The USHL Phase Two (or “Entry”) draft takes place soon this afternoon and it is a notoriously long and hard draft to predict. Phase one, which took place yesterday, selects well over 100 of the top 15 year olds and many of their rights are retained in the following seasons, so phase two functions as a way to pick up anyone who may have emerged as they got older or were overlooked. The information on which teams still have the rights to which players is not always readily available, so to some extent I am flying blind trying to predict this one. I’ve highlighted some names I expect to go in this draft, in no particular order, as there is a lot of unknown information and not too many skaters who are head and shoulders above their peers available for this draft. I didn’t watch much junior hockey other than the USHL this year, so I expect a lot of names to come from there as well — but they aren’t mentioned here.
I’ll start from the older names and work down to the younger skaters available. I haven’t mentioned goalies in this.
Playoff performances tend to have a big impact on draft status and one player who should benefit from that in a year where few leagues actually finished their playoffs is Hill-Murray captain Charlie Strobel. He’s a nice athlete and forward with good size who had 14 points in 6 games in the state tournament before taking the title home. He committed to Minnesota soon after and, despite being selected in the futures draft in 2017 by Sioux City, appears to be a free agent in the league today.
Another nice athlete with great size who had a nice playoffs was Dexter’s Jack Dempsey. At 6’3, 200+, Dempsey is more than just a big body after nearly tripling his scoring totals from last season. The BC recruit is exactly the type of skater this draft is made for.
On defense, Dempsey’s teammate John Fusco had a great year on the back-end offensively — his younger brother Matt, also a defender on Dexter, could be selected today too — and there are a few other potential looks on defense out of prep hockey. Big man Abdoul Diouf from Berkshire caught some eyes, a late ‘01, as did the smaller but effective Ryan Pineault (Holy Cross), who captained Westminster. Zenas Kennedy was arguably the top defender in Rhode Island HS hockey as an ‘02 and will PG at Winchendon next year. St. Paul’s ‘02 Bryson Russell showed some flashes of potential this year as their top scoring defender. Millbrook’s Zach Bookman (Merrimack) also had a great year.
Northstar Christian’s Ben Strinden, a 6’1 right-shot forward who had a great year for the new hockey academy in Alexandria (MN), will likely be picked up today. His teammate Jakob Stender, a 6’0 defender with 44 points on the year and a few games played in the NAHL, will also be appealing for USHL teams.
Draft-eligible forward Timofei Spitserov, from Culver Military, is another name to watch. The UMass recruit has been at over a goal-per-game for two seasons and has a nice frame with a good upside. Salisbury’s Sam Deckhut (St. Lawrence) played a big role on the top team in prep hockey. Michigan State commit Winter Wallace, out of Shattuck Prep, is another scorer with good size at 6’3 who could be appealing to junior teams. North Jersey Avalanche 18U’s Anthony Calafiore lacks the size of the others mentioned so far but has had a great career in AAA hockey and already has a taste of the league with four games played for Cedar Rapids this season.
Avon Old Farms newcomer Brendan Williams had a great season as a late ‘02 for one of prep hockey’s top teams, the Jr. Ducks product isn’t big but has some nice pop to his game with skill and skating ability.
Andover (MN) captain Luke Kron has signed in the NAHL (Magicians) — but as a look for the future should be another name to watch alongside teammate Hunter Jones as potential USHLers in a year or so.
St. Andrew’s captain Mark Hillier had a great year with 52 goals in 56 games, a Merrimack recruit who may head to campus sooner rather than later — or follow the trend of many other SAC names worth mentioning that have already signed in the BCHL. That could impact his draft status. Late ‘02 Jackson Hallum had a very strong year through Elite League and high school hockey for St. Thomas Academy and will likely hear his name called as well. Two other Minnesotans I think will be called are Christian Galatz, who had 31 goals in 25 games for Cloquet-Esco-Carlton and Elk River’s leading scorer Zach Michaelis, who is a force to be reckoned with when he gets going.
Looking back to prep hockey, there are some great players who look to still be free agents. Phil Tresca is a draft-eligible from Rivers with nice skating ability and a very appealing offensive upside who could emerge as a great value pick wherever he goes in this draft. Millbrook’s Nico Rexine, Gunnery’s David Andreychuk, Salisbury’s Cole Vallese, Pomfret’s Cam Lowe, Holderness’ Matteo Turrin, Kent’s Aidan Cobb, Exeter’s Mike Young and Berkshire’s Pratt Stetson all had nice seasons for good teams this year and should be potential picks today. A few of them were in their first year of prep hockey and excelled. Dexter’s Doug Grimes, a BU recruit with good size who tripled his scoring output this season, is another name who is certainly on the radar for junior teams.
In the ‘03 age group — a set of players who were eligible for the futures draft last year — there are plenty of nice players available as well. Leading the way for me is St. Andrew’s Justin Ertel, a physical offensive force with a nice ceiling — but as I mentioned before, many of the SAC products tend to stay in Canada for junior. Even when they don’t play junior up north, Ertel is a Cornell recruit and Cornell had no problem taking top players straight out of St. Andrew’s in the last decade.
In AAA, Honeybaked’s Justin Mexico and Eddie Shepler, Mount’s Jayden Sison, Tyler Ribera and Zach Aben, Shattuck’s Arvega Hovsepyan, NJ Avs’ Cam Bergeman, Rocket’s Matt Brille, Northstar Christian’s Jacob Napier and STL Blues’ Patrick Johnson are all ‘03s I think have a good shot at being picked up today.
Out of prep, Brunswick’s Michael Salandra had a great year up front, as did Trinity-Pawling’s Jack Musa and St. Paul’s Cooper Flinton. Bishop’s College scorer Mathieu Cobetto-Roy, a late ‘03, has great playmaking ability and should be a name to watch as well. Salisbury’s Cole Eichler, Cushing’s Billy Norcross and NMH’s Nick LeClaire are some other talented forwards to keep an eye on.
On defense, Avon’s Chase Ramsay, Loomis’ Jan Olenginski, incoming Salisbury defender Liam Lesakowski (from the Sabres) have a good shot at going today. There are some nice ‘03 defenders available to select in AAA too, like Merrimack commit Mike Rubin, NJ Avs’ Harry Meirowitz, and Therien Thiesing from the Chicago Mission. UVM recruit Joe Calvarino from the Westchester Express and Selects’ Cam Miranda are also names to watch.
I’m sure I’ve missed some players, but as I said this is a tough draft to predict — it’s not even readily available which players have their rights held in the league, and the available player pool is basically anyone in the world under 20 — including ‘04s, despite 150 of them being picked yesterday. I’ll have a recap after the dust settles. Thanks for reading.