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October News I 10/12/98 Cap District Takes Biddeford Biddeford, Maine -- Jim Salfi's Capital District Selects knocked off Chris Coury's Little Caesar's squad, 5-3, in the finals of the Great Northern Snowdevils tournament. Cap District goals were scored by Scott Lewis, Nate Gagnon, David Ambuhl, Zach Schwan, and Matt Conway. Jeremy Tucker, Justin Flaishans, and Max Seel scored for Caesar's. In the semis, Caesar's topped Applecore, 6-2, and Cap District came from behind to edge the Valley Warriors, 6-5. Sikachev Dazzles Opening eyes at the Biddeford Tournament was 5'9",175 lb. Valley Warriors forward Alex Sikachev, who on Friday burned the Tyngsboro Huskies for four goals in a 7-1 Warrior win. Sikachev, a 20-year-old native of St. Petersburg, Russia, is a fun player to watch -- crafty, typical of Russian players in that he uses a lot of cut-back moves, strong on his skates, and particularly lethal from the tops of the circles in. Sikachev arrived in the U.S. in early September knowing barely a word in English. He's already been accepted at Merrimack for next fall -- on the condition that he pass four levels of English. He's currently taking classes at the American Language Academy at Merrimack. Sikachev, who has 14 goals in seven games thus far, played for Boris Mikhailov's Central Red Army team the past two years, including stints with the Red Army farm club. Sergei Mikhno, a Russian immigrant who's been living in the U.S. (Peabody, Mass.) for three years, is, along with his wife and son, the host family for Sikachev. Mikhno knew Sikachev's parents from back in Russia, and was asked to help get Sergei a place to play in the U.S. A good chance to see Sikachev play will be Oct. 30-Nov. 1 at the Valley Junior Warriors tournament, which will also feature Apple Core, the Northwood School, the Walpole Stars, the Bridgewater Bandits, the Capital District Selects, the Niagara Scenic, and the Great Northern Snow Devils. Sting, Fernhall, Knock off Host Compuware Plymouth, Mich. -- A goal and two assists from forward John Gilbert helped lead the St. Louis Sting to the championship of the Compuware Tournament with a 5-1 win over the host Compuware Ambassadors tonight. Travis Wood, Jim Abbott, Pelle Fernhall, and Luke Lestikow also scored for the Sting; and Dominic Blouin had 24 saves. John Shouneyia scored Compuware's lone goal. Sting forward Pelle Fernhall was named tournament MVP. A 6'1", 185 lb. native of Gothenburg, Sweden, Fernhall is a second-year player in the North American Hockey League. Fernhall topped all scorers at the tournament with a 5-6-11 line. Others among the top 10 scorers in the tournament were Jim Abbott, John Gilbert, Eric Ortlip, and Aaron Smith (St. Louis); Steve Jackson, Jack Redwood, and John Shouneyia (Compuware); Derek Edwardson (Danville); and Anders Gullberg (Jr. Bruins). All of the above players appeared in five games, except Edwardson and Gullberg, each of whom played three. For highlights of all the games at the Compuware Tournament, click here. UNH Lands a Top Defenseman Garrett Stafford, a 5'11", 170 lb. right-shot defenseman from the Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL), has committed to the University of New Hampshire. Stafford, though only 18 years old, is in his third season in the USHL, all with Des Moines. Before that, he played for the Anaheim Junior Ducks. He's a native of Los Angeles. In Des Moines' first four games this season, Stafford has a 4-4-8 scoring line with six penalty minutes -- needless to say, he has an offensive streak. An excellent skater with quick, light feet, Stafford distributes the puck well, and loves to carry it. He's extremely well-suited to the Olympic-sized sheet at UNH's Whittemore Center. Look for him to be running UNH's power play before too long. Stafford will be joining Archbishop Williams' defenseman Kevin Truelson, who earlier committed to the Wildcats. Compuware, St. Louis Sting Advance Plymouth, Mich.-- In semi-final results from the Compuware Tournament, #1 Compuware smoked Michigan State-bound goaltender Ryan Miller and the #4 ranked Soo Indians by a 6-0 score this morning. Jack Redwood led the way for the Ambassadors with two goals and an assist. Pat Brush also had two goals, while Steve Jackson had a goal and an assist. In the other game, #2 St. Louis rolled over #3 Bismark, 6-1. Jim Abbott had two goals for the Sting, while John Gilbert had one goal and an assist. Pelle Fernhall had three assists. Bismark and the Soo -- the two semi-final losers -- both finish the tournament with a 3-1-0 record, while Compuware and St. Louis, both 4-0-0, meet in tonight's title game. *** Pacific Comes of Age; Mass., New England, N.Y. Take a Hit A proposal received last week by USA Hockey regional bigwigs indicates major changes in the way at-large berths for next summer's USA Select Festivals will be allotted. First, a little background. For those of you unfamiliar -- or just mystified -- by the at-large aspect of the Select Festivals, the reason Select 16 and 17 teams from the weaker of USA Hockey's ten districts are bolstered by players from traditional hockey hotbeds is simply to provide competitive balance. Exactly which region gives up spots, and how many, is deter- mined by past performance. At the 15 level, there were no at-large berths handed out this summer -- and not just on the Pacific team, but on all teams. The idea, of course -- and we'll get back to this -- is that all 15's are newbies and haven't proven their worth one way or another. It's best to give them all an even start and see what they can do. This year's Pacific 15 team did a lot, going farther than a Pacific District Select team had ever gone before. They took eventual champion Central to 3 OT's in the first playoff game and then went out the next day and took Minnkota to 2 OT's in the bronze medal game. Obviously, they deserve to be rewarded, and next year, when they arrive as 16's, they will have no at-large players dotting their roster. The same goes for the Pacific 17's. This represents a huge departure from this past summer, when five players on both the Pacific 16 and 17 teams were from out of the region -- three from Minnesota, two from Michigan, two from Massachusetts, and one each from several other regions. Also being handsomely rewarded is this year's Atlantic/S.E. 16 team, which, with three at-large players, reached the medal round this summer. Next summer, as 17's, Atl./S.E. will have to do it alone -- they will have no out-of-region players. The big losers come from the Northeast:
The proposal also calls for six at-large players to be placed in the Select 15 Festival -- all on the Rocky Mountain team, and all on a one-year trial basis. The six slots are expected to go to North and South Dakota players. (However, 16/17 year-old Dakotans would still try out in the Minnkota District). This summer, the Rocky Mountain Select 15's were in over their head, getting outscored 25-4 in the round-robin games before beating a dispirited New York team in the ninth-place game.
Select 16's: Rocky Mountain (10/10), Pacific (5/0), Mid-American (3/2), Atlantic/S.E. (3/2), New York (0/2), New England (0/2), Massachusetts (0/0), Central (0/0), Minnkota (0/0), and Michigan (0/0). Select 17's: Rocky Mountain (10/10), Pacific (5/0), Mid-Am. (3/2) , Atlantic/S.E. (3/0), New England (0/3), Massachusetts (0/2), New York (0/0), Central (0/0), Minnkota (0/0), and Michigan (0/0). 1999 FESTIVAL DATES (Proposed)
*** Spartans Get Another from US Under-18 Team Left-shot D John-Michael Liles of the US Under-18 Team has committed to Michigan State. Liles, 5'9 and 177 lbs., is a native of Zionsville, Indiana. Last year, in 67 games with the Under-18 team, he was 6-14-20 with 44 PIM. Before coming to the US program, he played for Culver Military Academy. When Liles and teammate Troy Ferguson arrive in Lansing next year, it will bring the number of National Program graduates playing for the Spartans to six. The others, now Michigan State rookies, are forwards Adam Hall and Joe Goodenow; and defensemen Jon Insana and Andrew Hutchinson. The Prep Season is Approaching... And we need schedules, for both boys and girls. Ideally, we'd like to get them as an HTML attachment to an e-mail, but we'll also be more than happy to have them as a regular, everyday e-mail. Click here for our e-mail link In addition, we're looking for a correspondent from each Division I school. All this job requires is getting to a computer as quickly as possible after a game, writing up just a few lines -- who scored, who made the saves, etc. -- and e-mailing it to us. Obviously, this is not a paying position (so don't ask!!), but it is something that you can put on your resume or college application. Also, we're looking for a techno-wizard from the Greater Boston area to help with computer-and-internet related stuff. Basically, this position would involve going over the site, checking on and updating links, and suggesting more expedient ways to accomplish some of the things we're trying to do. Trouble-shooting is also part of the job description -- we need someone to be able to call for help when we're stuck with a problem. 10/8/98 In Case You've Been Waiting... Here are our Division I Pre-Season Picks, as selected by Geoff Howell, the erudite voice of Harvard Hockey, and proud possessor of a crystal ball that Las Vegas guys and Gypsy fortune-tellers would love to get their hands on. 8) PRINCETON: The top forwards and the entire defensive corps returns. The Tigers were very good last year despite playing with only four defensemen for a lengthy span (five if you include ECAC Tournament MVP Jeff Halpern, who played defense in four-man situations and occasionally in other spots). With the graduation of Erasmo Saltarelli (2.87 gaa, .896), goaltending is a question mark. (Prescient quote: Assistant coach Len Quesnelle, at this time last year, said, "If we don't get to the NCAA tournament with this team, we never will.").
Top Rookie: Mark Hartigan (F, Weyburn Red Wings) or Nate DiCasmirro (F, North Iowa Huskies). 20) NOTRE DAME: Tough break losing Mark Eaton, the CCHA Rookie of the Year, to a pro contract. Still, the Irish return a lot of experience and depth. All of the key forwards -- Simon, Dhadphale, Urick, Carlson -- return. In goal, Forrest Karr takes over from Matt Eisler, with freshman Jeremiah Kimento (Danville Wings) pushing him. Notre Dame has a good chance of moving up ten or so slots. Top Rookie: David Inman (F, Wexford Raiders) Add U.S. Under-18 C/RW John Sabo to the list of current college recruits. But he'll have to scramble -- even to the point of taking his last English class at an Ann Arbor-area community college next summer. The schools Sabo is talking with include BC, BU, Maine, Harvard, Princeton, Michigan, and Michigan State. Unless Sabo is overwhelmed by one of the Michigan schools, look for him to return to New England, most likely to one of the Beanpot schools. His older sister, Melanie, graduated from BC last spring. As a 9th grader, Sabo played for Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Mass. USHL Expansion Team Names Motzko Head Coach/G.M. The Sioux Falls Stampede, which begin USHL play next fall, will name Bob Motzko coach tomorrow. Motzko, who coached the North Iowa Huskies from 1987-91, has spent the last seven years as a DI assistant -- two stints at Miami of Ohio sandwiched around a year working under Frank Serratore at Denver. The Miami assistant's job that opened with Motzko's return to the USHL is being filled by David Smith, a forward out of Ontario who played at Ohio State from 1989-92 before going on to a six-year career in the minors, most recently in the I with Long Beach and Orlando. 10/6/98 Purslow Picks Maine RW Chris Purslow of the U.S. Under-18 Team has committed to the University of Maine. Purslow, 6'0", 184 lbs., is a native of Greenlawn, NY. Last year, in 76 games with the National Program, Purslow was 20-13-33 with 69 penalty minutes. Before going to Ann Arbor, Purslow was with the Markham Waxers of the Ontario Provincial Hockey League. Caesar's Kinnie Opens Eyes at Marquette Tournament Marquette, MI -- Lakeview Arena doesn't really have a view of the lake -- unless you go out the back door. That's what I did in the darkness of Saturday morning. Coffee in hand, I walked across the road, sat on the beach, and watched the sun rise over Lake Superior. Not a bad way to start the day. The first game that day featured Little Caesar's in a 5-1 cakewalk over the N.E. Wisconsin Roadrunners. Coming up big for Chris Coury's club, which would win the tournament the next day, was 5'9" RW Mike Kinnie. We've seen Kinnie, an '82 and a junior in high school, a bunch of times over the past couple of years, and have always kind of liked him. Now, though, he's upped his game a real notch. Quick and smart, a lot of Kinnie's scoring opportunities spring from his ability to anticipate and then react. He made things happen all weekend, so it was no surprise when he was handed the tournament's offensive MVP award after yesterday's 3-2 win over the host Marquette Electricians in the championship game. Other top prospects on Caesar's include crafty 5'9" RC Justin Flaishans, an '81 and a senior in high school. His LW, 5'11" Steve Krisfalusi, also an '81 and a senior, also had a strong weekend. 6'2½", 173 lb. LW Alex Nazarov has potential as a power forward but doesn't have great puck skills. However, he could be a crash guy if he added some muscle on his frame and played physically all the time. Right now, he just does it some of the time. But look out if the light bulb over his head ever clicks on. On D, 5'11½" left-shot Jim McNamara, an '82, is looking like he'll be ready for Jr. A next year. The youngest player on the team, 5'8½" right-shot D Eric Werner, an '83, was, as usual, dazzling. Quick-footed and nimble, Werner will rush the puck all night, stickhandling on the head of a pin as works the puck down low. Sometimes, he tries to do too much, but he's not the type of player you'd want to rein in. Coury also has an outstanding '83 goaltender in St. Louis native Barclay Anderson, who led Central to the USA Select 15 championship this summer in Ann Arbor. Anderson, who stands 5'8", keeps on his feet and has one of the quickest gloves around. This year, Caesar's will be playing this year in the Great Lakes League, which has grown to 14 teams as powerhouse organizations like Compuware and Team Illinois have joined the loop. The Marquette Electricians, as usual have a strong team. On defense, 6'1, 210 Matt Matulewicz, an '80, had a big weekend, taking home the defensive MVP award. '82 right shot D Brad Limback was excellent in one of the games we saw, just decent in another. Up front, 6'1" LW Andy Contois is the most dazzling player, but his linemates, Ryan Moderson and Alan Swanson -- both 5'9" -- are solid, dependable players. 5'11" LW Rob Lehtinen, an '83, shows signs of becoming an excellent player. He's versatile, too -- at the Select 15 Festival he played D, and played it well. Compuware came in a little shorthanded as three of their regulars were sick or injured and didn't make the trip. We liked watching their trio of '83's -- all have a great deal of potential. Dwight Helminen is a 5'7" winger from Brighton, Michigan who's quick, smart, and has good hands. He gets bumped off the puck a little too easily, but strength and experience will help him there. Derek Smith is a 5'11", 167 lb. left-shot D who has good size for his age, skates well, and can handle the puck (though sometimes he overhandles it). Findlay, Ohio native Josh Griffith is also left-shot D, but, at 6'1", 209 lbs., a larger one. He's a meat-and-potatoes type D who plays with poise, is rugged -- though not as aggressive as he could be -- and keeps things simple. He also has a low, hard shot. Griffith is the sleeper of the group; he just has to get his feet moving a bit more. By the way, Helminen, Smith, and Grifffith were teammates on the Compuware Bantam team that won the National title in Chicago last spring. The Chicago Young Americans, Chicago Chill, N.E. Wisconsin Roadrunners, and Bay City (California) Hurricanes all had good '83 defenseman, too. CYA's Matt Fetzer is a 5'9", 162 lb. RD who's a bulldog -- he's not always pretty, but he gets the job done. He hits, has good hands, and is decisive -- in short, he's more than the sum of his parts. The Chill has an excellent left-shot D in 5'10" Matt Jones, who was a key player on the Central team that won the Select 15 Festival this summer in Ann Arbor. The Roadrunners' '83 D is Jason Karnosky. He's a 5'9" left shot who's quick, mobile, and prefers to move the puck with a short pass rather than skate it out. The Bay City Hurricanes -- they're from the Long Beach area -- showed up with a very promising right-shot D in 5'11" Keith H.C. Williams, who's a heads-up, savvy type, and solid in all areas. The Chicago Chill, by the way, are coached by former University of Chicago head coach Larry Pedrie. For a first-year organization, they were very strong, losing one-goal games to Marquette and the Soo (in OT), and blowing out the B.C. Hurricanes and Detroit Trackers. Pedrie has an interesting project in 6'3", 178 lb. right-shot D Lee Spector, an '80 birthdate who probably should be playing Jr. A. The Chills's top line of LW Bret Adams ('82), C Jordan Black ('83), and RW Nick Anderson ('81) was solid. 5'11" goaltender Jacob Miskovic, an '80, was solid in the only game we saw him in, Friday's 2-1 OT loss to the Soo Hawks. Finally, we get to the Thunder Bay Kings. Last year, with guys like Murray Magill, Jason Jaspers, Aaron MacKenzie, and Jesse Baraniuk, they won the tournament, knocking off Compuware in the finals. This year, they struggled, going 2-2. The problem: No depth. All four of the guys mentioned above have moved on, and the third-fourth lines are weak. The best prospect on the team by far is RW Troy Ilijow, a 6'2", 195 lb. power forward. Behind him is Malcolm MacMillan, a 5'11" left-shot center. Both are OHL prospects. 5'10", 165 lb. LD Kody Minitenko is reportedly more interested in the U.S. college route. All three are '82's. For results from the tournament , click here. Hilbert Narrows the Field U.S. Under-18 Team center Andy Hilbert has narrowed his college choices to Michigan, Michigan State, and Boston University. Look for a final decision in the next few weeks. 10/1/98 Kent on the Move Well, not exactly -- the boarding school is staying in the Connecticut town it's always been in. But the hockey program, entering its second year under coach David Kenney, is looking to reestablish itself. A couple PG's -- both Div. I prospects -- should help. They are: Guillaume Lariviere, a 6'2", 200 lb. left-shot D off the powerhouse College Charles LeMoyne team that won the Air Canada Cup last spring. Lariviere, a strong skater and good puckhandler, was named defensive MVP of that tournament. In the 1997 QMJHL draft, Lariviere was a 4th round selection of the Chicoutimi Sagueneens. Mike Duffy, a 6'4", 220 lb. forward who played high school hockey in upstate New York last season. Duffy has great raw potential, with pretty quick feet for a big man. Reportedly, Clarkson is interested in him. Top returnees include seniors Joe Weber, a 6'1" left-shot D from Lake Ronkonkoma, NY, and goaltender Chad Kiliam of Prince Edward Island. Kiliam kicked out 49 of 52 shots in a 3-2 loss to prep powerhouse Cushing Academy at the Cushing tournament in January. Alright, Now We Can Exhale Yesterday, the Sioux Falls, S. Dakota expansion franchise in the USHL, which will begin play in the fall of 1999, unveiled its name -- the Stampede -- and its logo, a buffalo. The Duke of Deception Randy Walker and John Riley, coaches of the Atlantic/Southeastern team at last month's Select 15 Festival in Ann Arbor, Michigan, remember the boy's voice being a little higher-pitched than his teammates'. Later, it was discovered that the boy, 5'6", 150 lb. center Patrick O'Sullivan, was -- and still is, for that matter -- a 13 year old, an '85 playing on a team of '83s. He was also Atlantic/ S.E.'s #2 center, described by Walker as "a joy to coach" because of his love of the game, his work ethic, and his toughness. From all indications, the ruse was orchestrated by the boy's father, John O'Sullivan. To reconstruct the events leading up to the boy's appearance at the 15 Festival, we have to go back to last winter. Young Patrick O'Sullivan, who has been playing up two years for quite a while, was playing bantam hockey in Michigan with Belle Tire '83. He was the only non-'83 on the team. For whatever twisted reason, John O'Sullivan decided his son should compete in the Select 15 Festival. But the 15 Festival is for 15 year olds only. The father was clearly not going to be able to get his son on the team in Michigan. There were just too many coaches, teammates, league officials, and opponents who knew Patrick was an '85 birthdate. So he'd have to backdoor it. John O'Sullivan, who beat around minor-league hockey for awhile, has an ex-wife in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. So last spring, O'Sullivan registered his son in the Southeast District tryouts using a doctored birth certificate. All players who make it out of the relatively weak Southeast are moved up for the final round of tryouts, this time with the Atlantic District players (hence the team's designation as Atlantic/Southeast). Those final tryouts took place over the weekend of April 24-26 at Ice Line in West Chester, Penn. . On the day of the final cuts, coaches Walker and Riley remember discussing the young centerman. "We were concerned about his lack of size," Riley recalled. "However, his hands, shot, and his hockey sense in particular, were superior to many who made the team -- never mind the kids we cut!" So O'Sullivan was named to the Atlantic/Southeast team. Training camp took place in Brick, New Jersey on a weekend in late June. The players were housed in dorms near the rink. . Most parents simply dropped their kids off on Friday night, went home and returned Sunday to pick them up. Not John O'Sullivan. He was, according to Atlantic/S.E. coaches and officials, a constant presence throughout the weekend. Good scammers are nothing if not vigilant. The Select 15 Festival began August 1 in Ann Arbor. On Tuesday, August 4, O'Sullivan scored the winning goal in his team's 4-1 win over Massachusetts. The next day, Wednesday, was an off day for all teams at the Festival. Round-robin action resumed on Thursday, with Atlantic/S.E. playing Michigan in a game with playoff implications. The Michigan Select 15's included one of O'Sullivan's Belle Tire teammates, forward Bobby Kukulka, as well as many kids he'd competed against in league play. Many of the Michigan parents knew O'Sullivan was 13 as well, but nobody said anything -- at least at the time. Michigan won the game handily, but it was learned later that, had the outcome been different, Michigan parents were prepared to protest. Since they didn't, USA Hockey officials -- not to mention the Atlantic/S.E. coaches and players -- remained in the dark. Word leaked out quickly after Atlantic/S.E. finished the tournament with a 6-2 loss to New England in the fifth-place game on Saturday August 8. The senior O'Sullivan, described as a personable guy, casually told the Atlantic/S.E.coaching staff that the Petrolia (Ont.) Jets Jr. B team had expressed interest in his son for the upcoming season. "They think he's an '83," O'Sullivan said, adding, "You guys know, right?" They did now. What can USA Hockey do in this situation? Subsequent discussions with John O'Sullivan have left USA Hockey officials with the impression that O'Sullivan sees nothing wrong with his actions, and is actually kind of proud of the whole charade. USA Hockey can't punish the kid. It's not his fault he has a deceitful dad. However, Doug Palazzari, Senior Director of USA Hockey's Youth Programs, said that John O'Sullivan can be barred from coaching any USA Hockey-affiliated team. At present, O'Sullivan is listed on the Belle Tire '83 roster as one of the team's two managers, the same position he held last year. Perhaps some good can come out of this sorry situation. Perhaps it's time to let the kids play at the highest level they are able to, regardless of age. That would mean turning the 15 Festival into a 15-and-Under, the 16 Festival into a 16-and-Under, and the 17 Festival into a 17-and-Under. That, after all, is the setup at most in-season international events. By the way, we saw O'Sullivan playing in a bantam tournament in Toronto two weeks ago. He looked good, too -- moving constantly, forcing the play, and creating one scoring opportunity after another. Check It Out This week, the U.S. Hockey Report opened a new section devoted to scouting profiles on the top candidates -- both American and Canadian -- for the 1999 OHL draft. We're starting with only a handful of players, but check it out often, for we'll be adding to it as the season progresses. Click here.
Copyright © 1998 U.S. Hockey Report
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