The CCM NIT tourney gives junior aged high school players the opportunity to perform in front of scouts from all three leagues and in front of other scouts (college and WHL).  It is one last chance for high school players to showcase their talent in a competitive environment before the draft takes place.  Besides the NHL draft in eight weeks, the two prominent junior hockey leagues (USHL and NAHL) will be holding their drafts in May and early June.  Add in colleges and other organizations, there were “clipboards” or scouts aplenty at the PIC last weekend.

The CCM NIT was won by the Minnesota HP-18 team.  The White team beat the Michigan Seniors 6-1 in the championship game ending two year domination by the Minnesota Seniors.  Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota each entered two teams in the tourney, a high school senior team consisting of players born in 1996 and 1997 who are graduating this June and a high school team consisting of players that are juniors this June and born in 1997.  Those born after the end of September, 1997 are not junior players eligible for the NHL draft.  The NHL adheres to drafting junior aged players only, but the other drafts will draft all 1996 and 1997 players.

The CCM NIT Tourney played their opening round of pool games to kick-off the 2015 CCM NIT Thursday at the Plymouth Ice Center (PIC).  At the same time, the PIC hosted Minnesota Hockey’s boys Final 54 Festival (HP-16/17) and the boys HP-15 tourneys.  The HP-17 tourney is for Minnesota players born in 1998 and the HP-16 is for players born in 1997.  The HP-15 tourney is for players born in 2000.  This is the first time Minnesota Hockey has combined all the boys festivals and tourney in one venue on the same weekend.  It was a rare event where all Minnesota hockey players (ages 15-19) could be seen playing competitive hockey by walking one minute from rink to rink.  All were playing for the opportunity to advance their hockey careers as scouts from junior hockey, colleges, and the NHL as the scouts were getting their last look at players in a competitive environment before their leagues drafts.

Besides the NHL draft, two prominent leagues, the USHL and the NAHL, will be conducting their drafts in the next five weeks.  The USHL draft will be held May 5th and May 6th.  On May 5th, the USHL will be conducting an under 17 draft for players born in 1999 (Wednesday, YHH will post their view of the Minnesota 1999’s who performed well last weekend).  On May 6, the USHL will conduct a phase 2 draft drafting from all eligible junior age players.  A month later, June 9th, the NAHL (including the Minnesota Magicians) will conduct their draft from all eligible junior age players.  Finally, on May 7th, the Western Hockey League (which claims Minnesota as part of its draft) will hold a bantam age draft of players born in 2000.  In last year’s WHL bantam draft, Minnesota’s Austin Pratt, Erik Dahl, Scott Reedy, and Grant Mishmash were taken.

Tourney Summary/Draft Perspective

The CCM NIT this year was won by the HP-18 Minnesota team.  The White team beat the Michigan Seniors 6-1 in the championship game led by their offensive depth.  All four Minnesota offensive lines proved effective in the four games played at the PIC last weekend.  In pool play, the Minnesota HP-18’s top line was centered by Chase Ellingson/Breck with Alex Gregor/New Prague and Luke Notermann/Blaine at wings.  They led the White team to three straight pool wins and then came through to lead the White to the championship win.  Ellingson and Notermann were goal scorers in pool play, Gregor got a hat trick scoring three goals in the championship game.  The Ellingson/Gregor/Notermann line posted 21 points/10 goals in the four tourney games for the Minnesota HP-18’s.

The White team scoring may have come from the Ellingson line, but all four lines contributed in part because each line played a different style.  The Ellingson line played a smart up tempo game with the two wings playing off Ellingson’s speed and quickness in the opponents’ zone.  That line was helped by the consist pressure of the other three lines that changed the White team’s offensive style of play from shift to shift.  The White’s second and third lines played different from each other and from Ellingson’s line.

The second line, consisting two Wayzata players Max Zimmer and Billy Duma with Holy Family Catholic’s Will Garin, played a game that featured quick often short passes low to move the puck and set up shots.  They played a rugged game, but played with the most finesse of the four lines.  The third line anchored by Alex Adams/Grand Rapids and Jack Becker/Mahtomedi played a powerhouse physical style often attacking the opponents’ net to overpower the defense low.  Adams really had a great tourney.  The fourth line combining Jon Richards/Detroit Lakes and Tanner Tweten/East Grand Forks played a close forechecking game getting the puck low and then tangling the opponents’ defense into knots.  Richards was especially effective killing penalties.

The Minnesota HP-18 team was the story at the CCM NIT winning all four games by a collective score of 26-6.  From an NHL draft perspective, Ellingson, Becker, Notermann, Richards, and Tweten are eligible for the 2015 draft.  White defensemen AJ Robbel/Jefferson, Wyatt Newpower/White Bear Lake, Trevor Selk/East Grand Forks, and Wyatt Ortloff/Thief River Falls and goalie Will Swanson/Mahtomedi are also eligible for the NHL draft.  From this YHH draft perspective, the top players on the HP-18’s were forwards Jack Becker and Jon Richards; defensemen AJ Robbel and Trevor Selk, and goalie Will Swanson.  From a tourney performance point of view, Ellingson was the best forward on the ice, but the scouts are probably wondering if he can play a grueling 70 games schedule at the junior level.  This corner of YHH thinks he can.     

All twenty players on the Minnesota Seniors (Gold) team are NHL draft eligible this year.  The Seniors finished out of the championship game for the first time in five years winning two of their four games.  They lost a crucial game to the Wisconsin Seniors 2-1 in pool play and then lost to the Michigan Seniors in the final pool game where goals against was the tie breaker.  Against Michigan, the Gold had the Pool B title with a 4-1 lead early in the second period lost the lead and ended up playing in the fifth place game.  The Seniors’ best offense came from the duo of Jake Leitner/Bemidji and Zach Mills/Hill-Murray.  The Benilde-St. Margaret’s duo of Chase Jungles and Carter Roo made some great plays, but unlike the Minnesota HP-18’s, the seniors lacked the firepower through all four lines.  Mills, Leitner, Roo, and Jungles tied for the team lead in points, each posted 5 points in the four tourney games.  In the key Pool B game with Michigan and the Pool B championship on the line, Mills, Jungles, and Roo built the early 4-1 lead aided by defenseman Nicholas Thompson/Denfeld’s goal and assist but failed to hold the lead and eventually lost 7-5.  From a draft perspective, all five of the seniors (Leitner, Mills, Jungles, Roo, and Thompson) played well, but this corner of YHH liked the toughness and determination of Duluth East’s Nick Altmann. 

For most of the first three pool games, the CMM NIT tourney runner-ups Michigan Seniors duo of Ryan Burnett and Mitchell Ossowski, led the Blue’s offense.  Both played for Detroit Catholic Central, a team that won Michigan Division I Championship the past two years.  Burnett and Ossowski tended to dominate play and do most of the scoring on their shifts aided by Escanaba’s Levi Wunder.  But in the Minnesota Senior final pool game when Michigan needed to keep the score close to hold the Pool B championship, it was Wunder that made the difference.  He took center stage scoring four goals, three in the second period to bring the Blue back from a 4-1 deficit, tying the game 4-4.  Nicholas Borellis/St. Mary’s assisted Wunder on all three scores.  Michigan went on to beat the Minnesota Seniors 7-5, Wunder adding a fourth goal.  All 20 players on the Michigan Senior team are draft eligible this year.  Borellis led the team in scoring in the tourney, Burnett was second, Wunder third, and Ossowski fourth.  From a draft perspective, all four (Burnett, Ossowski, Wunder, and Borellis) had good tourneys and defenseman Brandon Young/Reeths-Puffer High School and goalie Spenser Wright/Detroit Catholic Central played well.  Wright was in the nets for DCC in their last two Division I championships.

The two Wisconsin teams ended the tourney in a battle for third place that matched the Senior’s coach Tim Ebner against the HP-18 Badger’s forward Tyler Ebner.  In the battle between the father and son from Onalaska, father won in overtime as the Seniors beat the HP-18’s 4-3 to win third place.  The players on the Wisconsin Senior team are NHL draft eligible; most of the players on the Badger’s HP-18 are not eligible for the 2015 NHL draft.  In the CCM NIT pool play, the Wisconsin Seniors relied on defense.  They did not score a lot.  In the Badgers’ 2-1 win over the Minnesota Seniors, they were at times in a 5-man box inside the hash marks in the third period, protecting the lead.  It worked.  Wisconsin won the game.  But offensively, they showed little.  Badge defenseman, AJ Romanoski/Hudson, led the team in scoring with three points.  The Senior Badgers’ defense played well, but still struggled at times.  After giving up seven goals in their opening pool game lost to Michigan Seniors, the Red goalies (Max McConnell/Middleton High School and Martin Suda/Bay Port) held their next three opponents to 5 goals while seeing an average of 36 shots per game.  From a draft perspective, offensively, Connor Blanck/Fond Du Lac and Cole Paskus played well; defensively, Caleb Blank/Onalaska and Romanoski had good tourneys.  But the standouts on this team for the tourney were the two goal tenders McConnell and Suda.

North Dakota played well and they lost their three Pool B games to Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan Senior teams with respect.  The Green beat Massachussetts Sunday 11-3 for their only tourney win.  Offensively, North Dakota was led by Keaton Leininger/Bismarck Century, defenseman Aric Riopelle/Mandan, and Cole Kirchoffner/Grand Forks Central.  Sixteen of the 20 North Dakota players are eligible for this year’s NHL draft.  One player, Grant Johnson/Grand Forks Central, was one of three 1999 born players in the CCM NIT tourney (the other two were Matt Schreiner/Falmouth MA and William Jones/Blue Hills MA on the Massachusetts team).  Johnson scored one goal and assisted on another and skated well in the tourney.  From a draft perspective, both Leininger and Riopelle have size and played well.

Massachusetts skated twelve draft eligible players and had six 1998/1999 players on the team.  They played in Pool A against the three HP-18 teams and struggled at offense.  One player that showed potential was Matt Schreiner/Falmouth MA, one of the 1999 born players on the team.  Jack Scannell/Medfield MA had a good tourney.  But the story on the Massachusetts team last weekend was the defense.  With the young Massachussetts’ offense struggling, most of their games were played in the Maroon zone pressuring the defense.  Three players, defensemen Alex Stevens/Wayzata MN and Tristan Knott/Red Lake Falls MN and goaltender Jacob Dittmer/Moorhead MN had outstanding tourney.  Stevens led Massachussetts in scoring (four points), Tristan Knott proved to be a wide ranging defenseman that can skate, and Dittmer (once he started to roll) played tough at goalie stopping 90% of the 129 shots he saw in two plus games.  From a draft perspective, Scannell has some scoring capability and can skate, but Knott and Dittmer had great tourneys and showcased well; Stevens played aggressive and has size.