After driving through whiteout conditions through SE Minnesota, I was fortunate enough to arrive in Sioux Falls last night (Tuesday, January 10, 2017) with minutes to spare before the first puck dropped on the 2017 USHL Top Prospects Game.
Before touching on the game and the featured prospects, a word about the home rink, the Denny Sanford Premier Center, nominally the home arena of the Sioux City Stampede. Of all of the USHL arenas I have attended, the one in Sioux Falls is by far the nicest. I’ve been to NCAA and AHL arenas that would wither in shame next to the Sanford Center.
The game itself was mostly one-sided, with the Black jerseys, made up of players from the league’s Western Conference, dominating the run of play from end to end. They outshot the White team (Eastern Conference prospects) in the first and third periods and in total, by a count of 36-25. Watching the game, I would have thought the shot count was even more lopsided.
Team Black scored on two of their first handful of shots against Team White’s starting netminder Maksim Zhukov (Green Bay), the first on a nice play by Waterloo’s Nick Swaney, who picked off a stray pass near the top of the slot in the offensive zone, spun and wired a fine wrist shot over Zhukov’s shoulder. 77 seconds later, Paul Washe of Tri City deflected a point shot from hometown player John St. Ivany.
The Whites never really achieved any sustained pressure on either of the Blacks’ two netminders, Dayton Rasmussen or Cayden Primeau.
Near the mid-way point of the second period, Des Moines blueliner Mario Ferraro used some pretty stickwork to gain the zone and get deep. Washe was Johnny-on-the-spot again, picking up the loose puck behind Ferraro and firing it home past Zhukov again.
With the first whistle after the 10:00 mark of the second, both team switched goalies, with the aforementioned Primeau entering for the West and Muskegon’s Keith Petruzzelli entering for the East. The Blacks tested Petruzzelli early and often but the big goalie turned away everything in a performance that would ultimately earn him the MVP Award for the Eastern Conference.
Another hometown hero, Matthew Quercia ended his night much as he played throughout, with extreme hustle, racing after a loose puck with the East net empty, beating Bloomington blueliner Ben Mirageas by diving in and pushing the disc into the vacated twine to give us a final score of 4-0 for the Western Conference. Washe, on the strength of his two goals, won the MVP award for his side.4
From this observer’s perspective, part of the lopsided nature of the game was due to player selection. I suppose had Casey Mittlestadt (Green Bay) and Reilly Walsh (Chicago) not both returned to their respective high schools, the Eastern team would have been stronger. Then again, had Eeli Tolvanen (Sioux City) not hurt himself in the relegation round of the WJC the West would have been even stronger. I’m not sure why guys like Robert Arrak (Cedar Rapis), or Nolan Moyle (Green Bay) were there. Chicago’s Baker Shore would have fit in nicely here. Colin Thiesen of Dubuque has also been having a great season and the league has shown over and over that it is not averse to showcasing a player in his second or third year of draft eligibility. On fact, third year eligible Ross Colton stole the show with five points last year, earning himself the chance to hear his name called in the fourth round of the 2016 draft by Tampa Bay.
The most impressive performance for me was, hands-down, Petruzzelli. In general, it can be tough for goalies to enter the game mid-stream, even when they know in advance that they will take over at a set point. The game was mostly spent within a 30 foot radius of Petruzzelli for his first few minutes, and he was forced into making several tough stops. He stopped all 21 shots he faced in just over 27 minutes of action. A huge net blocker at over 6-5”, he stopped pucks cleanly, not giving up many juicy rebounds. He was visibly tracking the puck well and showed impressive athleticism, especially in his agile and quick lower half. In a draft year full of promising netminders, from the USHL and beyond, Petruzzelli is making a case to be among the best of the best.
Shane Bowers (Waterloo) is expected by many to be a first round pick next June. I don’t know if I see it. First there is the matter of his production. With 22 points in 30 games, even bearing in mind the fact that USHL is a notoriously tough league to score in, is a red flag. He has the size you want in an NHL center, standing a shaded over 6-1” and he looks like he has room to fill out his 183 pound frame as well. He is a very good skater, although not a true burner. He looks dangerous on the rush and does a good job of carrying the puck in and establishing the zone for his team. He has some dangle ability and can move through back pressure easily enough. He plays a confident game. The cycle suits his skill set well. These are all good and desirable attributes in a prospect. He would seem to fit an ideal third liner’s role. There have been players like him picked late in the first before, such as the (in some circles) controversial selection of Trent Frederic at 29th overall by Boston last year. Frederic, though, graded out much better in his shooter ability, in which Bowers is roughly average, and in his IQ, where Bowers is already plus. Bowers needs to turn things up a notch or two in the season’s second half for me to think of him as more than a second rounder.
Clayton Phillips (Fargo) and Mario Ferraro (Des Moines) are both undersized offensive blueliners who had strong games for the Western Conference. Both are listed at 5-10.5” and between 180-185 pounds. Both left-handed defenders demonstrated strong skating and above average puck work. Phillips showed his best work transitioning from his own zone to the neutral zone, with patience, calm and precision. Ferraro showed his best work in the offensive zone, foraying in deep when the opportunity presented itself. He created the second goal in such a fashion almost single handedly. Although they have similar statures, Phillips is more effective from a physical perspective. And while Ferraro showed more offensive sizzle, I rank Phillips a touch higher for now as his overall hockey IQ seems more refined. That could certainly change, but the way he performed simple, yet necessary tasks was impressive. I think there is less risk that Phillips’ lack of size hampers him at the next level than there is with Ferraro. Ferraro also turned heads in the pre-game skills competition. His aggregate skating scores, combining nine different competitions, was best among all participants.
One player I was particularly interested in seeing in this event was Dubuque’s dynamic forward Zach Solow. Although unranked by NHL Central Scouting (would not be the first time they have whiffed on emerging talent from the USHL), he has ridden an 18 game point streak to enter the Top Prospects game as the league’s leading scorer. Undersized, and not known for his skating prowess, he nonetheless scored well in the agility drills (not as well on the sprints) and won the tied shooting accuracy competition. Like the rest of the East roster, Solow could not get much going during the game. He seemed content to let his linemates for the game, Mick Messner (Madison) and Nicholas Werbik (Youngstown) take the puck more often and he took but one shot on the night. He is one to watch for the second half of the season, both to see how far he can take his point streak, but as he is generally a dynamic, fun player with plus stickhandling and a strong shot. His two-way game is also commendable.
Often at games like this, it is imperative that the hometown team have a few representatives on the roster. The Stampede had three here. Finnish blueliner Kasper Kotkansalo followed up a great skills competition showing (finished second among blueliners) with a solid game, showcasing both a good physical game with a decent point shot. Left winger Matt Quercia scored very poorly in the skills competition, but made up for it with great hustle in the game. Not a big scorer for Sioux Falls (eight points in 28 games, the BU commit played with a lot of jam and was effective with his reads and instincts killing the game’s only non-coincidental penalty. As mentioned above, his efforts were ultimately rewarded with an empty net goal in the third. For my take, the most impressive of the SF trio was blueliner John St. Ivany. Blessed with a good sized-frame, he showed a bit of everything except for a strong shot. That is a bit of a floater, if I’m being honest. But he can skate, plays strong in his own end and showed more offensive instincts than would be expected based on his scoring stats. He can spot an opening to get deep in the offensive zone and has the confidence to step into it. In addition to his high hockey IQ, which was evident on the ice, as a Yale commit, I can only assume that the Southern California native has impressive off-ice IQ as well.
Walker Duehr (Chicago) is another player whose game I can appreciate. I have seen plenty of him with the Chicago Steel and he has long struck me as kind of a poor man’s Josh Anderson. Not as heavy as Anderson, he plays a big man’s power game and has a goal scorer’s touch in the offensive zone. Although I’ve never thought too much of his skating, the Sioux Falls native was one of the better forwards at the skills competition. He also has some creativity, although not the softest pair of mitts. He is a stalker on the ice, keeping his stick on the surface ready for pickoffs. He is the type of player that defenses are always aware of and have to work very hard to keep him contained. He has good balance and is very hard on the puck. He has all of the markings of a mule at the next level. He was overlooked at last year’s draft after assisting Tri City to a Clark Cup championship, but I expect him to get a closer look this time around.
There were many more players at the tournament and I will probably highlight some with scouting reports as the season proceeds, but the ones discussed above did the most (in my humble estimation) to boost their stock.