U17 Rochester Select Festival: Team Orange

In Part 4 of our 8-part series on the U17 Select Festival, McKeen's Director of Scouting, David Burstyn, looks at many promising players on the orange roster.

Matthew Morris (2011), G, Dubuque

On the smaller side, yet thick, Morris is an economical goalie, who constantly competes .. he has a quick shuffle and is always moving his feet and body to position himself .. good mechanics and net presence despite smaller size .. possesses a good glove hand and an ok blocker .. he does not use his stick often as part of his game and will need to do so .. played well in his contests providing his team with timely saves .. should be able to play backup for the expansion Dubuque team this season in the USHL.

Michael Flynn (2011), D, Avon Old

Flynn would show flashes of being able to make a contribution but lacked the confidence to push the envelope .. he has good size (6'1, 190), and showed decent speed, despite his poor skating mechanics .. he needs to work on his pivots and turns but thanks to his large stride, he is able to stay relatively involved with the play .. maturing puck skills, he is better at making an outlet pass than he is at logging it up the ice .. maintained his position in defensive situations using his long stick and body to defend .. Flynn is very raw and needs to establish himself better in all facets of the game.

Cliff Watson (2012), D, Appleton

The youngest defensemen at the camps, as he is 10 days shy of being a 1994 birth .. Watson played a simple stay-at-home game and was very selective in his pursuit of offence .. he stayed in his box to disguise his foot work and lack of speed .. not overly physical despite being 6-foot-3, his game is more dependant on angling and using his stick and size to block and defend .. ties guys up in front to eliminate players from action .. good balance on skates as players leaned on him and he was able to hold his ground .. Watson has plenty of time to develop given his late birth date but he needs to become more physical to instil fear into the opposition.

Josh Bretner (2011), D, Lincoln

A smooth skating defenseman who has great agility and a tight turning radius .. cut from the mould of an offensive defenseman, as he does not hesitate to jump into the rush to make a play .. can get caught deep in the offensive zone, as he consistently gives up his defensive positioning in search of offence .. he can man the point on the PP but he has an average shot with very little power behind it .. very poor defensively, as he cannot angle off well and is too small to contain a bigger forward with speed .. Bretner needs to understand that there is more than one zone in a hockey rink.

Zach Saar (2011), C, Chicago

Saar plays the game at the same pace, however when he has the puck on his stick he can control the tempo of the game .. he doesn't skate overly well but he is a puck magnet, as it always seems to end up on his stick in the slot .. he scores the majority of his goals in close .. he is smart inside the offensive zone with his passing and shooting skills .. even though he does not move his feet, he played the PK due to his faceoff success rate and his anticipation .. although he shows good size he does not show signs of being a power forward, but he is aggressive (at times) in chasing down the puck .. he was selective yet smart on when he decided to hit, as his hits usually pried the puck free off of a defender .. at times, he appears over matched by the competition only to emerge with a handful of scoring chances throughout the game .. he needs to put forth more consistent efforts to round out his game.

Lukas Sutter (2011), LW, Saskatoon

The tallest player at the Select Camps, standing at 6-foot-5, he is the son of former NHLer Rich Sutter .. played a handful of games for Saskatoon of the WHL last season (7-0-1-1) .. Sutter did not have much of an impact on any of the games .. his eyes would light up when the puck was down low or toward the opposition's goal crease but other than that area, he was rather limited in his involvement in the game .. he eagerly goes to the net with his stick down and whacks away at garbage in front .. he has decent hands for a big man .. has a wide skating base, and a massive wingspan, which saw him log time on the PK .. he is not very agile and can only go forward, as his cuts and turns are very choppy and he is forced to take wide looping circles so he won't fall .. Sutter needs talented linemates who can throw the puck on goal to bring out his skill set, as he cannot do it on his own.

Dominik Shine (2011), RW, Lincoln (Verbal Commitment to Ohio State)

Shine is your prototypical work boot that plays the game with an edge, similar in the mould of a Matt Cooke .. he recorded a whopping 165 PIM as a rookie last year in the USHL and followed it up with modest point totals of (54-14-15-29) .. blessed with above-average speed, he uses it to get into the offensive zone and make plays .. he plays with blinders on and simply does not see his options .. to complicate matters he tries to do it all by himself and often his questionable decisions (rushing plays) leave his teammates deep in the offensive zone, only for an odd-man break to occur the other way.. he is an aggressive forechecker and constantly challenges defenders to make a play .. lacks the requisite hockey sense to be considered a high-end prospect, despite the intangibles that he brings.