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Thurs. 10/16/14

Select U16 & U18 Games Coming Up This Weekend
The following is a schedule of some of the more intriguing U16 and U18 matchups for the coming weekend:

Thurs. 10/23/14

Prep Cup Rosters & Schedules
The Fourth Annual Prep Cup gets underway tomorrow (Fri. 10/24) and runs through Sunday. Four venues will be used: Cushing Academy, Winchendon School, Lawrence Academy, and the Groton School.

Sacred Heart University assistant coach Scott McDougall put in a lot of work over the summer recruiting teams to the event and feels he has the strongest field ever, with 24 teams at the 2001 level and 15 teams at the 2000 level.

The Minutemen Flames 2001 team, ranked #1 in the country by myhockeyrankings.com will be on hand, as will other teams that can be found among the Top 30, specifically Mid-Fairfield (#4), NJ Colonials (#6), South Shore Kings (#8), Boston Jr. Eagles (#9), Boston Bandits (#13), Team Maryland (#17), Mercer Chiefs (#18), Suffolk PAL (#20), Middlesex Islanders (#21), TPH Thunder (#28), East Coast Wizards (#29), and the Connecticut Wolfpack (#30).

The 2000 Division features most of New England’s top teams, including the Boston Jr. Terriers (#14), Middlesex Islanders (#17), Top Gun (#28), Boston Bandits (#29), and the East Coast Wizards (#32).

The tournament is well-attended by New England prep coaches, who will be given full access to talk to participating players.

For full rosters and schedules – which will also be available at the four rinks – click on the links below. They are Excel docs, but very easy on the eyes. Use the tabs on the bottom to move around.

Prep Cup Schedule

Prep Cup Rosters

Mon. 10/6/14

East Coast College Cup Rosters & Schedules

The East Coast College Cup U18/U16/U14 Showcase will be taking place this coming weekend, starting Friday Oct. 10th and running through Sunday Oct. 12th.

The tournament will take place at various rinks throughout Central Connecticut, including Cromewell, Simsbury, Yale University, Wesleyan College, and the Westminster School.

The participating organizations include the Connecticut Wolf Pack, Springfield Rifles, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights, PAL Islanders, NJ Rockets, Mid-Fairfield, LI Gulls, Syracuse Stars, Junior Bruins, Hill Academy, NJ Avalanche, Boston Advantage, Connecticut Oilers, Neponset Valley River Rats, the Rocky Mountain Roughriders -- and many more.

Click on the link below -- it's a 42-page PDF file -- for the program book, which has rosters and schedules for all three divisions.

2014 East Coast College Cup Program Book

 
Note: There will also be programs sold onsite. For last-minute changes check the tournament's website: East Coast Classic Tournaments.

Fri. 10/3/14

This Weekend’s Top Tier I U18/U16 Matchups
There are several choices this weekend (Sat.-Sun. Oct. 4-5) for those looking to see some of the top New England area midget programs matched up against quality opponents.

 -- The GBL Junior Bruins face the Cape Cod Whalers at Devine Rink (Morrissey Blvd., Dorchester, Mass.) on Saturday night. The U16 game starts at 6:00 pm, followed by the U18s at 7:30 pm.

-- The GBL Bruins face the Neponset Valley River Rats at the Foxboro Sports Center on Sunday afternoon. The U16s are at 12:15 pm, with the U18s following at 1:50 pm.

--  The Little Bruins will go up against the Springfield Rifles at the Olympia (West Springfield, Mass.) Sunday afternoon.  The U18s will be at 1:30 pm, followed by the U16s at 3:00.

Thurs. 10/2/14

Top ’00 Jake Wise Commits to Terriers

Jake Wise, considered the top ’00 birthdate in the Northeast, has committed to Boston University for the fall of 2018.

A lot of schools were interested in Wise, but -- no surprise here -- the only schools he visited were BU and BC.

Wise, who is currently a solid 5’10” but projects to about 6’0” or 6’1”, played for the Middlesex Islanders U14 team last season. This season, the 9^th grader from North Andover, Mass. will be playing at Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, Mass. The squad, not traditionally one of the Mass powerhouses, has taken off in recent years and last season were #5-ranked for Super 8 play, but bowed to Austin Prep, 4-1 in the quarterfinals. Central Catholic associate head coach Kim Brandvold, a Norwegian-born defenseman who played at UMass-Lowell (’06 grad) and is also a skills instructor at Dynamic Skating (North Andover, Mass.), has long worked with Wise at his game.

Wise, a 2/28/00 birthdate, projects as a top candidate for the National Team Development Program the year after next (‘16-17).

This fall, Wise, a left-shot center who is drawing comparisons to Jack Eichel at the same age, is playing in the New England Fall Prep League in Salem, NH. We watched him there recently at the league’s Labor Day showcase and had this to say:

Jake Wise (#19, L, Mass. Public/Catholic, Central Catholic HS Grade 9, ‘00) -- One of the premiere ‘00s in the country, Wise has a mature array of skills. He shoots to score and has both velocity and release. He has strong and smooth hands, a fluid yet powerful stride, and he competes at both ends. Wise has a good frame and a canny ability to know when to fight through checks and when to finesse his way through traffic. He scored two goals in the first shifts of his game on Saturday – and he was also the youngest player on the ice.