Anderson8
Registered User
- Jul 24, 2006
- 149
- 0
I was wondering if scouts for NHL or Canadian junior hockey ever go to watch and scout players in Hich School Hockey.
I was wondering if scouts for NHL or Canadian junior hockey ever go to watch and scout players in Hich School Hockey.
Yeah, I guess you could say Minnesota HS hockey is scouted pretty well!
11. Ryan McDonagh - Cretin Derham Hall
25. Patrick White - Grand Rapids
51. Nick Larson - Hill Murray
53. John Lee - Moorhead
61. Nico Sacchetti - Virginia
77. Drew LeBlanc - Hermantown
80. Jake Hansen - White Bear Lake
103. Tyler Johnson - Cloquet
122. Jordy Christian - Moorhead
127. Taylor Matson - Holy Angels
133. Joe Stejskal - Grand Rapids
151. Jeff Foss - Moorhead
153. Mike Dorr - Roseville
170. Tyler Kieffer - Stillwater
172. Joe Beaudette - Blaine
180. Brandon Bahnemann - Rochester Lourdes
183. Derek Loisel - Coon Rapids
184. Brandon Martell - Elk River
203. Matt Reber - Edina
206. Josh Levine - Bloomington Jefferson
Michigan and Massachusettes have some half-decent high school hockey, but their real stars are in the AAA Midget Major and Prep School programs. There are a few other really good AAA Midget Major programs scattered about the country, but otherwise kids in states outside of the Big 3 M's go to juniors. The NAHL and the EJHL will occasionally produce a draft pick or two, but primarily they'll come out of the USHL.
So the moral of the story is, if you want to get scouted, play in one of the programs above.
P.S. I forget, of course, to mention that some U.S. kids will play in the CHL or Canadian Junior A leagues as well.
I don't know much about other states but other then Mike Richter, who went to a private school in PA back in the day, no one else from High School Hockey in PA has made it to the NHL. I know one kid from my area that went and played juniors in Canada but they took him before he even hit high school to get ready for Canadian hockey. Another player that played for a private school in my area is Tony Voce and he probably will never make it to the NHL, just playing for the Phantoms now. I ended up playing against some of the top players in the state when I was in High School and more recently in D2 college and there is no chance any of us will ever get scouted.
as far as i know, only a small handful of players from the philadelphia/nj area have ever played 4 years of high school hockey then went right to d-1 college hockey. out of those small few, i dont think any have played in the nhl.
I am sure there must be some scouting somewhere though more north and in cases when a player is so good at a young level that it just can't be ignored, because chances are if your playing High School hockey in PA the highest level you will reach is D1 college hockey.
Brian Lee was drafted straight out of highschool.
as well as david fischer this past year
The Blues drafted T.J. Oshie out of high school, and it was considered an off the board pick at the time.
richter went to germantown academy for 2 years, then northwoods, then wisconsin. he was able to play at wisconsin bc of northwoods, not ga. he was drafted in the nhl bc of wisonsin.
voce played for archbishop ryan for 1 year then lawrence academy for 4 years. he was never scouted by nhl scouts in the philaldephia area.
nhl scouts would never scout a philadelphia hs hockey game. there are junior a scouts at the state finals, and some state playoffs games. chicago showcase is a good way to be seen by nhl and junior scouts too.
the only states that have hs hockey that nhl scouts watch are minnesota, wisconsin, mass, conn, new hampshire, and maybe on a very small scale upstate new york, michigan and alaska.
Minnesota and Massachussetts are scouted the most by NHL teams.
As of late, Wisconsin has been scouted fairly heavy too by NHL teams - Derrick LaPoint and Brent Gwidt were drafted out of Wisconsin HS last season... Travis Erstad looks like the next one to be this season.
Wasn't Blake Wheeler a HS pick as well?