|
|
|
| 3/30/00 Suddenly, Everybody Knows Their Names Fans, scouts, and reporters who attended the western regionals in Minneapolis last weekend are still talking about Niagara, this year's feel-good story in college hockey. And no wonder. A school that never even had a hockey program at any level as recently as four years ago makes it into the NCAAs, knocks off national powerhouse UNH and then, playing with a trip to Providence on the line, stays with North Dakota, one of the bye teams, for two periods before running out of gas in the third. "I've never in my life experienced anything more fulfilling than this. It's been a great ride," head coach Blaise MacDonald said this week. MacDonald, who had 11 scholarships to work with when, shortly after taking the Niagara job in early 1996, he took on a slew of freshmen. Thirteen of them, none of whom were recruited by any other DI schools, became the core of this year's squad. "Four years ago," MacDonald said, "no one knew who they were. Now they have NHL scouts talking about them." Chief among them is senior goaltender Greg Gardner, who kicked out 73 shots against UNH and North Dakota last weekend. Gardner, a 24-year-old free agent, is getting interest and could be signing shortly with Detroit, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, or the Minnesota Wild. Gardner, who was MacDonald's first recruit, was playing for the Thornhill Islanders, coached by Brad Selwood, and was getting little in the way of attention when MacDonald first saw him in. His numbers were good, though, and MacDonald liked his Billy Smith/Ron Hextall brand of fierce competitiveness. That fall, Gardner arrived on campus, where assistant coach Dave Burkholder, a goaltender (and teammate of MacDonald's) on RIT's 1983 National Championship squad, would spend countless hours studying video with Gardner. It paid off. Gardner's numbers have steadily improved each year, from a 3.45 gaa and a .875 save percentage as a freshman to a 1.43 gaa and a .936 save percentage this season. The defining weekend for the Niagara hockey program came 16 months ago, in October 1998, when the Purple Eagles, in their first year as a DI independent, opened the season at Michigan's Yost Arena, losing to the defending-champion Wolverines 6-5 in OT on Friday, and then turning around and knocking off their hosts, 2-1 the following night. Niagara finished 18-12-3, also knocking off schools like Ohio State, St. Lawrence, and Colgate. This season with a 29-7-4 regular season record and wins over BU, Rensselaer, and Colorado College, Niagara was awarded an NCAA invite as the west's sixth seed. Right after returning from the regionals last weekend, leading scorer Mikko Sivonen, a Finn who played in Maine with the Great Northern Snow Devils (EJHL) for a year before being recruited by MacDonald, reported to Johnstown of the East Coast League. Another senior, Nate Handrahan, a local player who arrived at Niagara via the Niagara Falls Canucks Jr. B, is in Roanoke. MacDonald has gotten calls about senior forwards Mike Isherwood, Peter DeSantis, and Kyle Martin; and senior D Chris McKenzie. What about the coach, anyway? His stock is sky high now. Proof? On Tuesday, Niagara AD Mike Hermann received a call from UMass seeking permission to talk to MacDonald. MacDonald, who has a six-year contract with an out clause, is a native of Boston, as is his wife. From 1990-95, when Boston University reached the Final Four four times in five years, MacDonald was the chief recruiter for coach Jack Parker. Before that, he was an assistant at Lowell, Princeton, and Dartmouth. As for what might happen tomorrow, MacDonald says, "If people have enough respect to consider you for a job, you owe it to them to look at it." It sounds to us as if MacDonald, who put Niagara hockey on the map, might be ready for another challenge -- one closer to home, perhaps.
3/30/00 Ellis Named USHL Player of the Year Omaha Lancers goaltender Dan Ellis has been named the USHL Player of the Year. Ellis, a Nebraska-Omaha recruit, finished the year with a 34-16-4 record, a 2.25 gaa and a .925 save percentage. A native of Orangeville, Ontario, Ellis was also named the league's top goaltender. Named top defenseman was Jeff Finger of the Green Bay Gamblers. A native of Michigan's Upper Peninsula and a St. Cloud State recruit, Finger was the league's top scoring defenseman with a a 13-35-48 line. He also had 154 pims. Des Moines forward Peter Sejna, who's bound for Colorado College, was voted the league's top forward. Sejna, a native of Slovakia, was the leading scorer in the USHL with a 41-53-94 line in 58 games played. Aaron Gill of the Rochester Mustangs won the league's most gentlemanly player award. Gill, a Rochester native, will be going to Notre Dame. Des Moines RW Troy Riddle, a late '81 birthdate who helped lead Benilde-St. Margaret's to the Minnesota Class A high school championship in 1999, won the league's Rookie of the Year Award. Riddle, who will be going to the U, finished seventh in the league's scoring race with a 36-30-66 line. The Lincoln Stars were named organization of the year, while Stars head coach Steve Johnson was named coach of the year. Bob Motzko was named GM of the year. Motzko, as GM/coach, led the expansion Sioux Falls Stampede to a 37-17-4 record and a #3 seed in the playoffs.
3/29/00 Umile Turns Down UMass Offer At around 4:30 this afternoon, one day after a lengthy interview in Amherst, UNH head hockey coach Dick Umile called UMass Athletic Director Bob Marcum to say he would be staying at UNH. Apparently, the UMass offer -- reportedly worth over $155,000 if certain incentives were met-- galvanized some folks up in Durham. Earlier today, Umile spoke with the UNH President Jon Leitzel and met with Director of Athletics Judith Ray. It's fair to assume UNH will be sweetening the pot, perhaps bringing Umile up to the level of Hockey East coaches who have experienced similar success.
3/29/00 USHL Team Folding The Thunder Bay Flyers, USHL league members for 16 years, announced this morning that they will be folding up shop, at least under the present ownership. Ted Carlson, the president of Superland Sports, the team's owner, pointed to factors such as the much-discussed move to Tier I status, the difficulty of playing as a Canadian franchise in a league with a midwestern U.S. footprint, the current exchange rate, and dwindling attendance as factors in the move. In the USHL East Division, Thunder Bay finished just two points ahead of last-place Dubuque this season. Thunder Bay suffers from geographical remoteness. With the Twin Cities Vulcans moving to central Nebraska after this season, the team closest to Thunder Bay would be the Fargo-Moorhead Ice Sharks, 415 miles away. If Carlson cannot find a buyer willing to make a sufficient offer within 60 days, the Flyers will suspend operations.
3/29/00 Whitney Heading to Ann Arbor It's official. Thayer Academy junior defenseman Ryan Whitney will be heading to the U.S. National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor for his senior year starting this fall. Whitney, a 6'4", 184 lb. native of Scituate, Mass., made an early commitment to Boston University last month. Over Christmas break, Whitney played for the U.S. at the World Under-17 Championships in Ontario. He's played for the Thayer varsity for the last three years.
3/28/00 Umile to UMass? UNH head coach Dick Umile is in Amherst, Mass. today meeting with UMass athletic director Bob Marcum. Highly-placed sources have indicated that if Umile wants the UMass job, it's his. Umile could be named coach as early as tonight or tomorrow. Last night, Umile met with his players to notify them of UMass' interest. Umile, 50, is a Massachusetts native, having starred at Melrose High in the '60s before going on to UNH, where, as a forward from 1969-72, he notched 144 points in 87 games, and was named team captain his senior year. In his ten years behind the Wildcat bench, Umile has posted the highest all-time winning percentage among UNH coaches. His teams have reached the NCAA tournament in six of the last seven years. The UMass job opened when, on March 16, the contract of Joe Mallen was not renewed. In other coaching news, MSU-Mankato has named Troy Jutting as head coach, replacing Don Brose who recently retired after a 29-year career during which Mankato hockey went from club status to full-fledged member of the WCHA. Jutting, a 1987 graduate of Mankato State, was an assistant to Brose for the last 10 years.
3/28/00 Petraglia Commits to Miami Nick Petraglia, a 5'8" senior goaltender at Shattuck-St. Mary's, has made a verbal commitment to attend Miami of Ohio this fall. With David Marsch graduating, Petraglia will compete for playing time with David Bowen, who played this year for Sioux Falls (USHL), and David Burleigh, a freshman this season. Petraglia, an '82 birthdate, made 43 appearances in goal for Shattuck this season, posting a 1.70 gaa and a .920 save percentage. Petraglia helped lead Shattuck to the championship of the MACS Tournament in Alberta over New Year's break.
3/27/00 Hockey Night No way anyone went up to the Hockey Night in Boston All-Scholastics to escape the warm sun that's bathed New England over the past five days. And no way anyone besides parents and girlfriends went up there to watch, say, Tyler Kolarik or any of the other thirty or so kids already committed to college. Rather, the audience, mostly scouts and recruiters, was taking a last look at some players who might be able to fill a role (as well as taking a look at some of the 19 juniors on hand). This typist watched each of the eight teams once (four on Wednesday and four on Friday), keeping an eye out for players seldom seen over the winter. This is a casual list, mainly because a lot of the hockey was pretty casual. New England, which won the tournament, knocked off the Junior Independents by a HNIB-like 7-5 score yesterday. Avon Old Farms 6'2" center Scott Horvath picked up a hat trick, and his LW, Exeter 6'2" junior Ed Caron, had a four-point day (2g,2a). Both were unstoppable. On defense, N.E. had Avon's Mick Mounsey, and the Choate duo of Jeff Dwyer, and Cameron DeYoung. It really would have been surprising if New England had failed to win the tournament. On the Junior Independents, 5'9" forward Greg Mauldin was a bit of a revelation. Mauldin, who plays for the Boston Jr. Bruins and is from Holliston, Mass., has a scorer's touch. He's equally adept at setting up or finishing. And he's only an 11th grader right now. Keep an eye on him. On the ISL Preps we liked -- starting with the forwards -- 6'2" Scott Selig, but he's already ticketed to Northeastern; and 5'7" Tim Graham, a forward from St. Paul's who can make plays at a high rate of speed. A forward who has a great deal of upside is Nobles' RW Kevin Lyons. An '82, he's a young senior this year, but for all practical purposes, he's a junior -- he'll be PGing next year at Deerfield. Lyons is 6'2", has soft hands, and knows his way around the net -- a nice trifecta. However, he's still on the gangly side. Once he finishes filling out and adds strength, he could be a force. On defense, Nobles' junior Kevin Darcy, who's listed at 5'11", but, like the Bruins Don Sweeney, hits like a much bigger guy, stood out -- especially since there is not much hitting in this tournament. The biggest surprise was the play of Paul Lynch, a 6'3" defenseman from Brooks, a Div. II prep school. In addition to size, Lynch, an '82, has a strong accurate shot, and showed poise with the puck. There's potential here, though he'll likely have to move up a level to meet it. On New York/Mid-Atlantic, 5'11" Hotchkiss center Chris Swon, playing on a line with Kolarik, was lighting it up, notching a hat trick in opening-night action. Also impressive were a pair of right-shot D -- Deerfield's 6'3" Oriel McHugh, who could get snapped up by a Div. I school any day now; and smooth-skating Nick Watroba, a 5'11" Buffalo, NY native who plays at Kimball Union. Watroba is a junior. On the Mass. Privates, a player who stood out was 5'9" Andover center Scott Darci -- very shifty, very quick, opportunistic as hell, and a junior, too. Best defense prospect for the Mass. Privates was was 6'1" Ryan Foster of Northfield-Mt. Hermon. Foster has very good stick skills, and good vision. He, too, is a junior. Defenseman Mike Hoffman of Loomis-Chaffee and, before that, Scituate (Mass.) High School, is a bit of a project, but one that could pay off big. Hoffman is huge -- he's 6'5", 225 lbs. -- and is a potential NHL draft pick this June. He didn't do anything to hurt himself here, getting into a fight and showing that his skating -- at least north-south -- is much better than some believe it to be. He needs a year in juniors. The Mass. Publics/Catholics didn't have much depth, particularly at D, but they had a strong line with 6'1" LW Chris Dussault (Billerica), 6'1" C Patrick Byrne (Burlington), and 6'1" RW Matt Walsh (Arlington). They're all seniors and good prospects for a year in juniors. Midwest/Maritimes finished last in the eighth-team tournament. Westminster forward Rob Hammel, a 6'2", 195 lb. RW from Pittsburgh, Pa., was their top player. We haven't mentioned goaltenders, mainly because it's hard to get a good look at them in this tournament. With each team carrying three, they each play one period and then are gone. However, no diamonds in the rough showed up in the games we saw.
3/24/00 St. Lawrence on the Ball St. Lawrence has a verbal commitment for the fall of 2001 from Jimmy Ball, a hard-hitting '83 left-shot defenseman who plays for the Markham Waxers (OPJHL). Ball, who's 6'0", 210 lbs., combines strength and skill. His hits are of the bone-rattling variety, and he's excellent at stiff-arming forwards who attempt to go wide on him. He carries the puck well, and possesses a keen sense of where the hole is on the rush. He led the Markham D in scoring, posting a 10-23-33 line in 42 games played. He had 66 pims. Ball, a native of Unionville, Ont., was selected by the North Bay Centennials in the first round of the OHL bantam draft last June.
3/24/00 Positively Goodnough RW Greg Goodnough has committed to the U.S. National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor. Goodnough, 5'10", 209 lbs., and an April '84 birthdate, is a rugged and strong forward who can score. He goes to the net hard, has a powerful shot, and is extremely tough to knock off the puck. This past season, Goodnough played for the Syracuse Junior Crunch (OPJHL) and was his team's leading goal scorer. In 42 games, he posted a 30-19-49 line with 79 penalty minutes. Goodnough (pronouced good-nuff) is a native of Mansville, NY, where his family operates a dairy farm. Before going home last winter to play for the Jr. Crunch, Goodnough billetted for two winters in Toronto, playing for both the Toronto Young Nats minor bantam team and the St. Mikes varsity in '98-99.
3/22/00 UMass Thinking Big? Look for UMass-Amherst athletic director Bob Marcum to aim for the stars in the Hockey East school's search for a successor to Joe Mallen, whose contract was not renewed last Thursday. The reason is simple: The only way UMass will be able to compete on a national level is by hiring a head coach with brand-name recognition. Marcum knew that seven years ago, and he knows it even more now. A little background: In February '93, Marcum took the UMass AD's job and immediately got to work on hiring a hockey coach. His top choices were Jeff Jackson and Sean Walsh, whose teams had faced each other -- Maine won it, 5-4 -- in the NCAA Championship Game that April 3rd in Milwaukee. Marcum didn't get either. He worked hard on them, but perhaps UMass, which was paying basketball coach John Calipari a fortune at the time, didn't have enough scratch left over. At any rate, Jackson decided to go back to Lake Superior State when that school sweetened his contract by adding the AD's job. The next season, Jackson and the Lakers went out and grabbed themselves their second NCAA championship in three years. Two years after that, Jackson went on to found the U.S. National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor. Walsh, of course, returned to Maine. In 1996, NCAA violations put Walsh on the shelf for a year. Last year, the Black Bears won a second NCAA championship, and will be looking to pull off a repeat over the next couple of weeks. People in hockey believe that the UMass program is a sleeping giant. They know that Calipari took over the basketball program and made a ticket to the 8,000 seat Mullins Arena almost impossible to get. The same could apply to hockey. In its first two seasons after joining Hockey East in 1994, UMass drew crowds of 7,089 (vs. BU); 6,834 (vs. Maine); and 6,218 (vs. BU). The fan base is definitely there. Now, UMass needs players -- and a coach who can bring them in. Our hunch is that UMass starts their search process by going after Jackson. Will anything come of it? Maybe, maybe not. A lot would depend on how serious UMass is.
3/22/00 Whither Jesse Lane? Several people have e-mailed in asking why Jesse Lane was excluded from this year's list of 11th grade defenseman after being ranked highly on last year's. No, it's not because we're mean. It's simply because Lane, who's from Needham, Mass., is playing in the USHL, for the Des Moines Buccaneers. Not only that, but he's playing very well, and from what scouts and recruiters who follow the league closely have indicated to us, Lane would almost certainly be in our top five. The reason we don't include USHL players is simply our desire to maintain the integrity of the list. Every player on our list is playing in the Northeast and has been scouted in-season, usually many times. U.S. Hockey Report rankings are a serious attempt to measure potential, and we're not going to start including players we're not current on. We'd like to someday do a separate USHL/NAHL list, but only if we could give it the same degree of attention as we give our New England lists. In addition to Lane, there are two other 11th grade players we ranked last year but not this year. Defenseman Bryan Miller, a right-shot defenseman formerly with the New Jersey Devils Jr. B, is now with the Chicago Freeze (NAHL). Goaltender Matt Kelly, formerly at Catholic Memorial, is with the Cedar Rapids Roughriders. Both of them are top Div. I prospects.
3/22/00 Tom Glavine Redux? St. Sebastian's 6'3" junior John Toffey quarterbacks the football team, is a top scorer for the hockey team, and plays short and pitches (he's a righty) for the baseball team. Prospects Plus/Baseball America's High School and College Baseball Scouting Service recently came out with their state-by-state rankings of the nation's top high school prospects. Toffey was ranked #1 in Massachusetts. On June 4, 1984, Tom Glavine of Billerica (Mass.) High School was drafted in the second round of the major league baseball draft by the Atlanta Braves. Five days later, he was drafted in the fourth round of the NHL draft by the Los Angeles Kings. Glavine, a Providence College recruit -- Steve Stirling was the hockey coach at PC then -- decided to forego college and sign with the Braves. The rest is history.
3/21/00 Our Top Juniors A couple of weeks ago we gave you our list of top seniors. Today, we have the juniors. It's a good group, with significantly more high-end potential than this year's graduating class -- and five have already been scooped up. The following rankings reflect our assessment of a player's value to a Division I college program over a full four years. Some players, of course, will step in and contribute right away, while the value of others may be somewhat backloaded. Also, please remember that we're not ranking pro potential here. This list is put together solely with the college game in mind. New England 11th Graders, Ranked for Div. I Potential *The following list is based solely on the observations of the USHR staff* 11th Grade Forwards:
11th Grade Defensemen:
11th Grade Goaltenders:
3/20/00 A Pair of Forwards for the Big Green The Dartmouth Big Green have added a pair of forwards for the fall. They are: -- Mike Wheelihan, a 6'1", 190 lb. left-shot center from the Milton Merchants (OPJHL). Wheelihan, a native of Campbellville, Ont., and an '81 birthdate, was the third-leading scorer for Milton this year, with an 18-34-52 scoring line in 48 games. He's an excellent passer, and a smart player who sees the ice well. -- Jason Costa, a 6'0", 190 lb. left wing from the Danville Wings (NAHL). Costa who split the '98-'99 season between defense and forward while playing for current Dartmouth assistant Dave Peters at Danville, became a full-timer up front this season and has started to really come on over the second half of the season. In 49 games, he has a 14-16-30 line with 84 penalty minutes. Costa, also an '81, is a native of Silver Spring, Maryland and played for the Washington Junior Capitals before moving up to Danville.
3/19/00 King Saves the Knights Catholic Memorial, on the strength of a 4-point game (3g,1a) by third line sophomore center Tony King, won its eighth Super 8 title in ten years, topping Boston College High School at the Fleet Center tonight, 6-3. In this game, however, the patented execution at the heart of CM's other title game wins went missing for a good chunk of time -- like most of the second period and the early part of the third. The Knights came perilously close to totally squandering a four-goal lead. For the first twenty minutes, CM was on its game. King put the Knights on the board at 8:37, knocking a rebound past BC High senior goaltender Terry Sweeney at 8:37. Junior Derek Boudreau, off a nice feed from King, put CM up 2-0 at 13:53. In the second period, CM went right back to work, as senior center Peter Trovato scored just 1:22 in. Less than three minutes later -- at the 4:06 mark -- King, capitalizing on a BC High defensive zone turnover, got his second goal of the night to put Catholic Memorial up 4-0. CM then let BC High right back into the game. Eagles RW Danny O'Brien, a hard-working senior, got things going, scoring at 6:12 to make it a three-goal game. Junior LW John Cronin notched one at 8:17 to cut CM's lead to two. At 1:41 of the third, sophomore Ian Hanley, the Eagles' third-line center, cut CM's lead to 4-3. All through BC High's comeback attempt CM senior goaltender Bill Zaniboni was looking shaky. Not only were all three goals off rebounds, but his D-men weren't helping him much either, turning over the puck in their own zone on one goal (Cronin's). Just when things were looking bad -- BC High had a couple of solid chances to tie up the game -- King stepped to the fore, scoring his third goal of the night on a wrap-around to put the game back into comfort land for CM. King, a Dorchester native, had four points total in the regular season. Tonight, he matched that. Pretty good timing, we say. Sean Pero added a goal with 2:29 remaining to make it 6-3.
3/19/00 Mount Streak Moves to 23 On Saturday night, Mount St. Charles won its 23rd consecutive Rhode Island State High School Championship, beating La Salle, 2-1, in front of a packed house at Providence College's Schneider Arena. La Salle, Rhode Island's regular-season titleholder (they had taken two of the three regular-season games between the two teams), outshot the Mount, 18-12. However, Mount senior goaltender Peter Capizzo, who suffers from a vascular disease that requires regular chemotherapy treatments, came up big, particularly in the second, when La Salle had the edge in play. With the two teams tied, 1-1, in the third period, junior Matthew Byrnes, a third line forward, notched the game-winner at the 2:45 mark, knocking home the rebound of a shot by freshman Michael Mallette. Earlier, La Salle's Andrew DeCastro put his team up, 1-0, at 2:25 of the second, but junior center Chris Chaput, Little Rhody's scoring machine, tied it up at 8:25. It was the 11th goal of the playoffs for Chaput, who was named tournament MVP for the second year in a row.
3/18/00 NTDP Top Prospects The top 15 prospects at the National Team Development Program Invitational tryouts earlier this week were as follows. (Note: the views herein are those of the USHR, and not necessarily any kind of NTDP staff consensus.) Up front, there were two top '83s from Minnesota on hand, Gino Guyer of Greenway HS and Mike Erickson of Eden Prairie HS. Both were superb. Guyer, a 5'11", 174 lb. left-shot center, is a young Neal Broten type, while Erickson, who can play wing or center, is 6'2, 180 lbs., and could develop into a slightly bigger Mark Parrish type. (How's that for all-Minnesota comparisons?) Needless to say, both stood out prominently. Guyer, a big contributor to the U.S. Under-17 team in Ontario over Christmas, has had a standing invitation to the National Program for awhile now. Of the '84s/'85s, there were perhaps a dozen up front that stood out from the pack. Patrick Eaves, the son of Mike Eaves (and Ben's younger brother, too), played D all winter at Shattuck-St. Mary's, but the National Program projects him as a center. He's a different type of player than his older brother, to whom he gives up a bit in speed and dynamism. However, at 5'11", Patrick has better, size, reach, etc. and uses it both to get open and to find open teammates. He's very ice-smart, a Jean Ratelle type (for those of you born before 1970). His teammate at Shattuck, 5'9", 149 lb. Zach Parise, just flat-out scores. Parise showed excellent speed and quickness coming off the left wing, a deadly shot, and a great passing touch. He seemed to have a hand in over half his team's goals. Zach is the son of J.P. Parise, former NHLer and currently director of Shattuck's hockey program. Greg Goodnough, a 5'10", 209 lb. RW from the Syracuse Jr. Crunch, combines grit and skill. He's a block, well put together and very hard to knock off the puck. A native of upstate New York, Goodnough constantly creates offense -- driving to the net, forcing turnovers, and making things happen. Steven Werner, RW on the camp's formidable Parise-Guyer-Werner line, is a 6'1", 183 lb. native of Chevy Chase, Maryland who played this season for the Washington Junior Capitals. Werner, who has good acceleration for his size, was able to consistently skate the puck through the neutral zone and deep into the opponent's end. Greg Moore, a 6'1", 199 lb. right-shot center from St. Dom's HS, this year's Maine State High School Champions, was also excellent. A combination of power and skill, Moore moves very well for his size, and has good hands and anticipation. There's a lot of upside here. Brian Boyle, a 6'4", 189 lb. LW who played, quite sparingly, for St. Sebastian's over the winter, also has a lot of upside. He has a great reach, protects the puck well, and is at a similar point in his development as current Under-17 Team forward Barry Tallackson was at this time last year. Boyle is raw -- and inconsistent at times -- but he's also very young, just a couple of weeks from being an '85. Last, but by no means least, is Danny Fritsche, the top '85 forward in the country. Fritsche is a 6'0", 186 lb. right-shot center from Parma, Ohio who played for the Cleveland Barons '84s this winter. In Ann Arbor, Fritsche, like others who played bantams over the winter, needed a little bit of time to adjust to the pace, but after he had one scrimmage under his belt, Fritsche was right into it. When the puck is on his stick, he's extremely dangerous. He can play it both ways. He's as likely to drive to the net and bang home a rebound as he is to score an eye-popping goal. Like a number of players at the camp, Fritsche is used to being the go-to guy on his team back home. He's a special one, no doubt about it, and, against top competition, he'll be forced to learn to use his linemates better. When he does, watch out. On defense, the top prospect, easily, was Deerfield Academy's Ben Lovejoy. He has size -- 6'1", 189 lbs. -- as well as strength and poise. He also has confidence, a good understanding of the game, a strong shot, and is hard to knock off the puck. He's mobile, and, if he makes a mistake, pivots and recovers very quickly. 6'1", 201 lb. Mark Stuart, brother of Mike (Colorado College sophomore D) and Colin (a LW heading to CC this coming fall), wasn't as noticeable as I'd hoped. Stuart, the top D at the Select 15 Festival last summer, had a great season at Rochester Lourdes HS, leading his team into the Class A consolation championship last Saturday. Right after the final game at Mariucci Arena, Stuart was on his way to Ann Arbor. While he was tired, and his game lacked the customary jump, there's no doubt anywhere that he's a player. Noah Babin, the Palm Beach Gardens, Florida native who's played the last two years in Michigan (Compuware '84s and Little Caesar's Midgets) also arrived in camp wiped out. Caesar's, in reaching the state midget finals (they lost to Honeybaked), had played four games in four days. On top of that, Babin had the flu, so he was kept off the ice his first day in Ann Arbor, but after that was right in there. On Tuesday's game, he looked his sharpest. On one play, Babin beat his defender inside the offensive blue line, then zipped a nifty diagonal pass back to the open man at the left point. Babin, formerly a forward, was converted to defense about a month into the just-concluded season. Babin will be the first Floridian in the National Program, joining past and current Mainers, Alaskans, and Californians, and thus covering all four compass points Evan Shaw, a 6'2", 187 lb. left-shot D from St. Sebastian's School, had a very solid weekend. Shaw, a no-frills defenseman in the Neil Komadoski mold, is mobile, can hit, takes care of business in this own end and can move the puck out of danger smartly and efficiently. 6'3" defenseman Tim Cook, a freshman at Hotchkiss, has enormous potential. For someone that young and that tall, Cook moves his feet exceptionally well. When he fills out -- he's skinny as a twig -- he could be a bigtime player. He's cautious with the puck right now, preferring to move it out of his end with a short, soft pass. The most intriguing prospect in goal was Gerald Coleman, a 6'3", 166 lb. native of Evanston, Ill. who plays for the Chicago Young American's '84s. However, he's not an '84 -- like Fritsche, he's an '85... and he'll be a 14-year-old for another month. Coleman has size, poise, and athleticism -- so there's a lot to work with. If he can keep that confidence while climbing the ladder, he'll be someone you'll be hearing of for years to come. We could go on -- there were a lot of excellent players in camp. However, we chose to highlight 15 of them, because a Top 10 list just seemed too small a number given the talent pool. So far, Moore, Werner, Babin, and Coleman have formally accepted their invitations for next year. Other invitations -- perhaps ten or so -- are out. When we hear of players committing, we'll let you know. Please scroll down the page for the full camp roster.
3/16/00 Shannon Picks ... Taft star Ryan Shannon, another top 11th grader getting scooped up early, has committed to Boston College. Shannon, 5'8" and 165 lbs., centered Taft's top line this winter, posting a 23-22-45 scoring line in 24 games. Taft finished the season 20-1-3, going undefeated before losing to Avon in the first round of the playoffs. Shannon, a native of Darien, Conn., is an extremely cerebral player, with excellent ice vision and hands. Boston College coach Jerry York, on a night off for the Eagles, journeyed down to Connecticut to watch Shannon in action against Choate Jan. 15. He liked what he saw -- and the rest is history. Other schools onto Shannon were Providence and Notre Dame; Harvard and Yale had also asked him up for an unofficial visit, but as members of the Ivy League they're hamstrung by the admissions process. Before going to Taft, Shannon played for the Connecticut Yankees '83s, Darien Youth Hockey, and the Ridgefield Bantams. In the fall of his freshman season at Taft, Shannon broke his ankle and played JV when he returned to action. Last summer, he was a standout on the New England Select 16 Team, and this year he just blossomed.
3/15/00 Two More for '01 Cushing Academy's Ben Murphy and the U.S. National Program's Joe Pomeranski, both 11th graders, have made verbal commitments for the fall of 2001. Murphy will be going to the University of Maine. A 5'11", 180 lb. left-shot center on Cushing's top line, Murphy posted an 18-39-57 scoring line in 23 games to help the Penguins to a 30-3 mark. He missed 10 games between December and January with mono (Two of Cushing's three losses came during that stretch). Murphy, a North Andover native, is an '81 birthdate who attended Cardigan Mountain before going on to Cushing. Murphy, a strong student, was leaning toward Harvard before visiting Maine last weekend. He also took unofficial visits to BU, Merrimack, and UMass-Amherst. Pomeranski, a 6'1", 193 lb. right-shot D, will be heading to Miami of Ohio in the fall of 2001. A native of St. Louis, Pomeranski is an '83 birthdate who played for the St. Louis Blues Bantams before being brought into the National Program last fall. A defensive defenseman, Pomeranski has a 4-3-7 line (and 43 pims) in 45 games played.
3/15/00 Notre Dame Gets Top Recruit Rob Globke committed to Notre Dame last week. Globke, a 6'3", 195 lb. right shot center, is a big get for Dave Poulin's squad. A late '82 birthdate who played for Compuware Jr. A before joining the National Program last fall, Globke will be a high pick when his draft year comes up. Not only does he have size, but he's a smooth skater with excellent acceleration and steadily improving finishing skills. He was one of the top few U.S. forwards in the recent Five Nations tournament in Finland. On the Under-18 team, he's the second-leading scorer with a 15-19-34 line in 49 games. The native of West Bloomfield, Mich., who accelerated, wasn't eligible to be recruited as a senior until January. Right after that happened, Globke, who's deeply religious, narrowed his final choices to just Michigan and Notre Dame.
3/10/00 National Program Hopefuls Arriving in Ann Arbor It's the second weekend in March, which means that, once again, the top young players in the United States are headed to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where the National Program's Invitational Tryout Camp runs from Saturday to Tuesday. With a few additional '83s needed in the National Program next season, three candidates will be coming in for the camp, and three others won't be. Missing will be Thayer Academy defenseman Ryan Whitney, who also played on the U.S. World Under-17 Team; and Milton Academy RW Rob Flynn. Both have an open invitation to the program should they wish to accept it. Another top '83 candidate who won't be able to make it to camp is Eric Lundberg, a defenseman from Vernon, Conn. His team, the New England Jr. Coyotes, is still in the hunt for an EJHL playoff spot. Of the '84s -- the National Program's entering class in the fall -- the missing are headed up by a pair of Jr. A. players, forward Gabe Gauthier of the Chilliwack Chiefs (BCHL), and defenseman James Wisniewski of the Compuware Ambassadors (NAHL), both of whom were unable to leave their teams. On Saturday, the players arrive. Their first assignment is to watch the Under-17 squad in a NAHL league game vs. Springfield at 3:00 pm, and then, at 7:30, watch the Under-18 Team in a USHL league game vs. Sioux City. After that, it's their turn to shine as the players listed below, split up into two separate squads, will show what they can do in three scrimmages played before the National Program staff, as well as scouts and recruiters from major juniors and top NCAA programs, agents, family, and just plain old fans. The first scrimmage will be Sunday at 8:15 pm. The second will be Monday at 3:20 pm, and the third will be Tuesday at 11 am. -- 2000 NTDP Invitational Camp Roster -- '83 Forwards (2): Mike Erickson, Eden Prairie HS (Minn.); Gino Guyer, Greenway HS (Minn.). '83 Defensemen: None. '83 Goaltenders (1): Dwight Labrosse, Pittsburgh Hornets Midget AAA. '84 Forwards (16): Ben Bosworth, Hudson HS (Wisc.); Brian Boyle, St. Sebastian's School; Patrick Eaves, Shattuck-St. Mary's Prep Team (Minn.); Ryan Ecola, Chicago Chill '84s; Tommy Goebel, Cleveland Barons Midget AAA; Greg Goodnough, Syracuse Crunch Jr. A; Ryan Kesler, Honeybaked '84s; Mark McCutcheon, Rochester Bantam (NY); Greg Moore, St. Dom's HS (Maine); Zach Parise, Shattuck-St. Mary's Prep Team; Ryan Potulny, Red River HS (N.D.); Ian Ross, Hibbing HS; Mark Schwamberger, Rochester (NY) Jr. B; Tim Wallace, Alaska All-Stars Bantams; Stephen Werner, Washington Capitals Jr. B; Chris Wright, Honeybaked '84s. '84 Defensemen (14): Noah Babin, Little Caesar's Midgets; Adam Brand, Antigo HS (Wisc.); Tim Cook, Hotchkiss School; Josh Elzinga, Team Illinois Midget AAA; Michael Grenzy, Toronto Marlies Bantams; Alan Jackson, Moose Jaw Tier II; Brian Lee, HoneyBaked '84s; Ben Lovejoy, Deerfield Academy; Corey Potter, HoneyBaked '84s; Tom Sawatske, Duluth East HS; Evan Shaw, St. Sebastian's HS; Ryan Spence, Chicago Chill '84s; Mark Stuart, Rochester Lourdes HS; Chris Trick, HoneyBaked '84s. '84 Goaltenders (3): Matt Mouser, Nor-Cal Reps Midgets (Calif.); Adam Dekker, West Michigan Warriors '84s; Gabe Winer, Governor Dummer Academy (Mass.). '85 Forwards (2): Danny Fritsche, Cleveland Barons '84s; Steven Mandes, Valley Forge Bantams (PA). '85 Defensemen: None. '85 Goaltenders (1): Gerald Coleman, Chicago Bantams
3/9/00 The Envelope, Please It's that time of year. Tonight, we proudly announce our Prep School Player of the Year, various other awards, and, last but by no means least, our all-star teams. Click below for the full story.
3/8/00 Another Big Catch for Michigan Another 11th grader has committed to the University of Michigan. Joining forwards Michael Woodford and Dwight Helminen, and defenseman Eric Werner in the Michigan class of 2005 will be goaltender Jason Bacashihua of the Chicago Freeze (NAHL). Bacashihua, a native of Dearborn Heights, Michigan played with the Honeybaked organization before going to the Freeze last fall. Bacashihua, a 9/20/82 birthdate, is 5'11", 165 lbs. In 34 games with Chicago he has a 2.78 GAA and a .917 save percentage. He was excellent against Cleveland last week, notching, on successive nights, 46 and then 50 saves. Bacashihua's stock soared in 1999 when, after a stellar year with the Honeybaked Midgets, he went to last summer's Select 17 Festival, was named the tournament's top goaltender, and was invited to play for the U.S. Select Team in the Czech Republic in August. The team won the silver medal, and Bacashihua was named MVP in the big 2-1 win over Canada. Bacashihua's style of play is similar to current Michigan goalie Josh Blackburn in that he's extremely athletic, has good size, and is very competitive. He's a butterfly-type goalie. The other two schools that were in the hunt for Bacashihua were Michigan State and Ohio State.
3/8/00 They'll Have to Wait St. Lawrence has an interesting player arriving next fall, but he'll have to wait a year before suiting up Dan Dupuis, who plays Tier II in Ontario with the Brockville Braves (COJHL) is a 6'4", 200 lb. left-shot center who has amassed a 106-158-264 scoring line in his three years at Brockville. He's played a couple of major junior games so he'll have to sit out his freshman year. Dupuis, who's from Cornwall, Ontario, not far from St. Lawrence, is, at 6'4", a pretty noticeable presence. He sees the ice well, has a great wrist shot and, as the numbers show, knows how to score.
3/8/00 Sounds Like a UNH Player to Us He's skilled, quick, and explosive -- and he's from British Columbia, too. Justin Aikens, a 6'0", 175 lb. left-shot center/wing playing for Langley in the BCHL will be coming to UNH in the fall of 2001. Aikens, who also received interest from North Dakota, Maine, and a number of Ivy schools, could have decided to go somewhere and start playing Div. I hockey this fall. However, Aikens, who's an '82, decided to stay out west another year and work on building himself up physically.
3/7/00 Our Top Seniors The U.S. Hockey Report sprang from a paper newsletter called the New England Hockey Report. And while we've branched out, New England is still the area we know and cover best. With that in mind, we're proud to present our annual list of the top college-eligible seniors in the region. We should also mention that the following rankings reflect our assessment of a player's value to a Division I college program over a full four years. Some players, of course, will step in and contribute right away; the value of others may be somewhat backloaded. You'll notice also that no players from the National Team Development Program are listed. That's because there is only one senior out there from New England, Kenny Smith, and he's been injured for the past couple of months. Still, without taking anything away from Mounsey, we'd be comfortable with him in the #1 slot. Also, as you study this list bear in mind that we're not ranking NHL potential here. There are players not even on this list who have a greater chance of playing in the NHL than some players ranked among our top prospects. There are also a number of seniors out there who will make good Division I players -- and maybe even pro prospects -- but just need a year in juniors to prepare. That could be a list in itself. Anyway, these are just a few things to keep in mind while perusing the following.
New England 12th Graders; Ranked for Div. I Potential *The following list is based solely on the observations of the USHR staff* 12th Grade Forwards:
12th Grade Defensemen:
12th Grade Goaltenders:
3/6/00 McConnell Makes his Choice U.S. Under-17 Team center Brian McConnell is the latest 11th grader to commit to a major Division I program, deciding on Saturday to attend Boston University. McConnell made his final decision from between BU and BC, the two schools he was interested in from the beginning. He visited BC early last week, and BU at the end of the week. McConnell is from Norfolk, Mass., about 30 miles south of Boston, and was a teammate of fellow B.U. 11th grade recruit Ryan Whitney on the South Shore Kings team that won the Pee Wee World Championship in Quebec City three years ago. McConnell was reunited with Whitney for a year at Thayer Academy (1998-99), but left for Ann Arbor, Mich. and the National Team Development Program this past fall. Naturally, he'll be playing his senior year in Ann Arbor as well. At 6'1", 180 lbs., McConnell has size. He also has soft hands, excellent vision, and is tough and nasty. In other words, he plays a pro-style game. McConnell, who's extremely focused, thrives in big-game situations and was a standout at the World Under-17's in Ontario Dec. 26-Jan. 4. With McConnell and Whitney sewed up for the fall of 2001, BU is making a strong statement, and, along with BC, Maine, and UNH, is also in the hunt for Reading High School junior forward Sean Collins, a 5'7", 175 lb. LW who, along with linemate (and UNH recruit) Stephen Saviano, has been ripping up the Middlesex League for the last few years. There's a good chance that Collins will be the next 11th grader to make a verbal commitment, but there's just as good a chance that the next one could be 6'0, 177 lb. LW Justin Maiser of Edina, Minn. and the U.S. Under-17 Team. Maiser was in Boston with McConnell last week and visited BC and BU. Wisconsin is the other school in the hunt for Maiser's services. Maiser, also a standout at the World Under-17's, is a left shot playing the off wing on McConnell's line. He has the same mean streak that McConnell has, but, whereas McConnell may see the ice a little better, Maiser is the better skater. Overall, there's little to separate the two, and they complement each other nicely. Both have the potential to be big-timers in college, and, down the line a bit, should be excellent pro prospects. With this highly unusual spate of underclassmen making verbal commitments this winter, a large number of USHR readers have written in asking, basically, 'How is it that colleges can recruit 11th graders?' Well, the first thing to keep in mind is that no player is allowed to sign anything until July 1st after their junior year. The second thing to understand is that the very word "recruiting" is subject to semantics here, and, anyways, NCAA rules allow a certain amount of recruiting of underclassmen. . The way it usually works is that an interested college coach will call the player's high school coach and inform the coach of their interest in such-and-such a player. The high school coach will then sit down with the player and tell him of the college's interest and, in general, explain what it all means. The player will likely have already heard from the college, since NCAA schools are allowed, starting on Sept. 1 of a player's junior year, to send him letters and questionnaires. The schools, of course, are limited in what they can send. They are not, for example, allowed to send film or video tape. They also cannot send "original" newspaper clippings, though they can send a photocopy of that same newspaper clipping (say what?). Schools are also allowed to use e-mail pretty freely. Ivy schools are, of course, hamstrung by the admissions process. However, they can let their intentions be known by writing and suggesting to a coveted player that he get his school transcripts, etc. into the college as soon as possible. Anyway, that's basically how it works. The NCAA manual covering this stuff is big enough to sink a rowboat, and filled with more do's and don'ts than you want to hear about.
3/5/00 Higgins OT Goal Gives Avon Prep Title Salem, N.H. -- Avon Old Farms completed its journey from #4 seed in the west to New England Prep School titleholders with a tense, 3-2 overtime win over Deerfield Academy here this afternoon. It was Avon's first title since 1993. The winning goal came when senior defenseman Mick Mounsey, who had a huge game for Winged Beavers, faked a shot, stepped around his defender, and fired a low shot on net. The puck deflected off a Deerfield player and right onto the stick of junior Chris Higgins, who wrapped it around Deerfield sophomore goaltender Matt Hanson at 1:45 of overtime, As Avon players and fans erupted into a wild celebration, the Deerfield players hung their heads, stunned. For several players on the team, notably seniors like Tyler Kolarik, Rob Fried, and Chip Canner, it was their third straight appearance in the prep title game -- and third third straight one-goal loss. In 1998, Deerfield lost to Cushing, 1-0. Last year it was Exeter, 3-2. And then this, an afternoon when Tim Warner, Avon's sophomore goaltender from Waltham, Mass., stymied the Big Green time and again. At the start it looked pretty promising for Deerfield. Using their speed to advantage they were able to get off frequent shots at Warner. At 4:59, the Big Green got on the board when senior wing Jeff Gottschall took a pass from center Chip Canner, held the puck nicely as he moved right to left across the top of the crease, finishing the play off by slipping the puck between Warner's right pad and the post. It was the first goal Warner had given up in the playoffs. He'd shut out Taft on Wednesday, and Lawrence Academy last night. At 11:31, Avon tied it up at 1-1 when junior Ryan O'Connell took a wrist shot from the slot that broke past Hanson to tie the game at 1-1. Deerfield took the lead right back, going up 2-1 when Fried banged home the rebound of a Kolarik shot at 13:54. It also looked as if Avon, which, on top of playing the late game Saturday night, just doesn't have the speed of Deerfield, might not have the legs to make it through the afternoon. After the game, longtime Avon coach John Gardner said, "In the first period, Deerfield was all over us. We changed our forecheck for the second and that took away some of their offense." "By the end of the second period," Gardner added, "I thought we were playing well." It was with exactly 21.8 seconds remaining in the second that Avon tied it up when Dan Pike flipped the rebound of a Mounsey point shot over Hanson. Mike Warner also got an assist on the play. The third period was scoreless, though both teams had numerous chances and both goalies came up big time and again. Warner, simply to get his team into overtime, came up with two dandies in the final minute, making a pad save to stop Kolarik with 20 seconds left and then making another excellent pad save on a screen shot from the point by Deerfield defenseman Guy Smith with about 10 seconds left. Overtime didn't last long. Afterward, Mounsey credited the Deerfield coaches, who'd noticed that Deerfield liked to block shots from the point. "We were told between periods to fake the shot and step around the defender," Mounsey said. That's exactly what happened. Fried, covering the point, went down to block the shot, and Mounsey stepped around him, firing a low shot on net. The puck deflected to Higgins, who finished off the play -- and Deerfield. Afterward, Deerfield coach Jim Lindsay said, "We played well in the first, and had them on the run. Then we gave up the weak goal (making it 2-2) -- and it changed the momentum" Asked what he told Hanson, who had another great game, though he faced fewer shots than in his 42-save 2-1 win over Cushing, Lindsay said, "I told him, 'We wouldn't be here today if it weren't for you yesterday.'" Across the hall, Gardner cited "good team defense, good goaltending, and being opportunistic" as the keys to his team's run. "Everybody says, well, we lost five games, but you experiment during the season sometimes. Our big confidence builder came when we went down to Taft and beat them in their own barn on Wednesday." Mounsey agreed. 'That game told us we could beat the big teams," he said, pointing out that his team had lost to Choate twice, and Taft, Hotchkiss and Deerfield once each during the regular season.. "Some teams had our number," he added. Warner, named Tournament MVP by USHR, agreed. "I knew we had the talent, but going into the tournament, I wasn't sure of our chances...there are a lot of good teams here. But over the last couple of weeks we just turned it up." Gardner said that when Mounsey came to Avon from Concord (N.H.) High School in the fall of 1996, he promised him that by the time he graduated he'd have a prep school championship. This afternoon, that promise came true. Box Score: Prep Championship Game (Stuart Trophy) Box Score: Westminster 2, NMH 0 (Simmons-Huntington Trophy) Box Score: Division II Championship Game (Piatelli Trophy)
3/4/00 Deerfield, Avon Advance to Finals In a pair of taut games played before a packed house of 2,500 fans at the Salem, N.H. Icenter (their spelling, not ours), Deerfield edged Cushing, 2-1; and Avon Old Farms beat Lawrence Academy, 2-0. Deerfield and Avon will meet for the New England Prep School title at 3:00 pm today (Sunday). In the first game, Deerfield's 2-1 win over Cushing, the difference was Matt Hanson, Deerfield's sophomore goalie, who kicked out 42 Cushing shots, many of them labeled. Hanson was beaten once in the game, just 2:08 in, when Yale Lewis converted a Ben Murphy pass. Once Cushing had the early lead, they kept pressing, and had a huge edge in play after one -- but only had the one goal to show for it. Deerfield, perhaps realizing how fortunate they were to get through the first period only down by one, came out and took it to Cushing in the first 5-10 minutes of the second period, the only time in the game when Deerfield had a territorial advantage. The big payoff for Deerfield came when senior center Chip Canner came out of the corner with the puck and skated it to the front of the crease, where Tyler Kolarik poked it through a crowd past Cushing goaltender Ryan MacNeil. After two periods, it was a 1-1 game. The game-winning goal came in the third when Deerfield's Dennis Kim, on a 3-on-1 rush, made a nifty pass to linemate Dave Thomas, who directed it past MacNeil with 6:20 remaining. Glenn Sanders also picked up an assist on the play. 52 seconds later, Cushing's Jack Celata was whistled off for a cross-check and, then, 43 seconds after that, teammate Michael Woodford, who struggled to get going all night, was whistled off as well -- and for the same infraction. Frustration was setting in. While Cushing managed to successfully kill both penalties, time was also running out on them. With 2:20 left, things got very interesting when Deerfield's Kim took a holding penalty. Cushing had several chances to tie the game, one a glittering one that Hanson stopped. But that was all she wrote. Time ran out and Cushing, the #1 seed in the east, is done for the season. Before leaving the Cushing-Deerfield game, it should be mentioned that the ice surface at the Icenter was a bit slow due to an afternoon compressor failure. However, the problem was fixed and the ice improved as the evening went along. The ice here is also Olympic-sized, undoubtedly a factor in Cushing's being unable to establish the punishing forecheck and physical game that's central to their success. It should also be noted that Deerfield's quickness enabled them to slip checks well. In the nightcap, Avon Old Farms got a shutout from sophomore Tim Warner and goals from Bill Magnuson and Scott Horvath in a 2-0 win over Lawrence Academy. Avon's first goal came just 1:28 into the game when Magnuson picked up a loose puck in the slot and backhanded it by Lawrence goaltender Bo Christini. After that, it remained a 1-0 game until early in the third period, when Chris Higgins and Scott Horvath broke in alone on Christini. Higgins flipped a nice pass to Horvath who beat Christini five-hole to give Avon a 2-0 lead at the 1:22 mark. In the third period, Avon was called for three minors -- the only penalties whistled in the period -- and a couple of them were dubious. Avon played most of the game's final minutes shorthanded, as they were called for too many men on the ice with 3:33 left and then, 35 seconds after that penalty expired, were called again, this time being forced to play the remaining 1:28 of the game shorthanded. However, Avon was able to weather the storm and the Winged Beavers are on their way to the finals for the first time since 1994. In the Simmons/Huntington Tournament, Northfield-Mt.Hermon got a third period goal from Hunter Greeley to sneak past Choate, 3-2, and into Sunday's final. Their opponent will be Westminster, which got strong goaltending from sophomore Phil Lauderdale and goals from five different scorers en route to a 5-1 win over Exeter. NMH and Westminster will meet in their final at 12:30 pm. In the Div. II semis, both Tilton and Brewster picked up OT wins and will face each other in a 10:00 am title game.
3/3/00 James, Potulny Top List of Latest Commitments Yesterday morning, Denver University landed a top recruit in forward Connor James of the Calgary Royals (AJHL). James, 5'10", 170 lbs., is a right shot playing left wing. His game combines speed, creativity, and ice vision. With a line of 35-57-92 (and 39 penalty minutes) in 63 games this season, James, a Calgary native, is the seventh-leading scorer in the the league. His stock rose significantly with his play for Team Alberta in the Viking Cup over the Christmas/New Year's break. James had narrowed his choices to St. Lawrence, Boston University (which he visited on Beanpot Monday Feb. 7), and, of course, Denver. Those were the only three schools he visited. James, who's fluent in French, spent the first few years of his life -- he's an '82 birthdate -- in the South Pacific, on the island of New Guinea, where his father was working as a doctor. --- Big news out of Minneapolis, where Don Lucia, in his first year as head coach of the Gophers, is bringing a non-Minnesotan into the program for the first time in 17 years. When the Gophers hit the ice in the fall, Grant Potulny, from Grand Forks, North Dakota, will be wearing the maroon and gold. Grand Forks, by the way, is about as close as you can get to Minnesota without actually being there -- only the flood-prone Red River separates the two states. Potulny, who also made visits to Wisconsin, Michigan State, Minnesota-Duluth, and Lake State, visited the U over Sunday and Monday, announced on Wednesday that he would be coming. A 6'2", 185 lb. forward, Potulny has played for the Lincoln Stars (USHL) in the two years since his graduation from Red River High (where his younger brother, Ryan, is the top gun now). Potulny's numbers at Lincoln this year are 19-23-42 in 45 games, placing him second on the team (12 of the goals are power-play tallies). A physical player with size and tenacity, Potulny will work the corners and along the wall, an area of the game in which some recent Gopher teams have come up short. Potulny, who is the captain at Lincoln, is also strong in the leadership department A little background might be useful here. When Lucia's predecessor, Doug Woog, took over the coaching reins at the U in fall of 1984 he forbade out-of-state recruiting, feeling that the available pool of Minnesotans was so deep there was no need to look elsewhere, a philosophy that within a decade would box him into a corner. At the beginning of his tenure, Woog had two non-Minnesotas -- Steve MacSwain (Alaska) and John Blue (California) -- both of whom he'd inherited from his predecessor, Brad Buetow. In 1987, MacSwain and Blue finished their college careers. The first class that consisted exclusively of Woog recruits was the '89-90 team. Since then, the Gophers have reached the NCAA semis only one, losing decisively to BU in both '94 and '95. The downhill spiral accelerated in the late 90's, when, in the last two years of Woog's reign, the school suffered back-to-back losing seasons for only the third time in the program's nearly 79-year history. Despite that fact, there are people in Minnesota unhappy about the change of policy Lucia has instituted. So Potulny's arrival will be a symbolic one, to say the least. Potulny, though, has the right attitude for the job. "When they see how hard I'm going to work," he said, "they won't care where I'm from." --- Ohio State got a big catch in David Steckel, a 6'4", 180 lb. left-shot center from West Bend, Wisconsin and the U.S. National Team Development Program. There were a bunch of schools that wanted Steckel to wait another year, fill out more -- he's still pretty skinny for his height-- and improve his acceleration. Ohio State, though, which has been weak down the middle this season, pulled the trigger and, in so doing, may have come up with a steal. Steckel, who has excellent hockey sense, could go in the top few rounds of the NHL draft in 2001. With the Under-18 team this season, Steckel is 12-9-21 (with 72 pims) in 39 games. In the Five Nations Tournament in Finland last month, Steckel was one of the top three U.S. forwards (the others were R.J. Umberger and Rob Globke, and, as long as we're on the subject of Globke, the only two schools he's considering now are Michigan State and Notre Dame. The list of schools who'd like to get involved is as long as the Nile River.) Also going to Ohio State is 5'9", 170 lb. LW Paul Caponigri of Oak Park, Illinois and the Omaha Lancers (USHL). Caponigri, who fires the puck a lot, has the ability to produce points. In his final decision, it came down to Northeastern, UNH, and, of course, Ohio State. He's an early '79 birthdate, and this year with Omaha has a 23-25-48 line in 48 games. --- Tim Pettit, of Seattle, Wash. and the Taft School, is going to Harvard. The senior member of one of prep hockey's top lines this winter (juniors Ryan Shannon and Christian Jensen were his linemates), Pettit is a 5'11", 175 lb. RW/C with a solid combination of skill and grit. A late '81 birthdate, Pettit played in the Seattle Sno-Kings organization before coming east to prep school. Other schools in the picture included Princeton early on, then Colorado College, RPI, Colgate, and of course, Harvard, which he visited a couple of weeks ago. Speaking of Colorado College, 6'2", 180 lb. left-shot D John Van Pelt of Edina, Minn. and Shattuck-St. Mary's will be heading there in the fall. --- Air Force has four recent recruits, all from Minnesota. One is a defenseman, 6'0", 185 lb. Steve Czech of Hill-Murray. The other three are forwards who have put up big numbers this year: Jon Hart of Park Center HS has a 22-30-52 line in 21 games; Matt Moore of Blaine has an 18-31-49 line in 21 games; and Anthony Masotto of Edina has been playing Tier II in Ontario this winter with Cumberland (COJHL), where he has a 29-43-72 line in 51 games.
3/2/00 Eden Prairie Downed in 4 OT's One night it was Elk River going down in two OT's; the next, Eden Prairie in four. The bottom line? The two top teams in Minnesota throughout the winter couldn't make it out of their sectionals. When the state tournament gets underway next week, the title will be up for grabs. Last night, the dragon killer was Edina, a program that has won more than its share of games and state titles over the years, but this year wasn't even ranked in the high school top 10. They'd had a poor first half of the season, were hammered 5-1 by Eden Prairie on Jan. 9 at home, and bottomed out at 5-7 before running off a 12-game win streak that was extended to 13 last night when senior LW Steve Cornelius (the younger brother of Notre Dame sophomore D Sam Cornelius), scored at 1:05 to give the Hornets a 4-3 win and lift them into the Minnesota State High School Tournament. Cornelius wasn't the only hero last night. With 6.5 seconds left in the third period, Edina trailed, 3-2. They were already on the powerplay and had the goalie pulled when Dustin Heigl won a faceoff in the Eden Prairie end, getting the puck back to P.J. Atherton, whose 45-footer found the back of the net with only five seconds remaining. Eden Prairie finishes the season at 22-2-1. The Section 5AA final, because of the four OT's in the previous game, got underway after 11 p.m. Those who stayed for the duration saw Bloomington Jefferson beat Holy Angels, 3-1, to advance to the the state tournament. Sophomore Mike Bernhagen scored the game-winner, a powerplay goal, midway through the third period.
3/1/00 Avon Stuns Taft It's all over for Taft. Avon Old Farms goaltender Tim Warner got the shutout and Scott Horvath, Mike Warner; and Mike Cuccia got the goals as Avon Old Farms, the #4 seed in the west, put an end not only to host Taft's dreams of an undefeated season, but their season, period, with a decisive 3-0 win. Check out the link below for a full report on this game.... In other Elite Eight competition, Lawrence Academy, seeded second in the east, got a 22-save effort from Bo Christini in its 2-0 win over the #3 east Tabor. Lawrence goal scorers were Stephen Wood and Kevin Brooks.... Tyler Kolarik scored two goals and and assisted on another as host Deerfield, the #2 seed in the west, knocked off Hotchkiss, 5-2. Deerfield's other goal scorers were Stephan Ong Tone, Eric Thomassian, and Chip Canner. The Hotchkiss goals were scored by Jon Hill and Andy Laskowski notched the Hotchkiss goals .... The east's #1 seed, Cushing, rolled over Nobles, outshooting them 44-12 en route to a 9-0 win. Mike Woodford (2g,1a), Ben Murphy (2g,1a), Derek Nisula (2g), and Dan Murphy (2a) led the way for Cushing. Kurt Wright, Ryan Lannon, and Steve Jacobs added single goals for the Penguins. Avon 3, Taft 0 -- The Full Report
3/1/00 Elk River Shocker . Just 5:43 into last night's game, powerful Elk River High School held a 4-0 lead, but crashed to the ground, giving up five straight unanswered goals, and losing in double overtime to Osseo in the sectional semis at the State Fairgrounds Coliseum in St. Paul, Minn. It was easily the biggest upset of the season in the state. Elk River, which has spent the entire campaign at either the #1 or #2 spot in the Minnesota State High School Polls, features University of Minnesota bound defenseman Paul Martin who, for our money, is the top senior defenseman in the country. (Our top forward, in case you're wondering, is Ben Eaves of Shattuck-St. Mary's) Osseo doesn't have a lot up front, though on D they have solid seniors Eric Weum and Chad Gromek. Whereas Elk River was at the top of the preseason Top 20, Osseo was nowhere to be found. However -- allow us some shameless back-patting here -- the USHR had them in the #10 spot. Now, they're the instant Cinderella team, and will face the winner of tonight's Blaine vs. Park Center game in the sectional finals Friday night. The key last night? When his team fell behind 4-0, Osseo coach Garrett Strott called a timeout. Everybody in attendance figured Strott would pull senior goaltender Matt Boyer, who was looking pretty shaky. He didn't, though. He stayed with his goaltender -- and it would pay off as Boyer looked solid, not allowing another goal all night. And he also had a reminder for his team. "I told them that there was still 40 minutes left, and to stay relaxed and chip away." From that point on, Osseo would outwork Elk River. They got one in the first, two in the second, and one in the third to tie it at 4-4 heading into OT. At 6:18 of the second overtime period, senior Matt Wilmes, a third line forward, got the game-winner when he took a shot from just inside the blueline that beat Elk River sophomore goaltender Brent Solei. Incidentally, Wilmes also scored Osseo's first goal, just 1:06 after his coach's decision to call the timeout. With the two goals, Wilmes now has five on the season. Defenseman Weum picked up three assists in the game. For Elk River, which finishes the season at 22-2, Martin had a goal and two assists, but never exactly jumped up and took control of the game, preferring to hang back like a pocket quarterback and look to make the long pass out of his own end.
***
|
