Rabid Ranger
2 is better than one
As far as American hockey has come the leadership at USA Hockey continues to shoot itself in the foot. Player selection and coaching continue to be a significant problem.
That roster is very talented, I don't even think it's that much of a stretch to say that roster could have fared better at the Hlinka than the one we sent. Matt Argentina, Davis Burnside, Kenny Conners, Dylan Gratton, Tyler Haskins, Luke Mittelstadt, Jack Silich etc. That's a ton of talent for the o3 birth year not even counting the NTDPers. This team will do very well at the Hlinka next year similar to how the 01s had so much overflow talent outside of the NTDP.Team USA with a nice opening win over Slovakia in the 5 Nations Tourney yesterday.
U.S. Opens Five Nations Play With 9-3 Victory Over Slovakia
lol, that would be something else, but I don't disagreeThat roster is very talented, I don't even think it's that much of a stretch to say that roster could have fared better at the Hlinka than the one we sent. Matt Argentina, Davis Burnside, Kenny Conners, Dylan Gratton, Tyler Haskins, Luke Mittelstadt, Jack Silich etc. That's a ton of talent for the o3 birth year not even counting the NTDPers. This team will do very well at the Hlinka next year similar to how the 01s had so much overflow talent outside of the NTDP.
I've caught the first two games for the U17 5 Nations Team. Limited viewings, so nothing to stand by per se, but there's some intriguing players on the team.
Quite a few forwards have stood out at certain times (i.e. Matthew Argentina was very good against Slovakia, but I barely noticed him against Switzerland), but I think Jason Blake's kid Jackson has been the most consistently noticeable forward. Seems to always been involved, good hands, just makes things happen. He's been overhandling the puck at times, as have quite a few players, but it's not uncommon at that age. Not the biggest kid but hopefully he grows to his dad's size at least.
On defense, you can certainly understand the hype for Luke Mittelstadt. He looks good and has all the tools to be a high first rounder. His partner here, Dylan Gratton, is interesting. Incredibly small sample size for me, so this could be irrelevant, but I get a Tyler Kleven vibe from him. Not that they're similar players stylistically, but the way you watch Kleven and expect more offensively is kind of how I've felt about Gratton here. Like Kleven, Gratton is very good skater, seems to be involved a lot, can carry the puck up the ice, etc., and yet it hasn't led to much offensively (not points, but chances). I wouldn't hang my hat on that assessment from 2 games though. Luke Peart was good today against Switzerland. A bit of a rover in the game but he certainly has a knack for jumping into the play to make things happen offensively. Beyond his 2 goals, he also had other quality chances.
I've caught the first two games for the U17 5 Nations Team. Limited viewings, so nothing to stand by per se, but there's some intriguing players on the team.
Quite a few forwards have stood out at certain times (i.e. Matthew Argentina was very good against Slovakia, but I barely noticed him against Switzerland), but I think Jason Blake's kid Jackson has been the most consistently noticeable forward. Seems to always been involved, good hands, just makes things happen. He's been overhandling the puck at times, as have quite a few players, but it's not uncommon at that age. Not the biggest kid but hopefully he grows to his dad's size at least.
On defense, you can certainly understand the hype for Luke Mittelstadt. He looks good and has all the tools to be a high first rounder. His partner here, Dylan Gratton, is interesting. Incredibly small sample size for me, so this could be irrelevant, but I get a Tyler Kleven vibe from him. Not that they're similar players stylistically, but the way you watch Kleven and expect more offensively is kind of how I've felt about Gratton here. Like Kleven, Gratton is very good skater, seems to be involved a lot, can carry the puck up the ice, etc., and yet it hasn't led to much offensively (not points, but chances). I wouldn't hang my hat on that assessment from 2 games though. Luke Peart was good today against Switzerland. A bit of a rover in the game but he certainly has a knack for jumping into the play to make things happen offensively. Beyond his 2 goals, he also had other quality chances.
i was pretty shocked he didn'tWhy didn’t Gratton make the USNTDP? Bad week of camp, considering juniors (despite a PSU commit) or just a ton of defensive competition on the 03’s?
Why didn’t Gratton make the USNTDP? Bad week of camp, considering juniors (despite a PSU commit) or just a ton of defensive competition on the 03’s?
Caught 04s Devin Kaplan and Lane Hutson in the AYHL showcase this weekend. Basically the opposite player but both extremely gifted: Kaplan a monster up front with size and athleticism, extremely appealing playing with and around the puck, attacks the net with confidence. They beat the Jr. Flyers 12-2.
Lane is a slippery small guy on defense who makes play after play. That north jersey avalanche 16 team is pretty good. Lane's older brother Quinn (02 Fwd) isn't bad either. All BU recruits
He was fine, they have a bunch of good players I was watching. Didn't notice him more than a few shifts but other people were saying he looked good.How did Mick Thompson look? Pretty sure he's playing on the North Jersey Avalanche. Small, skilled forward.
NTDP U17 team played their first ever game together and beat Johnstown (NAHL) 5-1. No box score yet, but Dylan Duke and Cruz Lucius each scored twice.
The current U18 team ('02s) really struggled last year to open their season against Johnstown, losing 6-2 in their opening match before taking the next one 4-3 in OT.
Player | Position | Height | Weight | Height - Diff in Inches | Weight - Diff in Pounds |
Caden Brown | Forward | 5'11 | 174 | +1 | +12 |
Chaz Lucius | Forward | 6'0 | 172 | -0.5 | +11 |
Colby Saganiuk | Forward | 5'8 | 154 | +3 | +3 |
Dylan Duke | Forward | 5'9 | 168 | -1 | +3 |
Jack Devine | Forward | 5'10 | 158 | +1 | +1 |
Jack Hughes | Forward | 5'11 | 160 | - | +11 |
Jeremy Wilmer | Forward | 5'6 | 140 | +1 | +13 |
Justin Janicke | Forward | 5'11 | 174 | +1 | +14 |
Liam Gilmartin | Forward | 6'1 | 185 | +1 | +2 |
Redmond Savage | Forward | 5'10 | 167 | - | +7 |
Ryan St. Louis | Forward | 5'9 | 161 | - | +3 |
Sasha Pastujov | Forward | 6'0 | 180 | +1 | +5 |
Tyler Boucher | Forward | 6'1 | 190 | +1 | +10 |
Aidan Hreschuk | Defense | 5'11 | 180 | +1 | +6 |
Ethan Straky | Defense | 5'11 | 163 | +1.5 | +2.5 |
Jacob Martin | Defense | 5'11 | 183 | +0.5 | +11.5 |
Luke Hughes | Defense | 6'0 | 162 | - | +12 |
Roman Schmidt | Defense | 6'5 | 209 | Not at camp | Not at camp |
Sean Behrens | Defense | 5'8 | 173 | +1.5 | +21 |
Ty Gallagher | Defense | 6'0 | 188 | +1 | +6 |
Ty Murchison | Defense | 6'1 | 173 | +1 | - |
Gibson Homer | Goalie | 6'5 | 195 | +2 | +22 |
Kaidan Mbereko | Goalie | 5'11 | 180 | - | +30 |
Here's the height/weight listings from the new U17 team from the evaluation camp. I wouldn't take these as gospel, but more so because I'm interested to see how accurate these are when the team measures are done at the end of summer and/or how much these guys grow in the next 5 months.
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Player Position Height Weight Tyler Boucher Forward 6'0 180 Caden Brown Forward 5'10 162* Jack Devine Forward 5'9 157 Dylan Duke Forward 5'10 165 Liam Gilmartin Forward 6'0 183 Jack Hughes Forward 5'11 149 Justin Janicke Forward 5'10 160 Chaz Lucius Forward 6'0.5* 161 Sasha Pastujov Forward 5'11 175 Colby Saganiuk Forward 5'5 151 Redmond Savage Forward 5'10 160 Ryan St. Louis Forward 5'9 158* Jeremy Wilmer Forward 5'5 127 Sean Behrens Defense 5'6.5* 152* Ty Gallagher Defense 5'11 182 Aidan Hreschuk Defense 5'10 174 Luke Hughes Defense 6'0 150 Jacob Martin Defense 5'10.5* 171.5* Ty Murchison Defense 6'0 173 Roman Schmidt Defense 6'4^ 210^ Ethan Straky Defense 5'9.5* 160.5* Gibson Homer Goalie 6'3 173 Kaidan Mbereko Goalie 5'11 150This is based on the roster sheets handed out before each game. The roster sheets didn't always list every player (as each team would rotate in/out players halfway through and those players rotating in wouldn't have measurables listed), but every player was listed with measurables multiple times. A few players (Brown, St. Louis, Behrens, Lucius, Martin, Straky) oddly had different measurements listed throughout and where this happened I averaged their listings and marked their measurement (height and or weight) that was averaged with an asterisk. The differences were all pretty minor except Jacob Martin who was listed as 160 lbs and 183 lbs. Roman Schmidt wasn't in camp, so I used his last reported measurables.[TBODY] [/TBODY]
Position Avg Height Avg Weight Forward 5'8 160.6 Defense 5'9 171.6 Goalie 6'1 161.5 Overall 5'9 164.5
Not an overly large team at this point (outside of Schmidt and Homer), but there's a lot of guys with solid frames and given these are 15/16 year olds, I'm sure in 5 months there will be some significant changes. Wilmer, Saganiuk, and Behrens hopefully all find some growth spurts and soon.