EHL: Wizards @ Applecore; Jr. Flyers @ Revolution

Neutral Zone headed to a couple EHL games and below are our player reports. We will be covering the EHL all season including all showcases as well as single games. Many of the players below are new to our profiles.

Sunday September 24, 2017

East Coast Wizards @ NY Applecore

Brewster Ice Arena, NY

The Wizards picked up their first win of the season over Matt Letmanski (3G 1A) had a piece of all 4 of the Wizards tallies this afternoon. The Applecore power play was able to sneak the puck past Wizard keeper Alex Marshall a couple times.  The Wizards also had two power play goals and a short handed goal. Both teams struggled to get anything going at full strength.

Grades are for this game only.

Matt Letmanski #11 (F, 6’4″, 185, 1998, Wheaton, IL, East Coast Wizards)

Matt quarterbacked the power play at the point. The first period saw him receive two cross ice passes from the faceoff win and put the puck in the back of the net top corner on powerful wrist shots. The plays were identical. Matt was involved in every one of his team’s goals as he had an assist and also scored a short handed goal. He consistently placed strong crisp passes on the tape. He is comfortable skating with the puck and moving with speed. He moves quickly through the neutral zone. He made smart decisions on the ice all game. However, he was called for a Game Misconduct while he was in the box.  Grade: A

Alec Marshall #1 (G, 5’11”, 170, Late 1997, Nashua, NH, East Coast Wizards)

Alec was solid in this game. He was well positioned and consistently stopped the puck on the first shot. When he did allow rebounds or deflections they were mostly in the corner or out of play. Both goals against were a man and two men down. He spent a lot of time defending against the power play. Grade: A

Chase Davenport #14 (D, 5’11”, 177, 1998, Princeton, MA, East Coast Wizards)

Solid performance. Chase got involved when he needed to and stayed in good position when he didn’t. Wasn’t afraid to get physical against bigger opponents. Chase put two perfect passes on the tape of Letmanski after faceoff wins that set him up in perfect shooting position.  He looked good on the power play. Smart decisions from Chase all game. Grade: A-

Jeremy Vasquez #5 (F, 5’11”, 167, 2000, Sydney, Australia, East Coast Wizards)

The young Australian playing in his second Junior Hockey game looked promising. He played his last four seasons for the Canadian International Hockey Academy in Clarence-Rockland, Ontario, Canada. Jeremy was hard on the fore check. He shut down the passing lane a few times with an active stick. He was not afraid to dig for pucks in the corners. Decent speed but needs to clean up his starts and stops. Took a big hit late in the game and then seemed to miss a few shifts. He was not as involved when he made his return. Grade B-

Dylan Schuett #20 (F, 6’0″, 174, Late, 2000, Calgary, Canada, East Coast Wizards)

Dylan moved with speed all game. He knew where he was going with the puck before it got to him.    He was competing when he was on the ice. Grade: B

Race Bennett #51 (F, L, 6’4” 220, Clifton Park, NY, NY Applecore)

Race had a presence in front of the net when he got there. He seemed to be moving slower in this game than we have seen him in the past. He spent time on the power play where he made seeing the puck difficult for Marshall. Only AC player we felt deserved recognition here. Grade: B

Wednesday October 3, 2017

Philadelphia Jr Flyers @ Philadelphia Revolution

Revolution Ice Gardens, Warminster PA

Both keepers were solid keeping the game scoreless through the first 50 minutes. Robert LaBrosse scored just over 10 minutes into the third when Christian Dahl drove in from the blue line and created a rebound off Mulic and that’s how it would end.  Neither team could get much going offensively even with the man advantage. Jr Flyers have now been held scoreless in two straight. The Revolution remains undefeated at 9-0-0.

Here are a few players that stood out to us this afternoon. Grades are for this game only.

Travis Pelke #1 (G, cL, Ewing, NJ, 5’9”, 167, 1997, Revolution)

Travis only saw 12 shots reach him tonight as the Jr Flyers had trouble clearing their zone. He was perfect against all 4 power plays he faced. He retrieved the puck well when cleared into his zone. He made solid decisions all afternoon. Travis froze the puck when he had the opportunity and played it out to his defensemen when appropriate. Cut down the angle by playing forward of the blue paint. Travis was the best player on the ice this afternoon. Grade A

Christian Dahl #11 (D, L, St. Peters MO, 6’3”, 231 lbs, late 1998, Revolution)

Another solid performance from Dahl who anchors the Revolution defensive corps.  Solid accurate passes. Good use of his long reach. Physical in battles for the puck. Puts pucks to the net when he has the lane. Smart decision maker that takes appropriate risks. Grade: A-

Austin Morgan #14 (F, R, Detroit MI, 6’3” 173 lbs, 1997, Revolution)

Good pressure on the penalty kill. Several times throughout the game he snuck up behind players that had the puck and performed a nice little stick lift, stole the puck and he was gone the other way.  Comfortable skating with the puck. Good speed with the puck on his stick. Puts the puck towards the net when he can. Grade: A-

Albin Mulic #30 (G, cL, Gothenburg, Sweden 6’0”, 180,1998, Jr Flyers)

Stopped 36 of 37 shots this afternoon. Left a number of rebounds out in front of him, which resulted in the one goal against. Recovered in time to make saves, although it wasn’t always pretty. Stopped every first shot against and most of the follow up shots, which there were way too many of. Good job using his voice to communicate to his teammates during play. Grade: B+

Luca Pisani #6 (D, R, Downingtown, PA, 6’2”, 170, 2000, Jr Flyers)

Luca used his reach well to vacuum up the puck when it was near him. He was able to poke the puck away from some puck carriers that were speedier than he was using his reach. He passed cross ice well to his defensive partner.  Quarterbacked the power play. He does not seem comfortable skating with the puck through pressure. Kept his eye on the play when he made his changes, which allowed him to cancel his change when necessary as the play returned towards him. Tried to force a few long passes stretching the ice that were not completed. Young player with lots of upside. Grade: B

Nate Chuckran #12 (F, L, Newtown Square, PA, 6’2”, 200, 1997, Jr Flyers)

Nate has decent speed that he showed off on the penalty kill putting good pressure on the puck forcing passes that the Revolution did not want to make. He turned the correct way during plays all afternoon. He is comfortable with the puck on his stick. He competed throughout the afternoon when he had the opportunity.  He used his body to shield the puck when he drove to the outside. Grade: B-

Matt Clark #20 (D, R, Jamison, PA, 6’0”, 170, 1999, Jr Flyers)

Matt spent time on the penalty kill used his body well to protect the puck while skating. Drove to the net shorthanded with aggressiveness and put the puck on net.  At times would begin to get sucked into the play, but would stop and recover to his appropriate position. Did not appear to be going full speed during his back check. Grade: B-

Photo Credit: Dan Hickling/Hickling Images