2006 Entry Draft: ECAC

[Trotsky]

They're currently in Round 6.

(5) 134, LA, David Meckler, Yale
(5) 146, Nsh, Mark Dekanich, Colgate

There may be some incoming frosh listed as USHS who I didn't recognize.  For sure, no Cornellians yet.

[Trotsky]

Live feed here: http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia-live/nhl/11632/300_nhl-2006_draft_060623.asx

Edit: it has now wrapped around to first round coverage.

[Trotsky]

Devils fans, rejoice.

(6) 178, NJ, Tony Romano, Cornell (incoming)

[Trotsky]

(6) 183, Car, Nick Dodge, Clarkson

[ithacat]

[quote Trotsky]

There may be some incoming frosh listed as USHS who I didn't recognize.  For sure, no Cornellians yet.[/quote]

Alex Biega, Salisbury Prep (Harvard), went to the Sabres in the 5th round.

Two other players who had considered Cornell have also been drafted: goalies Richard Bachman (4th round) and Marc Cheverie (7th round).

[redhair34]

[Q]213  Carolina      Justin Krueger, F (I)      Cornell (ECACHL)[/Q]

That's a pleasant surprise.

[Will]

Here's how the ECACHL did overall in the draft, according to USCHO (with some formatting by me):

Round   Pick   NHL Team      Player, Pos         ECACHL Team
4    119     New York Islanders        Doug Rogers, F (I)            Harvard (ECACHL)
5    134     Los Angeles               David Meckler, F              Yale (ECACHL)
5    138     Dallas                    David McIntyre, F (I)         Colgate (ECACHL)
5    146     Nashville                 Mark Dekanich, G              Colgate (ECACHL)
5    147     Buffalo                   Alex Biega, D (I)             Harvard (ECACHL)
6    154     St. Louis                 Matthew McCollem, F (07)      Harvard (ECACHL)
6    171     New York Islanders        Brian Day, F (07)             Colgate (ECACHL)
6    178     New Jersey                Tony Romano, F (I)            Cornell (ECACHL)
6    181     Ottawa                    Kevin Koopman, D (07)         Brown (ECACHL)
6    183     Carolina                  Nick Dodge, F                 Clarkson (ECACHL)
7    213     Carolina                  Justin Krueger, D (I)         Cornell (ECACHL)

11 total players, with Harvard and Colgate having three each, Cornell having two, and Clarkson, Brown, and Yale having one apiece.

Krueger was the last player taken in the draft overall.

[ugarte]

Any Cornellians (incoming or returning) that were expected to be drafted and were not?

[ithacat]

[quote ugarte]Any Cornellians (incoming or returning) that were expected to be drafted and were not?[/quote]

Blake Gallagher (incoming) and the Devins (2007) were ranked by NHL Central Scouting, fwiw.

[pfibiger]

Joe Devin was ranked to go some time in the 4th or 5th round. Very surprising that he wasn't taken at all.

I imagine Blake Gallagher, being young, will be eligible again next year.

[RedFromLJ]

What about Nash?

[scoop85]

A nice little article (especially the emphasis on Krueger staying four years!).

http://www.nhl.com/news/2006/06/275792.html

[ithacat]

[quote RedFromLJ]What about Nash?[/quote]

He didn't make the final list.

[pfibiger]

Dave Starman wrote a draft recap, and the second half is all about Justin Krueger and Tony Romano:

http://www.cstv.com/sports/m-hockey/stories/062706aab.html

[q]
Two thoughts on incoming players:

Justin Krueger, a 6-foot-2, 205 lbs. defenseman, played for Penticton in the B.C. Hockey League this past season, is going to go to Cornell in the fall. His dad, Ralph Krueger, was behind the bench when Switzerland upset Canada 2-0 at the Turin Olympics this past February. Ralph is a European consultant for the Hurricanes.  Carolina took him with the last pick of the draft. He'll be forever known in draft circles as 7(213)06 CAR.

When you are last, there is nowhere to go but up, and Cornell has a habit of making good players great players. When you factor that Kruger is a coach's kid (Cornell has another of those in Mark McCutcheon), you've got a lot to work with.

They'll have a challenge with another incoming freshman in Tony Romano, who was a sixth round pick of the Devils.

I've watched Romano since he was 12 years old, and he can play the game offensively.  Quick, strong, great hands and a scorers' touch, Romano is exciting to watch. He has spent some time in international competition with the US National Program in U15, U16, and U17 tournaments. He might be the only person living near New York City who'll never be affected by traffic. He likes going into it, and usually gets through it with the puck on his stick.

Where the challenge lies for him is he is stepping into a very good league in the ECACHL after never playing in a junior league that matched his skills.  Romano was undoubtedly the best player in the Atlantic Junior Hockey League.  However, that was more by default than merit. He was a great player playing in an average league where his skill level couldn't be matched by any opponent. He was just too good.

While proving he can play with the best players in the world in his age group, he has never dominated a top level junior league like many incoming high end talented kids have. That raises questions as to why he didn't play in the EJHL or USHL last season?  It might be because he did take time away from his junior team to play with Team USA quite a bit last season.  That international experience sold the scouts that he could play at the next level.

Well coached as a youth and junior player, Romano has a great opportunity to prove the naysayers wrong by going onto have a good freshman year. At Cornell, even the scorers that have come through the program have been made to make a commitment to defending. It is why Cornell is consistently a very good team. Should Romano make that transition and add that aspect of his game to his already impressive skills, he'll be a name you're talking about in the near future.
[/q]

[scoop85]

I like the reference to Romano being "exciting to watch."  Having a pure scorer, escpecially with Moulson's departure, is something we could really use.