Jack Williams said being on National Hockey League Central Scouting’s preliminary players to watch list for the 2020 NHL Draft was “crazy and surreal.”
The 17-year-old forward didn’t stop there.
“It’s a dream of mine to play in the NHL, and seeing my name on an NHL list is ridiculous to me,” added Williams, who earned a C rating on the aforementioned list, indicating that he’s a candidate to be selected in the fourth, fifth or sixth round. “I’m just a kid playing hockey.”
While that’s true, the Biddeford, Maine, native isn’t an ordinary hockey player.
Williams, who has four goals and five assists in 23 games in his first full season in the United States Hockey League with the Muskegon Lumberjacks, already boasts a wealth of talent and a phenomenal personality.
Explained Lumberjacks head coach Mike Hamilton: “Jack has an NHL shot; he can absolutely hammer a puck. He skates real well. He’s sound in all three zones, so he can kill penalties and play on the power play. We are working on getting a little more offense brought to his game, but he does everything else so well. Off the ice, he’s really liked in the locker room and works hard. He’s always that guy who’s there for all of our skill sessions. All of the optional stuff, he puts in his time. He’s a very committed young man.”
The 5-foot-11, 160-pounder got his feet wet in the USHL last campaign when he notched six points (3-3-6) in nine regular-season games and three points (2-1-3) in eight Clark Cup playoff matches with Muskegon. He also appeared in a pair of games with the USA Hockey National Team Development Program Under-17 club.
Getting a taste of the USHL last season has paid dividends for Williams this season.
“When I first went to the USHL, the speed was crazy,” he said. “I never thought I would be able to play at this high of a level, but as the nine games with Muskegon went on and into the playoffs I learned that I could play here. Having that experience helped a lot because I had confidence coming right into this season.”
That confidence has allowed Williams to excel in all areas of the ice, which has impressed Hamilton.
“For such a young guy in the league, and being so short on games played, we don’t hesitate to put him out at any time in the game,” the coach said. “We could be up a goal, down two goals; we use him in any situation. You don’t give that respect to be out at the end of a game like that to a lot of young guys.”
Williams’ experience with the NTDP Under-17 squad also boosted his confidence, since he considers the toughest challenge he’s had to overcome in his hockey journey so far to be the adversity he dealt with after he wasn’t invited to the NTDP Evaluation Camp in 2018.
“I was down for a couple of weeks. I thought my hockey career was over,” Williams said. “But I talked with my advisor and my coaches and they said, ‘You’re a good player. We all know you should be there. You have to stick with it.’ I never thought after I didn’t get invited to the camp that I would ever get a chance to play for the team, but after I got that phone call I called my advisor right away and he said, ‘They know they made a mistake. Just go out and enjoy it. Show them what they’re missing.’ ”
Continued Williams, who was called up to the NTDP with Salisbury School forward Michael Cameron: “And going out there was surreal. Every time you get to throw those colors on, it’s a great experience. We got in as the players were getting off the ice for warm-ups. We didn’t get to warm up; we just went on the ice for the game, which was crazy.”
Getting that chance also vindicated the words of wisdom Williams received after he wasn’t invited to the camp.
“The best advice I got was to stay with it, play your game and don’t get down,” the right-handed shooter said. “It’s a long career. It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon.”
The marathon started when Williams was a kid, when his father, Owen, passed down his love for the ice game.
“I wanted to be just like him,” Williams said. “He was a center in high school, and he said he was a goal scorer growing up and everybody always wanted to stop him.”
Williams began playing organized hockey with the Portland Junior Pirates. He later skated for the Seacoast Spartans, Islanders Hockey Club and Westchester Express.
He was influenced the most during his youth hockey years by his Spartans coach, Bret Tyler (Maynard, Mass.), who played four seasons (2004-08) at the University of Maine and five campaigns of professional hockey.
“Coach Tyler was a good role model because he played Division 1 hockey and played with a bunch of NHL guys,” Williams said. “He always told us stories about what it was like to play top-level hockey, and I’ve always wanted to play at that level.”
His favorite story is when Tyler and a teammate walked out of an opposing team’s college hockey rink and taunted the crowd. Said Williams, chuckling: “They got a bunch of alcohol and pizza thrown at them.”
Motivated by his coach’s shenanigan-filled story, Williams continued to rise up the hockey ranks, which soon saw him play one campaign at Berwick Academy (2016-17) and two seasons at Selects Academy (2017-19).
Going to Berwick was the biggest jump from one level to the next that Williams made until his leap to the USHL.
“Coming from U-14 hockey to playing against seniors in high school was crazy,” he said. “I had to adjust real fast. It took me a couple of games, but then I got into it and had a pretty good year.”
Williams then sharpened his skills at Selects, which he called great for his development both at and away from the rink.
“I moved away from home, and everything I did was for hockey,” he said. “Selects taught me how to control my life and balance everything, and taught me how to be a better hockey player and better person.”
Williams also learned at Selects that sticking with his game through difficult times is essential for success. This lesson was provided in his first season by coach Scott Gainey.
“I was in a slump and didn’t have a great attitude about it,” Williams said. “He told me everybody goes through it, even the best in the NHL, and showed me some numbers; that was the year (Pittsburgh Penguins captain) Sidney Crosby went a while (11 games) without scoring a goal. He told me you have to keep going and play your game.”
Williams eventually snapped out of his funk and began to flourish, capturing the attention of hockey scouts in the process.
He was given another opportunity to represent the United States when he competed at the 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, where he recorded one goal in five games and took a crash course in realizing he still has a lot of work to do to continue his climb in the sport.
“Going there and playing against the top-notch players taught me that I have to keep working because everybody else is always working just as hard,” said Williams, who also suited up for Team USA at the 2018 Under-17 Five Nations Tournament, in which he registered five points (3-2-5) in four matches. “I struggled at first because I thought it would just come to me like U-15 and U-16 hockey did. I was in for a bit of an awakening. But as the tournament went on, I improved and found my stride.”
When Williams returned from the event, he started preparing for his first full campaign in the USHL. And while Williams has continued to progress since his first game in the circuit last season, Hamilton wants his ace player to keep improving, particularly with his puck protection low in the offensive zone and with zone entries.
“Jack’s a real north and south type of player,” Hamilton said. “We want him, when he has the puck, to move more east and west and get guys to cross their feet to create offense in that direction.”
The next stop for Williams after Muskegon will be Northeastern, starting next season. Until then, the future Husky wants to continue to be a force with the Lumberjacks and keep raising his draft stock.
Concluded Williams: “Being on the list motivates me a lot, and I want to, by the end of the season, get a higher rating. That’s a good way to measure my progress throughout the year.”
@LeoScaglioneJr
