Ok everyone, I recieved an email my friend who is attending the tournament. Last night was just a brief phone conversation but here is snippets of what he had to say about the U-18 camp.
Well first, he had trouble recognizing players at first, but he recieved a flyer with the players names and numbers eventually.
Brock Bradford looked good. Scoring two good looking goals, has a bit of Theo Fleury in him. Small, but agressive, has some amazing moves,extremely shifty and quick, with a great release.
Devon Setoguchi has been awesome, has been a bigger force then Gilbert Brule, has created chances on his own. Looks like a top 10 pick.
Gilbert Brule, lined up vs top players every shift, players obviosly want to shut him down and take note when he is on the ice, Has used his amazing slap shot quite a bit.
Daniel Bertram: Insanely fast, just an amazing world class skater with great offensive tools. One of the funnest players to watch work, just an amazing talent.
Riley Merkley: A big smart player, has been surprisingly physical. Looks like a two way powerforward in the making.
Chris Durand: Elite vision, very good hands. Skating needs improvement but his game is surpringly mature and is a great two way player.
Marc Staal has been looking very good, a very good skater, very smart, great in his own zone, looks really good offensively as well.
Ryan O'Marra: Everything is here with this player, Big and physical with good offensive upside. 1st round talent with a big frame and likes to hit.
Daniel Ryder: A stocky and fast forward who looks like he could actually end up being better then his brother, Impressed my friend alot. Ryder has a good looking and very powerfull stride, looks to have great hands and a snipers mindset.
Those were the guys he seemed most impressed with, if anyone has any questions on a specific player i'll ask him or see if he already has some on that player.
Montreal: Nothing on Gragnani..but Ryan Mior has been very very impressive, extremely quick, very agressive, great agility, moves very well, doesn't over exhert him self to make save, extremely agressive on his angles, shows no remource for giving his own teamates slashes to the legs durring drills and scrimages. Gives up some bad rebounds at times. ALways moving, a high tempo goaltender. Played very well.
Another player who was very impressive was J.P. Paquet. He has good size, he looks to be more physical then expected, getting the puck out of his zone with authority and has been a real take control kind of player, a force on the ice. Skates the puck up on his own sometimes and always makes the smart play.