U17 Rochester Select Festival: Team Blue

In part seven of our series on the USA Hockey U17 Select Festival, Mckeen`s Director of Scouting David Burstyn looks at many players that were on Team Blue.

Brendan Jensen (2011), G, Vancouver Giants

A sixth round selection of the Giants in the 2008 WHL bantam draft .. blessed with modest size and has crease toughness .. willingly swats at players and gives them an extra shot should they collapse in his goal .. hybrid goalie that reads his angles well and recognizes time and space by retreating in and out of his crease .. plays aggressive at times and backs off on others .. better goalie in tight quarters, as he can expand his presence .. routinely comes out of the crease on long shots to make himself bigger .. an average puckhandler .. rebound control is an area that will also need some work .. did not have much of an opportunity to play last season due to the log jam at the netminder position and will need to battle this year for playing time.

Jake Downing (2011), D, Cedar Rapids

Downing's camp was marred with inconsistency but he has all the attributes to be a quality depth offensive defenseman .. he skates effortlessly, backed by a nice glide but he needs to add more strength to his stride .. he is underdeveloped but has a nice frame from which to work with .. he tried to assert himself physically by lining up players for hip checks but he often fell to the ice, as the opposition was stronger than him .. he did execute good timing in his hits but he needs work on his balance and lower body strength .. shows flashes of being able to skate with the puck up ice and control the tempo of the game with it in his possession .. he makes mistakes when manning the point on the PP - a direct result of not playing against a high level of competition and inadequate coaching .. needs to make adjustments at the line by moving his feet more .. his confidence sags at times, which is reflective of his play .. if he can learn to keep his mental game in tact and become more confident in his abilities, he could make for a potential draft.

Colin Sullivan (2011), D, Avon Old Farms (Verbal Commitment to Yale)

Sullivan has many tools but struggled in these camps to mark his man defensively and lost many assignments .. he has good feet and can move well in all directions, which helps him stay involved with the play, however he needs to be more assertive in his decision making .. will step up to make a hit and has a strong upper body to dislodge players off the puck .. at times, he can over commit defensively, and gets too anxious without the puck .. he has decent offensive skills including a well-placed wristshot .. his passes lack accuracy and he can hurry his decisions with added pressure .. fits more into a defensive defenseman mould but has yet to learn the nuances of the game.

Brian Cooper (2011), D, Fargo

A riverboat gambler with great puckhandling skills and a dynamic first step with a penchant for leaving the zone early in search of an offensive opportunity .. he keeps the puck close to his body, protecting it well .. his separation gear allows him to make ventures deep into the offensive zone .. he reads plays well in all three zones and does not hesitate to burst in the middle if he sees an opportunity .. undersized, he has a physical dimension to his game and eagerly attacks the boards, often coming out with the puck ..

Cooper needs to play with more of a defensive defenseman to bring out his game and allow him to pinch and continue to push forward .. he plays a game similar to Brian Rafalski and should benefit from playing three years of College so he can fully develop.

Todd Koritzinsky (2011), RW, Middleton HS

A Wisconsin product, Koritzinsky is the sum of his parts .. unnoticeable for stretches at a time, he has a knack for finding the open ice and getting behind the defence to manufacture offence .. stays with plays and follows them through, however he will not go toward the inside because of his diminutive size .. makes plays happen with his passes, keen anticipation and quick stick .. more of a finisher than a scorer .. he is able to play with better players, as he has better than average hockey sense .. his skating is average, as he lacks power or speed .. not ready for the NHL ranks at any point but a few years in College for him to further develop and grow and he may be an option.

Stefan Noesen (2011), C, Plymouth

Noesen has slow foot speed but decent hands that keep him involved in the play .. he is strong along the offensive boards and especially below his goal line .. down low, he recognizes his shortcomings and always looks to make a quick play with the puck, whether it be a casual dump in or a pass back to the point his puck decisions are sound .. his passes are usually very sneaky and often players think they have a read on him only for him to elude them .. his first step and overall skating mechanics are sluggish .. he lacks agility and is more of a north/south skater .. as such, getting to loose pucks in the offensive zone doesn't happen very often .. he plays a short power game .. he does not have a mean streak in him and incorporating that into his play would make him more of a physical presence .. defensively, he has to resort to clutching and grabbing to slow a player down, as once again his foot speed does not allow him to keep up especially in transition .. could be a decent option in front of the goal in PP situations this season for coach Velucci and if he scores early in the season it would help his overall confidence and game.

Logan Nelson (2011),C, Russell Stover

Nelson has creativity, speed and keen stickhandling prowess and can be slotted on either the wing or up the middle .. he had times where he could take over the game and was the most dangerous player on the ice with the puck but did not follow that with consistent efforts throughout the game .. he tends to operate at a high level of speed with the puck and does not slow himself down .. has good inside/out moves and works well on the cycle .. his stick skills in close are above average, as he can get the puck to his forehand in an instant to make a play .. his release is quick and he does not hesitate to shoot .. has a jerky stride and will need to clean up the fluidity of his skating, but he is shifty and difficult to get a read on .. he lacks a separation gear but has a wiry frame which is strong to shake off checks or drop his shoulder to protect the puck .. his hands are quicker than his feet that the opposition can not pry him off it even if they do catch up to him .. he could lengthen up his stride, which would help in open-ice situations .. tenacious of the forecheck, he needs to adopt the same attitude when defending, as he can take too many wide, looping circles .. Nelson tends to get easily discouraged if plays don't develop, he won't give up on a play but if they do not materialize he loses interest the next shift and cannot seem to refocus .. he needs to play hungry each shift in order to be effective and could make for an ideal third-line checking energy player due to his skills.

Kyle Bauman (2011), LW, Miner (NAPH16)

Bauman plays bigger than his height and weight suggest .. at 5-foot-9 and 155 pounds, he will not intimidate the opposition but he plays a spirited game often darting in and out of scoring areas .. he thrives in down-low situations where he displays his aggression on the puck .. he puts himself in good positions to score or make a play offensively .. shows some bursts of speed but is a slightly erratic skater .. Bauman needs time to develop but did show enough of an understanding of the game to get himself noticed.

Jeffrey Stenglein (2011), C, Youngstown

Stenglein put up staggering numbers in the emJHL leading the team in PIM and finished second in scoring with Maksymum .. Stenglein has an uncanny ability to get into the right place at the right time .. his stick preparation is great and it is always down on the ice ready to fire away at a puck .. he leans on guys to gain positional advantage and at the last second curls off them to get his stick free .. his awareness in front of the goal and anticipation is what separates him .. he exhibits some patience in his game and can make nifty passes .. not much of a stickhandler, he needs others to get him the puck .. his skating is average but his hockey sense allows him to keep up, as he reads the ice better than most .. conditioning may be a factor, as he appeared to be carrying too much weight, which may have influenced his overall speed .. he routinely comes back to defend and support the defence .. Stenglein should get his opportunity on a rebuilding Phantoms team to assert himself and earn his ice.