NCAA/CHL Free Agent Forwards Wishlist

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The Edmonton Oilers will be holding their annual summer Top Prospects Camp in July as opposed to in June as in years past. This will enable them to invite the players that they will have just selected in the NHL Entry Draft as well as all of their NCAA properties who, like Matt Glasser the last two years, may have not been able to participate because of exams.

It will also give the Oilers a chance to invite some un-drafted overage players for a closer look as a precursor to another invite to the main camp in the fall.

I haven't spoken with anyone with the team yet about a list of players they might invite in July but I have drawn up my own. It consists largely on overage players from the WHL and the NCAA but there are a few OHL and QMHL players thrown in as well. Some of these guys might get snapped up in the draft which would obviously erase the possibility of them getting an invite from Edmonton.

Last year the Oilers invited a handful of players, my list is significantly longer but... here it is.

Lee Jubinville (F) - Princeton Tigers
Born Apr 30, 1985 Edmonton, ALTA
Height 5.10 Weight 175 Shoots L

Jubinville's 4-year NCAA career is done and because of his obvious tiny stature he was never drafted. However, playing in the ECAC Conference with the Princeton Tigers, Jubinville was able to put up some pretty good numbers. His best year, 2007-08, he compiled 39 points in 34 games, was named a Conference All-Star and was a Hobey Baker candidate. By comparison, Oiler prospect Riley Nash's top offensive output so far is 35 points although he's played 36 games in both of his ECAC seasons. (Nash is bigger but Jubinville is older)

The former member of the Camrose Kodiaks, Jubinville is a quick offensive player. I'm not sure how he'll make out as a pro playing against much bigger and stronger competition. Certainly the odds would be against him.

Mike Connolly (F) - Minnesota-Duluth
Born Jul 3, 1989 Calgary, ALTA
Height 5.11 Weight 180 Shoots L

He was a freshman at Duluth this year after two great years in Camrose. Connolly was a player I really thought someone should have taken a flier on in the draft last year because despite a lengthy layoff due to injury he still was a leading scorer for the Kodiaks and he was instrumental in their AJHL and Doyle Cup titles.

In Duluth he proved that he could be just as big of a contributor racking up 42 points in 43 games for the WCHA's Bulldogs. He finished third n team scoring but scored a clutch overtime goal against Princeton in the NCAA tournament. Connolly's not a big guy either but deserves a look.

Justin Fontaine (F) - Minnesota-Duluth
Born Nov 6, 1987 Bonnyville, ALTA
Height 5.10 Weight 170 Shoots R

Sticking with the Bulldogs for a minute, I think Justin fontaine is another intriguing player. He is a former AJHL Rookie of the Year (2005-06), played in the CJAHL Top Prospects game and played in the Viking Cup in 2006 as well. He led Bonnyville in scoring two straight years compiling 152 points in just over 100 games.

This year in Duluth he was second in team scoring with 48 points and was 9th in the nation in scoring. It was his sophomore year so he's probably got 2 more NCAA seasons ahead of him as at his size, I don't see a NHL club signing him early. He was Duluth's Rookie of the Year last season.

Carter Camper (F) - Miami RedHawks
Born Jul 6 1988 -- Rocky River, OH
Height 5.09 -- Weight 173 -- Shoots R

Yes he's small but as Miami head coach Enrico Blasi told us during the Frozen Four Coach's Show, the fact that Carter Camper has put together back-to-back +40 point seasons proves he's got what it takes. The CCHA is a very competitive NCAA Conference, there's no hiding and there are few opponents where you go into games getting ready to pad your stats. Camper was tied for 23rd in the NCAA scoring race. He's fast, agile, had 20 goals, he can dangle or set up plays.

I will be a little surprised if Camper goes undrafted again this June, especially considering Miami reached the National Championship game and the diminutive forward didn't wither under the spotlight. Camper actually picked up a point in both Frozen Four games including a dandy assist in the Championship loss to Boston University.

Mike McKenzie (F) - St. Lawrence University
Born Apr 29, 1986 Whitby, ONT
Height 6.00 Weight 175 Shoots L

McKenzie led the Saints in scoring this year as a junior and almost took them to a NCAA tournament at-large bid. His numbers jumped this past year as he set career bests in every category. I have seen his weight listed anywhere from 175 - 190 lbs so I'm not sure what it is exactly but I think we can safely say that he is of average size.

He played two years with the St. Mike's Buzzers and was a linemate with Andrew Cogliano. He's also the son of respected TSN analyst Bob McKenzie. The soon-to-be senior will be one of the alternate captains for the Saints for the 2009-10 campaign.

Jay Fehr (F) - Brandon Wheat Kings
Born Mar 2, 1989 Morden, MB
Height 5.10 Weight 170 Shoots L

He's overshadowed by the big name draft eligible players on his team but the few times I've watched the Wheaties when they've rolled through Rexall Place, this is the guy that gets them going. Fehr had a 4-point game against the Oil Kings in October and followed that up with a 17-game scoring steak where he compiled 31 points. Fehr doubled his goal scoring from his rookie year to 32 goals and ended with 84 points.

Interestingly enough, he lists the Oilers as his favorite NHL team which leads me to believe he'd bust his ass just as hard for Edmonton as he does in Brandon. He's a spark plug player but has a knack for production because of how hard he competes.

Tyler Shattock (F) - Kamloops Blazers
Born Feb 3, 1990 Salmon Arm, BC
Height 6.03 Weight 198 Shoots R

This was someone I wondered about in regards to last year's draft. he went unselected but with his size I was surprised that no one took a chance on Shattock. I was told that his skating is a big issue and that may be true but I look at the leap forward in his production and wonder if this is someone that might be a bit of a late bloomer.

Shattock went from 9 goals to 30 last year and his point total jumped from 23 to 69. I think there is enough intangible evidence here to warrant an invite for a closer look.

Justin Dowling (F) - Swift Current Broncos
Born Oct 1, 1990 Cochrane, ALTA
Height 5.10 Weight 182 Shoots L

I had the good fortune of being able to cover for Oil Kings radio colour analyst Kent Simpson for two games this past year, one of them was against Swift Current. One of the guys who I wanted to pay attention to was this Dowling kid who was outscoring all the drafted players on his team and yet wasn't getting any recognition as a notable 2009 eligible prospect himself. Cody Eakin is, and deservedly so, but Dowling's 66 points were 9 more than Geordie Wudrick a player who went in the 3rd round last year.

Unfortunately Dowling did nothing really special in that game so my questions really didn't get answered. But that's why he's on my invite wish list - because I still want to know if he did it with mirrors or if this is someone who is really getting overlooked.

Here are a few other forwards that I have in mind: Dustin Cameron is a 6'1 and 195 lb winger who lit the lamp 33 times this year for the Prince Albert Raiders... Ian Duval is at the Memorial Cup right now with Kelowna but all he's every done is produce - he was a point per game player in Moose Jaw and for the Rockets this year... speaking of the Rockets, the Bloodoff brothers (Evan and Lucas) have made me fans with their physical forechecking style of play... Andrew Clark potted 40 goals for the Wheat Kings in his final WHL year, all of it spent in Brandon... Bemidji State got to the Frozen Four this year and Tyler Scofield led them in goal scoring with 22. He may have been the fastest skater in the NCAA but at 5'8 and 150 lbs you'd expect him to be fast... James Marcou is another tiny forward but he had 47 points in 39 games with the Massachusetts Minutemen which was good for 12th overall in NCAA scoring...

I have some goalies on my list as well as a handful of blueliners but I'll save them for another day.

Have some thoughts on the guys I mentioned (other than TOO SMALL!) then please leave some comments. Have some other guys YOU would prefer get an invite or maybe one of these guys has already been scooped up and I missed it? Let me know.

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(Photos Courtesy: USCHO.com, WHL, UMD, St.Lawrence University, Miami RedHawks)

School Wrap Sunday

Here was the NCAA Top 20 coming into action on Friday and how those ranked teams made out:

1 Boston University - Tied Northeastern twice
2 Notre Dame - A pair of 1-goal wins over Nebraska-Omaha
3 Michigan - Split with Ohio State Buckeyes
4 Northeastern - Tied Boston University twice
5 Miami - Split with Northern Michigan
6 Vermont - 0-1-1 against Mass-Lowell
7 Yale - Tied Quinnipiac and lost to Princeton
8 Denver - Two road victories over Wisconsin
9 North Dakota - Two road victories over Alaska-Anchorage
10 Princeton - Beat Brown and Yale
11 Cornell - Beat RPI and Union
12 New Hampshire - Won both ends of the home-and-home against Boston College
13 Wisconsin - Swept at home by Denver
14 Minnesota - Swept by Colorado College
15 Minnesota-Duluth - 1-0-1 against Michigan Tech
16 Ohio State - Split with Michigan
17 Boston College - Swept by New Hampshire
18 Colorado College - Swept the Golden Gophers
19 St. Cloud State - Did not Play
20 St. Lawrence - Beat Dartmouth and tied Harvard

Last week I predicted that Notre Dame would regain the #1 seed but that didn't happen. It definitely should this week as the Irish picked up a pair of wins while the Terriers netiher won nor lost, settling for a pair of ties against #4 Northeastern.

The pair of victories locked up the CCHA regular season title giving them the top seed in the conference playoffs in March. They needed an overtime goal from Billy Maday to win Friday's contest and the Irish scored the only goal in Saturday's 1-0 game. Notre Dame has lost only once in their last 28 games after getting off to a 2-3 start to their schedule. Senior Erik Condra (OTT) leads the team in scoring with 32 points in 33 games (pictured).

BU should slide back to the #2 spot with Northeastern coming in at #3 on the strength of their two ties against the top ranked Terriers. The #3 spot should open up for them because Michigan split against Zac Dalpe (pictured) andthe Ohio State Buckeyes who upset the Wolverines 3-2 on Saturday. The Buckeyes erased a 2-goal deficit and withstood 37 Michigan shots to pull out the win on a C.J. Severyn goal with under five minutes left in the game. 8390 fans were in attendance.

Miami, Vermont and Yale should all lose a little ground in the rankings because the three teams earned a single win between them. Miami was upset by Northern Michigan and should drop from #5 because of it. Vermont had their hands full with Mass-Lowell and could only squeak out a single point from their 2-game series. Yale tied Quinnipiac and then lost a key game against the Princeton Tigers, a loss which should see them fall past both them and probably Cornell as well.

The next five teams in the ranking all won both games they played on the weekend so movement in the middle of the top 20 should be expected. Denver's sweep over Wisconsin thanks to more heorics from freshman Joe Colborne, should be enough to get them back into the top 5. The Pioneers got a late tying goal from Colborne on Friday and then on Saturday it was the Patrick Wiercioch (pictured) show as the rookie blueliner collected 4 points in a 5-0 white wash of the Badgers.

The Fighting Sioux won the was against Alaska-Anchorage sweeping the Seawolves in overtime on Friday and then pounding them 6-2 on Saturday. Junior Chris Vande Velde recorded a hat trick on Saturday, good timing as he'll join Dean and I on Tuesday night as the Oiler prospect makes his return to The Pipeline Show.

Both Princeton and Cornell won twice in ECAC Conference play and New Hampshire put another nail in Boston College's coffin as the Eagles' chances of defending their National title are rapidly slipping away.

The free-falling Golden Gophers continue to struggle. Minnesota has won only 1 game in their last 8 contests and were swept by Colorado College. The Gophers take on Duluth and Michigan Tech to close out the regular season while Colorado College will face North Dakota next weekend and close things out with a single game against their arch-rivals from Denver.

St. Lawrence had more success as they smoked Dartmouth by a 7-2 score and followed that up with a tie against Harvard. The Saints have only lost once in their last 9 outings but with 3 other ECAC programs ahead of them in the rankings, probably have to win their way into the National Tournament. Undrafted junior Mike McKenzie (pictured) continues to lead the club with 30 points in 32 games.

One team on the outside looking in at the Top 20 that hope to get on the list is Air force who beat Holy Cross twice. The Falcons have won 5 of their last 6 and are now tied with RIT for top spot in Atlantic Hockey. Wouldn't it be great if Air Force and RIT ended the year with a series against each other to determine the regular season Conference champs?? Well you've got it! The Tigers will host the Falcons next weekend in Rochester with bragging rights and top seed in the playoffs on the line. The two programs splite their series played in Colorado earlier this year.

Mass-Lowell is probably going to squeak into the bottom of the top 20, perhaps at the expense of Boston College. Their upset of Vermont comes on the heels of those same BC Eagles as well as Massachusetts and Maine. The River Hawks will be challeneged though by both Air Force and RIT for that 20th spot.

Guy's Fearless NCAA poll prediction: 1-Notre Dame, 2-BU, 3-Northeastern, 4-Michigan, 5-Denver, 6-Miami, 7-North Dakota, 8-Vermont, 9-Princeton, 10-Cornell, 11-UNH, 12-Yale, 13-Minn.Duluth, 14-Ohio State, 15-Wisconsin, 16-Colorado College, 17-St. Cloud 18-St. Lawrence, 19-Minnesota, 20-Mass-Lowell

School Wrap Sunday

This was the NCAA top 20 heading into the weekend's action and the game results:

1 Notre Dame - Did Not Play
2 Boston University - 5-0 and 3-1 wins @ UNH
3 Cornell - 4-3 loss to Yale and 5-1 win vs Brown
4 Denver - 8-3 loss and 2-2 tie against North Dakota
5 Northeastern - 3-1 and 6-3 wins over the Friars
6 Minnesota - Din Not Play
7 Vermont - 2-1 win and 1-1 tie with Mass.
8 Michigan - 6-2 and 5-3 wins over rival Spartans
9 Princeton - Did Not Play, will play Monday
10 Miami - 6-2 win and then a tie with Nebraska-Omaha
11 New Hampshire - 2 losses to BU
12 Ohio State - split their series with Western Mich.
13 Colorado College - 4-4 tie followed by 6-1 loss to St. Cloud
14 Boston College - 6-3 and 4-1 wins over Maine
15 North Dakota - Huge 8-3 win then tie with Denver
16 Wisconsin - Did Not Play
17 Minnesota-Duluth - 4-0 and 7-4 wins over Mankato
18 Dartmouth - ties with Holy Cross and Harvard
19 Alaska - 2 losses to Northern Mich.
20 Air Force - A pair of wins over rival Army

The top seeded Irish of Notre Dame had the weekend off but I wonder if they could still slip to #2 because of the way Boston University demolished New Hampshire on Friday night. I'd be a little suprised if it happened, I still think the Irish will be #1, but you have to give it consideration because UNH was #11 so the fact that BU beat them by a combined 8-1 score this weekend, that's impressive to me. The Terriers are rolling as the annual Beanpot gets closer and closer (Feb 2nd start).

With Cornell and Denver both losing on the weekend, the Pionners actually going winless in 2 games against #15 North Dakota, there will be a new #3 ranked team. I expect that to be Northeastern who had little trouble with unranked Providence.

Cornell was beaten by their top rival, Yale, on Friday nght before rebounding with a solid 5-1 win over Brown. However, the loss to Yale will knock them down a bit. Thankfully for Big Red fans, the Pionners' are goingt o fall too. I wonder if the poll voters will consider Denver's 0-1-1 weekend against North Dakota to be worse than Cornell's 1-1 split with two un-ranked programs.

As of note from the series between Denver and the Sioux, Pionners head coach George Gwozdecky (a past guest on The Pipeline Show) was tossed from the Saturday game and starting netminder Marc Cheverie was yanked on friday after allowing 7 goals on 21 shots.

The Fighting Sioux continue their tradition of strong second half play and in my opinion should vault up the poll to around the #10 slot.

The #6 Golden Gophers didn't play but with #7 Vermont going 1-0-1 it wouldn't suprise me to see the Catamounts slip past Minnesota this week. The #8 Wolverines of Michigan pounded their arch-enemies from Michigan State in back-to-back games but will a pair of wins against the unranked Spartans move them past Minnesota? Not sure.

Princeton didn't play either so the Tigers might drop a spot to #10 Miami who had a win and tie against Nebraska-Omaha. However, Princeton does play on Monday so a win there might be enough for them to hold their position.

Certainly #11 New Hampshire will drop after getting spanked by Boston University but the question is how far. The Terriers are the #2 team in the nation after all so perhaps the argument can be made that the Wildcats shouldn't drop significantly. I'd have them behind North Dakota though.

#12 Ohio State squeeked out a split with Western Michigan while #13 Colorado College will fall after get destroyed by St. Cloud 6-1 on Saturday. #14 Boston College will move up a bit thanks to a 2-game sweep of the Maine Black Bears.

That brings us to North Dakota at #15 but as I said before, I expect their big win over Denver will be good enough to get them up to around tenth.

Duluth and Air Force should both move up a bit from their #17 and #20 spots while #19 Alaska will drop out of the top 20 thaks to a pair of losses. I think Yale and maybe St. Cloud could get serious top-20 consideration to replace the two or three teams that drop out of the mix.

Random NCAA Notes: Alaska-Anchorage and Michigan Tech had back-to-back 3-3 ties on Friday and Saturday. I wonder if those teams wished the WCHA used the shootout... St. Lawrence forward Mike McKenzie (son of TSN Analyst Bob McKenzie) had a 5-point night against R.P.I. on Friday. He's now leading his team in scoring with 25 points in 24 games. The former St. Mike's Buzzers teammate of Oiler Andrew Cogliano is currently undrafted... Minnesota-Duluth is basically a who's who of former AJHL standouts: leading scorer Justin Fontaine played for the Bonnyville Pontiacs while Mike Connolly, Evan Oberg and Macgregor Sharp are all alum of the Camrose Kodiaks. The four are in the top 6 scorers for Duluth and all are curretnly undrafted... The NCAA's leading scorer is now Bryan Leitch, a 6-3 190 lb forward who plays for Quinnipiac. He's a senior with the Bobcats and has point totals of 45, 32 and 33 over the last 3 years. He now leads the NCAA with 41 points (32 assists) and has a five-point cushion on Garret Roe of St. Cloud State...