ROCKLAND, Mass. — The next step is USA Hockey Select Camps. And those are a pretty big deal.
The Mass. Hockey boys festival is over after two straight weekends of action at New England Sports Center and, most recently, Lovell Arena.
On the first weekend, roughly 80 players from each of the 2008, 2009, and 2010 birth years took to the ice. Then, the evaluators whittled it down to 40 players in each age group, who made up the Final 40 this past weekend.
Players hope to be selected to move on to Amherst, N.Y. The '08s will play at Select 17 Camp, the '09s at Select 16 Camp and the '10s at Select 15 Camp.
So, who gets selected?
Before we get into my picks, I'm using the numbers selected for each camp last season. They don't typically change much from year to year.
- Select 17: Nine forwards, five defensemen, one goalie
- Select 16: Nine forwards, five defensemen, one goalie
- Select 15: 10 forwards, five defensemen, two goalies
I don't decide who moves on to Select Camp. I can't say it enough: these views don't reflect those of USA Hockey or Mass. Hockey. This is just my opinion. Nevertheless, it's a fun exercise. These players below are listed on how I would rank them based off of these past two weekends.
The official picks are slated to be released later this week.
Let's dive in.
