| Simon Latkoczy | HK Dukla Trencin U20 | USHL | R | G | 5’11” | 165 | Trencin, SVK | 2020-2021: C |
USHL: Madison Capitals vs Chicago Steel, February 18, 2022: Latkoczy’s last game saw him stop 27 of 30 in a 3-2 loss to the Chicago Steel. Being an under sized goaltender, Latkoczy is quick and plays very aggressive to cut down angles as much as possible. He tends to drop in his butterfly early and often, trying to build his coverage from the bottom up. This was the case for a couple goals against as he committed too early and was beaten on a pass while he was already down. When his timing is right, he is very capable to track pucks cleanly on straight on shots and also has the ability to make big back door saves with his fast lateral movement. He will have an uphill battle to break into the North American professional game due to his size, but he has the compete and play reading ability to give himself a chance if he strings together strong performances. Grade: B
USHL: Goalie February Report, February 17, 2022: Latkoczy finished the weekend 1-1 allowing 7 goals on 65 shots. He has average size, but shows great awareness of all attackers on the ice. He excelled at movement from post to post. He did a good job in both games of battling through screens to track pucks. He faced quite a few great scoring chances in both games, and made several big stops look easy. At times he makes himself small on odd man rush situations, exposing the upper portion of the net. Overall it was a consistent weekend for Latkoczy who will look to keep winning games for his team. Grade: B-
USHL: Goalie Report 10/18-10/19, October 12, 2021: Latkoczy was near perfect this weekend earning two wins with one shutout, stopping 52 of 53 shots faced. He is not the biggest goalie, but excels with his ability to read plays and be in position on almost every shot. He showed great balance when moving laterally, and excelled at keeping his hands active while moving allowing him to make some big saves. He did a great job in penalty kill scenarios and controlled the tempo well by getting plenty of whistles from controlling his rebounds. Latkoczy is off to a near perfect start to the season and will look to build on this successful weekend. Grade: A
USHL Goalie Report 2/12-2/14, February 18, 2021: Latkoczy has stepped into the net as a consistent backbone as he continued his strong play earning a win stopping 23 of 25 shots he faced. He isn’t the biggest goalie, but he excelled at staying tight on screen shots and deflections as well. He moved well laterally on rush attempts against and showed a good ability to react to rush plays instead of guessing. He was explosive with his movements, but at times would get too low to the ground exposing the upper parts of the net. Overall Latkoczy seems to be adjusting to his new team well and is playing some consistent hockey. Grade: B+
USHL – Madison Capitals NHL Prospects, December, 2019: It’s tough to think a goalie had a good night when he gave up 6 goals, but Simon battled and was ready to play from the moment the puck was dropped facing 25 shots in the first period and another 20 in the second. He tracked pucks well making a number of high quality saves on pucks that were tipped late or on second and even third opportunities. He is not the prototypical NHL goalie, but he is a competitor who kept Madison in the game for 2 periods. Other Madison players evaluated: Carson Bantle, Reid Pabich, Patrick Schmiedlin and Ryan Kirwan.
USHL Goalies – Reports & Rankings, November 2019: Latkoczy is a very intriguing prospect as he comes to Madison from Slovakia after having international success and he showed why in his contests at the USHL Fall Classic as the 2002 net minder has great feet, a quick glove and very smart instincts in reading the play. Latkoczy will push and c cut across his crease to challenge shooters while also being aggressive and getting his feet out on top of his crease. He’s a butterfly goalie and sets his hands very low, he’s always square to the puck and never was off his angles but he’s aggressive so he forces himself to recover a lot on certain plays. Latkoczy just flat out competes, Madison was heavily outplayed for most of the game against Dubuque, he made saves on multiple grade A chances and kept his team in it the whole game. One play in particular at the end of the 2nd while down 4-2, he made a desperation toe save off a 2v1 out of the corner and then immediately got to his feet and poke checked the puck to the corner safely as his defenseman were lost in the zone, just a really smart play. Latkoczy started to get better and better each period as he gained confidence, he’s a very quick goalie whose technically sound and has a great stick. He needs to work on his rebound control a bit to where he’s absorbing pucks better but he possesses that ability to recover and make game changing saves that can sway momentum for his team. Latkoczy isn’t your 6’4 goalie who sits back and relies on positioning but rather plays that Jonathan Quick style where he cuts down angles quickly, can fly around his crease and give your team some energy off of his play. Very interesting prospect that NHL teams should keep an eye on as he can really rise his stock with a good year in the USHL.
2019 USHL Fall Classic: Simon Latkoczy is an incredibly athletic goalie who has the ability to make everyone in the building stand up. The right catching netminder controlled his rebounds well and was an absolute bright spot for Madison. He showed game awareness by understanding when his team was trapped in their end and on the verge of taking a penalty by consistently getting whistles to allow for line changes rather than PK’s.