Last week, Minnesota hockey held their Final 54 boys Festival and CCM Tourney.  The previous post focused on the CCM NIT (or junior aged players).  This post focuses on the Phase 1 of the upcoming USHL draft.

This year, all USHL teams will have a chance to draft in each round and there are eight rounds; but not all teams will pick a player.  In the 2013 draft, eight of the first 30 picks were passed by USHL teams.  The top Minnesota picks in 2013 were Tomas Novak/St. Thomas Academy (#3).  Brock Boeser/Burnsville (#4), Rem Pitlick/Shattuck-St. Mary’s (#12), Matthew Freytag/Wayzata (#17), Tanner Tweten/East Grand Forks (#23), Ty Ausmus/East Grand Forks (#26), and John Schuldt/Minnetonka (#29).

Novak skated on St. Thomas Academy’s 2012 and 2013 Class A State Championship teams.  Novak was the second leading scorer for the TCF Bankers (Team Southeast) in the UMHSEL in the fall of 2013 and played for St. Thomas Academy in the 2013-2014 season before leaving to play for Waterloo last season.  Boeser followed in the same path as Novak.  Boeser was a 2013 HP-16 National Attendee and after leading Burnsville in scoring in the 2013-2014 season and playing with Novak on the 2013 TCF Bank team, Boeser skipped his senior year at Burnsville and joined Novak at Waterloo last season.  Boeser and Novak were the Blackhawks #1 and #2 scorers in 2014-2015.  Both were drafted by teams in the USHL’s 2013 Phase 1 draft other than Waterloo.  YHH ranks Novak and Boeser as two Minnesota players to be taken in the NHL 2015 Draft next month.  Novak will play the 2015-2016 season at the University of Minnesota; Boeser will play in 2015-2016 for the University of North Dakota.

Pitlick skated last season for Waterloo and will play for the University of Minnesota in 2016-2017; Freytag left Wayzata last season to play for the Tri-City Storm and will play the 2015-2016 season for the University of Wisconsin.  This corner of YHH believes Freytag will be a late round NHL draft choice.  Tweten played in the for the East Grand Forks last two Class A state champions and played in the CCM NIT tourney last weekend for the champions Minnesota HP-18 team.  Tweten, still a junior this year, has one year left at East Grand Forks.  As noted here, Tweten's play with Jon Richards/Detroit Lakes was one of the keys to the Minnesota HP-18's winning the CCM NIT title.  Ausmus left East Grand Forks last season to play for the USHL’s Lincoln Stars; and Schuldt will graduate from Minnetonka this June and played for the Skippers last season.

In the USHL’s 2014 Phase 1 draft, was Blaine’s Riley Tufte drafted #1.  Tufte played in the HP-17 Final 54 and has added height since last season.  Tufte led Blaine to the Class AA state tourney last March scoring 59 points/27 goals in 27 games and led the HP-17 Blue team to a 2-0-1 record in the Final 54 at the PIC last weekend posting 6 points/2 goals.  At the state tourney, the Blaine coaching staff listed Tufte twice (wing and center) on their first line-wistful desire or recognition of strength of play?  Not elgibile for the NHL draft, Tufte is a likely candidate to end up playing in the USHL next season.  He has already committed to play for University of Minnesota Duluth in 2016-2017.

Bellows, drafted #13, in the 2014 Phase 1 draft played for Edina on their Class AA 2014 championship team and opted last fall to join the Sioux Falls Stampede last season.  Though selected in the 2014 USHL Phase I draft as a future player, the team selecting the player can put the player on their roster for the following season making the future “now”.  For Bellows and the Stampede, on the ice, it was a good decision.  Bellows posted 52 points/33 goals last season for the Stampede and has one more year to play before playing for Boston University in 2016-2017.  Matthew Kiersted/Elk River (drafted #6) played for the Elks last season and played for the HP-17 Red team against Tufte’s Blue team last weekend.  Kiersted can return to play for the Elks next season.  He will play for the University of North Dakota in 2016-2017.  Mitchell Mattson/Grand Rapids (drafted #9) will join Kierstad at North Dakota in 2016-2017.  Mattson led Grand Rapids in scoring last season and played for the HP-17 White team at the Final 54 Festival. Hank Sorensen/Wayzata (drafted #32) was the last Minnesota player drafted in the first two rounds of the Phase 1 draft.  Sorensen played for Wayzata last season.

None of the players selected in the USHL’s 2014 Phase 1 draft are eligible for the NHL’s 2015 draft this June.  Most will have to wait till next year.

Minnesota Hockey has yet to announce their 2015 National Camp Attendee list, but with the USHL Phase I draft less than a week away, what player at the PIC last weekend (born in 1999) is likely to be picked in the draft.

The HP-16’s are all 1999 born.  The defensemen that played well in the tourney were the Blue’s Jack Harris/Prior Lake, Red’s Carson Kosobud/Moorhead and Clayton Phillips/Edina, and the White’s Matt Anderson/Holy Family Catholic.  Harris continued to play well and moved the puck quickly on transitions from the Blue defensive zone.  Kosobud has gotten stronger at defense and knows how to attack in the opponent’s zone.  Phillips was moved to defense at Edina, but was always a strong forward on youth teams.  He played well on defense, but could be a better wing.  Matt Anderson continues to play steady, strong defense and continues to improve.

From the HP-16’s offensive players, the White’s Cory Checco/Rochester John Marshall had a good tourney along with White teammate Ben Copeland/Edina.  Checco, a strong forward with a hard shot, led Rochester in scoring last season and was second the previous season posting 54 points/26 goals in 50 games.  Copeland centered Edina’s third line in the Hornets run to the Class AA State Tourney last March with Bram Scheerer and Sam Walker.  The line was split for the Final 54 Festival, Scheerer played for the Blue, Walker for the Red.  All three are potential picks in the USHL’s Phase 1 draft.  Scheerer has gotten stronger in the past year.  Another player that showed skills and strength last weekend was Nick Putnam.  The Knight from St. Michael/Albertville impressed.

Goaltenders Matt Fitzgerald/Bemidji and Reid Waszczenko/Wayzata had good games Saturday and Sunday.  Waszczenko was the only goalie to shut down an HP-17 team in the crossover games played Sunday.  Fitzgerald played well in Saturday’s games before being blitzed in Sunday’s crossover game.  and The guess here is that one the top picks will be Luverne’s Jaxson Nelson (born 2000).  Nelson has the size and strength to have played in the HP-17 tourney instead of playing in the HP-15 tourney.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the USHL draft on both days. One player that should go fast, if he has not already been picked, is Alex Adams/Grand Rapids (a late 1997 player.  He is a strong smart forward that will only get stronger and better.  The third player on this list is Tristan Knott/Red Lake Falls (a 1997 born).  A lanky defenseman, Knott can skate and moves well playing defense or forward.

What is next?

The 2015 USHL Draft will draft players from all over North America, not just the USA.  The majority of the players chosen come from the elite Midget AAA leagues and tier III junior in America.  The NAHL draft (tier II) follows the USHL draft and will be held next month.  Most NAHL teams do not “waste” draft choices on those already drafted by the USHL.  For hockey players interested, the NAHL teams the Minnesota Magicians, the Austin Bruins, and the Minnesota Wilderness will be holding a Pre-Draft Camps.  The Magicians and the Wilderness will hold their camps May 22-24.  The Magicians camp will be at their home ice, the Richfield Arena.  The Wilderness camp will be at the Andover Community Center.

Note: The Wilderness are up 2-0 and one game away of playing for the Tier II Championship, the Robertson Cup.  They need to beat the Fairbanks (AK) Ice Dogs one more time (the next three games are in Fairbanks).  The team is led in scoring by Darian Romanko/Mounds View MN, Aaron Miller/Superior WI, and Tyler Cline/Blaine MN.  Romanko has committed to play hockey for the University of Minnesota next season and Tyler Cline has committed to play next season for the University of Alaska Fairbanks.