Having a Seat Over There: Matia Marcantuoni and Some Goalies

Over the weekend, Bob Miller had some recruiting news for us.


Matia Marcantuoni, a potential #1 overall pick in the OHL Draft, would "very likely" be headed to Michigan if he goes the college route. Marcantuoni is a center for the Toronto Marlboros and also saw a little bit of time with the St. Michael's Buzzers where he scored two goals in two games, along with a shootout winner. Poster M71 chimed in with a subtle little smiley face. He has always seemed to know what's going on with our Canadian prospects, so that smiley face put a smiley face on my mouth as well.


A little bit about Marcantuoni: Ryan Kennedy had a feature on him in The Hockey News Prep Watch last month. In that article, both Marcantuoni and Marlboros Head Coach Dan Brown cited his skating as a key asset. Brown said that Marcantuoni is one of the best skaters in his age group. He also said that Marcantuoni is "a real gentleman, very polite". He was Co-MVP of the GTHL Top-Prospects Game.


Marcantuoni was in Michigan for our road-and-Joe series with MSU. He's a 94, so that would theoretically put him in the 2012 class with Nieves.


Miller also chimed in with some names for us to watch as potential future goalies for the Wolverines:
Jared Rutledge - Chicago Young Americans
Jimmy Howe - Little Caesars
Dalton Izyk - Syracuse Nationals (The same team that Boo Nieves plays for). It was said that we should "REALLY" watch him, "hint, hint". He's 6'1", 195 and was nicknamed "Mr Zero" by RedLine after posting five straight shutouts to lead the Syracuse Stars to the New York District Championship last year. Izyk was mentioned back in the Prep Watch feature on Boo Nieves as being "highly coveted". He also was listed as the #1 A-goaltender at the same Select 15 camp where USHR fell in love with Nieves. (USHR raved about Nieves again at the Beantown Fall Classic.)

Izyk is an early-94 as well. Assuming he'd be scheduled to come in in 2012, that brings up an interesting issue: Would you go for a goalie for 2010, have him compete with Hogan as a freshman, start as a sophomore, and then compete with your youngster as a junior and senior, or would you roll with what we've got again next year and hope to get the kid to accelerate and come in as the starter in 2011?


CollegeHockey247 also had a feature on someone to watch in the future: Defenseman Jacob Trouba. He's a defenseman for Compuware who has 14-14--28 in 38 games this year. And, hey! USHR loved him at the Select 15 Festival as well, calling him the #1 defenseman in camp and comparing his upside to Cam Fowler. Notre Dame is our main competition for him.


I vote we go ahead and get USHR's best forward, goalie, and defenseman from Select 15s last year. Yeah, that sounds pretty good. And none of them should go to the OHL after committing.