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Ontario Minor Midget AAA Alliance East: Waterloo, Cambridge, Kitchener, London

Articles, Game/Tournament Reviews, Prospects, Scouting Reports

Minor Midget AAA Alliance East – November 2016. Players all have profiles with Neutral Zone.

Games reported on: 4

  • Sunday, Nov 6 Waterloo @ Cambridge
  • Thursday, Nov 17 Kitchener @ Cambridge
  • Sunday, Nov 20 Cambridge @ Waterloo
  • Monday, Nov 21 Cambridge @ London

Waterloo @ Cambridge – Nov 6 – Cambridge win 2-1

Goalie – Jet Greaves #31 (L, Cambridge, 2001) A – great rebound control as he faced a number of quality scoring chances from the Waterloo offense.  Jet played an aggressive game and took the angles away from the Waterloo attackers.

Forward – Ryan Campbell #18 (L, Cambridge Hawks, 2001) B+ – powerful skater who was tough for the opposing team to handle off the attack and off the cycle.  Ryan played a strong two way game and won the majority of puck battles during the game.  Ryan scored the game winning goal on a one timer in the slot and created a number of scoring chances in the game.

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Neutral Zone

Alliance Minor Midget: Waterloo, Sun County, CK Cyclones

Articles, Game/Tournament Reviews, Prospects, Scouting Reports

Alliance Minor Midget AAA

Information based on games November 13th CK Cyclones vs Waterloo, and November 19th CK Cyclones vs. Sun County.  Waterloo beat the Cyclones 6-1 and the Cyclones beat Sun County 5-3. Players listed were noted by the Neutral Zone staff as having an overall positive influence on their teams. The grades are a result of that players performance in that particular game and not a reflection of their overall ability or upside.

Keean Washkurak #9 Waterloo Wolves (L, 5-9.5/165, 2001)

Washkurak is the team’s captain and leader on the ice. He is strong in the faceoff circle and goes to the net hard.  He has good speed and pursuit of the puck and plays with a physical edge.  He has good offensive skills and can finish around the net.  Grade: A

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Neutral Zone

Ontario Midget Reports: Nepean, Gloucester, Smiths Falls, CP, Ottawa, Kanata

Articles, Game/Tournament Reviews, Prospects, Scouting Reports

Neutral Zone reports on some Ontario Midget action on November 19, 2016. The grades given to each player are a reflection of their performance at this event and not an overall assessment of their ability or upside.

Brody Bernard #30 (Catches Left–Goalie-6’1 175 lbs- Smiths Falls Midget AAA- Sep. 8, 2001)

Big heavy goalie (he looks heavy in the net) but moves well and is squared to the shooters. He wasn’t overly aggressive but was calm and controlled.  He needs to work on his skating but he had very good rebound control and was good in all areas (down low, glove, blocker, and wrap arounds).

Game rating- B

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EHL November Showcase – Top 125

Articles, Game/Tournament Reviews, Prospects, Scouting Reports

Neutral Zone spent lots of time the last week watching the EHL Premier. We have been attending individual games all year and have reports published on the site but wanted to immerse ourselves in the league. We developed a list of 125 players that we liked. The players below are overall positive influences on their teams and grades are relative to other players listed. That’s not to say that a player not listed is a negative influence. These are the EHL players we have noticed recently and over 40 are new additions to our profiles.

This report is mainly influenced by the EHL Showcase in Hudson, NH from November 13-15, 2016. The event was well run with each team playing at least two games. Teams played at two rinks and times were staggered to allow scouts to bounce from game to game. We saw every team at the showcase and also supplemented our evaluations here with games we attended several days prior to the event. We will be covering the EHL all season and along with this report will publish reports for Simsbury, CT and individual games all year.

There were a lot of scouts in attendance and the play was good. The officiating was very good and the coaches were professional and prepared. The players worked hard.

One thing that was clear in speaking to college coaches at the event was that they enjoy the event because EHL players and coaches are always willing to consider the opportunities at their schools. There is no pretense and that makes spending time in a VERY cold Cyclone Arena worth their while.

One issue we did have is that we could not see the numbers very well on the CT Oilers uniforms. They only played two games and wore white sweaters which have a black and green stripe across the back with black numbers over them. They look great but we had trouble picking players out. They have a good team and we will try to figure them out in Simsbury in December.

 

Philip Elgstam #22 (F, 5’10”, 201lbs, NJ Rockets, 1998)-Philip is a mature, strong 1998 who was a factor here with 6 points in the three games. He used his body well and has a strong core and stride. He created space with strength and leverage and used his strong, reliable hands to make plays with the puck. He can score. He is not fast but he worked very hard in all three zones and go to the puck. He was good here.  Grade: A

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U18 Five Nations Tournament: Top 25 NHL Draft Prospects

Articles, Feature Story, Game/Tournament Reviews, Prospects, Scouting Reports

The Five Nations Tournament in Plymouth, MI displayed many future NHL picks that may develop into impact players at the highest level.  Teams from the United States, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic and Switzerland brought good teams to the tournament to compete.  There were some high end prospects that were not there from some of the European countries due them playing Pro Hockey in their country or in the CHL.  Many of these top players will be summoned by their respective countries for the U20 World Junior or U18 World Championships coming up.

However, there was plenty of talent to go around and keep the NHL Scouts busy at the USA Hockey Arena.  The tournament went down to the wire with the United States taking the title.  From this tournament we have listed the top 25 NHL prospects for the upcoming 2017 and 2018 NHL Drafts.  This tournament was just a snap shot of these prospects as they all have many more opportunities to move up and improve their stock before draft time.

Top 25 NHL Draft Prospects

  1. Brady Tkachuk (F) (USA) 6-2/194, LH, 2018 NHL DRAFT – The younger brother of Calgary Flames rookie Matthew Tkachuk has a different game than his older sibling. He has taken on the identity that is more of his father and former NHL player Keith Tkachuk.  He is a bit bigger and plays a more physical north and south game.  With a very high compete level, he plays very hard in traffic and uses his body very well.  Always mixing it up as well as making plays.  He has grown a lot in the last 2 years and still adjusting to his body.  He has long reach and a good skill set in traffic.  Not the top player here right now, but he is a late 99 birth year and is not even eligible to be drafted until the 2018 NHL Draft.  Look for him to be an ‘A’ player on NHL Central scouting next fall.  COLLEGE: BOSTON UNIVERSITY

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Scouting Report: Shattuck St. Mary’s vs NJ Avalanche U16

Articles, Game/Tournament Reviews, Prospects, Scouting Reports

Neutral Zone made the trek to Hackensack for a great game between two of the country’s top U16 teams on Friday. It was a well-played game featuring a lot of the top prospects in the ’01 and ’00 birthyears. It ended up 5-3 Shattuck but the Av’s held a 2-0 lead early on and had the better part of play for about the first half of the game. While these players are ranked A-C, the rankings ONLY reflect how they played in this particular game and its relative to the competition. Meaning a “B-” in this group, is an “A” just about anywhere else.

Cole Kodsi (L, 5’11”, 168lbs, ’00, Avs)

Under rated player coming out of NMH. He has an excellent shot with a quick release. Powerful skater who is likely to get bigger and stronger in time. We’d like to see him distribute the puck better as he forces passes at times or misses them all together. He has a versatile game at this level where he can play for power or go wide on defenseman and get pucks to the net. College: Michigan State   Grade: B

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GOJHL Game Report: Pelham vs. Thorold

Game/Tournament Reviews, Prospects, Scouting Reports

OJHL; Pelham 4 – Thorold 3  Oct 26, 2016

Jake Lloyd (Forward, L, 5’11” 180 lbs, Thorold Blackhawks, Jun/96) – Jake is a converted defenceman and doing fairly well at it (23 points in 17 games). He is the captain of the Thorold team this year and I have seen him captain other teams so this is nothing new to him. Jake is an average skater with an above average heart. He gives you all he has every night. He converted on Thorold’s first goal on a nice 2v2 and was back playing defence on the first unit power play. Good hockey IQ he knows what to do and when to do it and is a willing participant in every battle. B+

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Beantown Fall Classic U16 Top 75

Articles, Game/Tournament Reviews, Prospects, Scouting Reports

 

Neutral Zone headed to Marlboro for the Fall Beantown Classic in late October. We had two scouts in attendance and focused on the U16 Division. Once again, there were a lot of teams and some very high end talent. Below are the players that we noticed over the weekend. The fact that a player is mentioned here means that we believe they had a generally positive influence on their teams. Grades are a way to differentiate this group from each other. All the players listed are solid prospects and many are new additions to our profiles.

 

Logan Pietila (#17, Compuware, ‘00; F)-If you blinked, you missed Logan. One scout used the word “creative” three times in three games. He played fast which was impressive but what made him stand out was his ability to access all his tools at full speed. He was a factor in space, on the wall and in all three zones. He was one of the best players (certainly the most elusive) in the entire tournament. College: Michigan Tech    Grade: A-

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HPHL October Showcase: Top 40

Articles, Game/Tournament Reviews, Prospects

Neutral Zone sent two scouts to the first HPHL U16 Showcase took place on October 22-23, 2016. The showcase displayed Chicago vs. Detroit in all of their games. The Detroit area took this month winning most of the games.  The Chicago Mission appeared to be the team to beat moving forward showing a 2-1 record on the weekend and dominating opponents despite losing a tough one to Compuware in the last game.  Compuware made it aware that they are going to be hard to deal with moving forward with a deep group and Honeybaked is a young team that should only get better as the year goes along.

Below are the players that our scouts evaluated. If both scouts had notes one one player, we listed both sets below that player’s name. Grades are in relation to those players listed here. Every player on this list had a good showcase. All of these players will be in our NZ profiles.

Grade: A+

Luke Toporowski (L, 5-10/166, Mission, 01) – He was very dynamic and dangerous throughout the weekend.  Showed a mix of skill and compete level consistently.  He showed he can change the game with the puck on his stick whether it’s on the rush or down low.  He was a 1st round pick and currently signed with Spokane in the WHL, where his father Kerry was a legend back in his playing days.  Kerry accrued over 600 penalty minutes in the regular season and playoffs during the 1990-91 season.

– Toporowski’s skating really stood out in these games. He appears taller than he is, and a lot of that lies within his really long, fluid stride. It just appears to make him rangier than he may actually be at 5-9. He generates a lot of power in his stride and it is very smooth and effortless looking. It was utilized well in winning some races to loose pucks and on a few occasions in beating defensemen wide to the net. Toporowski protected the puck well and is really good at using his body to edge off defenders. Very difficult to remove from the puck. We look forward to seeing more from him as the season progresses.

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