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| 08/28/99 09:59 AM USHR's August News The US Hockey Report will be closed until the day after Labor Day -- Tuesday, Sept. 7. 8/25/99 Scout's Notebook: HNIB All-Star Weekend In the championship game of the Hockey Night in Boston All-Star Weekend, the Sophs/Juniors topped the Russian Select 17s, 3-2. Shawn Sullivan, Ben McManama, and Chris Snizek each scored a goal for the Sophs/Juniors. Pavel Yorobiev and Sergei Bernatski tallied for the Russians. The difference in the game? Goaltending. Russia's Denis Cherepanov allowed a couple of soft goals and looked generally shaky. As for the Sophs/Juniors, Jon Horrell, who's from Marietta, Georgia but plays for the National Sports Academy in Lake Placid, N.Y., came up big, stopping 17 of 18 shots -- many of them labeled -- when the Russians went on the offensive in the third period. Here's a team-by-team look at some of the players we liked over the weekend. Several excellent prospects, particularly those who played in Selects, looked hockeyed-out and perhaps shouldn't have signed on for the tournament in the first place. That said, here are some of the players we noticed over the weekend. For the record, we were there on two of the three nights -- Friday and Saturday (as well as the championship game on Sunday.)
Up front, we liked 6'0" Ben McManama of Nobles a lot. Against the Russians, who were big and strong, particularly up front, McManama matched up well. 5'7" Reading HS forward Sean Collins had a good weekend, but not great -- he struggled a bit against the Russians who took away much of the space he's accustomed to operating in. 6'0" winger Ned Havern of Arlington High School looked very good, too -- he has hands, works hard, and creates offense. 5'9" center Chris Higgins of Avon Old Farms played very well, also. A bit of a find was 5'9" forward Jon Foster, who plays for Suffern High School in New York. Foster, who's quick and hard to hit, is a good 1-on-1 player. To keep improving, he's going to have to get out of New York high school hockey pronto. On defense, former U.S. Under-17 Team defenseman Ryan Lannon, who's 6'2", strong, and extremely sound fundamentally, led the way. Behind Lannon, who'll be playing for Cushing this year, was an extremely impressive crop of '83 defensemen. 6'0" LD Danny Spang of Winchester High has size, skating ability, and a heavy shot. 5'11" RD Marvin Degon of Cushing is extremely mobile and moves the puck smartly and quickly. 5'10" Gerard Miller, who'll be playing for NY Applecore this winter, is a tenacious, rugged, right-shot D who can take a player out with a solid hit. 5'11" RD Donny Grover of Catholic Memorial was another '83 D who played well here. As for goaltenders, in addition to Horrell, mentioned above, 6'0", 225 lb. John Czaplinski, who's going to Kimball Union this fall, played very well. (Catholic Memorial goaltender Matt Kelly couldn't play in Sunday's game vs. Russia because he had to leave on a 6 a.m flight to Iowa, where he'll play the next two years with the Cedar Rapids Roughriders of the USHL.) By the way, the name of this team, Juniors/Sophomores, is a bit of a misnomer. Of the 27 players (yes, that's right, 27 players) on the roster only Degon and Spang will be sophs this year. Massachusetts (0-3-0): For us, Massachusetts' top forward was 6'1" Tristan Lush, who has size, is strong on his skates, and has a hard, heavy shot. Lush, an excellent Div. I prospect, is leaving Belmont Hill to take his senior year with the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL. Another DI prospect, Cushing's Brett Peterson, played center Friday and defense on Saturday and looked at home at both positions. We liked Peterson when we saw him as a forward before he went to Cushing, and he hasn't lost the skill. He's just very, very quick. On defense, we liked 6'3" right shot Kenny Smith from the U.S. National Program. He has size, steadiness, and does a lot of little things well. In one game, he used the boards to send teammate Tim Calabro off on a breakaway. In the game vs. Russia on Friday, he was blindsided by a Russian in center ice, the two came up swinging, and Smith more than held his own. 6'2" RD Steven Wood of Lawrence Academy played very well. He's good with the puck, has size, and if he improves his lateral mobility and pivoting, could become a top Div. I player. 6'4" LD Peter Tormey of Catholic Memorial played very well -- nothing spectacular, but he keeps it simple, utilizing his reach and size. Andover defenseman Mike Turner was injured in Thursday night's game and was out for the weekend. In goal, we liked David Cacciolla a lot. Cacciolla, who's 6'0", moves fluidly, and plays with a lot of poise. After playing for Burlington High last year, Cacciolla is moving on to St. Sebastian's this fall. Minnesota (1-2-0): This team's name is also a misnomer. A dozen of the players were from Shattuck-St. Mary's, while only six players were from Minnesota high schools. Up front, Shattuck's Ben Barr stood out for us. Barr, 5'11" and playing the right wing, continually made things happen -- for example, the nifty game-winning shot that completed Minnesota's comeback vs. Mass. on Saturday night. 5'6" LW Dan Grigel of the Moorhead HS Spuds is a feisty, hard-working winger who stood out by dint of his will. 5'10" Tony Gill and 6'1" PG center Kurt Simer, both from Shattuck, played well, also. On the blue line, the brightest star was Rochester Mayo's Andy Canzanello, a 5'11" mobile, left-shot D who's quick, holds the puck well, and is unfazed by heavy going -- a lot of skill and a lot of poise. Another defense prospect we liked was 6'3" Joshua Grahn, from Roseau High School, up where the wind hits heavy on the borderline. Grahn is a very good skater who moves the puck well and is quite quick for his size -- definitely one to check back on as the season goes along. 6'2", 200 lb.left-shot Cliff Loya, who just recently accepted an offer to go to the University of Maine starting this fall, skated and carried the puck well, and was effective battling along the boards and in front of the net. Brian Sipotz, Culver's 6'6" defenseman is a late '81 and still growing into his body. While he's mistake-prone, he's come a long way since the last time we saw him. In addition to his size, he has a mean streak. We see a late bloomer who's about to blossom. We also like Shattuck's Jesse Van Nostrand, a rugged PG. In net, Jim Andersson of the Breck School came up big in the first half of Friday's game vs. Mid-America. New England (2-1-0): Up front, we liked 5'11", 165 lb. Peter Zingoni, a left wing from the New England Jr. Coyotes. He's quick, physical, skilled, and plays hard at both ends of the ice. He'll be a DI player in another year. We also liked the play of Jeff Martin, who's from Manchester N.H. and will be gong to Northfield-Mt.Hermon in the fall. He's also quick and skilled, and at 6'0" has decent size. On one rush, he beat Ryan Lannon 1-on-1 and then put a punctuation mark on it by finishing up with a wraparound goal -- a statement. Another 6'0" LW, Brian Boike of Arlington High, is turning into a very good player. He's rugged, works hard, and comes up with some big plays. 6'1" winger Brett Adamczyk of Hotchkiss has size, speed, and is capable of coming up with the occasional big play, too. 5'10" Tom Cavanagh, a center from Tollgate HS in Rhode Island, is not particularly big, nor flashy, but has a knack for getting it done. On defense, we thought both Lawrence Academy defensemen, 6'1" left-shot Greg Lauze and 5'11", 210 lb. Robbie Barker, a right shot, were the two who stood out the most. In goal, Cushing's Ryan MacNeil stood out on Saturday, keeping his team in the game against Mid-America, making some big saves while his teammates scored three straight goals for the comeback win. Mid-America (1-2-0): In the two games we saw him play, 5'10" Deerfield Academy RW Tyler Kolarik was the dominant player, always moving, swooping like a shark across the ice surface, looking to make a hit, or snatch a loose puck. Kolarik is puck hungry and when it's on his stick, he's a lot of fun to watch. There's a joy, an intensity, and an enthusiasm to his game which is special, and, while we sure wouldn't want to diminish that in any way, we can do without the showboating after goals. In our view, Kolarik is the best Div. I prospect in New England. Kolarik's Deerfield teammate, 6'3", 200 lb. Rob Fried, was also excellent, playing on Kolarik's opposite wing. Fried's not a high-skill player, to be sure, but he is a smart player who knows how to get the most out of his size and strength. Specifically, he gets to the front of the net and hold his ground until the puck's on his stick -- and then he buries it. That alone is enough to make him a pro prospect. By the way, Fried's skating has improved quite a bit. His weakness is skating with the puck. Tim Pettit of Seattle, Washington and the Taft School, a 5'11" left shot who was playing his off wing over the weekend, was excellent, too, playing a smart up-tempo game, going hard to the net, playing physically, and showing off his shot. In one game, Pettit scored from his knees, getting off a shot with something on it after taking a hit. 5'11" RW Sean Terry of the Northwood School is another excellent prospect, a strong skater who can both move and carry the puck in open ice. He needs to play a little more physically, particularly along the wall. On defense, Pat Byrne, who plays for Trinity-Pawling, was a standout. For his size -- 6'2", 185 lbs. -- he moves his feet well and is assured with the puck. Not many guys get to see Trinity-Pawling during the winter, but Byrne keeps improving and is a player to follow. There you have it. Not counting the Russians, we've touched on the play of 40 of the approximately 125 players we watched in two games apiece over the weekend. That means there are over 80 players we didn't mention at all. With HNIB, there are always some very average players who stand out and some very good players who are invisible. It's summer hockey, after all, and there are alot of variables that affect performance. Next time we see a lot of these players, the days will be cold and the games will mean something. After HNIB, that can't come soon enough.
8/22/99 U.S. Under-18 Selects Settle for Silver at Four Nations In their final game, the U.S. Under-18 Selects, needing just a tie to win the gold medal at the Four Nations Tournament, fell a goal short, bowing to the Czech Republic, 4-3, and heading home to the U.S. with the silver medal. Three teams finished tied for first with a 2-1 record, but the tie breaker was goal differential, so even though the U.S. had edged Canada, 2-1, on Saturday, the Americans had to settle for second place behind the Canadians. The U.S. goals tonight were scored by Colin Stuart, Gregg Johnson, and Yale Lewis. Eric Werner, John Luszcz, Noah Welch, and Stuart each had assists. Jason Bacashihua was in the net for the U.S. If we get a box score, we'll post it. We do, however, have a recap.
8/22/99 Russians Leave Top Prospects Home The Russian Select 17 team at Hockey Night in Boston this weekend is not as strong as last year's entry, which boasted six players selected in the first two rounds of June's NHL draft. For whatever reason, and the Russians are notoriously changeable when it comes to these things, at least a half dozen of the best Russian '82s are not on the team appearing here. Most conspicuous by their absence are 6'3" LD Iliya Nikulin and 6'4" LD Alexei Smirnov. Central Scouting has the Dynamo twin towers down as, respectively, the #1 and #2 ranked Russians available for next Junes's NHL draft, with Nikulin likely to go among the top five overall picks and Smirnov more toward the middle of the first round. The other top Russians who were originally listed for the U.S. trip, but didn't make it are Ruslan Akhmadulin, Sergei Soin, Vladislav Luchkin, and Anton Volchenkov. But make no mistake about it, this is still an excellent team, with an emphasis on team. Outstanding in last night's 4-1 win over an all-star team comprised of the tournament's top sophomores and juniors was forward Pavel Vorobiev, who had two blistering goals from the slot, and was dangerous everytime he had the puck. Other forwards we liked were 6'3" Mihail Yakubov and 5'10" Dmitri Semenov. Our top prospect among the defensemen was 6'1" left-shot Vadim Khomitski. Today, the Russians will again meet the Sophs/Juniors, this time in the 5 p.m. title game.
8/22/99 U.S. Stuns Canada, 2-1 Zuoduz, Czech Republic -- We don't have details yet -- just a box score -- but from that we can tell you that the U.S. Under-18 Selects, behind a pair of goals from defenseman Joey Schuman, knocked off heavily-favored Canada at the Four Nations Tournament last night.
8/21/99 U.S. & Canada Big Winners in Czech Republic Defenseman Eric Werner had three goals and right wing Chris Lawrence had a pair of goals in the United States Under-18 Selects' 6-1 win over Slovakia in the Four Nations Tournament last night (Friday) in Trebic, Czech Republic. U.S. special teams had a strong night, going 4-for-9 on the powerplay, and 0-for-15 on the penalty kill. In Havlichuv Brod, Kris Newbury scored a hat trick to pace Canada past host Czech Republic, 7-0. Brad Boyes had three assists, and goaltender Pascal Leclaire picked up the shutout.
8/20/99 Hale Top Prospect A USHL player who'll be watched closely early in the season is Sioux City Musketeers defenseman David Hale. Over the last two months of the past season, Hale, a big, strong, physical left-shot D with mobility and a better-than-average skill level, stepped up his level of play significantly. Not surprisingly, the teams that are onto him now were ones that watched him then -- Denver, BU, and Nebraska-Omaha have each reportedly offered full rides. Look for North Dakota to get involved, too. BU was initially considering him for this season and head coach Jack Parker even travelled out to Sioux City's training camp in mid-June to watch him up close. Parker doesn't make those kinds of trips unless a decision has to be made immediately. (B.U. subsequently got a commitment from U.S. Under-18 Team defenseman Freddy Meyer, who'll be coming to school for the second semester.) Hale, 6'1" and 195 lbs., is a native of Colorado Springs, Col., and played there for the Pike's Peak Miners Midget AAA team before going to Sioux City last fall. He's a 6/18/81 birthdate who graduated from high school in June, and is eligible for the June 2000 NHL draft. Last season, he played 56 games and had a 3-5-18 scoring line with 127 penalty minutes. Speaking of Sioux City, last year's big gun, 6'2" Ukranian forward Ruslan Fedotenko signed a three-year contract last week with the Philadelphia Flyers. Fedotenko, according to the USHL commissioner's office is the first player to be signed directly out of the league by an NHL team. Fedetenko, who played for the Melfort Mustangs before coming to Sioux City last fall, turned 20 in January. Next week, he'll report to the training camp of the Philadelphia Phantoms, the Flyers' AHL affilate. In 54 games last season, Fedotenko had a 42-34-76 line with 139 penalty minutes.
8/19/99 Clarkson Adds a Goaltender for This Season Mike Walsh, who played for Kimball Union Academy before joining the USHL's Waterloo Black Hawks last year, will be headed to Clarkson College for the upcoming season. Walsh, who's from Downington, Pa., played very well in the recent Northern Elite and Chowder Cup Tournaments. Last season, in 20 games with Waterloo, Walsh had a 3.96 GAA, which was the best on the team, and a .871 save percentage. Clarkson returns last year's #1 goalie, sophomore-to-be Shawn Grant, who was 25-10-1 with a 2.71 GAA. Andrew Gibson, also a soph-to-be, backed up Grant . Walsh, presumably, will be competing for playing time with Gibson.
8/19/99 In Final Tuneup, U.S. Selects Bow to Czechs Last night, the U.S. Under-18 Selects, in their third and final exhibition game before the start of the tournament on Friday, bowed to the Czech Republic, 6-4. In the game, played in Trebic, New England Jr. Coyotes center Gregg Johnson led U.S. scorers with a goal and two assists. Chris Lawrence of the Philadelphia Jr. Flyers had two goals, while defenseman Eric Werner, who played for the Little Caesar's Midgets last season, had a goal and an assist.
8/19/99 Canner Goal in 2nd OT Gives Mid-Atlantic HNIB Title Last night at Hockey Night in Boston, Mid-Atlantic won its third title in five years with a 4-3 double overtime win over Northern New England. The game-winner, which came at the 56 second mark was scored by Chip Canner of Deerfield Academy. Earlier, Rob Fried of Deerfield had scored two goals for Mid-Atlantic, and Chris Swon of Hotchkiss had scored one. Northern New England got goals from Tim Morrison of the Boston Jr. Bulldogs, P.J. Davey of Kimball Union, and Brad Pelletier of Loomis-Chaffee.
8/18/99 Fogarty to Clarkson It looks like Ron Fogarty, who's been an assistant on the staff of Don Vaughan at Colgate for the last three seasons, will be heading up to Clarkson as an assistant. Look for an announcement soon. Fogarty is a Colgate alum, having graduated in 1995. Here are a couple of assistant coaches recently hired whom we may not have yet mentioned: -- Former Union defenseman Andrew Will, a '97 graduate, will be returning to his alma mater to work as an assistant on Kevin Sneddon's staff. Craig Patrick has been promoted to #1 assistant. -- At Northern Michigan, Doug Garrow has been hired as an assistant on Rick Comley's staff. Garrow played under Comley at Northern.
8/18/99 Loya, Caldwell Move On A pair of Shattuck-St. Mary's defensemen who had been considering returning to the Faribault, Minn. boarding school as PG's this season, have instead decided to move on. According to reports we've just gotten, 6'1", 202 lb. defenseman Cliff Loya, a native of Pittsburgh, Pa., will be heading to the University of Maine on scholarship when school opens next month. 6'3", 175 lb. defenseman Ryan Caldwell of Deloraine, Manitoba has decided to go to the Cedar Rapids Roughriders and play for coach Mark Carlson this season. In the fall of '00, Caldwell will be going to Denver.
8/17/99 Dartmouth to Name Peters #1 Assistant Look for Dartmouth College to name Danville Wings (NAHL) head coach/general manager Dave Peters as their new #1 assistant. Before going west a year ago to gain head coaching experience, Peters, 40, was an assistant for five years at Providence College, and widely considered one of the top recruiters in Hockey East. Before going to Providence, Peters, an '82 Boston College grad, was an assistant at UMass-Amherst and at Kent State, during which time the Golden Flashes went from being a Division I independent to a full-fledged CCHA member. Scott Borek was the other finalist for the Dartmouth job. Borek was talking to Harvard initially, but that fell through, primarily because of money. Dartmouth then began talking to Borek, who is not only an alum, having graduated in '85, but had also worked with Dartmouth head coach Bob Gaudet during the years Gaudet was head coach at Brown. Dartmouth worked to put together an offer for Borek, but from what we've heard, the administration at Lake Superior State, where Borek has a year left on his contract, blocked it. 8/17/99 Harvard Names Leaman #2 Assistant Nate Leaman, who was a volunteer at the University of Maine last season, will be working with Mark Mazzoleni and Ron Rolston on the Harvard staff this coming season. Leaman, who also worked as an assistant at Old Town High School in Maine, is a native of Centerville, Ohio. He played his college hockey at Cortland State University in New York. The other top candidate for the job was John Riley, who, along with Jim Hunt of the National Team Development Program, Leigh Mendelson of the Sioux City Musketeers (USHL), John Michelletto of Notre Dame, Randy Walker of the New Jersey Jr. Devils, Mike Haviland of the American Eagles, and others has been instrumental in the recent ascendency of the Atlantic/S.E. district as a top producer of Division I college prospects. In addition to coaching, Riley worked with the Sioux Falls Stampede, an expansion team in the USHL as a scout last season, and also scouted for the U.S. Hockey Report. He was also the head coach of the USHR Dotcoms at this year's Prospects Tournament. 8/17/99 Denver Doings When Enrico Blasi took the Miami job, it created an opening at Denver. Among the names we've heard as candidates for the job are Mike Corbett, who coached the Butte Irish last season; Chris Bergeron, who played minor pro hockey last season; and Seth Appert, who was a volunteer coach at Denver last season. 8/17/99 Czechs Top U.S. Under-18 Selects We don't have many details yet, but we can tell you that the U.S. Under-18 Selects were thumped 8-1 by the Czechs last night in Znojmo, Czech Republic. Center Gregg Johnson of the New England Jr. Coyotes scored the lone U.S. goal. An assist on the play went to Ryan Connolly of White Bear Lake HS in Minnesota. Leading the way for the Czechs were RW Lukes Franticek, who had a pair of goals, and RW Jakes Jiri, who had a goal and two assists.
8/16/99 Rolston to Harvard Ron Rolston has been chosen to be Harvard University's new #1 assistant. Look for an official announcement sometime this week. Rolston, who's been an assistant at Clarkson for the last three years, and at Lake Superior State for five years before that, last month coached the Michigan squad to a silver medal at USA Hockey's Select 15 Festival. Rolston has helped produce winners wherever he's gone. During his three years in the North Country, Clarkson went 72-28-3 and reached the NCAA tournament every year. At Lake State, where Rolston was an assistant under Jeff Jackson, the Lakers also reached the NCAA tournament every year, and won the whole thing twice -- in '92 and '94. Rolston, who's from Fenton, Michigan, played his college hockey at Michigan Tech. He's the older brother of New Jersey Devils forward Brian Rolston.
8/16/99 Under-18 Selects Tie up Czechs in Exhibition Play The U.S. Under-18 Selects, trailing the Czech Republic 3-1 early in the third period, rallied for a pair of goals to gain a 3-3 tie last night in Havlichuv Brod, Czech Republic. The comeback started when Chris Lawrence, on the penalty kill, tried to split the D to break in alone, but, with both defenders being drawn to him, left a great drop pass that Gregg Johnson buried at 2:40 of the third period to cut the Czech lead to 3-2. With 6:34 remaining, Colin Stuart picked up a loose puck in center ice, took off and let go a bomb that that went off the far post and in to tie the game at 3-3.
8/14/99 Jillson's Heroics Lift U.S. in Finale With 26 seconds remaining, and goaltender Phillipe Sauve pulled for an extra skater, U.S. defenseman Jeff Jillson got the puck at the left point, held it as he moved diagonally into the slot, and fired a low hard shot past Finnish goaltender Ari Ahonen to give the U.S. a 2-2 tie here tonight. It was Jillson's second goal of the game. The win gave the U.S. (3-0-1) the Summer Challenge championship. Finland (1-2-1) finished second and Switzerland (1-3-0) finished third and last. Jillson, with a 4-3-7 scoring line, led the tournament in goals scored and tied Switzerland's Flavien Conne (3-4-7) for the tournament scoring championship. Jillson was named the U.S. MVP, while Ahonen, who made 26 saves tonight, was named Finland's MVP, and Conne Switzerland's MVP. After a scoreless first period, Finland broke out on top in the second period when center Topi Riutta broke down the left side, fought through two defenders, and fired it past Sauve at 9:55. Later in the second period, the U.S. evened it up at 1-1 on the powerplay when Jillson, pinching in from the left point, lifted a rebound of a Barrett Heisten shot over Ahonen at the 16:43 mark. Adam Hall also picked up an assist on the play Finland went ahead 2-1 when Jani Vaananen scored a goal on a turnaround shot with 1:26 remaining in the second. In the third period there was no scoring until Jillson's late equalizer. The U.S. had a number of sparkling chances, but Ahonen was very tough. Notes: Brett Nowak injured his shoulder in the first period and didn't return to the bench. It's believed to be a slight separation. Pat Foley took his spot, but on his first shift was injured, busting his his nose and lip enough to require stitches. However, Foley returned to the ice, and played his regular shift. He was scheduled to be stitched up after the game. Speaking of injuries, incoming BU freshman goaltender Rick DiPietro was at the game and reports that his groin injury, which kept him out of the junior camp, should be healed by the time the Terriers hit the ice in October. Sorry about the 24-hour delay in posting this. Our efforts to post it from Lake Placid were exasperating and fruitless (server problems, apparently). We just got back to Boston, so here it is.
8/14/99 Denver Bullish on its Latest Recruit Denver has received a verbal commitment from Shattuck-St. Mary's forward Max Bull. North Dakota, where Jessie Bull, Max's brother, played for the Fighting Sioux from 1995-99, was among the schools that Bull turned down. Bull will join Shattuck teammate Ryan Caldwell as a member of DU's Class of 2004. Bull hails from Faribault, Minnesota, where Shattuck-St. Mary's is located, but will likely be heading to the USHL to play for the Cedar Rapids Roughriders next season. Caldwell is as yet undecided on whether to return to Shattuck or play in Cedar Rapids. Before he left the school for the Los Angeles Kings, Andy Murray put his stamp on Shattuck's 1999-2000 schedule by adding two home dates with each Manitoba Junior Hockey League team. Murray recently purchased a house in Faribault, so he's likely to stay involved in the school's hockey program. Murray's son Brady, along with his high scoring bantam linemates Pat Eaves and Zach Parisé, will be vying for spots on Tom Ward's prep team this season. Ben Eaves, Quinn Henry, Cliff Loya, and Shawn Vinz have committed to return to Shattuck for the 1999-2000 season.
8/14/99 USHL Protected List You asked for it, so here it is -- the 1999 USHL Protected List. Follow the link below to get an idea of the make-up of each team for the upcoming season.
8/14/99 News and Notes In a classic case of the rich getting richer, Cushing's already solid group of defensemen got even better with the recent addition of former National Program/St. Paul's/St. Sebastian's defenseman Ryan Lannon. Lannon joins Brett Peterson, Jack Celata, Marvin Degon, Blake Pickett, and Phil Youngclaus on the Penguins' blueline. Imagine if Jason Platt were still toiling in Ashburnham. Check Cushing off as the early favorite in the preps this season. Along with the aforementioned defensemen, goaltender Ryan MacNeil returns for his senior season. Steve Jacobs' team shouldn't have any trouble scoring goals either. Center Ben Murphy will look to improve on his breakout sophomore campaign. Along with Murphy, veterans Brian Doherty, Yale Lewis, Mike Woodford, and Kurt Wright highlight Cushing's forward lines. *** Team Illinois forward R.A. Mobile will suit up for the OHL's Sudbury Wolves next season. *** Salisbury goaltender David Sandals will stay at the Connecticut prep school for another year, graduating in June of 2001. *** We are compiling our prep school recruiting list, so if you aware of a player heading to a division prep school please send us an e-mail. Just as a reminder, if you have a scoop on the amateur hockey world in the United States or Canada, please feel free to contact us with the information. Sources are guaranteed anonymity.
8/13/99 U.S. Juniors Top Swiss, 5-1 Lake Placid, N.Y. -- Pat Foley scored a goal and an assist, Connor Dunlop had a pair of assists, and goaltender Phillipe Sauve stopped 14 of 15 shots to lead the U.S. to a 5-1 win over the Swiss here tonight. The U.S. opened the scoring at 5:16 of the first period when Matt Doman jumped on a nice, fat rebound of a Pat Foley shot and drilled an 8-footer past Swiss goaltender Martin Zerzuben. Brett Henning also picked up an assist on the goal. The U.S. made it 2-0 when Connor Dunlop, who had a strong game, won a draw to defenseman Sean Connolly. Connolly walked out in front and fired it by Zerzuben at 12:52. Brian Collins picked up the second assist on the play. In the second period, the Swiss cut the lead to 2-1 when center Flavien Conne, on the powerplay, scored on a nice turnaround shot after the U.S. hesitated in moving the puck out of the zone. Defenseman David Tanabe put the U.S. up 3-1 on the powerplay when he drilled a shot between the pads of Zerzuben at 11:36. Jeff Taffe and John-Michael Liles assisted. Patrick Foley, on a 2-on-1, converted a nice pass from Hilbert to extend the U.S. lead to 4-1 at 12:55. Adam Hall picked up the second assist. Late in the period, with 1:28 remaining, Hall took a penalty shot for the U.S. but missed the net, shooting wide right. The game's final goal came in the third period when, with the U.S. on the powerplay, defenseman Jordan Leopold took a pass inside the red line, streaked down center ice, and, breaking in alone on Zerzuben, beat the Swiss goalie with a waist-high shot on the glove side. The U.S., now 3-0 in the tournament, winds up the tournament with a game versus Finland at 5 p.m. tomorrow.
8/12/99 NAHL Protected List North Amrican Hockey League (NAHL) teams will be opening camp at the end of this month in preparation for the league's 24th season of play. There will be two new teams this season, as the Texas Tornado and the Rochester (N.Y.) Americans have joined the loop as expansion franchises. To give you an idea as to who's likely to be playing where, follow the link below for the league's protected player list.
8/12/99 Scout’s Notebook: Ontario Under-17 From June 25-29, a hundred of the top ‘83-born players in Ontario traveled to York University in Toronto to try out for the Ontario Under-17 team. Thirty-five of them were identified as players to monitor over the next few months. In November, 22 of them will be picked for the final Team Ontario roster. Note: Of the 100 players in camp, 82 were OHL draftees. A number of top players were missing from camp --- mostly because of the their performance, or lack thereof, at earlier Under-17 camps. The U.S. Hockey Report was on hand in Toronto and our scouting reports, which follow, were based on one or two performances for each player. Because of the large number of outstanding centres in the Ontario ‘83 group, many natural centres were placed on the wing. That’s likely where they’ll be playing if they should make the team in November. Click here for Full Report
8/11/99 Hilbert, Nowak Lead Charge as U.S Tops Finland Andy Hilbert and Brett Nowak spearheaded the U.S. to a 5-3 come-from-behind win over Finland tonight at Lake Placid. Trailing 3-1 entering the third period, Hilbert and Nowak went to work, one and/or the other figuring in each of the four unanswered goals the U.S. scored to secure the win. In Monday night's win over the Swiss, the U.S. was in an identical predicament to tonight's, trailing 3-1 entering the third before rallying for four unanswered goals to pick up the win. In tonight's game, Hilbert (2g,1a), Nowak (1g,2a), and Adam Hall (1g,2a) each had three points. Defenseman Jeff Jillson (1g,1a) had a two-point night. Doug Janik, Chirs Hartsburg, Jordan Leopold, and David Tanabe each chipped in with an assist. U.S. goaltender Phillipe Sauve kicked out 23 of 26 shots for the win. Notes: Because of a knee injury, forward Shawn Roed is a scratch for this week's action. His place on the roster has been taken by Boston University-bound forward Brian Collins. In response to inquiries, another BU-bound player, goaltender Rick DiPietro, was not a cut last weekend. He's out with a nagging groin injury. The next U.S. game is Friday at 5 pm vs. Switzerland.
8/10/99 Rice Wins Northeastern Assistant's Post Top Dartmouth assistant Jamie Rice will be joining Bruce Crowder's staff at Northeastern University. Look for an official announcement soon. Rice will be filling the slot vacated by Mark Carlson, who was named head coach of the Cedar Rapids Roughriders (USHL) last month. Rice and Paul Cannata, an assistant at Northeastern entering his fourth season, will be co-assistants. Rice, 32, has been at Dartmouth for two years. For five years before that, he was an assistant at Brown University. A forward at Hotchkiss in the mid-80's, Rice played for Babson during its years as a Div. III powerhouse and graduated from there in 1990. Meanwhile, over at Harvard, the search for a top assistant goes on as Scott Borek has decided to stay at Lake Superior State for the final year of his contract. Borek recently asked Lake State president Robert Arbuckle for a severance package that would have made it economically worthwhile to leave the school and take the Harvard job -- but Arbuckle and Borek couldn't come to terms.
8/9/99 Third Period Outburst Powers U.S. Past Switzerland Tonight in Lake Placid, the U.S. Junior Team topped Switzerland, 5-4, on the strength of four goals in the span of 3½ minutes in the third period. We weren't there, so we don't have many details. However, we can tell you that for the U.S. Jeff Jillson, Jeff Taffe, and Andy Hilbert each had a goal and an assist; and that John-Michael Liles had a pair of assists. For Switzerland, Flavien Conne and Jan Cadieux each had a goal and an assist, while Bjorn Christen had a pair of assists. And we also have...
8/9/99 Blasi Named Head Coach at Miami This afternoon, Enrico Blasi was named the new head coach at Miami, replacing Mark Mazzoleni, who last month took the Harvard job. For the past three seasons, Blasi has been an assistant at the University of Denver under George Gwozdecky. Blasi is a Miami alum, having played for Gwozdecky there from 1990-94. Blasi, who is from the Toronto area, was also an assistant coach for the Wexford Raiders in 1994-95. Current Miami assistant Dave Smith was reportedly the other finalist. Over the past two weeks, Ferris State head coach Bob Daniels, Michigan assistant Mel Pearson, and UNH assistant Dave Lassonde all withdrew their names from consideration. Look for an official announcement on Thursday. And, by the way, we have a question: who's younger, Blasi or Union head coach Kevin Sneddon? 8/8/99 Cuts Made at Junior Camp: 17 to Stay On The cuts have been made and 17 of the 44 players who competed in the East/West series at Lake Placid over the past few days have been selected to stay at camp. They will join the ten 'veterans' who arrived at camp yesterday, and represent the U.S. in the Summer Challenge that gets under way with a 5 pm game tomorrow vs. Switzerland. Forwards (10): Brad Winchester, Chris Hartsburg, Jeff Taffe, Shawn Roed, Connor Dunlop, Brett Nowak, David Evans, Willie Levesque, Pat Foley, and Brett Henning. Defensemen (6): John-Michael Liles, Andrew Hutchinson, Mike Stuart, Ron Hainsey, Sean Connolly, and Brooks Orpik. Goaltenders (1): Adam Hauser. Notes: The 10 veterans are forwards Barrett Heisten, Tim Connolly, Matt Doman, Andy Hilbert, and Adam Hall; defensemen Doug Janik, Jordan Leopold, Jeff Jillson, and David Tanabe; and goaltender Phillipe Sauve. Here's the schedule for this week:
8/7/99 East Shuts Down West, 4-0, Takes Series The East (Red) Team behind two goals apiece from Willie Levesque and Kevin Mitchell and a combined shutout by Phil Osaer and Reg Bourcier beat the West (Blue) Team by a 4-0 score here today. The win gave the East the 'title' in the three-game series. After a lacklustre performance on opening night, the East, on the strength of superior goaltending and hustle, took the next two games. The East scored eight of the tournament's last nine goals. Today, Levesque put the East up 1-0 at 13:45 of the first period as he swooped in on the right side and, down low, was hit with a nifty, short pass off the stick of Dan Cavanaugh, and beat Ryan Miller. In the second period -- just as they'd done last night -- the East exploded for three goals. At the 1:24 mark Ron Hainsey headmanned a pass to Kevin Mitchell at the opposing blueline. Mitchell broke in alone, fired the puck past Miller, and the East had a two-goal lead. At the 7:45 mark, Mitchell picked up a loose puck in the high slot and fired it through a screen past Miller -- 3-0, East. Halfway through the period, Adam Hauser replaced Miller in the West net. Levesque finished off the scoring for the day when he drove to the net and, with the puck on his backhand, lifted it past Hauser to account for the final 4-0 score. Notes: Tonight is cut-down night, and, of the 44 players here this week, 26 players will be cut, while approximately 18 will stay on to join the ten 'veterans' who arrived today. The veterans are forwards Barrett Heisten, Tim Connolly, Matt Doman, Andy Hilbert, and Adam Hall; defensemen Doug Janik, Jordan Leopold, Jeff Jillson, and David Tanabe; and goaltender Phillipe Sauve. The U.S. will meet Finland and Switzerland in a round-robin tournament starting Monday. The U.S. Hockey Report won't be on hand for the first two U.S. games, but will have results. Full stories return starting with next Friday's game against Switzerland. 8/6/99 East Rebounds, Tops West, 4-2 Lake Placid, N.Y. -- The East (Red) Team, behind four unanswered goals, topped the West (Blue) Team 4-2 tonight to even the series at one game apiece. The rubber match is tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. The East forwards, who looked sluggish and tentative in the first game, played with spark last night, as indicated by the East's 35-16 shot advantage in the game. The West jumped out on top first, as John Wroblewski burned down the left side and beat East goaltender Reg Bourcier with a high wrister. Andrew Hutchinson and Connor Dunlop picked up assists on the play. In the second period the East, which had outshot the West 12-5 in the first and had come up empty, started finding the back of the net. First, at 1:55, on the powerplay, Jon DiSalvatore fed linemate Mike Ryan, who was perched on the doorstep. Ryan calmly slid it by West goaltender Ryan Miller to tie the game at 1-1. At 11:38, Brett Nowak curled off the half board and and beat Miller with a wrister for what turned out to be the game-winning goal. Kevin Mitchell picked up an assist on the play. At 17:34, John Sabo picked up a loose puck at the blue line, drove to the net hard and, well, somehow it got past Miller, and gave the East a 3-1 lead going into the second intermission. . At 4:48 of the final period the West coughed up the puck in their end and David Evans swooped down on it, went in alone on Miller, threw a couple of dekes, and slid it home for a commanding 4-1 lead. At that point, the West began to shake off the cobwebs a bit, and when the East's Mike Ryan was whistled for hooking at 7:26, it took just 25 seconds for the West to capitalize as Mike Stuart made a neutral zone feed to Jeff Taffe, who, moving down the left side, turned on the jets and beat Bourcier with a hard wrist shot to cut the East's lead to 4-2, but that would be as close as West would get.
8/6/99 Pearson Turns Down Miami Offer Reports tonight indicate that 11-year Michigan assistant Mel Pearson has turned down the head coaching job offered him by Miami University. Whether or not the offer -- or the turndown -- was final was unclear as efforts to reach Pearson today were unsuccessful. Unless someone else jumps into the picture, the remaining candidates are UNH assistant David Lassonde, BC assistant Scott Paluch, Los Angeles Kings scout (and former Miami assistant) Greg Drechsel, and current Miami assistant Dave Smith.
8/5/99 West Tops East in National Junior Camp Opener Lake Placid, N.Y. -- Notre Dame center David Inman had a goal and an assist and University of Minnesota goaltender Adam Hauser kicked out 23 shots to pace the West (Blue) Team to a 6-3 win over the East (Red) Team on the opening night of the first phase of the 1999 National Junior Camp. After a scoreless first period, the West's Michael Rupp, perched on the edge of the crease tapped home a pass-out from behind the net past East goalie Phil Osaer at 6:04 to put the West up, 1-0. After Kyle Clark evened it up for the East, the West's Doug Meyer, while falling to his knees, whipped a shot past Osaer to restore the lead at 17:55. Early in the third period, the East tied it up at 2-2 when Pat Aufiero drove to the net and jammed it by Hauser. After that the West exploded with three straight goals in less than four minutes. First, Joe Goodenow wristed a shot that beat Osaer waist high on his stick side at 4:41. Then, Dan Welch, on the power play, knocked home a pass from Inman at the 4:41 mark. The West went up by three on Mike Stuart's second whack at a rebound of a Shawn Roed shot at 7:05. The East made it a two-goal game again when Clarkson's David Evans blasted a five footer past Hauser at 10:26, but an Inman insurance goal at 13:29 sealed it for the West. All four West lines had it clicking in tonight's game, while the East lines struggled to get in sync. The best offensive player for the East was B.U. defenseman Patrick Aufiero. Tonight's game was played on the back rink, which, in addition to having a small sheet has a very small capacity, perhaps 100. (Roughly a third of the crowd consisted of NHL scouts.) In addition, the ice was on the soft side, the mildest of checks made the boards bend like a bamboo tree in a hurricane, and the penalty box door didn't want to stay shut. Two weeks ago, reportedly unannounced to National Coach Jeff Jackson, the Olympic Center here in Lake Placid decided to move the junior camp to the back rink and stick a figure skating competition on the main rink. Tomorrow's game will be played on the back rink, too, while Saturday's will be played on the front rink. None of the three will be played on the main rink and none of the U.S. officials here are happy with the situation. There's a distinct possibility the National Junior Camp may be moved elsewhere next year. Of the 44 players here, 18 will be selected to stay on afterward and join the "veterans," that is, returnees from last year's world junior tournament. The single U.S. team will then host a mini round-robin tournament that also includes Switzerland and Finland. The returnees, who arrive at the conclusion of this three-game series are forwards Barrett Heisten, Tim Connolly, Matt Doman, Andy Hilbert, and Adam Hall; defensemen Doug Janik, Jordan Leopold, Jeff Jillson, and David Tanabe; and goaltender Phillipe Sauve.
8/4/99 Borek to Harvard? New Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni has decided to replace incumbent Harvard assistants Jerry Pawloski and Mark Bavis. According to top sources, Mazzolini is right now trying to put together the money to bring current Lake Superior State University head coach Scott Borek to Cambridge as his #1 assistant. Borek, who is about to enter the last year of his contract at Lake State, will almost certainly have to take a pay cut to make the move. But, on the plus side, he'll be getting away from a situation that never developed the way he'd hoped it would when he took over for Jeff Jackson in the summer of 1996, and has continued to deteriorate over the current off-season with player suspensions and his top goaltender leaving school. In addition, Borek, a Swampscott, Mass. native, is a Dartmouth grad and a former assistant at both Brown and Providence as well as a head coach at Colby. In other words, he knows the ins and outs of the eastern scene, an asset he was never able to utilize advantageously at Lake State, which draws a player from New England only about once a decade. So Mazzoleni is starting out his Harvard tenure with a bold plan. Will he be able to pull it off? If the money's there, look for Borek to be in Cambridge. As for the second assistant's job, it's still open. The National Program's John Hynes has a year to go in his graduate studies in Michigan. That, combined with the fact that he's the one responsible for implementing Mike Boyle's conditioning program for the kids in Ann Arbor, makes him indispensable there -- for at least another year. So he's withdrawn his name. Look for Dave Peters to do the same. He's in the middle of a three-year contract as a head coach/G.M. of the Danville Wings (NAHL), and, for monetary reasons as well as the late date -- Jr. A training camps will be opening in a few weeks -- it'd be a tough move. Greg Klym of Hamilton College remains as a strong candidate.
8/4/99 Pearson and Lassonde Miami Finalists Out in Miami, the hunt for a head coach has come down to two candidates -- Michigan's Mel Pearson and UNH's David Lassonde. A final decision could come as early as tonight or as late as the end of the week. We'll have it for you.
8/4/99
8/2/99 Select 15's: Gauthier Tops Prospects List USA Hockey's Select 15 Festival was held July 18-24 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Our conclusion? Depth-wise, it's an off year for both forwards and defensemen but a good year for goaltenders. Here's a team-by-team look at the players we felt to be the top prospects there. And when we talk of prospects, we're thinking fairly short-term. We're looking for those who might be able to help the U.S. in select international competition. That, after all, is the idea behind these select festivals. 1. Pacific (5-0-0): If the Select 15 Festival gave out an MVP award, Pacific LW Gabe Gauthier would have won it hands down. Gauthier, 5'7" and a well-put-together 175 lbs., is not exceptionally big. On his skates, he's not exceptionally fast or smooth. But as a player, he's flat-out exceptional. Gauthier, who's from Buena Park, California, near Anaheim, has two major attributes. One is his remarkable hand-eye coordination. To give just one example, Gauthier is excellent at controlling pucks around his feet. He'll nudge it forward with his skate blade, and move it with the toe of his stick -- these are the little things that give him an enormous advantage in the one-on-one battles, and make it very difficult to knock him off the puck, too. To top it all off, Gauthier can take those pucks at his feet and, almost like a pitcher short-arming a fastball, wing a shot that is not only untelegraphed, but deadly accurate and strong. Gauthier's other major strength -- his greatest, really -- is his uncanny understanding of hockey's geometry. He processes information quickly and, like a top chess player, is always thinking several moves ahead.. Without the puck, he knows how to get open. With the puck, he knows where others on the ice are going to be before they get there. And he can slow things down, too, waiting patiently for the best option to present itself. Several times we saw Gauthier mesmerize his opponents into total flat-footedness. In the manner of Wayne Gretzky, Gauthier likes to have all the players on the ice in front of him, so he can weigh options. Also like Gretzky, he'll curl and come up behind the play, On the power play he plays the left point, from where he's extremely dangerous. Every time Gauthier stepped on the ice, particularly as the tournament progressed, other teams keyed on him, realizing that neutralizing Gauthier was the key to beating Pacific. But no one was able to do it. Michigan, because of their superior depth, looked like they'd be able to do it in the gold medal game. They too failed, a point punctuated late in thate game when Gauthier picked up the puck in his own end and, from a starting point on the far boards, went around behind his net, barrelled up the near boards (taking several whacks along the way), and plowed ahead until, at the end, it was just Gauthier against the goaltender. Needless to say, Gauthier won. It was the final goal in a 4-1 game and just totally deflated Michigan and its raucous supporters. Last year, this typist was able to scout Gauthier when he played New England prep hockey for the Berkshire School. He was the youngest player in the loop, and one of the best. Last week, against players his own age, he was dominant, finishing as the tournament's leading scorer with a 5-9-14 line and figuring in 61 percent of his teams 23 goals. This winter, Gauthier will be playing for the Chilliwack Chiefs (BCHL). While Gauthier spelled the difference for Pacific, he had some very able help. Up front, we liked 5'5" Brett Sterling, a left shot playing RW on Gauthier's line. Like Gauthier, Sterling is is from the Los Angeles area, Pasadena to be precise, and played last winter for the L.A. Junior Kings Bantam AAA team. On other lines, we liked Timmy Wallace, a big right-shot center from Anchorage, Alaska and the Alaska All-Stars Bantam AAA team. Wallace will grow into his body more and keep blossoming as a player. Another good one was 5'7½" LW Cy Young (yes, that's his name), also from Anchorage. Young is a savvy competitor with skill. We saw him do dirty work -- throwing his body in front of shots -- and finesse work, too, like finishing off a play with a nifty move at the doorstep. Another player we liked was 5'8" fourth-line center Micheal Ramirez, who flat-out competes. On defense, the player we kept noticing was Jake Wilkens, who at 5'11", 170 was -- along with Wallace -- the big man on the team. A right-shot D with surprisingly good mobility, Wilkens played with increasing confidence as the week went along. By the way, Wilkens was one of six members of the Alaska All-Stars Bantam AAA team playing for the Pacific squad. Both goaltenders were outstanding, too. between them giving up nine goals in five games. Matthew Mouser, from San Jose, California, and Robert Hazlewood, of Union City, California, averaged nearly 30 shots a game so their over-.900 save percentages were the real thing. Of the two, we'll give a slight edge to Mouser. An athletic, stand-up goalie, Mouser came up big in the gold medal game against Michigan and was voted to the all-tournament team. 2. Michigan (4-1-0): Michigan's loss to Pacific in the final was a surprise, but they just may have taken Pacific a little lightly. At any rate, their high-water mark was the opening night 3-2 win over Minnkota that was the most exciting single game in the tournament. In that game, Michigan came out and hit the Minnkota players every time they touched or even got near the puck, succesfully taking away the neutral zone where Minnkota's speed would have prevailed. It was that game that made Michigan the team to beat in tournament. And only Pacific succeeded in doing it. Up front, 5'8½" left-shot center Eric Sargent was the top player, and this typist had him ranked fourth among all forwards there. He can skate, he has a head for the game, an accurate shot and a nose for the net. With eight goals, he was the festival's leading goal scorer. Others we liked were left wings David Booth, Rob Nowinski and Michael Dagenais. If they -- particularly Booth and Nowinski -- keep growing, they could turn into excellent power forwards. On the right side, we liked 5'7" Devin Shencopp. A pair of centers we liked were 5'10" Jason Paige and 5'9½" Dan Peace. Neither contributed much in the way of points, but they're good prospects nonetheless. Paige is the smoother of the two and perhaps a slightly better puckhandler. Peace is a relentless two-way player, and excellent forechecker. On defense, Michigan had, by this typist's figuring, three of the top six defensemen in the tournament. Of the three, we liked James Wisniewski the most. He's a savvy, highly-mobile right-shot D who can hit and play physically, handle the puck, and contribute at both ends. He's 5'8½" and 173 lbs. Right behind Wisniewski, we liked right shot Jamie Milam, who's also 5'8½". Left-shot D Brian Lee was also among the top five or six defensemen at the festival, and, at 6'0", 174, good-sized, too. Both of Michigan's goaltenders -- Justin Tobe and Paul Barnett -- were excellent. Tobe, who came up big in Michigan's opening-night 3-2 win over Minnkota, is a hybrid goalie and very athletic. He's also very young. With a 12/27/84 birthdate, he's five days short of being an '85. Barnett is also a late '84. We mention this because it's something to keep in mind when evaluating players. At any given select Festival there can be up to 12 months difference between players' ages -- and that's a significant factor. To put it in perspective, at this year's Select 15 Festival, 61% of the players were born in the first six months of 1984, and 39% in the last six months. 3. Minnkota (3-1-1): An extremely talented team that struggled at times, losing to Michigan, tying Atlantic/S.E, and squeaking by Massachusetts. They took a couple of days to get going, but when they did the linemates from Shattuck-St. Mary's Bantams -- Patrick Eaves and Zach Parisé were awfully impressive. If you're a college recruiter putting together your wish list for the fall of '02, put them right up at the top. Among forwards, we had them #2-3 right behind Gauthier and ahead of Michigan's Sargent. Several observers believe Eaves, who's the son of Pittsburgh Penguins assistant coach Mike Eaves, could turn out to be a better player than his older brother, Ben. It's true that he could, but perhaps it's a little premature, too. Eaves, at any rate, is a slightly different player than his brother. At 5'9½", he's already bigger, and his style is less flashy and speed-driven than Ben's. He's more a Jean Ratelle type -- great hands, tremendous in traffic, and very, very savvy. Eaves finished with a 5-4-9 line. Parisé, on the other hand, has speed, hands, and a tremendous shot. He's explosive. In one game, he just came flying down the right wing, and roofed a bullet from about 10 feet that even an NHL goaltender would have been unable to move on. Absolutely eye-popping. Parisé, who's 5'6½", was 3-5-8 on the tournament. Of Minnkota's other forwards, we liked 5'8½" LW Scott Thauwald, who's heady and skilled, 6'0", 172 lb. Ian Ross of Hibbing High, who has size and can skate, and his center 5'9½", 186 lb. Tom Dickhudt of Hill-Murray. (Neither Ross nor Dickhudt, however, got it going offensively, each garnering one point apiece in the tournament.) The right wing on the line, 5'11" Jim McKenzie, also of Hill-Murray, is more of a grinder but showed he can score, too (2-1-3). 5'6½" Nick Pernula of Osseo High played RW on the Eaves-Parise line and put up the numbers to prove it (3-4-7). Nick Licari (3-3-6) of Duluth East had a strong tournament. He's smallish at 5'5½", but solid which made it hard to knock him off the puck when he'd drive to the net. Licari finished with a 3-3-6 line. Actually, there isn't a forward on this team that wouldn't have been in the top half of the forwards on most of the other teams at the Festival. They all have skill and they all can skate. Minnesota, particularly at the young ages, is the top producer of talent in the U.S. What happens later is another matter. So much for that digression. Now, back to the business at hand. On defense, 5'11½", 198 lb. left shot Mark Stuart, the younger brother of Mike Stuart, who's at CC and Colin Stuart of Rochester Lourdes, was, for this observer anyway, the best defensive prospect in the tournament, ahead of Michigan's Wisniewski. Right up there with Stuart and Wisniewski is 5'9½" Tom Sawatske, a right shot D who'll be playing for Duluth East this season. A notch below that group, but also good prospects are 5'8" Matt Czech of Hill Murray and 5'8" Josh Williams of Osseo. In net, 5'9½" Will Harper, who played last season for the Edina Bantams, was excellent, a solid standup goalie who bears close following. 4. New England (2-2-1): This team consisted of a few top prospects and a bunch of hard-working, opportunistic players who pulled together as a team. They were a pleasure to watch. They also tended to score in bunches. In one game they came back from a 2-0 deficit by scoring five unanswered goals in the game's final 8:26. Up front, 5'11" 182 lb. Greg Moore of Lisbon Maine and St. Dom's High School was tremendous, a prototypical power forward who has the potential to be the best player to come out of Maine in years. Moore has hands, and the size and strength to take it to the net time after time. He scored two big-time goals in the bronze medal game loss to Minnkota and finished with a 5-3-8 line. His winger, Michael Rose of Rumford, R.I., who'll be at Bishop Hendricken HS this season, is also an excellent prospect -- very heady, and a good skater who can fire the puck. Played the off wing and had a 4-2-6 line. Michael Bordieri, a 5'9" RW out of Connecticut who hopes to be playing for the New England Jr. Coyotes this season played well -- he's got a great shot. The top prospect on D was 5'10½" 172 lb. Ben Lovejoy, who played last year for the Cardigan Mountain School in New Hampshire, and will be going to Deerfield this season, where he should fit in pretty quickly. Lovejoy is a strong, rugged player who can carry the puck and plays solidly in his own end. In net, Travis Russell of Essex Junction, Vermont played very well. In the bronze medal game against Minnkota, Russell was flawless in his half (New England rotated goalies each half), stopping all 19 shots he faced, including some very tough chances to give New England a 2-0 lead going into the intermission. In the second half, with the goalies switched, Minnkota roared back to win it 5-3, and take the bronze. Still, it was a good tournament for the New Englanders. 5. Central (2-1-2): Up front, 5'7", 137 lb. RW Jordan Friedman, who played with the Team Illinois Bantams last season, was the guy who kept jumping out at us, finishing with a 4-3-7 line and seemingly in the middle of every one of his team's scoring opportunies. A project worth keeping an eye on is Ben Bosworth of Hudson High School in Wisconsin. Bosworth is 6'1½" and 201 lbs, and raw as they come. He's slightly reminiscent of Stephen Baby, though his hands aren't quite as soft. Big center Ben Loss has skills, but doesn't accomplish as much as he could. On defense, we were impressed by both Adam Brand and Josh Elzinga. Brand is from Antigo, Wisconsin, and played on the same Shattuck-St. Mary's Bantam team as Eaves and Parise last season. He's 5'11" and 174 lbs., keeps it simple, takes care of business in his own end, and gets the puck out of the zone smartly. Elzinga, 5'8½" and 166 lbs., played for the Team Illinois Bantams last winter. He's crafty, patient with the puck, a good passer, and has an eye for the offensive opportunity. He was the second-leading scorer among defensemen at the festival. In net, Phillip Hintz was a standout, picking up one complete-game shutout and playing consistently well in his other games. 6. New York (2-3-0): Up front, New York's two best prospects were 5'7", 198 lb. Greg Goodnough, who played last winter in Toronto, and will be playing for the Syracuse Junior Crunch this winter; and Andrew Gartman, the younger brother of Cornell-bound goaltender Chris Gartman. Goodnough (3-3-6 on the week) is a hard-skating, physical up-and-down the wing type who uses his strength and low center of gravity to power to the net. He got better as week went along. Gartman, who centered for Goodnough, is clever in traffic and extremely opportunistic. He had a couple of great games early then tailed off a little, which is actually extremely common at the 15 Festival, as most of the kids have never before been called on top play five high-tempo games in six days. On defense, Michael Grenzy, a Lockport native who plays for the Toronto Marlies organization was a standout. At 6'2", 171 lbs., he has pro potential. Right behind him was Ryan Merritt of Whitesboro, NY, who's 6'1" and a lanky 146. Merritt will be playing for the Syracuse Junior Crunch. 7. Rocky Mountain (2-2-1): The best prospects on this team were either from a) Grand Forks, North Dakota or b) Scottsdale, Arizona. In other words, far from the Rockies. The two players from Arizona were Taylor Hustead, a 6'0" 174 lb. right-shot center with size, decent skating ability, and good hands. Hustead played for coach Terry Flaishans in the Desert Youth Hockey Bantams last winter. He could benefit by moving up to a higher level of competition. We also liked Hustead's teammate, 5'10, 155 lb. defenseman Mike Nesdill.. Must be something in the dry desert air. From the top of the country came left-shot center Ryan Potulny of Grand Forks, N.D. Potulny, who'll be going to Red River High School in Grand Forks, is a good all-round forward, the best Rocky Mountain had. He has good hands, can skate and handle the puck, and drives to the net hard. The other standout from Grand Forks is netminder Phillipe Lamoureaux, who at 5'2½" and 109 lbs., is almost certianly the smallest player ever to be written about in the U.S. Hockey Report. He can play, though. He's a cat -- extremely quick and extremely athletic. This team would have been sunk without him. 8. Atlantic/S.E. (1-3-1): Except in the tie vs. Minnkota, and an easy win over Massachusetts, this team struggled. However, a few players stood out, most notably Stephen Werner, who's from Chevy Chase, Maryland and the Washington Junior Capitals organization. Werner has both size and a real sense of where he is and what he's doing on the ice. His hands are good and his passes are on the money. He has patience, thinks quickly on his feet and is always searching for openings. He's the best young player we've seen out of the Washington, D.C. area in a awhile. We also were very impressed by Werner's center, Brian Liamaro, who's from New York City -- and we're talking Manhattan. Liamaro played for Atlantic/S.E. because he plays in the New Jersey Junior Devils organization. Liamaro played a little tentatively early, but got into a groove around the middle of the festival. He has decent size, good strength, and offensive flair. He's as adept at making the nice pass as he is at finishing. Goaltender Timothy Roth of Teaneck, N.J. was very good, too, and was the difference in the 3-3 tie with Minnkota, coming up with a 30-save effort. 9. Mid-American (1-4-0): This was the youngest team in the tournament, and the only team in the tournament with more players born in the second half of '84 than the first half. Defenseman Dylan Reese of the Pittsburgh Hornets Bantams is one of them, a highly-mobile right-shot D who can handle the puck extremely well and has a good low shot. 10. Massachusetts (0-5-0): Don't know exactly what happened here. They played well against Minnkota, and despite falling behind by three goals early to New York, battled back and made it a one-goal game in the end. In other games, though, they seemed enveloped in lethargy, and the more highly-touted players seemed to be missing in action for long stretches. It seemed that everytime a player did something to pique my interest -- and there were quite a few that did -- I wouldn't notice him again the rest of the game. The only exception, the only player that consistently hustled and kept his focus no matter what the scoreboard read, was small center Danny Schribman of BB&N and Swampscott, Mass. It's no surpirse then that he was the team's leading scorer with a 2-4-6 line.
8/1/99 Downing Makes His Decision Any hopes Minnesotans had of seeing Andrew Downing playing for Don Lucia at the U in the fall of 2000 went out the window when Downing, on Thursday, decided on the major junior route. Downing, a 6'1", 176 lb. left-shot defenseman, will be playing this season for the Tri-Cities Americans of the WHL. If he'd stayed at Grand Rapids High School or gone to the USHL, Downing, who'll be a senior, would have been one of the prize catches of the current recruiting season. Lucia, the new Gophers coach, is a Grand Rapids native, and in early July visited Downing at home, pitching him on the merits of playing for the Gophers. In the end, though, Downing decided on the major junior route as the quickest route to the NHL. Tri-Cities has been interested in Downing for a long time, having drafted him in the 1998 WHL Bantam Draft even though he'd already committed to the U.S. National Team Development Program. Last year, Downing played half the season with the NTDP before retuning to Grand Rapids for personal reasons. Downing, who's represented by Lewis Gross of Sports Professional Management in New York City, will report to Tri-Cities on August 28. Also going to Tri-Cities will be fellow Iron Ranger Adam Johnson of Greenway High School. Johnson's situation is a little different, as he's older (he's an '80 birthdate) and graduated from high school in June. Johnson, a 6'6", 225 lb. left-shot defenseman, has never fully concentrated on hockey, preferring to play three sports. Reportedly, Johnson was offered a football scholarship by the Gophers. He's also an excellent baseball player. As for hockey, Johnson's size and athleticism alone make him a pro prospect. This typist saw him paste an opponent with the kind of hit one seldom sees in high school hockey. He's also a good skater with a long stride, has good hands, can carry the puck. 7/30/99 ...Hedberg, Too For the second year in a row, the Duluth East High School Hounds will be losing a top underclassman to the OHL. Last year, it was defenseman Patrick Finnegan, who went to the Windsor Spitfires. This year, it will be another defenseman, as Jon Hedberg has signed with the Guelph Storm. Hedberg, 6'0", 205 lbs., and a right shot, was one of the top defenseman on the gold-medal winning Minnkota squad at the U.S. Select 17 Festival held earlier this month in St. Cloud, Minn. A burly defenseman who is strong on his skates, Hedberg has a powerful shot, and loves to carry the puck. Reached by phone in Minnesota, Hedberg's father, Scott, said that, in addition to visiting Guelph two weeks ago, his son had also visited Sudbury and Brampton, and was planning on visiting Plymouth next. But, he said, in the end Guelph won out because the environment "felt right," and the club offered a good educational package. 7/30/99 Motzko, Daniels to Stay Put Bob Motzko and Bob Daniels have both withdrawn their names from consideration for the Miami of Ohio head coaching position. The position opened up when Mark Mazzoleni took the Harvard job earlier this month For Motzko, the head coach/G.M. of the Sioux Falls Stampede, the new entry in the USHL, the timing wasn't right. He's been working for over a year to prepare for the Stampede's first season, which kicks off September 24. On top of that, his wife had their first child in the spring. Before taking the Sioux Falls job, Motzko was an assistant under Mazzoleni at Miami. In the case of Daniels, who's been the head coach at Ferris State for the last seven years, the athletic department reportedly sweetened the pot to keep him from leaving. The leading remaining candidates are: -- 11-year Michigan assistant Mel Pearson, who was the other finalist when Mazzoleni won the Miami job five years ago. Most observers feel Pearson's the front runner for the job -- Former Miami assistant David Lassonde, who returned to UNH two years ago and, along with Brian McCloskey, has played a key role in recruiting the team that's now gone to the Final Four two years in a row. -- Current Wisconsin assistant Mark Johnson. It may appear that he's from outside the Miami/CCHA axis, but there is a connection: Miami athletic director Joel Maturi was previously the assistant AD at Wisconsin. -- Current Ohio State assistant Casey Jones. He's the youngster of the bunch but he's also a tireless recruiter who's helped put Ohio State back on the hockey map Others with Miami connections who are under consideration are Enrico Blasi and Steve Miller, both of whom are currently assistants at Denver; and Greg Drechsel, a former Division I assistant who's been a pro scout with the L.A. Kings for the past few years. 7/30/99 And What About Harvard? As for who will be the assistants at Harvard this season, look for Mazzoleni to make a decision sometime next week. What Mazzoleni has to arrive at first is his comfort level with current Harvard assistants Jerry Pawloski and Mark Bavis. He met with the two last week. If Mazzoleni decides to replace either one or both with outside guys, top candidates include: -- Dave Peters, the head coach/G.M of the Danville Wings (NAHL) for the last two years. Prior to taking the Danville job, Peters was an assistant at Providence College, and considered one of the game's top young recruiters. -- Joe Bonnett, who was Mazzoleni's top assistant at Miami. -- Greg Klym, an assistant at Hamilton College. Klym was one of the finalists for the Brown assistants job two years ago. -- John Hynes, a graduate assistant at the U.S. National Team Development Program. He's still only in his early twenties, but he's already started making a name for himself as a volunteer assistant under Jack Parker at B.U. and as a grad assistant under Jeff Jackson in Ann Arbor. In addition, we've heard the name of current Lake Superior State head coach Scott Borek tossed around. Borek, who's a Dartmouth grad ('85), has been a head coach at Colby as well as an assistant at Providence and Brown. So he knows his way around the east coast and the Ivy scene, but would there be enough money for him to give up a head coaching job to return east as an assistant? Knowing Harvard's tight-fistedness, it would seem like a long shot. Even so, we've seen stranger things in this game. 7/29/99 Gophers Land Another Top Recruit Lanky, smooth-skating defenseman Paul Martin of Elk River (Minn.) High School has become the second catch of the young recruiting season by the University of Minnesota. Earlier in the month, the Gophers got a commitment from Jon Waibel, a forward from Baudette, Minn. and the U.S. National Team Development Program. Martin, 6'1", one of the top recruits available, is a left-shot defenseman who can also play forward. An '81 birthdate, Martin is one of only two players invited to next week's U.S. National Junior Camp who will afterward return to high school hockey. (The other, not surprisingly, is another Minnesotan -- defenseman Cullen Peters of Eden Prairie High School.) In addition to hockey, Martin is also a top Minnesota high school quarterback. His commitment to football was the primary reason he turned down, two years in a row, opportunities to leave Elk River High for the U.S. National Program in Ann Arbor.
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