Minnesota High School Prospect Report Part 1

In Part 1 of his report, McKeen's correspondent Kevin Wey enters notes on Joseph LaBate (pictured), Mario Lucia, and a number of other top forward prospects out of the Minnesota high school hockey ranks and from Shattuck St. Mary's eligible for the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.

Joseph LaBate (2011), C, Holy Angels

Arguably the top prospect for the 2011 Draft out of the Minnesota high school ranks .. has a fairly powerful, fluid skating stride .. nice cruising speed with the puck .. builds power and speed in his crossovers .. decent acceleration, but could afford to improve his explosiveness .. as in the Elite League this past fall, appears to be handling the puck with his head down, but still makes slick plays that demonstrate he's assessing his surroundings .. adept at making sweeping moves across his body .. able to use his speed to drive wide, but is also willing to drive straight toward the net .. statistics are goal-heavy, but is actually a decent playmaker down low and around his net .. makes hard, crisp accurate passes, which are difficult for some of his high school teammates to handle .. receives hard passes well .. sports a hard wristshot with a quick release .. has a frame to work with at 6-foot-4, 180 pounds .. provides a physical presence .. able to angle opponents on the forecheck and drill them with big hits .. conscientious defensively .. consistently in place to help his defensemen down low in the defensive zone .. quick to get on the backcheck and help his defensemen .. will hustle to help defensively even if he's tired and at the end of his shift .. good compete level, as he's noticeable and contributes every shift .. strong potential to become a dominant power forward as he fills out .. named one of ten finalists for the 2011 Minnesota Mr. Hockey award .. early loss in Section 2AA Playoffs to Prior Lake ended season early, but LaBate scored two of Holy Angels' three goals and assisted on the other .. finished high school season with 29 goals and 23 assists in 26 games .. USHL rights are held by Waterloo, but LaBate is looking to play college hockey straight out of high school .. no college commitment of yet (but is expected soon) .. worthy of early second-round consideration, potentially even late first round.

Mario Lucia (2011), LW, Wayzata

Power forward with upside, but needs to improve consistency .. has decent speed and decent stride extension, but lacks the speed to beat high-caliber defensemen in Minnesota high school hockey wide .. has decent cruising speed with the puck, but flashes another level of speed and quickness every now and then .. oftentimes, does not play at a high pace .. heads-up stickhandler who can assess his options .. stickhandling can get a bit sloppy at times .. able to use his 6-foot-2, 183-pound frame and his reach well to shield the puck .. fires hard, crisp passes .. smooth pass reception .. possesses a hard, crisp wristshot that he can snipe .. likes to fire a lot of shots, some of which get blocked early down low, but does display some patience with the puck on the perimeter .. also displays patience with the puck in out-waiting opponents sliding to block his shot .. dangerous coming off the boards, because he has the shot power to score from the perimeter .. has some size to work with at 6-foot-2, 183 pounds, but a lot of filling out to do .. compared to LaBate on the ice, visually, appears thinner .. plays with a little physicality, but not the level of LaBate and far below Seth Ambroz of the USHL .. strong potential if he improves his speed, consistency, and compete level, all things that a year in the USHL would force him to step up .. finished the Minnesota high school regular season with 25 goals and 22 assists in 24 games .. called upon by the USNTDP to play for the Under-18 team in October and early November and scored 4 goals and 1 assist in 15 games .. USHL rights are held by Sioux Falls and it is expected that Lucia will play his senior year of high school in the USHL in 2011-12 .. no college commitment of yet ..

Kyle Rau (2011), C, Eden Prairie

The favorite to garner the 2011 Minnesota Mr. Hockey award .. very nice cruising speed with the puck, which he uses to drive wide, split the defense, or circle the offensive zone and buy time for teammates .. excellent quickness, which he uses to win races to the puck .. builds good speed in his crossovers .. has good offensive vision with the puck and is a playmaker off the half boards and around the net .. has a quick wristshot and snapshot and finishes his chances .. follows his own shot, is a threat to get his own rebound due to his quickness, and has the finishing ability to put home rebounds .. has a great compete level and plays at a high pace at all times .. is only 5-foot-8, 165 pounds, but plays a physical game .. forechecks hard and comes crashing in on opposing defensemen .. also a threat to make open-ice hits .. able to explode into his hits and will do so against opponents of any size .. consistently helps his defensemen down low and engages physically for the puck .. able to use his quickness and strong stick to strip opponents of the puck in his own zone and down low forechecking .. strong in the faceoff circle and wins his share of draws .. put up great offensive numbers and did so playing one of the strongest schedules in Minnesota high school hockey .. one of ten finalists for the 2011 Minnesota Mr. Hockey award .. finished Minnesota high school regular season with 33 goals and 36 assists in 25 games .. will play for the Sioux Falls Stampede after his high school season is over, and Eden Prairie is one of the favorites to win the AA state championships .. bears some similarity to Jay Barriball and is probably more gifted (and hopefully less injury-prone), and thus is very worthy of at least late-round selection .. committed to Minnesota (2011-12).

Tanner Sorenson (2011), C, Shattuck

Bears a lot of similarity to Kyle Rau .. has excellent speed without the puck and nice cruising speed with it . possesses a fluid stride with good extension .. explosive quickness and is also quite agile .. makes hard, crisp passes .. every shot in his arsenal is hard .. does a good job of calming difficult pucks .. plays with a physical edge .. an aggressive forechecker who can thrust into his hits .. a threat to play the body from the side on the backcheck .. very strong in the faceoff circle .. not big at just over 5-foot-8 and 165 pounds, but plays big .. as of Feb. 22, he had 35 goals and 35 assists in 44 games for Shattuck, tied for the team league in scoring with Nicholas Weberg .. USHL rights are held by the Green Bay Gamblers, and it's possible he could play in the USHL in 2011-12 .. like Rau, he is at least very worthy of late-round selection .. committed to Michigan State (2011-12 or 2012-13).

Tony Cameranesi (2011), C, Wayzata

Extremely impressive in the Elite League, but didn't appear to play with the same compete level during regular high school game .. powerful skating stride with good extension .. stays low and is strong on his skates .. has blazing speed and can drive wide with seeming ease .. closes ground quickly on the backcheck and in races for the puck .. has a hard, crisp wristshot .. fires hard, crisp, accurate passes .. able to thread traffic with his passess .. does a good job of controlling passes .. likes to open up along the half boards and make centering passes .. showed a consistent effort in the Elite League, where he was surrounded by teammates that could do something with his passes .. has all the physical tools and skill that Rau has, but doesn't display the shift-in, shift-out consistency Rau does .. like Rau, a smaller forward at 5-foot-9, 165 pounds .. doesn't bring the physical edge Rau or Sorenson bring .. one of ten finalists for the 2011 Minnesota Mr. Hockey award .. finished Minnesota high school regular season with 15 goals and 39 assists in 25 games .. USHL rights are held by Waterloo Black Hawks and it is likely Cameranesi will play in the USHL in 2011-12 .. has a strong shot of being a late-round pick .. committed to Minnesota-Duluth (2012-13).

Steven Fogarty (2011), C, Edina

Decent cruising speed with the puck .. has a fluid stride and doesn't require a lot of skate turnover to produce his speed .. does drop his chest a tad .. skilled stickhandler and almost relies on it too much .. able to make quick toe drags, but he has a tendency to do it too close to his opponent and can be stripped .. also has a tendency to be the one to come away with the puck in crowds around the net or off the boards .. able to weave his way through traffic in open ice .. makes smooth, crisp, accurate passes .. playmaker off the half boards on the powerplay, but is also at home around the net finishing chances .. able to make hard one-touch passes .. good offensive vision and can spot trailing teammates in his periphery and create plays around the net .. has good size at just under 6-foot-2 and at 195 pounds and drives the net with and without the puck .. follows his shot toward the net and drives the net after making passes .. engages physically, but is not an overtly physical player .. physicality comes out more in fending off those trying to check him .. named one of the ten finalists for the 2011 Minnesota Mr. Hockey award .. finished the Minnesota high school regular season with 23 goals and 17 assists in 24 games .. USHL rights are held by Chicago Steel and it is likely Fogarty will play in the USHL in 2011-12 .. has a strong shot of being a late-round pick .. committed to Notre Dame (2012-13).