http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature.asp?fid=8985
Kyle Chipchura (Prince Albert Raiders (WHL)) is the top-ranked North American skater. Wolverine and WJC gold-medalist Alvaro Montoya is the top-ranked North American goaltender. Consensus #1 overall pick Alexander Ovechkin (Russia) is the top-ranked European skater. Marek Schwarz (Czech Republic), who was impressive at the WJC when not facing Team Canada, is the top -ranked European goaltender.
The only Cornellians on the just-released list are Raymond Sawada and Mitch Carefoot, who are ranked 33rd and 115th among North American skaters, respectfully.
Wow! Sawada made a huge impression! I'm excited to see this guy knock some boys around in Lynah!
I don't know whether to put this under 'prospect updates' or here, but I think it fits here as well as anywhere.
Here's an article about the BCHL all-star game, and below is the relevant part about Sawada:
http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/story.asp?id=0DFCE144-B869-4730-9522-93AEF5136ADD
-----------
With Jones already spoken for, Cochrane, Canucks' chief scout Ron Delorme and other eagle eyes are turning to the draft potential of 2004 and recruits such as right winger Ray Sawada of the Nanaimo Clippers, an 18-year-old power forward whose stock is rising in what is not considered a deep draft year.
"He's a sought-after kid," Delorme says. "If you go to that building in Nanaimo, you'll see eight scouts there looking at him every night."
While the pond hockey nature of an all-star game doesn't play to Sawada's strengths, scouts wanted to look at other dimensions of his game.
"In an all-star format, you don't see the same drive and intensity," Delorme says. "But you can at least evaluate their skating in the open ice, and you get to see how good they are with their hands."
Sawada, a Vancouver College grad headed to Cornell to pursue studies in human ecology, played the opposite wing Wednesday on a line with Brock Bradford of the Express, a 17-year-old left winger who is a prospect for the 2005 NHL draft, despite the usual misgivings about size.
------------