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Bross heads east to join UMass Boston

UMass Boston (NEHC) recently received a commitment from 3.25-star prospect Zack Bross from the Minot Minotauros of the NAHL. The 6’0”, 195-lb. ’96 born forward hails from Weldon Spring, Missouri…

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NCAA Recruiting: Do Stats Matter?

After every college hockey season, our analytics team looks over the freshman class and analyzes their output. There are several reasons as to why but mainly we do it in…

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Pre Draft: 100 Players

Neutral Zone headed to the annual Pre-Draft showcase on May 12-14, 2017 just south of Boston. There were 100 teams in attendance. We primarily focused on finding players that we…

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EHL January Showcase: Top 100

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

 

Schwan Cup & Sports Authority MN High School: Top 40

Two separate tournaments going on at the same time in Minneapolis, MN displayed 16 different teams from the top division of Minnesota High School Hockey, which is AA. Out of the 16 teams in the two tournaments, 13 were ranked in the Top 20 in the State of Minnesota.  To say there was an abundance of talent would be an understatement.  The 2 tournaments combined had 21 Current Division 1 commitments and when all said and done, the number will most likely be north of 40.

Making the top 40 in this write up was not an easy task and left out some future players that will be good additions to a Division 1 programs. Some players had good weekends and some were quiet, our guess is that you haven’t heard the last of some of the Honorable Mentions as they continue to develop.

The Schwan Cup Gold Division winner went to Edina, led behind a stout defensive core and great offensive depth. Edina proved too much for their opponents in the long haul and cruised to victory.

The Sports Authority Classic was a round robin tournament that came down to the last day with the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the state battling it out. Stillwater HS remained undefeated as they took down Elk River in the final day in a great show down.

Many of these games set the tone for what could be a great AA State Tournament in March at the Excel Energy Center. There isn’t much separation between the top 10 teams in the state and it could very well come down to who is playing the best hockey in early March.

Casey Mittelstadt (6/200, Eden Prairie HS, 98) – A special player who was leading the USHL in scoring when he left to return to Eden Prairie to avenge a State Championship loss.  He is as dynamic as they come and can change a game every time he is on the ice.  He has an elite stick in traffic and can make something out of nothing.  He is strong, fast, quick and smart which covers pretty much every category.  He is currently ranked #5 overall in North American Skater by NHL Central Scouting.  Look for him to go in the top 15 or 10 depending on how he finishes with Green Bay when he returns in March.  College: Minnesota  Grade: A+

 

USPHL Winter Showcase: Top 100

Neutral Zone went to Marlboro for the USPHL Winter Showcase January 6-8, 2017. Our focus was the Premier Division. Below are the players that we feel stood out. Grades are for this weekend only and in relation to others at this showcase. Each team played three games over three days and league rules applied.

All the players below have profiles with Neutral Zone. All reports we have that mention that player will be linked to those profiles. There are about a dozen new additions here.

Lucas Michaud #74 (F, R; 5’11”, 190lbs, IHC, 1997)-Lucas showed why he and Lemieux make up the most dangerous duo in the USPHL. We have liked Lucas’ game in the past but he seems to have taken his play to another level. He is getting better. He was very good in transition and moved well laterally to create passing and shooting lanes. Where he was most impressive was along the wall. He was slippery with the puck and protected and distributed at a very high level. We cannot think of a time all weekend where he made a poor decision or play with the puck. His puck management was excellent and his patience showed his maturity and high IQ. He finished the weekend with a goal and four assists. After a disappointing season in the USHL, he’s returned home and showing signs of major improvement. Grade: A

Top 600 NCAA Eligible Prospects Born in 1997

Neutral Zone is pleased to announce our Top 600 list for 1997 born NCAA Eligible prospects throughout North America. Each player on this list has been evaluated by regional scouts in their area and also cross referenced by other scouts on staff as well as the Director of Scouting. The players are evaluated from August-December and given a star rating. The Top 600 players are selected from a pool of over 1,000 NCAA prospects in a grueling process and evaluated against one another to come up with a 1-600 list. The star ratings are more indicative of future success than the difference between #205 and #250, but the rankings are used in the calculus of the NCAA Recruiting Class Rankings.

As part of our mission statement to use analytics to educate coaches, scouts, players and parents we have broken down our Top 600 rankings and provided viewers with several interesting statistics.

League Breakdown

League # of Players %
NAHL 139 23.2%
USHL 129 21.5%
BCHL 104 17.3%
AJHL 63 10.5%
OJHL 46 7.6%
CCHL 29 4.8%
USPHL 29 4.8%
SJHL 21 3.5%
MJHL 14 2.3%
GOJHL 11 1.8%
Other 6 1.0%
NE Prep 5 0.8%
EHL 4 0.6%

The purpose of showing the league breakdown is not to rank the strengh of the leagues, rather to show where these 600 players are coming from. With that being said we see that the double digit percentages are in the four top junior leagues in North America. Keep in mind that some leagues above only have 12 teams in them while other leagues have over 20 so it is not fair to say for example that the OJHL is a better league than the CCHL because it has 17 more players on the list because it has nearly double the amount of teams.

Position Breakdown

Position # of Players %
Forwards 369 61.5%
Defense 180 30.0%
Goalies 51 8.5%

Here we breakdown the 600 players on the list by position. Our list is consistent with the 60/30/10 percentage breakdown between forwards, defense and goaltenders on most NCAA teams.

Commitments

Status # of Players %
D1 Committed 177 29.5%
Uncommitted 423 70.5%

In look at the 1997 list we see that nearly 1/3 of the players are already committed to D1 programs. Some of these players have signed their letter of intent and are expected to matriculate next fall, others will play another year of junior hockey.

Top 600 Star Ratings

Rating # of Players %
4.75 1 0.2%
4.5 4 0.7%
4.25 6 1.0%
4 18 3.0%
3.75 87 14.5%
3.5 143 23.8%
3.25 111 18.5%
3 123 20.5%
2.75 107 17.8%

The Top 600 ranges in star ratings from 4.75-2.75. This chart looks at all 600 prospects and what star rating they have. The first thing that jumps out is how 4.0-4.75 star players only make up 5% of the total list. Then the list goes up to 14.5% for 3.75 star prospects and up again to 23.8% for 3.5 star prospects. The reason there are so few 4.0 stars is the mainly the age factor. Top prospects are typically playing college hockey at 18 or 19 so there are not a ton of 4 stars left in junior hockey at the older ages. Keep in mind Connor McDavid is a 1997 birth year…

NZ Historical Star Rating Breakdown

Rating D1 % D3 % CIS/Other %
5.0 100 0 0
4.75 100 0 0
4.5 100 0 0
4.25 100 0 0
4.0 98.8 0 1.2
3.75 97.7 0 2.3
3.5 95.5 0.4 4.1
3.25 13.3 74.4 12.3
3.0 4.5 85.6 9.9
2.75 0 96.7 3.3
2.5 0 97.4 2.6
2.25 0 91.2 8.8
2.0 0 67.8 22.2

This chart tracks the 2015-2016 Star Rating’s for 1998-1995’s. As you can see 3.5 star prospects and above have over 97% chance of playing D1 college hockey. This chart is made to give context to the star ratings in the Top 600. There are reasons for CIS/Other as some players we ranked last year had played CHL and were not NCAA eligible. We have now taken them out of the National Rankings to reduce that number. Also, with the US/CAN dollar exchange rate some of the Canadian prospects will not be able to afford D3 institutions. In the US, particularly in the midwest, some players simply stop playing or go the club route if they are not offered at a Division 1 school.

Top 600 NCAA Eligible 1997 Born Prospects in North America

Rank               Name               Team    Pos         Commit   Star
   1         Nick Swaney         Waterloo (USHL)      F     Minnesota Duluth 4.75
   2         Jordan Kawaguchi         Chilliwack (BCHL)      F      North Dakota 4.5
   3         Christian Evers         Lincoln (USHL)      D      North Dakota 4.5
   4         Blake Lizotte         Fargo (USHL)      F      St. Cloud 4.5
   5         Philip Nyberg         Madison (USHL)      D         UConn 4.5

USPHL Premier: Boston Jr. Bruins vs South Shore Kings

Neutral Zone made the drive down to the Foxboro Sports Center for an afternoon tilt between the Kings and Bruins. Both teams are in the top four in the league standings.

The game didn’t feature a lot of great scoring chances. Both goalies played well and limited second chances. Each team only took two penalties. The Bruins took a 1-0 lead 5 minutes into the second when Dallas Farrell made a nice pass to Van Ness on a 2 on 1. The next tally would be in the third when the Kings pulled their goalie creating a 6-4 advantage. Max Suave buried a Kevin Hock rebound. In the 3 on 3 OT frame, Jack Quinlivan made a nice move to his backhand to beat a defender and bury the game winner.

Below are players we noted in this game. Grades are for this game only and in relation to others on this report.

Elijah Harris #30 (Bruins, G, 5’8”, 150lbs, 1997)-Elijah was near flawless with the only goal against a rebound on 6-4. He moved well and was aggressive to the shooters. He didn’t leave much in the way of rebounds and looked to have an easy afternoon in securing the win. College: Brown. A

EHL November Showcase – Top 125

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

10 Misconceptions among Hockey Prospects

  “If you’re good enough, coaches can get you into their school”  Misconception:  Regardless of a players academic performance, college coaches can get players into schools if they are good…

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HPHL October Showcase: Top 40

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.

EHL Scouting Report: Northern Cyclones vs NH Monarchs

 

Neutral Zone headed to Tri-Town arena on Friday as we headed to Hooksett, NH to watch the Cyclones take on the Monarchs. There was a good crowd on hand as the Monarchs raised the EHL Championship banner in a pre-game ceremony. The Cyclones won the game 3-2 after falling down 2-0 early in the first period. Austin Smith (G, 1997; Cyclones #36) (Grade:B) shook off a tough start to get the win for the Cyclones. He battled and showed a level of mental toughness in his first game in the EHL after a stint in the NAHL.

We will have the EHL covered all season and will see each team many times over the next several months.

Players that we noted in this game: Grades reflect performance in this game only. All players have profiles on the Neutral Zone website with all scouting reports attached. Players listed here made an overall positive influence on the game.

Markie Cambpell (F, 1996; Cyclones #51)-Markie didn’t get on the score sheet tonight but he was the best player on the ice. Last time we watched him play we were concerned about his size. That was not an issue here. He was the toughest player on the ice. He played with energy, was in constant motion, disrupted the opponent and played in all situations. He was good on the cycle and forechecked hard. The last 30 seconds of the game with his team down 6-4 he blocked a shot, won a puck against three Monarchs and dove to get a puck out. Grade: A

NE Prep School Preview: Eberhart Division

The Eberhart looks to be a Division divided as we move into 2016-17. Last year it produced four playoff teams and this year should be no different. We expect Rivers, St. Mark’s, Roxbury Latin and Brooks to be the odds on favorites to secure playoff berths. Here are our capsules for all 8 teams in the upcoming season, ranked in order of predicted finish.

Rivers The Red Wings come off a strong season with 22 wins and a berth in the Small School Championship, succumbing to eventual champion St. Mark’s. Coach Shawn McEachern has regularly found success by recruiting athletes at every position and filling in holes from departed seniors. This past year’s graduating seniors include D Frank Boie (Holy Cross commit), F Christian Capello (Bowdoin) and D Mike Gurska. Key returnees prepared to take the mantle include F Ted Wooding (34 points), F Brendan Hamblet (27 points) and D Michael Young (22 points, UCONN commit). On the way to the championship game last season a key contributor was 00 D Tony Andreozzi, who parlayed his strong season into a commitment to Brown. Andreozzi is a long, two-way, skilled defenseman who will be a key player for them at both ends of the ice. With G Aidan Porter back between the pipes, sporting a sub-2.00 GAA, expect another solid run for Rivers.

NZ’s Take: Rivers did lose some talent but they have a talented core returning at every position, most importantly Porter in net. Porter will be the best goalie in the division and he’ll help during the early part of the season where Rivers is plugging in new faces to play more important roles after the departure of several key seniors. It should be a dog fight between St. Mark’s and Rivers but we give River’s the edge because they’ll be older and more experienced.

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