Wisconsin Hockey Division 1 Watch is Here

As if keeping this blog up doesn't take enough time, I decided to start a second blog. The second blog is Wisconsin Hockey Division 1 Watch. On that blog I intend to only keep lists of Wisconsin players in the USHL, NAHL, and any other players I think might be Division 1 hockey material at some point in their career. Most of these lists will be derived from other hockey sources I deem reliable as I am not an expert scout. Your comments and player suggestions are welcome there, and I'll have to decide with a little research if I think the players belong on the lists or not.

I'm doing this for many reasons. First of all, I've been very interested in how well Wisconsin (and Wisconsin high schools in particular) churn out talent for the University of Wisconsin ever since I heard Mike Eaves and his staff discuss the importance of having that "feeder system" in place. Second, I get tired of losing track of various players as they move around since there is no resource I've been able to find to track upper-end talent from Wisconsin. Third, I think other people will like this resource.

At some point I may attempt to list upper-end girls hockey talent from Wisconsin, but at this point I'm not sure I could put enough names up there to be worth it for anyone to look at. I may also start a list of Wisconsin players currently playing Division 1 & Division 3 hockey as these lists will build themselves over the years as players verbal and sign letters of intent off of my other lists.

Top-Heavy Team Stats for Madison Memorial

I came across an interesting stat page the other day. It was Madison Memorial's Boys Hockey season stats on Wisconsin Prep Hockey's site (go to WiPH Team Finder/Scoreboard on the right hand side toolbar and select Madison Memorial). I knew they had some high level talent in Keegan Meuer and Patrick Johnson on offense, as well as Johnny Byce on defense and was just taking a look at their numbers to see if I could figure out why they didn't end up making the state tournament. I was shocked to find that their third leading forward in terms of goal-scoring had just 2 goals! I guess that answers my question...depth was the reason they were not at the state tournament last season. Hopefully they had a chance to develop some more kids last season and will add some talent this year via younger &/or JV kids from last season.

Scouting Reports

I found some scouting reports from the 2004-2005 season from Red Line Junior, which is Red Line Report's focus on scouting younger players. The reports are old but have many interesting names to Wisconsinites. There is information on players that have verballed to UW and backed out, on players who have verballed and not backed out, as well as some Wisconsin-based players and potential UW recruits.

The first report is Red Line Junior's Top 60: Full Scouting Profiles. This report has pretty good detail and lists Sam Gagner at #3, Nigel Williams at #6, Matt Thurber at #18, Ryan Schnell at #33 and Brendan Smith at #52. The fact that Thurber's report starts out..."Nasty piece of work" should endear him to all Badger fans immediately. The fact that he was also a 4.0 student at the time of the report means the Badgers are also getting a guy who should have no trouble in the classroom. Another piece of information I found interesting in this report is that Brendan Smith apparently played both defense and wing up until about the 2004-2005 when he began concentrating only on defense.

The second report is the USNTDP Camp Tryout report from Red Line Junior for 2004-2005. Players evaluated include Patrick Johnson of Madison Memorial (he is Mark Johnson's son) as well as Ryan Schnell.

Next is the U.S. Tier I National Championships Report from Red Line Junior from 2004-2005. Nigel Williams and Ryan Schnell are evaluated, as is Seth Soley from Eau Claire Memorial who was playing with the Wisconsin Fire at the National Championships.

The final report of interest is from the OHL Cup Showcase Tournament in 2004-2005. Sam Gagner was the MVP of this tournament. He is evaluated as well as Brendan Smith.

Matt Thurber Verbals to UW

Matt Thurber, a forward originally from Beaver Dam who currently plays with the Omaha Lancers of the USHL, has given a verbal commitment to play for the University of Wisconsin beginning in the 2008-2009 season according to Chris Heisenberg's blog. He joins forwards Chris Hickey and Josh Turnbull, as well as defenseman Ryan McDonagh in that class. His signing was expected, but great news anyway with the loss of Sam Gagner to the OHL.

One to Watch: Erik Larson

Erik Larson is from Marshfield, Wisconsin and played 52 games this year for the Shattuck St. Mary's Midget AAA Team. Erick is 6' 0" and 180 pounds and is completing his Sophomore year. He plays defense and recorded 4-12=16 along with 76 penalty minutes. Erik is playing in the University of Minnesota Model Camp this summer on Team 9. He is a player I'd have to believe is on the radar for UW, and a player I'll attempt to follow for the next few years.

Sam Gagner Playing in the OHL and not for UW

Well, it's official. Sam Gagner will be going the Major Junior route rather than playing for the University of Wisconsin.

The DePere Voyageurs Name Their First Head Coach

The DePere Voyageurs have named Chris Larson as their first Head Hockey Coach as they prepare for their entry into the WIAA in 2006-2007. The linked story make his credentials appear to only be as a player and not a Coach. He also makes a comment in the story basically talking down to the level of hockey in the WIAA....which is not a good start to your tenure as Head Coach. Hopefully some of the Head Coaches on his schedule for next year will get a chance to see that article and properly "indoctrinate" him into the ways of WIAA hockey.

Brett Bruneteau

I thought I'd do a little research on some of the guys that the Badgers are recruiting, and provide a bunch of links to what I find. Brett Brunetau is a known 2007-08 recruiting target of the Badgers. He is considering UW, CC, Denver, Michigan, Minnesota, and his hometown school, Nebraska-Omaha.

After playing for Shattuck St. Mary's and serving as captain of the U.S. team that won the Under-17 Five Nations Cup in Huttwil, Switzerland last year, Brett decided to play this season for the Omaha Lancers rather than SSM or the USNTDP. Brett's Grandfather Eddy Bruneteau had played for the Lancers and had his number retired, but the club decided to let Brett wear his grandfather's number as he has done throughout his hockey career.

Brett's idols include Maurice Richard and Jarome Iginla as he feels they're the only two players in history to do everything well from scoring to playmaking to fighting. For more on that and other topics, check out Brett's myspace page.

NAHL Draft-One Wisconsinite Drafted

Only one Wisconsin player was drafted in the NAHL draft today, Mike Soik who was drafted by southern Minnesota from the Borrks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. He is from Stevens Point and after graduation played one season with the Green Bay Junior Gamblers before moving on to Brooks. His name was spelled incorrectly on the draft list, so I missed him initially.

Note: Edited this post in September....

Complete NAHL Tender List

The complete NAHL Tender List was released today in conjunction with the NAHL Draft. Wisconsin players on the list at first glance are:

Tony Dischler-Madison Capitols-Alpena
Kyle Ensign-New Richmond HS-Fargo Moorhead
Nic Weight-Northland Pines HS-Marquette
Brandon Busse-Stevens Point HS-Marquette
Cole Holmes-USM HS-Marquette
Jacob Hauswirth-Ojibwa-Marquette
Brandon Larson-New Richmond HS-North Iowa
Jon Sicsik-New Richmond HS-North Iowa
Blake Kessel-Madison Capitols-Traverse City
Derrick LaPoint-Eau Claire North HS-Wichita Falls
Brent Gwidt-Lakeland HS-Wichita Falls
Scott Pulak-Marquette Electricians-Southern Minnesota

BJ Gottsacker was tendered by the Minnesota Blizzard, which he played 4 games for last season. BJ is from the Eagle River area. Also, Scott Pulak who played for Marquette last year, and I believe had been a Junior Gambler in the past, was tendered by Southern Minnesota. Jacob Hauswirth was also tendered. He played for Ojibwa last season, was selected by Marquette and is from Merrill.

Ensign, LaPoint and Gwidt were all drafted by USHL teams so none are likely to play in the NAHL. It looks like the rumor of Brandon Busse and Nic Weight being tendered by Marquette was true, only the rumor left out Cole Holmes whom Marquette also selected. Jon Sicsik is not a surprise as a draftee as he had good numbers with Team Wisconsin in the Upper Midwest High School Elite League. The one surprise is likely Sicsik's former New Richmond and future North Iowa teammate Brandon Larson.
There are likely other players with Wisconsin ties I may have missed, so leave me a comment if you know of any and I'll be happy to add them to the list.

Upcoming NAHL Open Tryouts in Wisconsin

A couple of NAHL teams will be holding open tryouts in Wisconsin during June for potential players to try to make their rosters. The complete list of tryout sites and dates for the NAHL, which includes lots of tryout sites in bordering states as well, can be found here.

NAHL Tenders Signed

A couple of Madison Capitols have signed tenders with NAHL clubs already. Tony Dischler is a 1988 forward who signed a tender with Alpena. This was not a surprise to me as I had heard from a pretty good source that Tony was told by the Capitols prior to coming to play for them that if he did make the jump to their team he would be tendered by a Junior team. Blake Kessel, a 1989 defenseman for the Caps who led his team in scoring last season, has also signed a tender with Traverse City.

In the Hockey Thoughts blog, it's noted that Brent Gwidt and Derrick LaPoint have also signed tenders with NAHL clubs, although as both were taken in the USHL draft neither will likely end up ever playing in the NAHL. There's also some good info over there on potential draftees from the state of Wisconsin, and a potential high-caliber Wisconsin boys high school hockey player transfer to another school for next season prior to the new transfer rules being in place.

Team Wisconsin Tryouts

Team Wisconsin Tryouts are underway. The Boys U18 team tryout was this past weekend and the Boys U16 tryout is June 3rd and 4th. The Girls will have both a 19U and 16U team with tryouts for both teams on June 17th and July 14th.

As soon as details become available on the rosters for these teams I will publish them right here.

The NAHL

The NAHL Draft will be held this Tuesday, May 23rd. I would expect many Wisconsin players to be drafted, as well as tendered, by NAHL clubs for next season. Rumor already has it that both Nic Weight, a two-time All-State forward from Northland Pines, and Brandon Busse, a two-time All-State defenseman from Stevens Point have signed tenders with the new Marquette Rangers NAHL club. So far, the Rangers are only confirming they have six players signed via tender, and plan to release their tender list on Wednesday, May 24th following the NAHL draft.

Kyle Ensign Verbals to Nebraska Omaha

Just two weeks after being selected in the USHL draft by the Tri-City Storm, Kyle Ensign has verballed to play for the University of Nebraska Omaha according to Chris Heisenberg's Recruit List. Ensign is just finishing up his Senior year in which he played for New Richmond High School as well as Team Wisconsin. Congratulations Kyle.

Team USA & Ryan Suter

Team USA got bounced today in the Quarterfinals from the IIHF Men's World Championship by a score of 6-0 versus Sweden. While checking on the details I found an interview with Madison native and former Badger Ryan Suter, who played with Team USA. It's a good interview that touches on the Badgers quite a bit near the end.

Intangibles

There are a lot of intangibles in hockey players that play a huge factor in their success as well as the success of their team. I often wonder how to measure heart, grit, determination, sacrifice and the will to win. Many times these factors play a huge role in the outcome of a game when things such as skating ability are equal. It's why Coaches use the phrase "win the battle" a lot. Winning the battle isn't always about stickhandling or taking the proper angle, sometimes it's about the fact that one player is more determined to leave the corner with the puck than another player.

So how do you measure the intangibles? Can you instill heart, grit and determination? What do you do as a Coach if your players don't have these intangibles, or don't have enough of them? Can great leadership help these intangibles evolve in a player or an entire team? If leadership can help these things develop does it have to be a leader within a team leading by example or can a Coach accomplish this?

Another intangible I often consider is teamwork. How do you best blend the talent on your team if you are a Coach? As a player or Coach, what do you do if a particular player doesn't seem to subscribe to the theory of teamwork? How much better is a team that is all on the same page than when they're not working in unison?

I don't necessarily have the answers to all of these questions, but they are questions I think about quite a bit, especially in the offseason. I have some thoughts and opinions that have been formulated over the years, but every team's makeup is so unique it is hard to pin down any kind of axiom, ratio or formula that you could take from one team to another to instill intangibles and breed success.

I would be very interested to hear your thoughts and opinions on these questions. This blog entry will help me so that when I get some time in the future, I can try to list some of my thoughts on these subjects as well.

Bulking up the Links Section

I'm starting to bulk up the Links section and have just added the UW Badgers Mens Hockey Site as well as the UW Badgers Womens Hockey Site to that area. As the Links area grows, I'll have to figure out the best way to categorize all of these sites at some point in the future to make them easier to find and use.

Link Changes

As great of a site as UW Mens Hockey Recruits is, when I set up their URL in the links page it just does not work. I've tried a dozen different ways to fix it but just can't get it to function so I have removed it and will replace it with a cool site that lists Women's College Division III recruits. The site is simply titled Division III Women's Hockey Recruit List. If you take a look, you'll see a few familiar names from Wisconsin.

2007 Boys High School Sectional Brackets Updated

The 2007 Boys High School Hockey Sectional Brackets have been updated to reflect the admission of DePere and Green Bay Notre Dame into the WIAA. Both teams join Section #5 to form the only 12 team section in the state. All other sections have 11 teams in them, execpt section #4 which only has ten.

Kyle Turris & The Burnaby Express Win the Royal Bank Cup

Kyle Turris was dominating at the Royal Bank Cup. He lead the Burnaby Express to an 8-2 win in the Championship game with a hat trick. He finished the tournament with 7 goals and 6 assists totaling 13 points in 6 games. He also was first star in 3 of the 6 games he played including both the semi-final and final. Oh yeah, and he's a JUNIOR in high school!

Wisconsin Girls High School 2006-2007 Sectional Brackets Released

The sectional brackets for the 2006-2007 Girls High School Hockey State Tournament are now posted on the WIAA website. The brackets confirm that Rhinelander has joined the WIAA as a non-coop team for next year, along with eight other coop teams as I mentioned in April.

More Gagner Information

The Wisconsin State Journal reports that Sam Gagner has been becoming increasingly interested in playing in the OHL, but that Cody Goloubef and Brendan Smith are not considering that route at this time. The story also indicates that the UW Coaching Staff is aware of the situation.

Kyle Turris is Tearing it up at the Royal Bank Cup

Kyle Turris, a 2007 recruit for the Wisconsin Badgers, put his team on his back today with a hat trick and carried them into the Final 4 at the Royal Bank Cup. Turris is now the leading goal scorer in the tournament.

Dave Gagner & Sam Gagner

There is a rumor out there that the London Knights of the OHL have offered Dave Gagner, father of UW recruit Sam Gagner, an Assistant Coach position which may lead Sam to chose the OHL over the NCAA route. Check out the Western College Hockey Blog for more on this.

Team USA at the IIHF Men's World Championship

Team USA lost for the first time yesterday at the IIHF Men's World Championship. Canada beat Team USA 2-1, meaning Team USA finishes the Preliminary Round with a record of 2-1, while Team Canada finished 3-0. Both teams will now advance into the qualifying round. Phil Kessel scored the only goal yesterday for Team USA, who was outshot 30-19 in the game. The next action for Team USA is Friday vs. Finland.

Link to UW Mens Hockey Recruits Added

I've added a new link to UW Mens Hockey Recruits. This page lays out each recruiting class of the Badgers along with information such as their hometown, height, and weight. It also indicates which league they are in, which team they play on, if they've signed a national letter of intent, and the best feature of all is that this site keeps updated statistics on every player! I don't have a clue who is responsible for maintaining this site, but they do a great job of keeping everything updated in a timely manner.

Wisconsin USHL Players that went Under the Radar

I've discovered that three Wisconsinites that play outside the state of Wisconsin were selected in the recent USHL draft. They are forward Zach Henry from Franklin who was selected by Columbus, defenseman Ross Henry from Franklin who was taken by Lincoln, and defenseman Aaron Schmit from Grafton who was picked by Omaha. Ross & Zach Henry currently play for Team Illinois, and Ross Henry participated in the recent USNTDP tryout. Aaron Schmit is a Junior at Culver Academy and plays on their Varsity.

Link to Hockey Thoughts Blog Added

I have added a new link to another hockey blog that discusses hockey at the High School, Junior, College and Professional level. The blog is Hockey Thoughts and is just getting underway.

The title of that blog makes me think about "Deep Thoughts" with Jack Handey that used to be on Saturday Night Live. Hopefully the writer of Hockey Thoughts doesn't need as many personal affirmations as Stuart Smalley did in that skit!

USA Hockey National Player Development Camps for Boys

The list of Wisconsin players invited to represent the Central District at the USA Hockey National Player Development Camps is out.

Another Wisconsin Player in the USHL

I missed a Wisconsin player that was taken in this year's USHL draft. David Solway was drafted by Sioux Falls in the 13th round of this year's USHL draft. He is originally from the Green Bay area and played for the Green Bay Junior Gamblers prior to last season with Santa Fe of the NAHL. He is another Wisconsinite to keep track of next year.

High School Hockey vs. AAA-Wisconsin Prep Hockey Forum Debate Rages

It seems that my comments regarding 4 Wisconsin high school players being drafted in the USHL vs. no full-time Wisconsin AAA players sparked a bit of an uproar on the Wisconsin Prep Hockey message board. Lots of interesting points were made by all involved. Since that post I went back and took a look at the 2005 USHL draft out of curiosity to see how many players were drafted from both Wisconsin high schools and Wisconsin AAA teams. The count was Wisconsin high school teams 6, Wisconsin AAA teams 2 in that draft (1 of the Wisconsin AAA team players drafted in 2005 is from Florida, graduated from Culver and then played AAA 1 year before being drafted from what I can tell).

There obviously are many more high school players than AAA players in Wisconsin, and the USHL certainly isn't the only Junior league in the country (although it is the best). What I'm trying to say is my "digging up of numbers of draftees" is hardly scientific but does seem to point to the fact that kids can stay with their high school hockey teams, represent their friends, family, community and high school on the ice during the regular season, and play with a Before and After team and get all the exposure they need.

In the spirit of keeping things positive I have chosen to present what is right about high school hockey rather than attacking or questioning AAA hockey. As I have stated before, and will likely state again in the future-I believe that the growth of Before and After Teams in Wisconsin will keep more talented players at home than ever before, which will help the talent level in high school hockey rise even further.

Team USA at 2006 IIHF Men's World Championships

The 2006 IIHF Men's World Championships are underway in Riga, Latvia. Team USA is coached by Mike Eaves, and players on the team include Phil Kessel, a Madison native, as well as Ryan Suter, another Madison native and former Badger. The team is currently 2-0 with wins over Denmark and Norway. Phil Kessel has been held off the scoreboard while Ryan Suter has one assist at this point.

Girls USA Hockey Development Camps

The selectees for the Girls USA Hockey Development Camps for the 1988-89, 1990-91 and 1992 birthdates have been announced.

Three of the six girls I had picked out as standout players at the WAHA Festival that had not made the WAHA Camp roster (which was causing me to scratch my head a bit) are on the USA Hockey roster. They are all 1990-91 birthdates-Brianna Decker, Ashley Hietpas and Kimberly Tess-Wanat. As the WAHA camp and USA Hockey Development Camp run simultaneously, and the USA Hockey Camp is a higher caliber camp, I now have my reason why those three girls weren't on the WAHA Camp roster. That still doesn't account for Devon Ellena, Michelle Wanserski and Alexandra Ehlert Vaness, although they could just all have other obligations.

Cody Goloubef

I ran across an interesting piece of information regarding 2007 UW defenseman recruit Cody Goloubef I thought was worth posting. It appears that he is playing on Team Minnesota at the New England Pro AM Hockey League's Pre-Draft Showcase. The Showcase is being held May 12-14 in Massachussets.

Link to Wisconsin Hockey Blog Added

I have added a link to the Wisconsin Hockey Blog. Ironically, I have been meaning to do some updating on my links and as I just went to the Wisconsin Hockey Blog to get the address, etc. to make a link, I found that they have just provided a link to this site!

The Wisconsin Hockey Blog covers both the UW men and women's hockey teams. I literally found this blog as this season was in it's final weeks, so I'm looking forward to getting a chance to enjoy it further during the offseason and during the 2006-2007 season.

USHL Draft-Part Two

Well, the rest of the USHL draft is now available on the USHL site. The only player with Wisconsin ties that I see has been drafted and I haven't already covered is forward Travis Erstad from Stevens Point. He is also the only non-Senior drafted out of the Wisconsin high school ranks. Travis was drafted in the 17th round by the Lincoln Stars.

I was thinking about the fact that Midget teams push the fact that playing on their teams is the way to be seen by scouts versus playing high school hockey. It is interesting to note that in this draft there were four Wisconsin high school players taken, and no Midget players taken from a Wisconsin-based Midget team. That is a pretty strong statement considering the USHL is the best Junior League in the country. All four of the high school players taken did play for Team Wisconsin Before and After, showing that Wisconsin high school players can be seen by scouts and still enjoy playing for their school.

WAHA Girls Development Camp Invitees-Part Two

Two-thirds of the girls that tried out at the WAHA Festival advanced to the WAHA Development Camp. In my post regarding the Festival I picked out 26 girls that I thought played well. Twenty of them were named as having advanced to the camp. The six that were not named are Brianna Decker, Kim Tess-Wanat, Devon Ellena, Ashley Hietpas, Michelle Wanserski and Alexandra Ehlert Vaness. I refuse to believe that Brianna Decker and Kim Tess-Wanat were not invited. I also think that it is unlikely that the other four also were not invited. Why, you ask? Is it because I am the ultimate judge of hockey talent? No, it's just that Decker was the best forward at the Festival in my opinion and Tess-Wanat is very, very good. I'm guessing maybe some kids knew they would be gone for the Camp but wanted to play in the Festival and did so, letting WAHA know they weren't available for the Camp in advance. It's typically very easy to pick out both the best and worst kids at a tryout right away, which is about all I had time for. To have about 1/3 of my picks incorrect with as many kids advancing to the Camp as there are is just unlikely...

USHL Draft-What We Know So Far...

The USHL website was overloaded today during the second or third round of the draft, and their live draft coverage was scrapped. Furthermore, there has been no information posted on draft picks since that point in the draft by the league. Therefore, what we know about players with Wisconsin ties that were drafted is limited so far. Derrick LaPoint was the 6th overall selection by the Green Bay Gamblers. Brent Gwidt from Lakeland HS was the eleventh overall selection by the Indiana Ice, who seem to draft/obtain Wisconsin players with regularity. Defenseman Kyle Ensign from New Richmond High School was drafted in the third round by the Tri-city Storm.

Two future Wisconsin Badgers for the class of 2008 are known to have been drafted today. Josh Turnbull from Hayward (who currently plays at Duluth East) was selected by the Waterloo Blackhawks in the sixth round, and Chris Hickey from Cretin Derham Hall was selected by the Tri-City Storm in the fifteenth round.

Sam Zabkowicz, who I believe is from the Milwaukee area was drafted by either Sioux Falls or Sioux City. Both of those teams had their picks posted during the day today but neither of their sites are working currently. Zabkowicz played at Culver and had spent the past year playing for both the Dallas AAA Midget team and the Texarkana Bandits of the NAHL.

The Green Bay Gamblers traded Sioux City today for the rights to current USHL player Justin Cseter of Menomonie.

2007 WIAA Boys Hockey Sectional Assignments

The 2007 WIAA Boys Hockey Sectional Assignments are out.

Three new teams that are reportedly joining the WIAA next season are not listed. They are Green Bay Notre Dame, Stevens Point Pacelli and De Pere. As I had mentioned on a recent post regarding Rhinelander joining WIAA Girls Hockey next year I believe the deadline for non-coops to submit paperwork of their intent to play next season is later than it is for the coops. Maybe this is why those three teams are not yet shown? If so, it would seem kind of strange to arrange the brackets before you knew who all the teams were going to be.

WAHA Girls Development Camp Invitees

The list of girls that have been invited to the WAHA Girls Development Camp has been posted.

USHL Draft-High School Underclassmen

There are some high school underclassmen that I believe have a chance at being taken in the upcoming USHL draft. They are Nick Roscoe and Justin Johnson from Eau Claire North, and Travis Erstad of Stevens Point. All three players are currently in their Junior year. Other Juniors with a shot at being selected are Pat Johnson and his teammate from Madison Memorial Keegan Meuer. Seth Soley of Eau Claire Memorial and Brock Montpetit are the only high school Sophmores I think may have a chance to be picked, although it is widely believed that Montpetit will join the USNTDP next season, which means teams may steer clear of drafting him if true. Finally, I received an anonymous comment saying Mike Johnson, Goaltender for the Madison Capitols may get some looks, so I intend to follow his fortunes as well on Thursday.

Bantam Select 15's for Chicago Tryouts

Here is the list of Bantam Select 15's that made the Chicago Tryout.

I had mentioned that seven of the eight forwards that made the tryout in my journal entry about the WAHA Festival late last month, as well as four of the six defensemen. Not bad for limited viewing of 64 forwards, 40 defensemen and 16 goaltenders. At the same time I was watching the girls WAHA Festival with 54 forwards, 36 defensemen and 12 goaltenders. That's 222 players to watch over a day and a half with games being played on two rinks simultaneously!