Prospect Info: #216OA - Hurricanes Select LW Massimo Rizzo

[DaveG]

5'10 LW/Center for Penticton of the BCHL. Captained the team this past season

Missed significant time with a shoulder injury to start the season but was above PPG

11G, 29A in 37 games

Will play his college hockey at North Dakota

Click to read more...

 

[A Star is Burns]

Looks like he was rated 72 by Hockey Prospect according to elite prospects. Going to North Dakota

 

[Unsustainable]

Cool

 

[FreshSeabass]

 

[HisIceness]

Good shit, thanks for sharing

 

[CandyCanes]

MASSIMOOOOO is a fun name to yell. Hope he makes it to the NHL and scores some goals, just so I can yell his name.

 

[Surrounded By Ahos]

@Incubajerks more Italian names for us to mispronounce!

 

[geehaad]

I’m thinking you could do a lot worse than this at #216.

 

[Incubajerks]

@Incubajerks more Italian names for us to mispronounce!

The pronunciation of the surname could be tricky, especially for our Tripp. This is a very common name and surname in Italy!

Uh, and btw:

 

[AD Skinner]

 

[Unsustainable]

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

Scored twice in his collegiate debut. Not a bad start to his NCAA career considering that he was the second-to-last player drafted in 2019. Hopefully he keeps it for the entire season.

 

[bleedgreen]

I had either forgotten or never knew he came to Denver. I can walk to the rink from my place, I do a Friday morning skate there sometimes and they often put us out on the main rink instead of the practice rink. That spot where he celebrates is the same exact spot I ate shit spinning off a guy and almost beaned myself on the boards this past Friday.

 

[DaveG]

Similarly I had no idea he ended up at Denver, IIRC he was committed to UND before the draft and hadn't heard anything that changed that, but here we are.

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

Similarly I had no idea he ended up at Denver, IIRC he was committed to UND before the draft and hadn't heard anything that changed that, but here we are.

He switched university commitments after the NCAA season was cancelled last year, probably to be closer to his native British Columbia (though this is just speculation on my part, so take that with a grain of salt).

 

[A Star is Burns]

Still got a cool name, so I hope he makes it some day.

 

[Incubajerks]

This is a name I must have heard often somewhere before....

 

[Navin R Slavin]

This is a name I must have heard often somewhere before....

Nice going, Riz.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

Or maybe he's more of a Rink Ratzo.

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

Rizzo continues his high-volume scoring. He has 9 goals and 11 assists in 14 games. He really loves playing Arizona St. He 3 goals and an assist in the first 2 games of the season and then 2 goals and 2 assists during the games on the 3rd and 4th. just another 7th rounders doing well.

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

Rizzo was yet another one of those guys that slipped through the cracks because of #size, but he has a lot of skill. One thing that may be an issue with projectability is that heading into the draft, I thought that he was a bit of a jack of all trades, rather than a guy that specialized in one thing, so (at the time) I thought that he had more AAAA All-Star potential a la Poturalski/Smith/Noesen rather than a truly NHL-caliber one. Said players, though, don't usually break out offensively during their very first season in the NCAA, so I'm doing a second take, at least a little bit. Remember, though, he was the second-to-last player taken, period, in 2019, so even that outcome would be well-above the usual value here. And if he does become an NHLer for anyone a la Freddy Gaudreau, that's found money.

 

[HisIceness]

This kid may or may not make it but the fact that his draft thread is still being bumped is a good thing.

 

[NotOpie]

The issue w/Rizzo was that his skating wasn't particularly good. He's apparently worked hard on that part of his game.

 

[ONO94]

For my life to be complete--I need this kid to score a goal at PNC so I can chant Mass-i-mo like I was watching Gladiator....

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

For my life to be complete--I need this kid to score a goal at PNC so I can chant Mass-i-mo like I was watching Gladiator....

that would be legit. Get a good Gladiator fan section going. Get someone to dress like a Caesar and give a solid thumbs or thumbs down when needed.