On Wednesday December 1, 2021 the NHL side of Neutral Zone traveled to Cushing Academy to watch an early season match-up of Cushing hosting Dexter. In a hard fought physical game which featured four players on Central Scouting’s preliminary draft list Neutral Zone came away with a few evaluations that might peak your interest. As always each of these schools have a number of other draft eligible players on their rosters. They were either out of the line up or did not show enough to warrant write-up. We will review these players in future viewings and report on progress.
| Owen Paskowski | Cushing Academy | NE Prep | L | D | 6’4″ | 190 | Uncomm. | Plymouth, MA | 2004 | 2021-2022: C |
As expected he played a simple straight forward game, but I did notice a few things that are worth commenting on. First, he looked more explosive when pivoting to retrieve loose pucks or when staying with a forward that was driving wide with speed. There have been times in the past where Paskowski’s feet have stayed very wide while pivoting which limited the length and power of his push, not versus Dexter. He kept his hips low and when he opened his hips to pivot his feet went heel to heel which allowed for a stronger more explosive push. Dexter had some quick forwards who stuttered stepped to delay, but we feel Paskowski’s heel to heel pivot allowed him to be more patient and more explosive when he needed it. Second, in the defensive zone he used his stick as a weapon while containing forwards in the corner. I don’t mean he was breaking forearms. I do mean that he disguised his reach and baited opposing forwards into believing they had him leaning only to have a snake tongue like stick quickly take away their time and space. And lastly… this is not not a new thing, but I love the leadership and emotion Paskowski is showing. It’s very obvious that his teammates matter to him as mush as winning does. He has their backs in scrums and when a teammate blocks a shot or takes a huge hit to make a play Paskowski is always the first player to him to knock his shinpads after the whistle. It’s a little thing that goes a long way.
| Jackson Irving | Cushing Academy | NE Prep | L | G | 6’0″ | 172 | Uncomm. | Newbury, MA | 2004 | 2021-2022: C |
If you stood near me during the game you would have heard me mutter “Holy fvck?!?!” in total disbelief at some of the saves Irving made. But in all honestly at this point I should not be shocked any more. He is an athletic well prepared athlete who regularly makes incredible saves look easy because he just a damn good goalie. I don’t think he’ll get drafted or even have many NHL guys paying attention to him because he doesn’t pass the height test, but I can tell you that I just watched a 5’10” goalie play for the Nashville Predators last night and I would keep paying attention.
| Billy Norcross | Cushing Academy | NE Prep | R | C | 6’2″ | 181 | Boston College | 2022 | Lynn, MA | 2003 | 2021-2022: C |
This is in his second year of draft eligibility and I think he’s realizing what type of an impactful player he can be. In this one I saw a maturity in Norcross that I’m not so sure I would have seen twelve months ago. To recap, the first few shifts for Norcross were tough. He came out going hard and trying to do too much. In transition he had a grey area turnover at the defensive blueline. On a zone entry he drove wide into his strongside corner and exposed the puck to a Sean Keohane poke check which led to an odd man opportunity heading the other way. And he got absolutely rocked as he tried to squeeze by a Dexter defender by making himself small. In the past Norcross might have continued down the road of trying too hard to be perfect, but not versus Dexter. He simplified. He used his speed to his advantage by moving the puck and jumping into the open ice that had been created. And the 6’2″ 180 pound large human stopped trying to make himself small. He played big by initiating contact in every situation and by driving through opponents to get to where he needed to be. His playing like a man on a mission led to one of the prettiest passing plays we have seen in a long time. He received a pass in the high slot and sold that he was ripping it high glove before making a beautiful pass to Ethan Gardula who put the puck into an open net. To me this was a statement for Norcross that he has a short memory and can stay focused on the task at hand.
| Matt Fusco | Dexter School | NE Prep | R | D | 6’0″ | 185 | Harvard | 2022 | Westwood, MA | 2003 | 2021-2022: C |
Fusco was the definition of sacrificing your body to make a play. He drew penalties. He put himself in awkward positions to make passes and then paid the price when he went flying into the walls after contact. There is no doubt that he was sore on Thursday. If you were to ask me before the game what Fusco had to do to get noticed by the NHL scouts I would have said that he needed to move the puck quickly in transition, move his feet quickly after passing the puck and all of his shots need to hit the net. I believe he did all of this and he did it with purpose. The opening face-off was a quick look at what Fusco was going to send our way during the game. Dexter won the draw, went D to D for a neutral zone breakout and Fusco fired a rocket up the middle to the center. All game he moved quickly laterally to open passing lanes, made a hard accurate pass and when it was possible he jumped into the play as a viable secondary option. There were times when he drove the puck deep into Cushing’s zone, like he he did when he drew a tripping penalty in the third, but in general he got the puck into the forward’s hands as quickly as possible. It was not a flashy game for Fusco, but I believe he played the style needed for him to be successful at the next level.
| Bobby Landry | Dexter School | NE Prep | R | C | 6’0″ | 165 | Harvard | 2022 | Hingham, MA | 2004 | 2021-2022: C |
When I’m watching a game I’m watching to see who’s making an impact. Who’s doing the things that effect the outcome of the game and for me Bobby Landry was exactly what I’d want in a center. I know it didn’t happen but it felt like he won every face-off in the defensive zone and if he didn’t win it he tied up the opposing center to make sure Cushing could not run a set play. By my count Cushing had two quality opportunities off of offensive zone face-offs and both came on broken puck bounces that ended up a few feet behind their center. On both of these draws Landry took his time before engaging in the draw to make sure his teammates knew their responsibilities. By communicating with his teammates he showed confident leadership, game awareness and he ensured that Cushing would be boxed out so the shots would be one and done’s. During defensive zone wall battles Landry stayed on the defensive side of the puck showing the core strength to remain strong through contact and the quick footed agility to slide laterally when a Cushing forward tried to roll off of him to the net. I loved his quick defensive stick and his quick poke check which created loose pucks and led to clean zone exits by Dexter. In my opinion Landry’s ability to contain the cycle to the corner and separate his man from the puck after contact allowed his wingers to cheat and fly the zone as early as possible when there was a 50/50 puck. I loved his timing in transition where his low support was a constant. Through neutral zone transition he showed the ability to handle hard passes on his backhand while skating at top speed as well as keeping his eyes up so Cushing’s defensemen were forced to back off their defensive blueline. In the offensive zone Landry worked the mid-wall scissor cycle very well and showed the explosive edge work to cut hard through the open seam for scoring opportunities whether he was the puck carrier or he was driving the net looking for a pass. Landry dug for rebounds and genuinely looked like he expected to score dirty grimy goals, which he did. As I said in my #PLPG there was a time when I though Bobby Landry was a poacher who would cheat to score goals, well that opinion has changed. He has turned himself into a physically strong two-way leader who holds his teammates accountable while at the same time being so sound defensively that his linemates can now do the poaching.
Logo courtesy of Cushing Academy