I spent the last few days reading everyone’s posts while going through this thread, I am not sure how many Scouts actually use this site or if this is just a place for parents to pump the tires of their kids, their buddies kid’s, their neighbors kids, or their friend’s kids, but I think it needs to stop. Especially from the eyes of the people trying to place these kids in the right spot and locations come draft time. It’s a hard enough position to be in, not alone listen to nonsense while trying to build these kids futures.
I heard so many good things about this board, so I decided over the break I wanted to check it out for myself, and while there are a lot of good points and valuable information on here, I see there are a lot of people trying to pump the tires of kids, what look to be mostly PEI born kids. I ask for these people to Stop. Don’t worry about you finding the team for your kid to play on, in this day and age everyone knows who everyone is and where everyone is playing. You may not think they do but they do and if you are good enough or on their radar, they will find you. Just some food for thought.
I was very disappointed to hear some of the options from some of the people on here in regards to prep schools. Yes a Prep School is a prep school and the U18 AAA NS & NB/PEI league is a U18AAA league that scouts are supposed to be linked to as their bread and butter for selections, that being said prep schools are too. These Prep schools are just as talented and probably more so focused on development than the AAA Provincial leagues. In my opinion the AAA Provincial leagues are very watered down this year and would have a hard time beating most if not all the Prep teams around. With the exception of KES who seem to be struggling this year. The Mount Academy may not have any big names like last year, but you have to give credit to the school and the recruiters for the Job they have done finding the players they have. Both these schools have Draft Eligible players who could easily go in this years draft just as easy as the AAA leagues do. RNS have a very good Reputation with 1 very strong U18 Team while Mount Academy is offering 3 teams in the U18 Division and all 3 are winning with 2 of those teams having Draft eligible Players on them.
I noticed a comment around page 5 maybe further stating that a kid going to prep school would never pay 30,000 to play in the NB/PEI League, I agree no one should . I am pretty sure this was another comment made by a parent of a kid in the NB/PEI league that was probably to scared to see someone from outside PEI or NB come into their province and out play their kid. The same person stated that Prep schools are routes that creates visibility for US Prep. Strongly Disagree, maybe NCAA if a kid wanted to go that route but why would they want to go to a US prep school, to play their own age. Tyler Wood & Will Shields both went down there 2 years in a row. Wood attended Mount St Charles first year and now attending South Kent , while Shields went to Bishops both years. Both players I am not fans of, too be honest, I find them both to be cocky and both to have bad attitudes. There is a fine line between cocky and Confident, No doubt they both work hard, but there are so many more factors into being drafted high in the draft that need to be noticed first, and although points help they are not everything. Not to burst their supporters bubble, I just don’t get it. However they are getting a lot of praise for playing against their own age group. Both players are Playing U15 while most draft eligible players are playing U18. I have been around a long time and I know someone playing their own level in their own age group will find it harder and more demanding playing U18 or Junior with bigger stronger bodies. Again only my opinion but if someone wants to be the best they need to be playing against the best, and Playing against other 2006’s don’t do it for me, when 2006’s here are playing with and against 2004 & 2003’s.
I am impressed with Phillips, who is a kid who decided to go state side to play in Pittsburgh with the Elite U15, got called up with the U16's for a game so far, but honestly did he really need too go ? Phillips, if he would of stayed here would of been probably the best D in the U18 League and arguably he is still going to go very high in the draft regardless of him going state side. Shields will probably go high in the draft too. But is he ready to play with and against bigger stronger bodies. He maybe a great player but his maturity level is just not there yet.
With that being said the same teams seem to be the front runners in the NS & NB/PEI league. These teams are having a great season including Cole Harbour, Halifax Macs & Steele Subaru respectively in the NS League and St. John Vitos, Moncton Flyers and Charlottetown Knights in the NB/PEI League. Which isn’t surprising as these teams always seem to be strong year after year. After seeing the results from the Monctonian, Some of the kids that where chosen to Play in the Prospect game I personally didn’t think deserved to be there. Not mentioning any names but I am sure a lot of you were thinking the same thing. I am a little shocked as to where the Wild is sitting, with names like Dickson, Sharkey, MacEachern & Taylor. Although most of this team is smaller than other teams. I was really hoping to see Taylor produce more, as he had a strong second half last year in U15. If Dickson is supposed to be the go to guy, he needs to put better numbers up then he has already. Maybe they will be able to turn it around in the second half and start climbing the ladder
Not that I am hating on Weeks cause they usually have a stronger team than they do this year, especially after last years playoff run. However I know they are struggling this year losing a number of solid guys to the Q and Junior A. The team they have on paper with players like Mosher and Vohra & Janes between the pipes, who were supposed to step up are not. In my option there play is less than stellar with both Mosher and Janes not playing to their potential in the first half. Vohra is doing better then expected sitting in second on the team in Scoring. If I was that coach I would be thinking rebuild for next year and maybe look at a few of the veterans to lead the team.
Well that’s enough for today, I will be back in the next couple of days with my draft predictions up to and including draft eligible players from round 3 -5 considering the 1st-2nd rounds are pretty much selected with the early rankings circulating. This does have room for movement considering this is only January.
