Prospect Updates

[pfibiger]

Topher Scott -- Chicago Steel
LPH/USHL Offensive Player of the Week (November 10, 2003)

Scott (Buffalo Grove, Ill.), Chicago's captain, earned Offensive Player of the Week honors after notching five points (4G, 1A) in three games and extending his goal- scoring streak to four games. Honorable mention goes to Sean Muncy (Cedar Rapids), Todd McIlrath (Danville), Jimmy Kilpatrick (Green Bay) and Joel Hanson (Waterloo).

So far in 13 games he's 7-6-13  with a  +5


Raymond Sawada is currently 12-10-22 in 22 games with the Nanaimo Clippers.  From what I've read about his style of play and his size, he sounds like another Byron Bitz.

Tyler Mugford has picked up the scoring pace a bit, after a rocky start. He's currently 5-6-11 in 22 games.

Matt McKeown is a tough guy to find stats for. As far as I know he's playing for the Niagara Falls Jr. B Canucks, and they have a really crap web page.

[kaelistus]

Interesting that all four current recruits are forwards.  We lose 2 forwards, one defenseman, and one goalie to graduation next year.

Its early in the recruiting cycle, but I still find that strange.

[Section A]

Not when one of the forwards we're losing is Ryan Vesce. That is, the more forwards we recruit, the better the chance is that one of them will become a similarly productive player, even if not right away.

Also, we have a pretty good group of defensemen right now; the departure of Wallace still leaves Cook, Downs, O'Byrne, Gleed, Glover...and Salmela. Those would be the starting 6 defensemen probably...all of whom will have good experience by next year. Then they'll add another couple later on to back them up on the bench (since I'm fairly certain Stachurski and Pajerski aren't enough :-) )

....anyway, I got off track I think, but I can see why getting forwards is important.  Still, Vesce's points for this season will be difficult to completely replace.

But that's next year.........

[calgARI \'07]

Topher Scott is suppossed to be Vesce's replacement.  Spoke with Vesce about it and he thinks this kid is the real deal.  They are suppossed to be very similar players.  Scott is smaller though at 5'5, which concerns me.  Point a game numbers in the USHL is very impressive and harder to do than in the JR. A leagues of Canada.  
Seems like Sawada will be another Bitz type.  It will be extremely tough to play Cornell with the likes of power forwards Bitz, Sawada, and Hynes on the first couple lines.

[ugarte]

No goalies is also not a surprise, since McKee is a frosh and Chabot is a soph.  While obviously it would be better to carry three goalies, it is an understandably lower priority than replacing Vesce's firepower.

[kaelistus]

The recruiting site puts Topher at 5'6. I hope Topher is the real Deal. I wouldn't mind another 4 years of Vesce II. :-)

Did anyone else notice the massive amount of large brown recruits already?  Six players over six feet tall! Wow!

[Section A]

> large brown recruits.



I believe the politically correct term is Asian......

sorry; I couldn't help myself  ::nut::


(please...don't take offense.......)



Post Edited (11-12-03 17:31)

[calgARI \'07]

Topher Scott is suppossed to be Vesce's replacement. Spoke with Vesce about it and he thinks this kid is the real deal despite his modest numbers from last year. They are suppossed to be very similar players. Scott is smaller though at 5'5, which concerns me. Point a game numbers in the USHL is very impressive and harder to do than in the JR. A leagues of Canada.

[calgARI \'07]

I remember reading here a few months ago that Mckeown is a very similar player to Hornby.

[Section A]

I also noticed that a Kolarik is going to Michigan...

[Al DeFlorio]

Avash '05 wrote:

I also noticed that a Kolarik is going to Michigan...

Seems to me there was a Kolarik on the US-18 team.  Probably the same guy.

[Jim Hyla]

[Q]Still, Vesce's points for this season will be difficult to completely replace.
[/Q]It'll be difficult to replace him for one game.

[cbuckser]

[Q]Matt McKeown is a tough guy to find stats for. As far as I know he's playing for the Niagara Falls Jr. B Canucks, and they have a really crap web page.[/Q]
Matt McKeown has two goals, three assists, and eight penalty minutes in twelve games for the Niagara Falls Canucks (GHJHL).  Matt played for the Burlington Cougars (OPJHL) last season, and he was supposed to play for the Nanaimo Clippers (BCHL) this year.  Does anybody know why Matt is playing for his hometown team and not on Vancouver Island?



[Q]Topher Scott is suppossed to be Vesce's replacement. Spoke with Vesce about it and he thinks this kid is the real deal despite his modest numbers from last year.[/Q]
Would I be correct in supposing that Ryan Vesce hasn't seen Topher Scott play?  Evaluating recruits is an inexact science, and those who do the recruiting have an incentive to overrate the players they have convinced to come on board.

[ugarte]

Craig Buckser '94 wrote:

[Q]Topher Scott is suppossed to be Vesce's replacement. Spoke with Vesce about it and he thinks this kid is the real deal despite his modest numbers from last year.[/Q]
Would I be correct in supposing that Ryan Vesce hasn't seen Topher Scott play?  

Maybe they skated/practiced together on a recruiting trip?

[Greg Berge]

5' 6" is pretty dang small.  But hey, how tall were the UVM elves?  "You can't hit what you can't catch."