The second day of NTDP Evaluation Camp featured a lot of goals as Team Blue won 6-5 over Team Red. The pace of play is pretty fast and there is a lot of open ice, 1v1 hockey going on as is typical of these types of events. The style of play holds the north-south style power forwards at a disadvantage to the smaller, skilled players who better utilize the open ice and make more plays in space.
After the camp, NZ scouts will break down each players performances over their 5 games and provide a grade and evaluation for subscribers. Here are some of our notes from Day #2.
Xavier Medina Remains Perfect
Xavier Medina, our #2 ranked netminder heading into camp, has not been scored upon in either game #1 or game #2. He’s the only sub 6’0” goalie in the camp (5’10”) but he’s been sharp; he has fluid and efficient movement in the net and making some difficult saves.
Brock Faber Making the Jump
It’s a difficult task for a player to go from Minnesota Bantam hockey to NTDP, but Brock Faber is proving it can be done. Some of the Minnesota Bantam of the Year candidates have not even received a camp invite in the past because of how difficult that adjustment is, but Faber through the first two days, has been one of the top defenders in the camp.
Canadian League Players on the Rise
This camp features an impressive six players who played this past season in Canada from Quebec to Alberta and while they all showed well on Day #1, the group as a whole took a step forward on Day #2. From Western Canada Jake Sanderson and Anthony Kehrer have been among the best defenders here and up front Quebec Midget AAA standout Thomas Bordeleau found the back of the net in game #2 and was creating a lot of offense off the rush and from out of the corners. Dylan Peterson, a highly coveted BU prospect who played in Ottawa last season was quiet Day #1 but came out with more confidence and assertiveness in Day #2 and starting to play to his potential. Dylan Robinson found the stat sheet again in Day #2 and continues to be difficult for opponents to handle, particularly down low given his reach, puck protection ability and willingness to lower the shoulder and drive the net with or without the puck.
New Geography, New Teams, New Leagues
Last year there was a lot of buzz about the lack of Michigan and Minnesota prospects as only 1 Minnesota player made the team and only 1 Michigan player made the team. The year prior, there was an even 4 Minnesota and 4 Michigan players who made the team.
There are players in this camp who played this past season in Ottawa, Toronto, Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. There are players coming from all over the United States such as California, Alaska, Texas, Colorado, North Dakota and Montana.
Also, with the rise of U15 hockey in the past two years we see players in this camp coming from a variety of levels from Bantam to High School. A breakdown is below:
U14 Bantam AA: 1
U15 Midget AAA: 8
U16 Midget AAA: 20
U18 Midget AAA: 3
Prep/HS: 15
Looking at the previous two NTDP U17 rosters from 2016 and 2017 we see that this kind of diversity among leagues and geography seen this year is a rarity. Some of the most well represented leagues like NE Prep only have four participants here and some of the most well-represented teams like Chicago Mission only have one player here.
2016 and 2017 U17 NTDP Roster Breakdown
State Breakdown (3 players or more)
NY: 2 (2016), 6 (2017) = 8
MA: 2 (2016), 4 (2017) = 6
MN: 4 (2016), 1 (2017) = 5
MI: 4 (2016), 1 (2017) = 5
IL: 1 (2016), 4 (2017) = 4
NJ: 2 (2016), 1 (2017) = 3
WI: 2 (2016), 1 (2017) = 3
League Breakdown (2 players or more):
NE Prep: (2016) 2, (2017) 8= 10
HPHL: (2016) 6, (2017) 4= 10
T1EHL: (2016) 3, (2017) 4= 7
MN HS: (2016) 4, (2017) 0 = 4
USPHL: (2016) 2, (2017) 2= 4
GTHL: (2016) 2, (2017) 1= 3
WI HS: (2016) 1, (2017) 1 = 2
Team Breakdown (2 players or more):
Chicago Mission: (2016) 3, (2017) 3 = 6
Shattuck St. Mary’s: (2016) 1, (2017) 2 = 3
Avon Old Farms: 2016 (0), 2017 (3) = 3
Honeybaked: (2016) 2, (2017) 0 = 2
Salisbury: (2016) 1, (2017) 1 = 2
NJ Avalanche: (2016) 1, (2017) 1 = 2
St. Marks: (2016) 0, 2017 (2) = 2
PAL Islanders: (2016) 0, (2017) 2 = 2
Team Wisconsin: (2016) 1, (2017) 1 = 2
