WALPOLE, Mass. — The Beast hosted its playoffs this past weekend. On Saturday and Sunday, rinks across Massachusetts hosted teams from the 15O, 16U and 18U levels as they competed to win championships.
While I focused on the championship games on Sunday, I took in 16U action on Saturday.
Here are the three games I watched:
- Boston Hockey Academy vs. New Jersey Rockets
- Neponset Valley River Rats vs. East Coast Militia
- Mid Fairfield vs. Yale Jr. Bulldogs
I'm not going to include anything from the championship game between the Long Island Gulls and Mid Fairfield because there's already a story on that.
Let's dive in.
Thomas Bleyl
Mid Fairfield, 12/1/2007, D, right shot, 5-10/154
Hometown: Schenectady, N.Y.Â
Bleyl's puck-moving abilities are high-end for his age. He had two assists on Saturday. The first came early in the contest when he zipped through the neutral zone, got past the defender and fed Corbin Carkner in front of the net for a goal. Later, he got a secondary assist on Thomas Coccaro's goal. Bleyl has great patience when moving the puck out of his own zone and he makes smart passes. He's been one of the best '07 defensemen I've seen this fall.
Thomas Coccaro
Mid Fairfield, 2007, F, right shot
Coccaro was at his best with the puck on his stick going through neutral ice and gaining zone entries. He's a terrific skater and even though he's smaller, his shiftiness more than made up for it. He has great hands and scored midway through the first half in Saturday's game when he came down the left side of the zone and got a nice shot off.
Matthew Dabrowski
New Jersey Rockets, 2/18/2007, F, right shot
Hometown: Stratford, Conn.Â
Dabrowski's skating caught my eye the most. His strong skating and good edge work allowed him to be elusive when protecting the puck as he dashed away from defenders. He had a quick release on his shots, too.
Justin Graf
East Coast Militia, 7/10/2007, F, left shot, 5-8/146
Hometown: Lincoln, Mass.Â
Graf has consistently stood out to me throughout the fall. He's always driving play and makes smart decisions with the puck in transition. On Saturday, he carried the puck into the offensive zone on a power play and dangled around two defenders to get to a high-danger area. Now a sophomore, he should have a big impact at Rivers this winter.
Declan Grenache
East Coast Militia, 2/4/2007, F, left shot, 5-8/150
Hometown: Sutton, Mass.Â
Grenache had multiple strong offensive rushes on Saturday. The St. John's Shrewsbury product has good hands and protects the puck well. He also features a quick release, especially off the rush. I was also impressed with his defensive abilities.
Indiana Grossbard
Yale Jr. Bulldogs, 12/21/2007, F, right shot, 5-8/134
Hometown: New York, N.Y.Â
I've yet to see a player get more odd-man rushes than Grossbard. It feels like he's always in the midst of earning a 2-on-1. He scored a key goal down the stretch in the second half that cut Mid Fairfield's lead in half. His biggest play of the game came with 1 second left on the clock. The Jr. Bulldogs were down a goal and off an offensive zone draw, Grossbard got the puck, spun and found forward Domenico Clarizio by the net who was stopped as time expired.
BEAST CHAMPS: 5 standouts from 15O | 5 standouts from 16U | 7 standouts from 18UÂ
Carter Johnson
Mid Fairfield, 2/2/2007, F, left shot, 5-9/159
Hometown: Kensington, Md.Â
Mid Fairfield has a lot of strong forwards and Johnson is one of them. He drove play quite a bit on Saturday, using his frame and puck protection skills to slip past defenders. At one point, he used his good hands to get around a defender and almost scored on a backhand. He converted on a chance early in the first half when he scored off a 3-on-1 rush.
Ian Kuisis
Yale Jr. Bulldogs, 3/22/2007, F, right shot, 5-5/145
The compete was high with Kuisis on Saturday. The Frederick Gunn product played a hard game in which he was always involved in the offense. He was good about waiting for seams to open up when passing from low-danger areas to high-danger ones. He scored the Jr. Bulldogs' first goal of the game on a power play.
Michael Munroe
Neponset Valley River Rats, 7/6/2007, F, left shot, 5-9/165
Hometown: Hanover, Mass.
NCAA: MaineÂ
It was a low-scoring game on Saturday, but Munroe still made his presence felt offensively. Munroe played with a ton of pace, had a bunch of confidence and showed off his great hands. In every one of my viewings of the River Rats this fall, Munroe has consistently been one of the best players on the ice. He will be huge for Avon Old Farms this winter.
Frantisek Netusil
New Jersey Rockets, 5/14/2007, F, right shot, 5-10/174
Hometown: Praha, CZEÂ
Netusil's offensive impact on Saturday's game was impossible to miss. It started midway through the first half when he sniped a shot to open the scoring. He always seemed to be in the right spot in the offensive zone and his vision was impressive. Shortly after scoring, he found a soft spot high in the slot and made a behind-the-back pass to a teammate in a high-danger scoring area.
Kristopher Richards
New Jersey Rockets, 7/20/2007, D, right shot, 6-3/209
Hometown: Malone, N.Y.Â
Richards had a goal on Saturday. He picked the perfect time to join the rush, got a pass in the middle of the slot and fired one over the glove of Boston Hockey Academy goalie Logan Heideman. But what stood out most was how aggressive he was breaking up plays in the neutral zone. He didn't let opposing forwards enter his own zone uncontested. He was the same way holding the offensive blue line, trying to keep opposing zone sequences alive. Confidence and high IQ — two very good traits for a defenseman.
Marco Senerchia
Mid Fairfield, 7/4/2007, D, left shot, 5-8/141
Hometown: Greenville, R.I.Â
What impressed me about Senerchia on Saturday was his ability to not try and do too much with the puck. He has the ingredients to be a defenseman who could go coast-to-coast every shift. But he made smart plays with the puck and he finished the game with two assists. He got the primary helper on Coccaro's goal and his shot from the point produced a rebound that Ryan Hedley put in for the game-winning goal in the game's final moments. I was also impressed with his ability to defend the rush and step up on opposing puck-carriers and use his good stick to break up the play.
Maxwell Wright
New Jersey Rockets, 1/30/2007, D, right shot, 6-1/185
Hometown: Parsippany, N.J.Â
Wright showed a lot of poise with the puck and made smart passes. He was involved in the offense and made smart decisions when it came to joining the rush or dropping lower in the zone. Like Richards, he was also good at being aggressive and stepping up in the neutral zone to thwart Boston Hockey Academy rushes. I also like Wright's gap control.
