In an early February game between the BCHL’s Surrey Eagles and Powell River Kings, Cam Caron (Dracut, Mass.) felt he was left with no choice.
Miles Burgin, Caron’s center and one of the team’s top players, was, he felt, hit with a cheap shot behind the net. Burgin had recently had surgery on his face and was wearing a fishbowl to protect himself.
Despite the fishbowl, which is a sign of injury, Powell River defenseman Cruz Scanzano still got his hands in his face on a bit of a blindside hit.
“Man, you don’t do that,” Caron thought.
So, Caron got right up to him and offered to go. Scanzano happily obliged, and the two went at it.
“The guys loved it,” Caron said.
It wasn’t until after the fight that Caron, who is 6-foot-3 and 207 pounds, realized that Scanzano was actually bigger than him. Caron also thought he was surely an ‘04. Maybe Scanzano was an ‘05, but he was at least 20 years old. He had to be. Caron was pumped to have held his own against a bigger, older player in defense of a teammate — especially in his first real fight.
After the game, he hustled to the Powell River roster sheet on the dressing room wall.
Cruz Scanzano. A 6-foot-3, 225-pound, right-shot defenseman. Born: May 15, 2008. He was 16 years old.
“Oh my God,” Caron thought to himself. “I’ve got to take this roster sheet down.”
A few weeks later, Caron was scrolling Instagram’s explore page. Powell River had posted a photo of Scanzano with the puck from his first goal. His coat sleeve was pulled up, revealing something else: a full arm sleeve tattoo.
“That’s not the guy I wanted to fight for my first fight,” Caron said, laughing. “But it was fine.”
Fighting comes with the territory in junior hockey.
“That just doesn’t happen in prep school,” Caron said. “You touch a guy or cross-check someone after the whistle and it’s a penalty. But [in juniors], it’s like you just kind of have to take it.
“Welcome to junior hockey.”
Nerves and fisticuffs
The USHL Fall Classic is a big deal. NHL teams send large groups of scouts to Pittsburgh to get their first look at draft-eligible talent. College coaches also make the trip, trying to lock up uncommitted prospects.
It was Landan Resendes’ (Marlboro, Mass.) first full season in the USHL. He opted to leave Cushing after a 54-point junior year for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders.
He would play his draft year in Cedar Rapids. The Fall Classic wasn’t just important for the Boston College commit to start the season on a high note — it was vital to show well in front of NHL scouts.
Resendes had sat out the preseason game in which Cedar Rapids coach Mark Carlson went over all the rules. One of them: If you instigate a fight with under five minutes to play in a game, you’re given a misconduct on top of a suspension.
That’s exactly what Resendes did. He was suspended and missed the rest of the Fall Classic.
“I didn’t really know the full rule,” Resendes said.
Resendes was known for his scrappy, competitive game. In prep, he never shied away from contact or roughing up an opponent. So when he felt a player who had been landing hits all game got a bit too rough in the corner, he took exception.
“Now looking back on it, I definitely should have restrained myself,” Resendes said. “Walking into that Pittsburgh tournament, there are eyes everywhere, and that was definitely something that I missed out on. But it happens. It’s life, and you’ve got to move on.”
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Resendes, who ended up not being selected in the NHL Draft, bounced back and settled in, scoring 14 goals and tallying 30 points in 59 games that first year in Cedar Rapids. He even got used to the crowds at games, where there are typically a few thousand fans.
“The atmosphere was definitely a wake-up call,” he said.
Ethan Gardula (Princeton, Mass.) certainly felt it in his first USHL game. Someone had told Gardula, who left Cushing after his junior year like Resendes, that the transition from prep to the USHL would be harder than from the USHL to college.
“I wouldn’t say I took that the wrong way,” Gardula said. “But I knew it was going to be so hard.”
Gardula was already committed to UConn when he suited up for the Sioux City Musketeers for the first time at the end of the 2022-23 season.
“I was the most nervous I’ve ever been for playing hockey,” Gardula said. “Like, more nervous than for my first college game.”
Gardula made the most of his first full season in the USHL, scoring 20 goals and posting 49 points in 58 games, ensuring that would be the only season he would play there. He was able to enter UConn as a freshman last fall.
It’s not always as easy for goalies.
Competition for the net
Sam Scopa left Belmont Hill after his sophomore year. He was outstanding during the winter of 2021-22, notching a 1.41 goals-against average and a .934 save percentage. He led the Sextants to the Elite 8 title game.
Opting to leave prep before senior year is controversial for goalies, let alone junior year. But Scopa’s stock was high.
His first few games in the USHL did not go well.
He allowed eight goals on 37 shots in his first game. He let in five in his second. After making 22 stops on 24 shots in his third game, he allowed seven in his fourth game.
“It’s kind of a good thing to start off like that,” Scopa said. “Instead of starting off being the man, letting up no goals and all that. I wanted to get lit up my first couple of games so I could build from that.”
It still wasn’t easy. Those four games were all from Sept. 23 to Nov. 5. After that fourth start, he didn’t get the net again until Nov. 24, when he came in for relief. His first win came on Nov. 26.
“It was tough,” Scopa said. “After that first game, I was like ‘Oh geez.’ But then I realized that I was 17 years old playing in this league. I was one of two 17-year-old goalies in this league. I knew it was a long season.”
The next season, Rudy Guimond entered the Cedar Rapids fold. He, too, opted to leave Taft early after leading the Rhinos to a Large School title during his junior year. He was a Detroit Red Wings draft pick.
Guimond’s USHL career started much differently. He made over 50 saves in his first preseason game against the Madison Capitols. But despite a strong start, he had his bumps throughout the season.
“That’s the other thing about junior hockey: There are pre-scouts,” Guimond said. “Eventually, teams scouted me more and looked at some of my tendencies. I kind of started not playing as well from there.”
Carlson is known for being a hard coach to play for, especially with goalies. As Scopa and Guimond had their ups and downs during the 2023-24 season, the coach brought in a third goalie, James Norton, to push the duo.
“It came out of left court for sure,” Guimond said. “You can feel angry about it, but it’s a business, so you can’t let the emotions get the better of you.”
That season, Scopa left for the BCHL’s Brooks Bandits. He spent the majority of last season with the NAHL’s New Hampshire Mountain Kings. He also got one game with the USHL’s Madison Capitols.
“It is tough jumping from team to team and knowing that you can get traded and you can be at a different spot,” Scopa said. “It’s tough getting comfortable in a spot knowing there’s a possibility you can get ditched any day. But you try not to think like that.”
Guimond took a different path. He finished the 2023-24 season with the RoughRiders and started there last season. But after starting six games, he left for the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats.
READ MORE: How players who left prep early adjusted to junior hockey, part 1
“I wish I could have avoided Cedar Rapids,” Guimond said. “Because it was really tough. I had to deal with things that I wish I wouldn’t have dealt with. The thing is, I think it will make me better for sure in the long run. If I had to do it again, maybe I would do two years in Moncton.”
Guimond won all 16 of his regular-season starts with Moncton, posting a 1.73 GAA and a .940 save percentage. He went 8-1-0 in the playoffs en route to a QMJHL title.
