In today’s hockey climate players are participating on split season teams, summer teams and full season teams; often times for different organizations and different coaching staffs for each. Most scouts will admit that the toughest part of non-full season hockey scouting is that you are essentially watching unstructured hockey where very little translates to the next level. The issue with in-season scouting, or just scouting in general, can be the strength of ones team. For example, a player on a top 10 team in the country may look really good, but is it because his two line-mates are really good or is he actually that good? Same goes for the opposite, players on lower level teams that may not look good to scouts, but in reality it is because they are playing with two line-mates not on their level.
So, with these experiences in mind, we set out to determine: How good is Chase McLane? Chase McLane is a player who showed flashes throughout the past two seasons of being a high level prospect. He was an elite player on the Little Caesars Bantam team and then this year played on a top-10 team all season with Little Caesars U16. He was not a first line guy for them and took on a lot of power forward work: hard to play against, reliable guy duties. When the National Development Camp rolled around there were a lot of eyes on McLane looking to see how he would do without his star-studded teammates. The answer: Fantastic. He played with heart, he played with energy, he took the body, he scored goals; he did it all. It was no surprise that shortly after that camp he’d be offered at several school throughout the US, but his story starts long before the National Camp and long before Little Caesars.
“Papa and Mom put me on skates at 18 months old and as soon as I was old enough to talk I knew I loved hockey!” McLane grew up playing in Trenton, Michigan for the Grosse Ile Islanders where he played with the same group of kids for 8 years. That journey would land him a spot on Belle Tire’s Bantam minor team where he spent one season and then moved to Little Caesar’s where he played Bantam and Midget U16. “Playing for Little Caesars was the best thing that’s ever happened to me and was the best choice I could’ve made for me as a player. My coaches at Little Caesar’s taught me the game so well and I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for them.”
The Little Ceasars U16 team this past season proved to be one of the top teams in the country qualifying for the Nationals in San Jose, CA, but losing in the playoff round to the eventual National Champion Shattuck St. Mary’s. While Chase wasn’t the go-to-guy he showed great improvement from the first game to the last and at Nationals we wrote him up as a top 80 player in the tournament.
“The group of guys was amazing this past season. The guys we had in that locker room would’ve done anything for each other. We were all best friends! It’s the best team I have ever been on. San Jose was an unreal experience.” That week, McLane experienced the high of seeing the ocean for the first time, but the tournament loss also ended the hockey journey he had been on with his closest friends and teammates for the previous 8 years.
After a strong performance at Nationals scouts started showing more and more interest. He was drafted in the second round of the USHL Draft by the Lincoln Stars and then soon after in the seventh round of the OHL Draft by the Sarnia Sting. His process was a bit different from others in the sense that he wasn’t sure what path he would take between NCAA or CHL.
“Schools started looking at me just before the end of the season. I never thought hockey could take me so far and when I heard from my first school I was very excited! I talked to several coaches and was offered first by St. Lawrence and Brown.”
Before making a decision he attended the National Development Camp in Buffalo, NY where he played as well as we’ve ever seen him before. “I’m in the best shape of my life after all the work this off-season I put in. I felt confident and prepared going into the camp and it ended up being a great experience. I loved my team and teammates. I thought I played really well although I fell short and didn’t make the 5 Nations Team. I’ll just use that as motivation.”
After the camp, he picked up an offer from Cornell and got some interest from other big name schools like Michigan. He decided after a lot of thought and conversations with his family that Brown was the choice. “Brown just seemed like the right fit I established a great relationship with the coaches and I fell in love with the campus. Brown will give me the opportunity to go to the next level while getting an Ivy League education.”
He will play at Compuware U16 for Head Coach Pat Peake and hopes to make a run at Nationals and also prepare to play in the USHL the following season for Lincoln. What separates McLane from other players his age is a mature sense of self; he understands his game and how he can help his team. “I am a tough player, a very defensive two-way center”. However, McLane isn’t resting on his laurels and is focusing on improving his game “I would like to become a better scorer and have better touch around the net.” An achievable goal as he won’t enroll at Brown until 2019 at the earliest.
In youth hockey where kids are constantly trying to one-up each other with fancy stick work and finesse plays, McLane sticks to doing what he does best; being tough to play against. “I wasn’t the flashy guy growing up at all. I stuck to my strengths, accepted my role and tried to do it to the best of my abilities. I’ve gotten better and better because of the dedication and work I have put in and it’s just starting to show. This is just the beginning.”
McLane is the first forward commit to the class of 2019 and while he’s raw and has a way to go, may have the most upside of any of their currently committed players.
Photo Credit: Dan Hickling/Hickling Images
