After narrowly escaping with a shootout win that counts as a tie for prep tournament seeding purposes in its first game against Lawrence Academy, Cushing won three consecutive games to capture the Watkins Tournament on home ice at Theodore Iorio Arena in Ashburnham, Mass.
The Penguins defeated Thayer, 2-1, in the final. Both goals were very similar as ‘01 junior left wing Jacob Banks tipped point shots from the right defenseman. The game-winner came with Cushing skating up a man. Christian Hayes picked up the only goal of the game for Thayer.
Lawrence remained undefeated, despite finishing in third place. The Spartans lost the shootout against Cushing before rattling off three consecutive wins, including an overtime thriller against Northfield Mount Hermon. Sam Colangelo scored a goal late in regulation to give LA a lead, but it didn’t hold up. The highly regarded 2020 NHL Draft prospect sniped a shot in the extra session for the 4-3 win.
Governor’s lost its first three games here, but the team is much improved under first year head coach Brian McGuirk. The team’s top prospect is UMass Lowell commit Owen Fowler, but the team put up a good fight overall. Governor’s finished the weekend with a 3-1 win over Canterbury.
Visiting the region was Culver Military Academy, a prep school from Indiana. ‘01 left-shot defenseman Mason Lohrei was the best 2019 NHL Draft prospect in the tournament. The Ohio State commit has good size and has good hockey sense. He’s not flashy nor offensive-minded, but he makes good, smart plays with the puck. He made numerous short, but effective passes on first touch.
Over the course of three days, there were numerous NHL scouts and college coaches that came through the building to watch prospects from the eight teams. While the NHL scouts were there primarily to watch Lohrei, Lawrence defenseman Braden Doyle, Lawrence center Tyler Young, Dexter goaltender Derek Mulahy and Dexter defenseman Ben Meehan, there were plenty of uncommitted players that should have intrigued college coaches. Below are 20 uncommitted prospects who will almost certainly play Division I or Division III hockey.
Watkins Tournament -- Top uncommitted prospects
Jackson Dorrington
#16 Cushing, 4/13/04, D, Left Shot, 5-9/140
Dorrington, from North Andover, Mass., continues to impress in his freshman season as an ‘04 playing a regular shift on the blue line for the Penguins. He makes good decisions with the puck on his stick and has remarkable confidence and poise for such a young player going up against opponents who are four and five years older at times. He has a good stick and he’ll continue to get better. He’s a top two or three defenseman in his age group for this region.
Spencer Cox
#13 Dexter, 2/7/01, D, Left Shot, 5-10.75/171
Cox is a former Miami commit who has reopened his recruiting process. He does a good job defending with his feet and for a smaller defenseman, he can play with a little bit of an edge. He’ll try to engage physically. He gets shots through from the point and makes good plays most of the time with the puck on his stick. His only weakness is he’ll occasionally try to do too much.
Jake Hewitt
#11 Cushing, 5/31/02, RW, Right Shot, 5-9/170
Hewitt is a good skater -- both straight line and in agility. He’s shifty as evidenced by a nice move he made for a goal against Governor’s. He came in across the attacking blue line on the left wing and cut into the middle, maneuvered around a couple of defensemen before firing the puck home. He has good vision and sees the ice well. In addition to his offensive skill set, he plays well away from the puck. He backchecks consistently and made a couple of nice plays to angle off opposing forwards going towards his net.
Lukas Gustafsson
#8 Cushing, 12/16/02, D, Left Shot, 5-9/165
Gustafsson isn’t flashy and he’s a little on the smaller side still, but he’s a late ‘02 so he has plenty of time to develop. He has a strong foundation to become a very good college defenseman. He makes good, simple plays on his first touch. He has his head up and skates well forwards, backwards, and laterally. Several Hockey East schools are interested and it would be a shock if Maine didn’t offer a full scholarship on a silver platter. He’s that good and it would be a huge miss if the Black Bears didn’t pick up the son of a former star player, Marcus Gustaffson.
Nick Roukounakis
#9 Thayer, 9/8/03, LW, Left Shot, 6-0/190
Roukounakis is getting a lot of ice time as an ‘03 and first year prep player. He’s a top six left wing and is on Thayer’s first power play unit. He has a hard shot and is strong which helps him win battles. He goes to the greasy areas. His hockey sense and continuing to work on his feet are the parts of his game that could use improvement, but he’s absolutely good enough to be a Hockey East recruit in time.
Culin Wilson
#26 Dexter, 3/12/03, LW, L, 5-10.25/169
Wilson has benefited from more ice time with some of the injuries to Dexter’s top six. He’s a slightly above average skater with a good skill set. He’s somewhat heavy on pucks, especially for an ‘03. The one issue is he sometimes struggles to establish himself when the pace picks up, but he had a really good game against Canterbury on Saturday.
Jake Flynn
#4 Thayer, 5/26/01, D, Right Shot, 5-11.5/161
It’s mind boggling that Jake Flynn doesn’t have a commitment yet, especially considering some of the other players in the region that do. He consistently makes plays with his feet. He’s adept at escaping trouble on the breakout and he has a good stick to defend. His hockey sense and skating into trouble are still areas of his game that need work, but he’s gotten better in those aspects.
CJ Monturio
#7 Thayer, 2/21/03, RW, Right Shot, 5-8.5/159
Monturio is a good skater with an above average offensive skill set. His compete level is high and he’s not afraid to go into the middle for scoring chances. He sometimes runs around a little too much and needs to shore up his play away from the puck. Still, he projects to play Division I hockey someday.
Cody Sealey
#2 Cushing, 2/23/02, D, Right Shot, 5-11/165
With all the good defensemen Cushing has, Sealey sometimes gets buried in the depth chart, unfairly. He deserves to play over a few of the upperclassmen who get ice time. He’s a smooth skater who makes good plays to break pucks up ice. He’s responsible and steady.
Nolan Hayes
#12 Thayer, 8/14/02, D, Right Shot, 5-10.75/156
Hayes is another young defenseman on Thayer who is worth watching. He’s a little more high risk, high reward than Flynn, but he has a good skill set. He sees the ice well with the puck on his stick, but sometimes gets caught trying to make the homerun pass instead of the simpler one. Play in his own zone needs work, but he has the makings of someone who can play collegiately as a fifth or sixth ‘D’ who can possibly quarterback a power play.
Nick Stapleton
#19 Culver, 2/9/00, C, Left Shot, 5-8/152
Stapleton played a very disciplined and responsible game as Culver’s first or second line center. He was always on the right side of the puck and did a good job hunting pucks. He’s probably a fringe Division I player or a solid NESCAC candidate.
Nick Cafarelli
#14 Cushing, 6/17/01, C, Right Shot, 5-8.5/167
Cafarelli, who formerly played at Austin Prep, had a goal and three assists in his team’s lopsided win over Governor’s, but was shut out for the rest of the weekend. He skates fairly well and sees the ice well, but sometimes struggles when the pace picks up. If he could play a little bit more inside the circles, he’d be more of a consistent threat to score at this level.
Jacob Banks
#5 Cushing, 3/27/01, LW, Left Shot, 5-10/185
Banks had both goals in the championship win over Thayer. Both were the results of tip-ins. It was a microcosm of how he plays in general. He’s heavy on pucks, isn’t afraid to battle and always around the puck and the net. He did good work on the penalty kill as well. If he can improve his skill set and skating a little, he’s got the chance to play Division I.
Billy Norcross
#7 Cushing, 3/16/03, C, Right Shot, 5-11/155
Norcross is another player who’d be getting more minutes at most other prep schools, but he was good this weekend in limited ice time. He made a really nice pass to spring his right wing in on a partial breakaway.
Christian Hayes
#19 Thayer, 11/10/99, C, Left Shot, 5-10/180
Hayes might not be a Division I player, but he’s a terrific prep player. He’s on the smaller side and he buzzes around the ice. He scored a couple of goals on Saturday and Sunday by just being around the net and hunting the puck. His rebound goal was the difference in the win over Culver and he scored a wraparound goal to cut the deficit in half against Cushing in the final.
Mike Kennedy
#3 NMH, 7/17/00, D, Right Shot, 6-1/184
Kennedy logs a ton of minutes on the blue line for the Hoggers. He has decent size and skates well enough, but doesn’t really do anything that will stand out to Division I coaches as a difference-making quality. He has the chance to be a really good offensive defenseman at the Division III level.
Patrick Borella
#21 Cushing, 2/6/00, LW, Left Shot, 5-9/155
Borella works hard and is a nice complimentary player for Cushing’s top line. He’s not a Division I player, but he could be a solid contributor for the right Division III program.
Jack Quinn
#19 NMH, 12/28/99, LW, Left Shot, 5-11/167
Quinn had six goals on the weekend. He doesn’t jump out right away as a goal-scoring threat, but he’s around the puck a lot and has a knack for the net. He’s probably bound for Division III, but he’ll look to get a Division I opportunity next year in junior hockey.
Spencer Weisgram
#14 Culver, 11/2/00, D, Right Shot, 6-0/190
Weisgram was paired with Spencer Cox for much of the weekend. He’s not as flashy, but he does a good job getting shots through from the point. He had a point shot tipped home for a goal on Saturday. He skates well and is a smart player. Look for him to end up at a high-end academic school in Atlantic Hockey or Division III.
CJ Foley
#23 Thayer, 2/1/04, RW, Right Shot, 5-10/140
Foley is a versatile player who is holding his own as an ‘04 in prep. He’s played defense, center, and right wing so far in games viewed this season. This weekend at Cushing he played wing and center on the third line. A solid all-around athlete, keep an eye on him over the coming years.
