Forwards
Antoine G, 2nd year Midget, played Midget A in 2013-14, preseason rating: 1
Antoine is a good kid and had 5 goals and 5 assists in 24 games at the Midget A level season. He played with Andrew back in Andrew's first season. Every team play two out of league tournaments a year and they won one of their two in that season when Andrew was named MVP of the tournament finals. He's a good working and was a had working player back in Bantam but I must admit I was kinda surprised when he was picked to play Midget A last season. He will fit well into our team but I don't see him as a goal scoring machine. I can't remember one time he was really a menace in the first game we played, when he was on the other side, but at some point, none of their players looked dangerous. Hopefully his hard work will be contagious and others will work alongside him. I plan to have him play center but he will miss our next game...
Samuel G, 1st year Midget, played Bantam A in 2013-14, preseason rating: 2
Sam was set to be my third center but with one player missing in game one, I had him play as a winger on the third pair and only kept two centers that rotated with the three pairs of wings. With the top two centers leaving, he moves up to #2 on teh center depth charts. He's another good kid who played at the Bantam A level last season, so with Charles and Chris. A bit like Charles, he will have to learn to play with bigger boys but I think he can learn. He had 9 goals and 5 assists in Bantam last year so he could be one of our good threats around the net. His dad will be one of my assistant this year.
The next three forwards are middle of the road kinda kids, talent wise. All three played with Andrew last season and all three were kids I really wanted on my team.
Alex Fo, 3rd year Midget, played Midget B in 2013-14, preseason rating: 2
Alex is a weird one. He started as a player when he was really young, then went to be a goalie, a very good goalie at that, for some seasons then came back to be a forward last season. He was a a goalie during Andrew's first two seasons when he played in Bantam A in his last year of Bantam and in Midget B in his first year as a Midget. He told Andrew last year that he was tired of the pressure of being a goalie but still liked to play the game. He's even more of a weird one because, while it shows he has not skated as much as other players and is a bit slower, he has a heck of a slap shot. And the thing flies high fast. Not always accurate but it can get to top corner in a hurry. I'm thinking about eventually pairing him as a winger for Antoine on our first line. If you go and read back the callback post, he's the "Hell yeah!" kid.
He missed the first game but I knew there was little chance he could make it. He contacted me via Facebook yesterday and told me he was sorry he couldn't call me to let me know he would miss the game but that he was really anxious to meet his new team. I thought it was refreshing as it's not really the kind of commentary you get from some of those 17 year old...
Max D, 3rd year Midget, played Midget B in 2013-14, preseason rating: 2
Max is another good kid with a hear as big as the rink. He seriously loves playing the game and I can count on him to be present for any and all team activities. He's not really a pure scorer but I know my message that hard working pays off will go through to him. He skates well and always give his all. In the first game he had one heck of a backcheck save when on of our defenders turned the puck over on the other team's blue line and they threatened to go on a breakaway. He got back to the other team's player and slowed him down just enough so that the defender was able to make his way back and cut the pass across the ice. I'm almost expecting similar play from him from week to week. He will miss this week's game though, a rare occurence, as he won some tickets to a racing event or something like that. His mom has take the manager's position.
Gabriel O, 2nd year Midget, played Midget B in 2013-14, preseason rating: 2
Gabriel is a sweet kid who since last season, has always greeted me with a big "Hello!" and big smile every time I see him at the rink. I wouldn't say he's one of the most talented on the team but he's got a good heart. Sadly, he had a tendency to disappear at times last season. Still, he notched 2 goals and 2 assists in game 1, playing with one of the two top scoring centers. He too will be a fun kid to coach this year. His dad is the policeman I talked about earlier and will be one of my assistants this season although on a part-time basis. He also is coming back from kne arthroscopy and can't skate so he can't help me out during practices, at least for a few more weeks. Gabriel is the "That's awesome!!" kid from the callback post.
Frank C, 1st year Midget, played Bantam B in 2013-14, preseason rating: 3
Rated at 3 on the list, I kinda liked what I saw from Frank in intrasquad games. I'd say I would possibly rank him as a strong 3, not quite 2 but a top of the pack 3. He scored a goal in game 1 by being at the right place at the right time. Like many others in the team, I thought he's worked hard so far. He might be a little less talented but with no obvious holes in his game. I mean, he's not a fast skater but he's not a lousy one either. Same with his puck handling skills or his shot. He still had 8 goals and 7 assists in Bantam B last season...
Alex Fa, 2nd year Midget, played Midget B in 2013-14, preseason rating: 3
Just like Antoine, this Alex played with Andrew back in his first season at the Bantam B level. He's grown quite a bit taller since then, with long arms and legs but not much weight to carry around. This sometimes gives the illusion that he's lazy and well, he sometimes is. I'd like to see him skate a bit harder, work a bit harder, but overall he's not a bad kid, not a goofy head. He's played some defense in camp but he made me cringe more than anything. Still, he knows the basics of playing defense and he would play mostly at the right spot if I needed to bring Chris forward late in games to try and score a late goal.
David F, 1st year Midget, played Bantam B in 2013-14, preseason rating: 3
I know very little about David other than this note I took about
: "Alex Fa clone". That's note really the kind of note you want. To me, that meant he's sometimes lazy, not always giving it his all. An example of something I saw from him a few times is if a pass was a bit out of his reach, he would let it go and not even try to stretch to try and get it. I want them to try for it and when they lose the puck, I want them to backcheck. I have made every kid know that it will happen that they will lose the puck and cause a turnover, I know that, it's part of the game, but YOU CANNOT STAY AND LOOK AT EVERYBODY ELSE FIGHT TO GET IT BACK. Skate back and help them! I hope it was only because it was preseason and that he might surprise me.
Loïck D, 1st year Midget, played Bantam B in 2013-14, preseason rating: 4
Last but not least, I had no clue what I was getting when they put Loïck's name on my list of players, other than the fact he was rated 4. I mean, he missed the two intrasquad games I saw as a coach and his name meant nothing. There are only three players rated 4. Him, another forward on the other team, and the little girl goalie on the other side. The other forward I knew about, the goalie girl was easy to rate as a 4 but him, I had no clue whatsoever what made him a 4. Andrew told me he had a green jersey to start the season, mmmmkay, maybe. Then he told me he had deflected a puck behind him as he played defense in one of the first intrasquad game. Oops... Gotta say I was pleasantly surprised about what I saw from Loïck in game 1. And no, I'm not really talking about him scoring the game opening goal, or the fact he added an assist later on but about how hard he skated. The kid can fly! Ok, maybe he's got a little less stick skills and his hockey flair is a bit missing, but he showed me great heart during the game. If I can get him to use his skates to backcheck, we could always have at least one of the forwards helping out at the back... He's a quirky kid and from what I gathered, good friend with David and Vince. Playing hockey with your friends it good...
So, that about rounds it up. Next game is tomorrow afternoon, 3pm when we'll play an out of town home game. Yeah, there's not enough ice time on our the two rinks in our town, our association has to lease some ice time about 20-25 minutes away. At least we will not be playing as a home team against the team from the city in which we play. It has happened before...
FM