Devastating contact defender whose game is no-quit, and then some. His play and attitude is in the same vein as Probert in he wants to call the opponents attention to the fact he is on the ice, and they better start looking for him. His climb from a raw outliner to a kid who Hockey Canada brought in as reserve, and broke out as the impact defender of the U-18 Worlds, leading Team Canada in ice time in the medal round, averaging nearly 24 minutes per game in the quarterfinal, semifinal and gold medal game. In the space of 18 months, this kid commited to improving his feet, positioning, strength and all the techniques he lacked in his game. We watched a sloppy skating tough kid and thought defensive defenseman role in his projection, but he added strong edgework, and he proved he not only a strong, physical two-way defenseman that likes to shut down other teams’ top players, and contine to his edginess for 60 minutes, to a kid who looks to have the offensive chops to impact games on that side. He runs Barrie’s second power play. This could be the start of him blooming into a strong two-way contributer.
–Bill Płaczek–
