the OHL next season. However, their rights are held by the team that selected them -- they won't be returned to the pool of draft-eligible players next season. The draft consisted of eight rounds; 159 players were selected. Here are the nine Yanks and the teams that selected them: D/RW Travis Parent, Compuware Bantam (1st Round, Brampton); D Brad Beloungea, Detroit Belle Tire Bantam (2nd Round, Sarnia); LW/C Jesse Harnden, Thunder Bay Ontario Bantam (4th Round, Brampton); C Danny Knapp, Detroit Honeybaked Bantam (4th Round, Sarnia); LW Alex White, Tecumseh Jr. B (5th Round, Belleville); C Greg Campbell, Aylmer Jr. B (6th Round, Plymouth); D Corey LeClair, Little Caesar's Bantam (6th Round, Brampton); LW Mike Walsh, Compuware Bantam (7th Round, Sarnia); D Casey Keefer, Pittsburgh Bantam (8th Round, Kingston). 6/05/99 QMJHL Draft: Shattuck's MacLellan goes to Rimouski 5'10" center Christopher Montgomery of the Midget AAA Lac-St.-Louis Lions was the first pick in yesterday's Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Draft, taken by the expansion Montreal Rockets. The player rated #1 overall going into the draft, 6'4" Shattuck St. Mary's defenseman Brent MacLellan, a native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, was picked second by the Rimouski Oceanic. MacLellan had indicated he had no desire to play for the Rockets. Among the 241 players drafted were three Americans: D Sean Kuehn of the Milwaukee Pettit Selects Midgets (8th Round, Quebec); D Mark Adamek of the Vail Midgets (11th Round, Quebec); and D Brett Peterson of Cushing Academy (12th Round, Quebec). 6/05/99 OHL Draft: Spezza, McClement Go 1-2 Brampton, Ont. -- The first two picks in today's OHL draft were, as expected, Brampton C Jason Spezza, taken by Mississauga; and Kingston Voyageurs (Tier II) C Jay McClement, taken by Brampton. The top two American players, both taken in the first round, were Michigan defensemen Tim Gleason and Eric Reitz, teammates this past season with the Leamington Flyers of the Western Ontario Jr. B League. 1st Round
2nd Round
3rd Round
4th Round
Each team is allowed to pick two '83 born-players over the first four rounds, and those players must be immediately placed on the rosters of the teams drafting them. After that, no more '83s can be drafted until the Bantam Draft, set for tomorrow (Sunday June 6). So, basically, the top four rounds have a different complexion than the remaining rounds.
'Best Guess' List In an analysis of tomorrow's OHL draft we printed on Thursday, "OHL Draft, What They Need," we listed each team's needs in order of priority. Earlier today, after talking to agents, OHL clubs, and others close to the scene, we began to get a line on how the first round could shape up. If you now scroll back down to the abovementioned article, you'll see that, next to each team's name and needs, we've added the name of the player we think each team might select when it's their turn to make their first-round pick. Here at the U.S. Hockey Report, we'll be coming to you "live" from Brampton. With the draft getting underway at 10 a.m., look for our first report around 11 a.m. or so, by which time the top half of the first round should be completed. At noon or shortly afterward, we should have the entire first round. We'll have the second round around 1 p.m., and so on until four, when we'll stop doing individual rounds, and just wait for the conclusion of the draft for the final report. 6/04/99 Globke To NTDP 6'2" right-shot center Rob Globke of the Compuware Ambassadors (NAHL) has decided to forego the OHL draft and sign with the U.S. National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor. Globke, who has excellent agility and skating skills for his size, is an '82 birthdate who, in 55 games this past season, had an 8-14-22 scoring line with 111 PIM. He's from West Bloomfield, Michigan. 6/04/99 OHL Draft, The Final List Since January, we've published updated versions of our OHL Draft Preview on the last week of every month. As you probably know, they were issued with blue backgrounds, designed to discourage easy printing and faxing. Now, with draft day coming up tomorrow, we're issuing our final list, in a one-time-only, easy-to-print format. Included are 600 players, with the first four rounds ranked numerically, and the remaining rounds presented alphabetically within round. There are 20 teams in the OHL, thus most rounds of the draft will consist of 20 players (in the later rounds, teams fold up their tables and pass). On our list, however, we've ranked On Saturday, each team can select two 1983-born players over the first four rounds. The rest of the '83s players are eligible to be drafted in Sunday's eight round bantam draft.
Players whose names are in capital letters are ones that the USHR staff has scouted this season. Players whose names are in lowercase letters are ranked according to multiple opinions from other scouts, general managers, and coaches.
6/03/99
Don Cherry's Mississauga IceDogs, who finished last in the O with a 4-61-3 record, have the first pick in Saturday's OHL draft and will take centerman Jason Spezza, who played as an underage with the Brampton Battallion last season, as their #1 pick. Does Spezza fill the club's biggest need? Probably not. The IceDogs were so awful that they need help everywhere, and a lot of it, but the most direct route to respectability would be drafting a quality defenceman and a goaltender who can stop the puck. However, Mississagua will take Spezza #1 overall on Saturday. Most teams in the first round will be doing the same thing -- that is, taking the best available player. Beyond that, look for teams to zero in on their individual needs. With that in mind, we've drawn up the chart below indicating what those needs are. Besides each team (they are listed in draft order) is a list of priorities by position. We've ranked them from left to right, with a team's highest priority on the left.
Notes: Spezza's family moved from Mississauga to Brampton last summer so he could play for the Battalion. OHL rules allow 15-year-olds, who are too young to be drafted, to play with the OHL team in their home town. Now, of course, the Spezzas can move back to Mississauga... Unlike Canada's two other major junior leagues, the OHL prohibits the trading of first 6/02/99 Coaches on the Move Mark Carlson, Northeastern University assistant coach and one of the most highly-respected Div. I recruiters, has been offered the top assistant's job by new Colorado College head coach Scott Owens. He'll be flying out there this weekend to talk. Reportedly, he's torn. He's been with Bruce Crowder for four years -- one at Lowell, three at Northeastern -- but, as a career move, it'll be hard to turn down. Look for Steve Nelson, an assistant under Owens at Des Moines before taking the head job with the North Iowa Huskies last year, to be the second assistant at CC. Paul Jerrard is returning to Lake Superior State as an assistant to Scott Borek. Jerrard, who played at Lake State from 1983-87 under Frank Anzalone, was Anzalone's assistant with the Lowell Lock Monsters (AHL) this past season. Clarkson College assistant Ron Rolston has reportedly been offered one of the assistants' jobs at Cornell. DiPenta Leaves BU BU defenseman and assistant captain Joe DiPenta is leaving Commonwealth Ave. for the Halifax Mooseheads (QMJHL). DiPenta, 20, played at Lawrence Academy before leaving for the Smith Falls Bears (COJHL), and was drafted in the third round by the Florida Panthers last June. Adding the 6'2", 205 lb. DiPenta, a native of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, will help the Moosehead's in their quest for the Memorial Cup, which they'll be hosting next season. How much will it help DiPenta? Well, he's struggled at times over the past couple of years at BU, and Division I hockey is tougher than Quebec Majors. How much will it hurt BU? Well, DiPenta does bring experience. He might also be ready to turn the corner. Now, BU will have to bring in another D. Who's out there? Well, Shattuck-St. Mary's D Cliff Loya, who will be graduating from the Faribault, Minn. prep school this weekend, but is planning on going back for a PG year, could be the best uncommitted U.S. kid available. Look for BU to make an offer. Getting back to the Halifax Mooseheads, there was another name on their protected list -- Hotchkiss School LW Brent Robinson. Robinson, a native of Montreal, will be a senior this season and will likely get a full ride at any one of a number of Div. I schools. He was Halifax's seventh-round pick in last year's draft. "We're working on having him in Halifax next year," Mooseheads coach Bob Mongrain told the Halifax Herald last weekend. "We've talked to him quite a few times. After our last conversation, we felt we had to protect him because he'd be very interested." For the record, Robinson's father, Frank, said Brent is still hoping to go the U.S. college route. "But," he said, "it's nice to know that if that doesn't work out we have Halifax as an option. And, of course, you can't rule out major junior totally." Schutte to the Black Bears Burlington Cougars 6'1", 190 lb. defenseman Mike Schutte will be heading to the University of Maine in the fall. Shutte is an offensive D who'll could earn time on Maine's power-play unit before long. A '79 birthdate, Schutte was talking to, among others, Merrimack and Ohio State. Copyright © 1999 U.S. Hockey Report |
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