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Sez I have seen him play and he has offensive upside. He’s a big kid and likes to lay the lumber on opposing teams. He’s very responsible in his own zone as well. He’s already over 200lbs I would say. Nice find for coach and co
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Alaska is coming to town November 18-19 according to their schedule releaseComment
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No weeklong stay in Troy with Thanksgiving dinner at the rescue mission followed by an afternoon holiday tilt at HFH?Originally posted by sezenack View Post
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Today is 7 May 2022. There are 147 days (21 weeks) until RPI's next game. There are 55 days until RPI has a new president.
This is based upon 1 October 2022 for the start of next season and 1 July 2022 for the end of @#$%^.
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Neutral Zone gave Ramsay 4.0 *'s as opposed to 3.5 for Al-Azem.Originally posted by sezenack View PostComment
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I have heard from more than one source that Al-Azem is grossly under rated. Some areas may need a little improvement but may already be ready for NCAA Division I play.Originally posted by Ralph Baer View PostTake the shortest distance to the puck and arrive in ill humorComment
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Kyrkostas is also 3.5 and he's on the central scouting list. For another example going back a couple years, it took Beaton forever to move from 3.5 to 4.0 on NZ.Originally posted by Ralph Baer View Post
On the other hand, if Alazem was at that level, I'm surprised he went undrafted by the USHL. We'll just have to see how he does in junior hockey next yearComment
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Today is 8 May 2022. There are 146 days until RPI's next game. There are 54 days until RPI has a new president.
This is based upon 1 October 2022 for the start of next season and 1 July 2022 for the end of @#$%^.
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I've watched 3 games of every incoming freshman (plus Strom from 2020-21 when he was in Fargo). Here are my scouting reports.
Ardanaz
Offensive defenseman who is eager to join the rush when possible and lead breakouts. Great skater with great edges and lateral mobility. His acceleration and speed are very good as well. He's definitely comfortable with the puck on his stick and excellent on breakout. He has good hands and passing ability. He is solid in his own end as well with a good stick, and he uses his skating and stick to defend the blue line well and deny zone entries. He QBs the power play effectively and can also play on the PK. Reminds me a lot of Cory Babichuk. Main difference is his skating is a bit better than Babichuk's, while Babichuk had more hockey sense than him.
Brown
His size stands out right away at 6'3 190, and he plays with physicality. He's strong down low as it's tough to strip the puck from him down there and tough to move him from the net front. Skating and speed are pretty good for his size, and he also has good hands. Main strength is his great shot and finishing ability. He can wire the puck. He played on their second PP unit, no PK. Brown's skill set is extremely good, but he's raw. He doesn't use his talents enough to impact the game and create offense. I'd be surprised if he contributes a lot next season, but his ceiling is extremely high. He profiles as a scoring power forward, and I wouldn't be surprised if he became a top ECAC forward by his senior year. His development early on will be key.
Ciccarello
Ciccarello surprised me a lot. He has very good acceleration, speed and skating. His main gift is also his outstanding shot. He can absolutely rip the puck. He's also strong and can lay big hits, definitely tries to be physical. His hands are solid. One thing that he did that I really liked was always trying to go to the net. He likes to drive the net whenever possible. He is a lot better than his stats show. Salmon Arm did not use him right at all. When you're watching them, he looks better than a few of their forwards in the top 6, and yet, he's always on the 3rd line and almost zero PP time? Makes no sense, but he's capable of contributing in the bottom 6 right away.
Evans
He's a great player. He has great hands and skill, which is his main strength in my opinion. He really likes the puck on his stick and is always trying to make plays when he has it. He is very quick and speedy as expected. His shot surprised me; he had a better shot than I thought he would. He has a good shot and can finish. With his skating and skill, West Kelowna used him as a zone entry machine. They'd frequently get him the puck in the neutral zone and he was great at entering the zone with possession. His main weakness is a lack of strength as a smaller forward. It didn't really matter in the BCHL, but he thrives with space and he won't have as much in the ECAC. I don't see it being too much of an issue though. Another thing is he really likes to cheat up the ice. The coaching staff will have to correct that bad habit. He can play on both the PP and PK, was on the top unit for both.
Hotson
Hotson is the type of player who will be a fan favorite. He's a very aggressive forechecker with a great stick. Definitely very strong as well, both on the puck and off of it. He has high end compete, very clearly always busting his tail, and he wins a ton of puck battles. He has good skill and hands I'd say with solid speed and skating. He's a great passer too. I don't think he fit very well in Muskegon because they liked to be a rush team, and he's more suited to playing on the cycle. He's really good on the cycle, and I think he'll fit our style of play better. He also got pretty much no special teams time (one PPP all season) and still had solid production in the USHL. He's a good player.
Muzzatti
He's absolutely huge at 6'5 225. He has great hands and dangles players with ease regularly. Silky and smooth skill, the broadcast team had the nickname "Mr. Hands" for a reason. He's also a really good passer. As you'd expect, he uses his frame well to box out and protect the puck, and he's really good down low. He also likes going to the dirty areas and likes to be a net front presence since he's too big to clear out from in front of the crease. Overall, a natural playmaking center with size too. He played on their top power play unit with a little bit of PK time. Definitely needs work in his own end to improve his defensive responsibility as a center.
Strom
Strom is an extremely smart defenseman with very good defensive awareness. He's always calm and composed, making the right play. He's got good mobility with smooth skating all around and in all directions. He's great at breaking out the puck with good passing ability (another area where he showed his IQ and always made the right pass on the breakout). It's no surprise he was on their top PK unit, got a ton of ice time and was used as a shutdown dman. He's just great in his own end. He can also play on his off side. Reminds me a lot of Ferner but has more offensive ability than Ferner. He can contribute immediately
Smolinski
I LOVE Smolinski. He's a great skater with speed and lateral mobility. Good hands and a great passer too, so he definitely has offensive upside. He plays physical despite his size and has a great stick. He's also great at defending the blue line with his skating and stick work. Not too many clean zone entries against him. He can play in all situations. Fargo didn't use him on the PP at all, so all of his points came at even strength. He ranked 2nd on the team for even strength points for dmen, and he was 2nd on the team in +/-. He's a great all-around defenseman. I think he can play top 4 minutes right away, and he also has a high ceiling. Very similar to Agnew in my opinion.Comment
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Awesome scouting report Sez. This is a very talented group coming in. Could be best class in coach smiths time here.Comment
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Muzzatti is ginormous!Comment
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Final Talkin' Neers episode, lots of analysis and good content https://open.spotify.com/episode/5Qa...12465dfa4d4ab4Comment
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Today is 9 May 2022. There are 145 days until RPI's next game. There are 53 days until RPI has a new president.
This is based upon 1 October 2022 for the start of next season and 1 July 2022 for the end of @#$%^.
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It probably should be mentioned again that his father is former NHL and MSU goalie Jason Muzzatti. It was reported here that he is a nephew of former RPI player Loris Muzzatti.Originally posted by Engineers View Post
Smoliski's father also played in the NHL and for MSU.Comment
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