MARLBORO, Mass. — The steady march from being a lesser known but fledgling prep player to fledgling power forward and intriguing 2022 NHL draft prospect for James Fisher started with a strong summer and has continued through the fall and winter, culminating most recently with Belmont Hill’s run to the 2022 NEPSAC championship game.
Although the Sextants came up short in the final contest against repeat champion Salisbury, the Wilmington, Mass., native is on the upswing, having learned how to be a more complete hockey player over the course of the season. He’s growing in confidence and excited for the next stage in his personal development on and off the ice.
“It started with a lot of skating and skating over the summer working on getting faster, more explosive and stronger,” Fisher told New England Hockey Journal after competing in the Beantown Spring Classic. “In the fall with the (East Coast) Wizards season it was getting ready for the prep season and it was simple: get good habits, and be ready to go.
“Going into the Belmont Hill season, we knew we were going to be good, and it was a great season with a great group of guys. I think it was the most fun season I’ve had as a hockey player, with some great teammates, and we rolled four lines and then to just keep winning and winning was a lot of fun. A little bump in the road at the end of the season losing to Tabor and Dexter, but then going into the playoffs with a huge win against (St. Sebastian’s) and Avon. It didn’t end the way we wanted it to, obviously, with the Salisbury game, but I wouldn’t have changed anything.”
Fisher turned heads over the summer in Foxboro, when he competed well in the Summer Prep League, showcasing his powerful skating stride and ability to get up to speed, while finding the back of the net often. His progression from the previous year with the EC Wizards and a smattering of prep scrimmages with the 2020-21 regular season ultimately scrubbed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, helped him to secure a commitment to Northeastern University.
“Northeastern checked off all the boxes I wanted,” he said. “In town, Beanpot school, great coaches, great recruits with guys like Grayson (Badger), just a great group of guys, and it should be fun when we get there.”
Since then, the 6-foot-2, 170-pound right wing continued to move in a positive upward trajectory. He led Belmont Hill in goal scoring with 17 markers, while bringing a physical brand of hockey to the mix as he found his confidence growing in the process.
“Last year was such a broken year and wasn’t the full experience of coaching him, so I was working off of his freshman (season),” Belmont Hill head coach and Rutland, Vt., native Brian Phinney said. “I knew he’d had a pretty good summer coming into the year, and I think the physicality was always there in terms of that athleticism. He can skate, he can shoot … but what impressed me the most was that he did it on a consistent basis. He added some punch to our game every time we lined up against an opponent, and I was really impressed with that.
“The other thing that stood out to me was that there was more purpose to what he was doing in terms of the way he carried himself around campus and with the team. He showed up every day ready to work and I think it really showed come game time. When someone walks into the room and you notice him, just in the way he carries himself, he had that this year, and I think that spills over to what they’re doing on the ice.”
“I’m a 200-foot power forward,” Fisher said. “I can score goals, I feel that I can adapt to any role: bottom-six, top-six … whatever you need. I’m a guy who is just going to work hard and win every battle, try to make people around me better. Skating is a big part of my game, unrelenting and just go to the net: go, go, go.”
As he prepares to turn 18 in late April, Fisher knows he is far from a finished product. He has plenty of work to do in the weight room to add the right kind of mass to his frame without sacrificing the speed and agility that is his one of his main carry tools. On the ice, there are adjustments and focus areas as well.
“Coach Phinney tells me to be more direct, skate in straight lines, play simple” he said. “Guys who are watching me say that I need to simplify the game, bring it every shift. I’ve got to keep working on my consistency and being direct, simple and there are times when maybe I try to do a little too much. So, it’s more about quick passing, getting to the net and continuing to do the other things I do well.”
Phinney echoed that feedback, saying he needs to be physical and has to engage more in battles with two hands on his stick, skate through checks.
“I think he’s much more of that north-south player,” Phinney said. “When he does that, he’s tough to handle. So, I think he will need to play more north-south and have that physicality in terms of engaging in contact, skating through contact and being tough to play against.”
Goaltender Sam Scopa (Lexington, Mass.) has a strong perspective on Fisher’s skills and his off-ice persona as his teammate and target of a lot of practice shots.
“(Fisher) was great to me from the very beginning when I made varsity last year,” Scopa said recently. “He was there to immediately help me and introduce me to all the players. Even though he wasn’t a captain, he was still a big leader on the team. This year he was great, especially in games, when he would score clutch goals and then showing his compete level in games and practices. When he competes hard like that, he’s a role model to everyone.”
Scopa is most impressed with Fisher’s shot, which he ranks as top two for all of the players he faced in prep hockey this year.
“He does this weird thing where he pulls (the puck) toward him then goes the other way and scores on me every single time,” Scopa said. “With his speed, he can get to open spaces really easily and just fire the puck right by you, so you’re just left going, ‘wow.’”
St. Sebastian’s right wing and fellow 2022 NHL draft prospect Michael Callow was the other player Scopa played against with the kind of hard, heavy drive and elite release on par with Fisher.
Growing up a Bruins fan, Fisher’s earliest real memories of watching hockey were of Boston’s run to the 2011 Stanley Cup championship when he had just turned 7. He looked up to Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Tyler Seguin as a young fan, but as he’s grown older and developed his own potential path to a pro hockey future, he’s paying more attention to Nathan MacKinnon and Matthew Tkachuk and the things they do to have success as two of the NHL’s best forwards.
“On the uptempo play, I try to be like MacKinnon: pick up speed quick through the neutral zone, quick transitions, fast, quick on the wall, hits. Be like, heavy, but also that skill. With Tkachuk, just trying toget under people’s skin, annoying and hard to play against, get to the net, things like that.”
Fisher is eligible for the USHL draft and is focused on finishing the second semester of his junior year, continuing to work out and prepare for his next chance to play hockey. Also coming up quickly with the interview process sure to ramp up is the NHL draft, scheduled for early July in Montreal.
While you never know what will happen in the seven rounds, the amount of NHL scouts seen around the rinks when Belmont Hill was playing is a good indicator that Fisher has a chance to take the first big step in his dream to one day have a chance to play at the highest level of the sport. He knows he’ll have to be prepared for whatever questions the NHL teams have for him as he gets a chance to talk to the leadership who will be making the calls on draft day.
“I’m just going to be honest and do everything right the rest of the summer,” he said. “I’m going to write down some ideas and try to think about what they’ll ask me. It’s kind of like finishing a test, pencils down. Now, I just need to get in the gym, get stronger, faster and prepare for whatever comes — drafted, undrafted, we’ll see what happens.”
Video: Why James Fisher is our No. 6 NHL draft prospect
https://vimeo.com/showcase/9394616/video/692379266
