| Andrew Ness | Fort McMurray Oil Barons | AJHL | L | G | 6’2″ | 175 | Bemidji State | 2024 | Winnipeg, MB | 2004 | 2022-2023: C+ |
AJHL: Spruce Grove vs Fort McMurray, February 18, 2023: Ness came out on the losing end of the game but stopped 43 of 47 shots against through the three periods and overtime. Andrew held of an early flurry from the Saints with 20 saves in the first period alone. He is quick athletic and loves to challenge shooters at the top of his crease. He battles around his net to jump on loose pucks making a few desperation saves as well without his stick. Ness rips across from post to post and gets on his angle at the right time. Andrew read the shooters blade putting himself in the right position before the shot was even released. He controlled rebounds well pushing pucks to the corner and up out of play when necessary. Ness made some big timely saves and was the reason this game remained close to the end for the Oil Barons. Grade: B+
U20: World Jr. A Challenge, Sweden vs Canada West U19, December 16, 2022: After a rough start for his partner Ness came on in relief stopping 13 of 15 for a save percentage of 0.870%. Both goals came while Team Canada was shorthanded with the first coming on a 5on3. The first one came on a quick release snap shot from his left flank that went low blocker. The play came immediately after a face-off with Team Sweden implemented a flash screen moving from Ness’ right to left. Truthfully the shot blew by him before he had an opportunity to break a sweat. The second goal was on a similar play, but this time Ness anticipated the flash screen and made a low right pad save. His issue came on a rebound that was kicked directly to the Sweden’s shooting option in the dot lane to his right and the goal scorer pumped the rebound to the upper left corner. Even though Sweden scored on the play Ness looked unbelievably athletic as he exploded off his right inside edge across the crease attempting to make a highlight reel blocker save. The rest of the game it seemed as though Team Sweden had Team Canada’s head spinning as the one touched passes on the tape or into space, but we feel Ness showed good puck tracking and anticipation. There were a few times when he drifted outside of his posts or ended up on his rear-end, but the situation called for mental toughness and focus and we feel Ness certainly showed that. Grade: B
AJHL: Goalie Report, November – December, 2022: The 2004 Birth year goaltender Andrew Ness is from Winnipeg Manitoba and in his first year with the Oil Barons Appearing in 14 Contests so far this season. Ness stands 6’2′ tall and 174 pounds and holds a 6-5 record this season with one shutout. In this contest on December second against the Calgary Canucks Ness stopped 26-29 shots surrendering three in the 5-3 loss. Ness has a very compact stance which allows him to move with ease and power. He is a calm presence in the net and very rarely found himself chasing behind the play. Ness did seem to struggle with shots low to his hands as that is where two of the three goals found the net. His rebound control was good and ness was very reactive to shots on different places on his body dropping into pucks compact. Ness seemed to track pucks well and take backside looks but not very frequently. With a lot of good qualities just giving up some goals on good opportunities I’d look for the young goaltender to improve as the season continues. Grade: B
Bantam AAA: Winnipeg Jets AAA Classic, December 4, 2018: Andrew started 3 of the team’s 6 games, going 3-0 with a 2.24 GAA and .916 save percentage. His numbers were very strong until he came in for relief in the gold medal game and allowed 4 goals against. We were very impressed with his play this weekend and won’t allow the final game to cloud our judgement. The ’04 was quick to play pucks dumped into the zone and was quick to his stance after unexpected turnovers in the defensive zone. He did well to deflect pucks out of harm’s way or cover anything that was in-close during scrums. Grade: B+
Photo Credit: Dan Hickling/Hickling Images