Marquette Fall Classic

The Marquette Fall Classic, which is a Midget Major tournament that features some of the best AAA teams in the country, recently concluded. The Dallas Stars AAA team won the tournament, defeating Detroit Belle Tire in the final by a score of 5-2.

There's a lot of talent at this tournament, and usually when a younger kid does well, it means he's a pretty good prospect. Last year, Miami recruit Tom Wingels, and Notre Dame recruits Bill Maday and Calle Ridderwall were near the top of the scoring board. Two years ago, Shattuck-St. Mary's dominated the tournament led by Kyle Okposo, Jonathan Toews, Tyler Ruegsegger, Michael Gergen, and Kevin Deeth.

So who were the big winners this year?

Colorado College recruit Andrew Hamburg didn't score a goal, but he racked up 9 assists, which put him third in scoring. Will Rapuzzi, a small forward from Alaska that is a '90 birthdate, had a big tournament for Belle Tire, averaging a point per game. Chicago Mission's Max Cook, who isn't playing for the U17 team, as was originally thought, scored 6 assists in four games. Tom Serratore also averaged a point per game with 5 points in as many games. Another kid that should get a lot of recruiting attention this year is big forward Shawn Syzdlowski, from Belle Tire. He scored 5 points in 6 games.

As for a few other names of interest, recent Michigan State commit Trevor Nill had three goals in 4 games. 2009 Nebraska-Omaha commit Fredrik Csisar had one assist in four games for Team Illinois. His teammate, Sam Calabrese, a '91 birthdate that is considered one of the best for his age, had a goal and an assist.