USHS: History Made at 2008 Super 8

With Catholic Memorial and BC High winning 17 of the past 18 Super 8 tournaments, history was made this year, as Reading High School became the first public high school to win the tournament after beating Malden Catholic 3-0. Reading went 5-0 in the tournament and finished the season 25-1, with their only loss coming against BC High. Overall, the top players in Massachusetts will all need to prove themselves on a bigger stage against better players, whether it be prep school or junior hockey. McKeen's correspondent Vincent Montalbano has notes on several prospects who participated.

Travis Busch (2008), D, Reading High School (SR)

Played during the season with the New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs (EJHL) .. for the Monarchs, he plays a more controlled and simple game, but the holes in his game were magnified against better players .. at this level, he plays a physical and tough game because he can .. at this level, players do not want to be caught with their head-down against Busch, as he had a few big hits .. received a few penalties from being overly physical .. his outlet passes were off the mark against Waltham .. has decent hands .. was listed on the CS Preliminary Ranking, but do not think he will be drafted and will need a full season of juniors.

Garrett Collins (2008), D, Reading High School (SR)

Plays a more offensive game than Busch, but lacks the defensive coverage that he has .. a good skater who is not afraid to jump up into the play .. does have a strong shot, but needs to hit the net more .. was absolutely burned by Kyle Thomas and his speed .. will need to play at a higher level.

Patrick Kiley (2008), F, Reading High School (SR)

1989 DOB (Aug) .. an explosive player who is dangerous every shift and every time he touches the puck .. has tremendous poise and vision with the puck .. showed good speed to the outside and has quick, smooth strides with speed .. has very quick hands and the ability to skate the puck up ice .. does have a tendency at this level to over handle the puck at times .. a little on the small side, but is not afraid to get in on the forecheck .. on the PK, he drops back to defense if Busch was in the penalty box .. scored against Waltham after the goalie made two big saves on Lozzi, and he fired a rebound five-hole .. lead all Super 8 players with 15 points in five games .. finished the season with 71 points (26 goals 45 assists) .. really would like to see how he handles the competition at a higher level with bigger and stronger players and see if his production and skills are still one of the best.

Michael Lozzi (2008), F, Reading High School (SR)

1990 DOB (Jan) .. had a hat trick in the game against Waltham and was part of the top line that made history this year at the Super 8 .. played on a line with fellow seniors Patrick Kiley and Rob Toczylowski and played many minutes, while putting up a tremendous amount of points .. Lozzi works well with Kiley .. seems to have a scorers touch around the net .. his second goal was a one-timer off a turnover and his third goal was a nice outside move around the defense and fired a shot five-hole .. has a strong shot, but needs to hit the net .. played on the PP and PK and played many minutes on a team that relies heavily on their line for scoring .. finished the season one point ahead of Kiley with 72 points (25 goals 47 assists) .. a player to watch who will most likely take his game to the junior level and develop some more against bigger and stronger players.

Robert Toczylowski (2008), F, Reading High School (SR)

1989 DOB (Dec) .. cannot deny the talent with the puck, but it was the lack of effort and play away from the puck that leaves more to be desired .. put up tremendous points playing on the top line with Kiley and Lozzi, as he finished the season with 65 points (35 goals 30 assists) .. has a wide stride when skating, but lacks much speed with the puck .. hangs way too much, even when his team does not have possession of the puck in the defensive zone .. has decent hands, but questionable smarts with the puck .. easily knocked off the puck and showed no effort backchecking .. will definitely need to prove his game at the next level.

Stephen Sypek (2008), D, Hingham High School (SR)

1989 DOB .. captain .. has good size .. put up very good offensive numbers during the season for a defenseman (4–16–20) and one shift watching him you can see why .. he is very offensive and likes to jump into the rush .. the problem is at times, he is too offensive and stays around the net instead of going back to the point .. a solid skater forwards and backwards with decent speed .. needs a little work on his passing coming out of the defensive zone .. scored against St. John's Prep on the PP .. as most seniors, he should play a year of juniors or prep to continue developing his game.

Christian Cowles (2008), F, St. John's Prep (SR)

1990 DOB (Aug) .. captain .. easy to see why he received so much icetime with his linemates (Dan Haugh and Colin Prior) – they dominated every shift they had against Hingham .. Cowles is a shifty player with good hands in tight and dangerous around the net .. has good speed, but not explosive .. plays on the PP/ PK .. needs to move the puck quicker in the neutral zone, as he tries to stickhandle too much .. made a nice pass in the offensive zone to Prior for a goal when he took the puck at one post and sent it cross-crease for an easy backdoor goal .. does a solid job on the PK and is very aggressive .. on the PK, he took the puck away, used his body to protect the puck, and passed it to Prior for the goal that sealed the win for St. John's .. could use a little more poise around the net .. had 35 points during the season (21 goals 14 assists) .. will need to move up and play against bigger and stronger players.

Colin Prior (2008), F, St. John's Prep (SR)

The winger on Cowles line who does a very good job getting open and ready when Cowles has the puck .. has good speed and is shifty with quick hands .. has a quick release, but needs to hit the net .. dangerous around the net .. moves the puck well in the offensive zone .. his defensive zone coverage is questionable .. had a goal in the game (PK) coming off Cowles strong play with the puck .. had 20 points on the season (11 goals 9 assists).

Dan Haugh (2008), F, St. John's Prep (SR)

The other winger on the Cowles line .. plays a simple game and gets Cowles and Prior the puck quickly .. does possess good speed and a strong outside move when coming down on the defense .. needs to get stronger on his skates .. had a goal in the game against Hingham from Cowles and Prior.

John Heffernan (2008), F, BC High (SR)

Committed to Merrimack for 2008 .. one of the top forwards in the tournament last year, Heffernan had a quiet game against Catholic Memorial in a big game where the loser was eliminated and would not move on to the Cross-Over games .. has good size, but at this level would have liked to see him assert himself more physically, especially on the forecheck .. his skating needs work and it takes him a few strides to get going - he skates upright and has long strides but no power behind them .. showed poise with the puck and has good hands .. has a good shot but needs to get it off quicker and question whether he is a goal scorer (only 8 goals on the season) .. had only 18 points during the season (8 goals, 10 assists) .. do not know if he is ready to make the jump to Merrimack and college hockey and probably would have benefited from making the jump up to a higher level to improve his game this past year.

Rob Dongara (2008), F, BC High (SR)

1990 DOB (July) .. his game revolves around his speed .. fast strides and quick burst of speed with the puck coming up the wing .. uses his speed well coming down on opposing defenseman, goes to the outside, and keeps his feet moving at all times .. has a good shot .. scored against Catholic Memorial when he used his speed to get by the defenseman and looked to be going around the net, but quickly tucked in by the post .. should make the jump to a higher level and continue to develop other areas of his game.

Sam Marotta (2009), G, BC High (JR)

Late 1990 DOB (Dec) .. faced 30 shots in the game against Catholic Memorial that saw his team lose in overtime .. scrambles a bit in the crease, but seemed to get the job done most of the game .. had a solid first period, but allowed two soft goals-against in the second .. made a nice 2-on-1 save when he quickly went post-to-post to keep the game tied .. OT goal was a breakaway by Michael Collins and he shot it low blocker side.

Peter Starrett (2008), D, Catholic Memorial (SR)

Committed to Harvard for 2008 .. has good size .. strong in the defensive zone .. paired with Garrett Noonan (JR) .. received a lot of icetime .. likes to pinch-in from the point a lot and was caught up ice a few times .. uses his size well .. needs work with the puck and being strong with it, as he had the puck taken right off his stick by a BC High player that should have had no chance of doing that .. similar to Heffernan, do not know if he is ready to make that jump to Division 1 college .. he received other offers from schools that were interested in him taking a year of juniors before making the jump to college, but elected to go to Harvard right away .. in terms of the draft, cannot see a team drafting him out of Mass High School.

Michael Collins (2008), F, Catholic Memorial (SR)

1990 DOB (May) .. one of the top forwards in the tournament last year and had a decent game against BC High .. an awkward skater with short, quick strides and decent speed once he gets going .. shoots from everywhere .. protects the puck well in the corners and along the boards in the offensive zone .. scored the OT winner to keep his team going and knocking off last years' champions, BC High .. the goal came when he beat BC High defenseman Ed Nolan to the puck and out muscled him to get a breakaway and fired it low, blocker side .. has the talent to be dominant at this level and will need to challenge his game against better players.

Dan Rowland (2008), F, Waltham High School (SR)

1990 DOB (Jan) .. captain .. his best asset is his skating .. quick strides .. works hard every shift and backchecks hard .. received a lot of icetime playing on the top line with Adam Dallaire and Kyle Thomas .. has ability to get up ice quickly for instant transition into the offensive zone .. came back from a late season injury to play in the tournament .. a definite player to watch, as he should move on to a higher level.

Steve Hopkins (2008), G, Waltham High School (SR)

1989 DOB (Sept) .. had a solid season .. looks to be decent down low .. allowed a late goal in the first period .. needs to work on being quicker getting across the crease and moving post-to-post .. made a nice stop against Reading's top line with 2.8 seconds left in the second to keep the game close.

Kyle Thomas (2008), F, Waltham High School (SR)

An intriguing prospect, who is not as well known as a few of the other top players in the tournament .. has explosive speed that never seemed to slow down throughout the game, despite receiving a tremendous amount of icetime .. his extra gear with the puck makes him tough to defend against, especially at this level .. goes to the net hard and showed decent upper-body strength .. decent hands in tight and moves the puck well in the offensive zone .. scored his teams only non-shoot-out goal of the tournament when he beat Reading's defenseman wide and put the puck in as he crashed into the goalie .. not overly physical, but is tough to knock off the puck .. a definite player to watch and hope that he makes the best decision to help his development.

Adam Dallaire (2008), F, Waltham High School (SR)

1990 DOB (June) .. plays a feisty game despite his thin frame .. goes hard to the net .. moves the puck well, especially on the PP .. received a misconduct during the game against Reading .. seemed to standout every shift by doing the little things well .. do not think he will ever be a major scorer, but a player who can develop into a solid third-liner.

Zach Sheppard (2008), F, Malden Catholic (SR)

A solid forward who skates hard and moves the puck well, especially on the PP .. has good speed, but lacks that extra gear .. physical at times, but not overly aggressive .. goes hard to the net .. moves the puck well in the neutral zone .. scored against Xaverian when he jumped on a rebound .. should move up to a higher level and be a solid contributor.

John Sperzel (2008), F, Xaverian High School (SR)

Has good offensive instincts that make him dangerous in the offensive zone and works well with linemate Chris Wagner .. has a good shot, but would like to see him shoot more .. needs to get in on the forecheck quicker .. should continue to develop at the junior level next year.