Ranking the Recruits Part 2......Defenseman and Goalies

Welcome to my second installment of 2005 recruit rankings. This time I'll be going over what I think are the top ten defenseman as well as the top 5 goalie prospects for next year. Again, this is just my best guess, so take it for what it is worth.

Defenseman

1.Jack Johnson- UM
2. Brian Lee- UND
3. R.J. Anderson- UMn
4. Matt Niskanen- UMD
5. Tyler Eckford- UAF
6. Chris Zarb- FSU
7. Taylor Chorney- UND
8. Zach Jones- UND
9. Mark Mitera- UM
10. T.J. Fast- DU

Comments:

Again, there was a pretty clear and easy choice for number one. Jack Johnson is probably the closest you're going to see to a sure thing when it comes to recruiting because he spent the better part of this year playing against college teams and looked like he could have played, and done well if he had played college hockey this year. He stood out on a team of superstars. He didn't back down at all physically against college teams this year at all, and should come in next year ready to punish the rest of the CCHA.

The biggest thing that stuck out to me about this list is how deep it is. Michigand and Denver fans might be confused because they thought they were getting a premier defenseman in Mitera or Fast. Well they are. It's just that a lot of other teams are picking up great defenseman too. Chris Zarb and Tyler Eckford have the potential to make big impacts at their respective schools.


Goalies


1. Jeff Frazee- UMn
2. Shane Connelly- UW
3. Jimmy Spratt- BGSU
4. Jeff Lerg- MSU
5. Dan Tormey- MSUM

Goalie was by far the hardest position to rank. There's a number of very good goalies coming into college hockey in the next two years and it was hard to choose, especially when you have to factor in the quality of the team they're playing for in terms of looking at their statistics. So I tried to factor in a goaltender's skill as well as the impact he could make on his team next year when coming up with this list.

Frazee was the only goalie that really stood out this past year. Maybe because he was one of the only top goalie recruits not playing in the USHL this year. Regardless, he may split some time with Kellen Briggs next year, but he has the potential to be the everyday starter for Minnesota.

I picked Shane Connelly next, despite his being injured a good part of this year. Of all the goalies in the USHL, he seemed to be the one that all the college coaches were going after first, and once he signed with Wisco, the other goalies started signing as well. So I deferred to the coaches on this one and picked Connelly.

I went with Jimmy Spratt third. Maybe he's not as talented as some of the other goalies coming in, but he certainly has the potential to make a huge impact at Bowling Green. Jordan Sigalet carried BG's team to home ice in the playoffs. Most of their talent is returning, but they need someone to fill the void in net. I think Spratt can do that. He got serious consideration from some bigtime schools last summer, before spending another year in juniors. I think he'll be ready to shine next year.

Jeff Lerg had a great year for Omaha of the USHL. His statistics were amazing. He's only number four on this list, however, because I think those stats were partially inflated by a good team, and because he'll have to deal with Dominic Vicari ahead of him for two years. I know Spartan fans expect him to be a savior, but he's no more highly regarded than Vicari was when he first came in.

Dan Tormey comes in at 5th. He put up the best save percentage in the league, again on a decent team, but was one of the last goalies taken out of the USHL. He does fill a gaping need for what could be a pretty good Mankato team next year. He'll have to beat out some competition for the job, but if he plays well, he could be starting every game by the end of the season.

Ranking the Recruits Part 1.....Forwards

Since there's really only one other site out on the internet that attempts to do this, I figured I'd take my own stab at trying to rank next year's incoming freshmen. DISCLAIMER: This is only my best guess based on intelligence I've gathered throughout the year, so take it for what it's worth.

I've compiled what I think will be the top 20 freshmen forwards in the WCHA and CCHA for next year, as well as the school they've chosen.


1. Phil Kessel- UMn
2. Jonathan Toews- UND
3. Andrew Cogliano- UM
4. Blake Wheeler- UMn
5. Jack Skille- UW
6. Chad Rau- CC
7. Tom Gorowsky- UW
8. Justin Abdelkader- MSU
9. Ryan Stoa- UMn
10. Michael Gergen- UMD
11. Brock Trotter- DU
12. Dan Reidel- FSU
13. Matt Watkins- UND
14. Brian Gifford- DU
15. Andrew Kozek- UND
16. Phil Axtell- MTU
17. Andreas Vlassapoulous- CC
18. Mason Raymond- UMD
19 Jared Boll- UMD
20. Justin Mercier- MU

Comments:

Obviously Kessel was the easy choice for number one. I chose Toews over Cogliano simply to avoid controversy. I think Cogliano will be a dynamite player and easily could have been number two on this list, and number one in a different year.

After those three, I think the list drops off a little, though it's still much stronger than some other years. I put Blaker Wheeler at number four, though I don't think he'll make the impact most people think. He'll need some time to adjust to the college game. The list gets a little murky after the top ten or so. Lots of very talented players, and it's anybody's guess how they'll turn out. It also remains to be seen who will be this year's Bill Thomas and will set the world on the fire despite not being on of the top guys on the list.

A few things stuck out to me about this list. First, notice the amount of WCHA recruits on this list compared to the CCHA. Impact players like these are what is causing the gap between the two leagues. The second thing, which is somewhat tied to the first, is that there is only one Ontarioan on this list, compared to 8 USHL players. The axis of power has certainly shifted in college hockey.

Check back tomorrow when I try to rank the incoming freshmen defenseman and goalies.

Welcome

Hello. Welcome to my newest(and hopefully more frequently updated) blog attempt. I created this blog to post news, as well as my own personal opinions about college hockey. Since I'm really only familiar with the CCHA and WCHA, those will be the only two leagues that I'll really be discussing.

Summer is usually a pretty slow time, so I'll probably be sticking to more speculative stuff like predictions and rankings and whatnot over the summer months. I've already worked on quite a few postings, so the updates should be frequent. So sit back and enjoy my best best guesses on what will happen next year in college hockey.