New Recruit for 2008

[pfibiger]

Joining Mike Garman in the class of 2008 appears to be Locke Jillson, a 5'10" 160lb right wing who plays for the Dallas AAA Stars program (which appears to be the #3 midget program in the country this year, behind Shattuck St. Mary's and Team Illinois). Though he has no accompanying article about it, I first noticed this in Big Red Puckhead's prospects list.

This: http://virginiatech.scout.com/4/2.html pegs the commitment as a couple months ago, at least. The google cache for the AAA stars site lists the commitment in the rotating news banner, but the current site has nothing.

I wonder if he'll head up to Nanaimo for a year.

[calgARI '07]

This kid got cut by Salisbury.  I've heard the rumor that he was coming to Cornell but I have a lot of trouble believing it if he couldn't make the Salisbury team.

[Swampy]

According to the Dallas News, he was named to the all-area second team as a high school junior, when he was tied as the highest scorer on the team (see
this article). Apparently, his local club team wasn't that good, but then he led them to the Dallas area finals. I'm not sure where Ari is getting his information, but this article makes it sound as if he left Salisbury because he was homesick. He does seem to be one of the top players on the Dallas Stars AAA team, which is an elite midget program that at one time had a pretty good goal tender named McKee. An '88, he also seems to be getting better as time goes by. Was selected to attend the USA Hockey national development camp in 2005.

[ithacat]

Also noticed that Austin Smith was named to the 1st team that year. Smith is now at Gunnery, and will be heading to Colgate in 2008.

[calgARI '07]

[quote ithacat]Also noticed that Austin Smith was named to the 1st team that year. Smith is now at Gunnery, and will be heading to Colgate in 2008.[/quote]

The Gunnery is my alma mater and I spent some time with Smith a couple weeks ago when we went to Quinnipiac-Union game.  He played a lot with Jillson growing up and I know the Gunnery pushed hard to get Jillson when he was looking at prep schools.  Smith is from Irving, the same town as McKee.  He is extremely good and got a full athletic scholarship from Colgate.  He actually chose Gate over UNH.

[Swampy]

Big Red Puckhead has Jillson's statistics up. In 73 games, he scored 93 points (41-52). This is much higher than any other recruit, with Kennedy being next highest at 47. Jillson is much closer to where Romano was last year in the AJHL with 50-52, although I think Romano played in closer to 50 games (I can't find his complete stats from last year). The Dallas Stars AAA midgets play other teams nationally (e.g., Honeybaked, SJ Junior Sharks) with plenty of tournaments, compared to the NY Bobcats which are in the AJHL, a league based in the northeast, in which teams play among themselves -- strong and weak alike. Does anyone know how the level of competition for a team like the Stars compares with that in the AJHL, the USHL, the BCHL, etc.?

[KeithK]

It's hard to read much into stats for recruits.  Now obviously you want to see a guy with more points rather than less.  But it's hard to say what 93 points in Texas means at the DI level.  I wanted to compare Jillson to the rest of his team to see if he stands out but the Dallas Stars AAA site doesn't seem to have a stats page.

[Trotsky]

IIRC, the most gaudy stats of any recruit we've ever had were for Rick Davis.  Matt Connors was eye-popping, too.

It comes down to the level of competition and also whether you had Larry and Curly or St. Louis and Perrin as your linemates.

[French Rage]

I tend to remember Moulson topping 100 points from wherever he came.

[Trotsky]

My favorite recruit stats (and topical too) is that in the year prior to being recruited to BC, Joe Mullen led the NY Metro Jr. Hockey Association with 110-72-182.  In 40 games.

[ryeguy]

The teams that the AAA Stars play seem to be of top competition for that age level. The Little Caesars North American Hockey Showcase which Locke was named the the MVP of, is one of the most highly scouted tournaments among college teams.Also,not to compare him to Sidney Crosby but isn't this the level that he once played at with Shattuck St.Marys? It will be interesting to see how well he performs in either the USHL or BCHL. I'm looking forward to this kid.

[ithacat]

I just saw this in the Dallas Morning News -- it's a few weeks old...

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/highschools/hockey/stories/032207dnspohockdate.2b8337c.html

I don't think it's been reported before that LJ selected Cornell over CC, Denver, and North Dakota. That makes 2 recruits this spring that selected Cornell over Denver and North Dakota. Future front office guy? Watch out, Mr. Bettman. :-)

[Lowell '99]

Ryan Moynihan had at least 2 PPG as well.

[Trotsky]

There is a "Joe Bitz" at Nanaimo.  Brother?

[Chris '03]

[quote Trotsky]There is a "Joe Bitz" at Nanaimo.  Brother?[/quote]

It's been mentioned before including:
http://elf.elynah.com/read.php?1,70312,70312#msg-70312