Neutral Zone has been out watching Bantams in Minnesota early this 2016-17 season. Here is a quick look at some of the early performances from the Blue Ox Tournament.
First, a quick preamble in regards to Minnesota Hockey: Minnesota is a community based program. Each town has a youth hockey association. Players must play for the town association in which they live. They also use the athletes’ grade in school as the determining factor as to which team you are eligible for (Peewee, Bantam, High School.) The highest level in the Minnesota system is “AA”. Some associations choose to play “A” because they have lower numbers in that age group. This means, if a player is on an “A” team, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are behind a “AA” player in ability. It might simply indicate that his town didn’t have enough players to field a “AA” team.
Players listed below stood out in this tournament. Grades are for this event and in relation to others on the list. Players here did well to get noticed. All these athletes are new to our Neutral Zone profiles. If you click on a name, that player’s profile will appear. Because of the young age of this group, the profiles are incomplete. However, as we gather more information you will be able to see all scouting reports, stats and updates on those profile pages.
Zachary Michaelis (’02 Elk River AA)-Second in Tournament Scoring: 4 goals 6 assists- Speed kills and Michaelis was flying this weekend. Couple that with his excellent balance and puck skills and he’s a big reason Elk River walked out as 2016 Blue Ox Champions. We love his skating and how he took pucks to the net, we’ll be tracking his ability to make little plays and show that he won’t be relying soley on his speed at the next level. Grade: A
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