Neutral Zone spent lots of time the last week watching the EHL Premier. We have been attending individual games all year and have reports published on the site but wanted to immerse ourselves in the league. We developed a list of 125 players that we liked. The players below are overall positive influences on their teams and grades are relative to other players listed. That’s not to say that a player not listed is a negative influence. These are the EHL players we have noticed recently and over 40 are new additions to our profiles.
This report is mainly influenced by the EHL Showcase in Hudson, NH from November 13-15, 2016. The event was well run with each team playing at least two games. Teams played at two rinks and times were staggered to allow scouts to bounce from game to game. We saw every team at the showcase and also supplemented our evaluations here with games we attended several days prior to the event. We will be covering the EHL all season and along with this report will publish reports for Simsbury, CT and individual games all year.
There were a lot of scouts in attendance and the play was good. The officiating was very good and the coaches were professional and prepared. The players worked hard.
One thing that was clear in speaking to college coaches at the event was that they enjoy the event because EHL players and coaches are always willing to consider the opportunities at their schools. There is no pretense and that makes spending time in a VERY cold Cyclone Arena worth their while.
One issue we did have is that we could not see the numbers very well on the CT Oilers uniforms. They only played two games and wore white sweaters which have a black and green stripe across the back with black numbers over them. They look great but we had trouble picking players out. They have a good team and we will try to figure them out in Simsbury in December.
Philip Elgstam #22 (F, 5’10”, 201lbs, NJ Rockets, 1998)-Philip is a mature, strong 1998 who was a factor here with 6 points in the three games. He used his body well and has a strong core and stride. He created space with strength and leverage and used his strong, reliable hands to make plays with the puck. He can score. He is not fast but he worked very hard in all three zones and go to the puck. He was good here. Grade: A
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