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USHL Scouting Report: Green Bay vs Waterloo

Articles, Game/Tournament Reviews, Prospects, Scouting Reports

GREEN BAY 2 WATERLOO 1 (OT)

After a scoreless first period Dante Palecco got lucky on a goal that re-directed off the defenders stick to open up the scoring. Waterloo responded with a nice shot by the point from Mickey Anderson that slid by a screened Maksim Zhukov. No score in the third so the game went into overtime and it was Chris Grando who scored a beautiful goal in 3v3.

Below are scouting reports on the top players in this particular game. It is not a reflection of the best players overall, rather simply a recap of the standouts in this game.

#3 Chris Grando-LW (L) – 5’10/159-8/22/98

Chris is a fast, shifty forward with quick hands. He uses a combination of pace, acceleration and hustle to create a lot offensive opportunities for himself and his linemates. He was the hero in overtime, beating the oppontents to a loose puck and taking it in for a top shelf game winner. Grando isn’t the biggest guy on the ice, but he’s smart, savvy and has excellent vision and passing ability. College: Boston College

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U16: NJ Avs, NJ Titans, Boston Advantage

Articles, Game/Tournament Reviews, Prospects, Scouting Reports

1/21 AYHL U16 Boston Advantage 2 @ NJ Avs 6

The Avs played sloppy but still dominated. These two teams played each other in the morning and NJ prevailed in a 10-2 blowout. There was a lot of bad positional play especially by the D zone. Adam Robbins led the way with 3-1-4.It was a case of pure talent prevailing, not team play.

Forwards

A

Adam Robbins (5.07 154 00 Avs) 3-1-4

A hot day for Adam, he opened and closed the scoring with the 1st, 5th and 6th goals. He also had 2-4-6 in the morning blow out. His points were classic cases of Adam being opportunistic and positioning himself well. He has a good shot and a knack for finding the dead ice to make the play. On the first goal it was an in tight wrist shot, the second was a great wrist shot from the slot and the third a redirect off a Seitz feed.

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EHL January Showcase: Top 100

Articles, Game/Tournament Reviews, Prospects, Scouting Reports

Neutral Zone headed to two of the three days of the EHL Showcase at Tri-Town arena in Hooksett, NH on January 15-17. There were a lot of Division III and some Division I college coaches in attendance. We did not see Valley or the Little Flyers and had limited viewing of the Cyclones.

Below are the players we feel stood out. Grades are for this showcase only and are relative to others on this list. We have attended all of the EHL showcases this season and this was the last. Several players below are new to our profiles and others are repeats.

Chris Peters #21 (F, Walpole Express, 6’2”, 165lbs, 1997)-Peters was the most impressive player here in our opinion. We have noted him before as he plays on the first line for Walpole but he really showed up in Hooksett. Beyond the fact that he added four points to his impressive total, he played a strong, smart game. He moved without the puck. He had a good stick and created a lot of turnovers. He played poised and managed the puck at a very high level. His straight line speed is not great but it didn’t affect his ability to make plays. Grade: A

 

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CJHL Prospects Game: Scouting Report

Articles, Game/Tournament Reviews, OHL, Prospects, Scouting Reports

Last night Neutral Zone scouts were in attendance for the CJHL Prospects game in Cornwall, ON. The two teams are separated by eastern and western CJHL leagues and picked by NHL Central Scouting.

Below is a breakdown of each player in the game; their NHL upside; their NCAA or CHL commitment and most importantly how they played here. Overall, we were impressed with the event. It was well run and the players showed they deserved to be there. The West won the game. However, the East held its own which is impressive considering their two best leagues are now “pay to play” leagues; while Western Canada has the two top leagues in the country in the AJHL & BCHL which are both free tuition leagues.

In attendance were over a hundred NCAA, CHL and NHL scouts. Like Tyson Jost and Dante Fabbro did last year, Cale Makar, Ian Mitchell and Cameron Crotty made this a worth while event for NHL brass as they are all serious draft picks, especially Makar who is a likely first rounder.

As is customary at Neutral Zone, we did analytics on what leagues the players came from, their ages and their NCAA/CHL status.

League Breakdown:

BCHL: 11

CCHL: 9

OJHL: 8

AJHL: 7

NOJHL: 3

SJHL: 1

MJHL: 1

Birth Years:

1999: 26

1998: 13

1997: 1

Status:

NCAA Committed: 20

CHL Committed: 1

Uncommitted: 19

Size:

5’10” or Under: 8

5’11” – 6’0”: 10

6’1”-6’2”: 13

Over 6’2”: 9

Shot:

Left: 16

Right: 20

#8 Cale Makar (R, 5-11.25/180, Brooks (AJHL), Late ’98)

Makar is currently Neutral Zone’s highest rated NCAA prospect for the 2017 recruiting class and the only 5 star ’98 left on the board. He’s a highly skilled offensive defenseman with elite skating and puck handling ability. He doesn’t have ideal size for a first round NHL pick defenseman, but that goes out the window when you see what he can do with the puck. He has an explosive first step, is able to shake off forecheckers in a few strides and has a quick, elusive stick to navigate through traffic. He probably led all skaters in the game in puck possession time and led several rushes, sprung teammates for breakaways with crafty passes and showed ability to take over in the offensive zone. He has a booming slap shot which he only got off two times (by our count) but it is a rapid release and very powerful for someone of his size and stature. On the defensive front, he doesn’t get the credit he deserves because he’s small and not overly physical. However, he is tough, he steps up and takes the body and he’s tricky in his own end. He picks off passes constantly because he has great vision and anticipation ability, he has a strong and quick stick check which he used several time here to win the puck battles. At this level he always wins the race to the puck and is quick and shifty enough to make a quick play before the opponent can get to him. As a result, the amount of time he plays defending is much less than the time he is on the offensive. Here he rushed the puck at will, he made people miss skating through the neutral zone and found seams in defense that he could exploit with precision passing. What is most impressive is how he thinks the game and processes the play at full speed; he never has to slow down to make a decision. He does everything at top speed. Makar leads all AJHL defenseman in scoring with 52 points in 38 games and sits at 10th in NHL Central Scouting’s Mid-Term Rankings. There was rumor that he’s being heavily pursued by the WHL, but he has a signed letter of intent to UMass Amherst, so unless something changes that is where he’ll be next fall.   Grade: A+     College: UMass Amherst

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