Recruits 2006: The New Thread

[pfibiger]

[quote ithacat]
This program is right in there with the best on some of the premier goalie prospects, just coming up short. Maybe DiLeo is the next McKee, I don't know... I just really wanted to see Sauer or Jakiel or Cheverie, but especially Sauer.
[/quote]

It's so hard to tell how these kids are going to turn out. Sauer has proved himself well, playing as a freshman at UM. Jakiel has been really shaky this year, and got himself traded from Lincoln for Milo. Cheverie had a phenomenal first half and has been really mediocre in the 2nd, dropping way down statistically to the middle of the pack in the BCHL.

We can't know how things will shake out, but if McKee were to leave, I would be pretty surprised if Ben Scrivens weren't the #1 goalie next year. I think that it's probably very difficult to convince kids to come to CU knowing that McKee will get (almost) all the minutes for the next X years. We had the same problem with Lenny, and hopefully we'll have the same problem with our next stud goalie, whether it's Ben Scrivens or an unnamed member of the 2007 recruiting class.

[calgARI '07]

Dany Heatley played in AJHL before going to Wisconsin.

[ithacat]

[quote redhair34][quote KeithK] Can anyone say with authority how AJHL stacks up against the other junior leagues?[/quote]

I'm no authority (so I'm not going to do your question justice :-P), but I'd rank it below the BCHL and OPJHL as far as its production of top NCAA talent over the past few years.  To my knowledge there hasn't been a real stud AJHL product goaltender recently in college hockey (the closest being Glen Fisher at Denver).  That doesn't mean Scrivens won't break the mold.  He was on the Viking Cup champion AJHL North team.  And the fact that his team did well in the Viking Cup may suggest that the 06' AJHL recruit class is particularly strong.  But something tells me we're going to have to wait till 2007 for a suitable McKee heir.[/quote]

FWIW, the recent CJAHL top 10 has 3 teams from both the OPJHL & BCHL, 2 from the SJHL, and one each from the AJHL & CJHL.

Central Scouting's Players to Watch list has 8 kids listed from the OPJHL, 7 from the AJHL, and 5 from the BCHL. Scrivens is not one of the AJHLers.

[pfibiger]

Ben Scrivens was the #1 star last night, stopping 34 shots on 36 attempts against Sherwood Park.

Colin Greening..BCHL.. 42-20-26-46
Blake Gallagher.SJHL.. 36-21-16-37
Justin Milo.....USHL.. 32-10-11-21
Brendon Nash....BCHL.. 36-06-29-35
Anthony Romano..AtlJHL 34-47-41-88
Joe Scali.......BCHL.. 34-19-15-34 
Ben Scrivens....AlbJHL 92.7%SV 2.28GAA

Colin Greening, Joe Scali, and Brendon Nash all played in last night's BCHL All-Star Game. Colin Greening was named Coastal Conference player of the game with 3 goals and 3 assists. I've read nothing about how Scali & Nash played.


Game blurbs about a couple of the CU recruits from the AV paper:

Colin Greening (1987 forward; 6-2; 197 lbs.; St. John's, Nfld.): Despite being a continent away from home, Greening is playing like a veteran in his rookie season in Junior A. A good skater, he's a strong, determined power forward, Bestwick said. "He's very mature, very focused and determined. He plays every shift like it's his last one." Greening is off to Cornell this fall.

Joe Scali (1986 left winger; 6-0; 186 lbs.; Coquitlam): Whether Scali is charging the net or killing penalties, he is rarely outworked by anybody. "He's got tremendous team speed, and plays the game with reckless abandon," Hiller said. "He goes at it 100 per cent, each and every shift." Scali is headed for Cornell.

[KeithK]

[q]He's got tremendous team speed[/q]What does this mean?  I understand when a team has tremendous team speed because it's, well, a team.  But a player?

[Al DeFlorio]

[quote KeithK][q]He's got tremendous team speed[/q]What does this mean?  I understand when a team has tremendous team speed because it's, well, a team.  But a player?[/quote]
Beat me to it, Keith.  If this were true, overnight we'd be a Minnesota-equivalent.   ::nut::

[KeithK]

Maybe Minnesota just has a dozen guys with team speed.  So they're like twelve times as fast!

[Al DeFlorio]

[quote KeithK]Maybe Minnesota just has a dozen guys with team speed.  So they're like twelve times as fast![/quote]
I wonder if you got enough of them maybe you could escape earth's gravity, or at least break the sound barrier. ::crazy::

[pfibiger]

[quote KeithK][q]He's got tremendous team speed[/q]What does this mean?  I understand when a team has tremendous team speed because it's, well, a team.  But a player?[/quote]

I think that it has to do with his skating while towing a couple of big defensemen behind him. Speedy skating is a fast-twitch muscle thing, but having fast "team speed" is more of a slow-twitch muscle trait.

:-P

[nshapiro]

[Q]
I think that it has to do with his skating while towing a couple of big defensemen behind him
[/Q]
That must be it.  I picture the chain of players used to whip the guy at the end really fast, like roller derby.

[ithacat]

13-10 in the All-Star game...I think someone here once said the BCHL was a more offensively-oriented league -- they had that right. Makes some of those goalies' stats look even more impressive. All-Star games tend to be more open, but 13-10? Must of been a heck of a game to watch.

Do 3 goals and 3 assists equal a double-hat trick? Or would that be 6 goals...

Anyone know why Blake Gallagher was replaced in the SJHL All-Star game?

[Omie]

Just saw in Heisenberg's site that we got a transfer from U Mass-Lowell. Chris Fontas- LW (will be a junior). Any word on this?

[Will]

[quote Omie]Just saw in Heisenberg's site that we got a transfer from U Mass-Lowell. Chris Fontas- LW (will be a junior). Any word on this?[/quote]

Fontas is already at Cornell and practicing with the team I believe.  He appeared in the Red-White Game and the skills competition this season already.  He's even in the 2005-2006 team picture.  I'd say his place in the lineup next year is all but certain.

[calgARI '07]

Loved Fontas in the Red-White game.  Good size and skates well for a guy his size.  No clue why it didn't work out at Lowell but his addition next year will go a long way to neutralizing the losses of all the senior forwards.  As outstanding of a recruiting class as they have coming in next year, it will still be unrealistic to think that they will all step right in and dominate.  You see a guy like Barlow is finding his stride and it's January.  I think Fontas will be a big part of next year's team.  He'll be that two-way center that Schafer leans on nightly.  Anyways, if both Pokuluk and O'Byrne stay (long shot at best), next year's team is going to be a lot scarrier than many of us thought even a year ago.  There will be more talent from top-to-bottom than even 02-03 albeit they will be much younger.  

Barlow-Bitz-Gallagher
Greening-Scott-Carefoot
Scali-Kennedy-Milo/McCutcheon
Mugford-Fontas-Sawada
Kindret-Romano-Connors

O'Byrne-Nash
Seminoff-Pokuluk
Krantz-Glover
Davenport-Salmela

There will be a lot of tough decisions for the coaching staff, that's for sure, with 16 forwards.

[billhoward]

[quote calgARI '07]There will be a lot of tough decisions for the coaching staff, that's for sure, with 16 forwards.[/quote]
Such as seeing if any player wants to declare a gender change and get the women's team up to the level of Dartmouth or Harvard. Imagine what it would be like if 3836 crazy fans came out for that.  'Course, that's chicken and egg --  great fan support helps attract the kind of players that makes fans want to come out, and fans come out for a team that's successful. I don't think the athletics department is hostile to successful women's sports, it's just that others such as Harvard, Dartmouth, and Princeton (in lacrosse) do it better for the sports where the men's stick sports are also successful.