February
21,
2006
All
in the Family
By
Paul Shaheen
Sam and Dave, Part II
As if Wisconsin hasn't had a good enough year on the ice,
its season off the ice has been exemplary as well. Take
the commitment coach Mike Eaves got last month from Sam
Gagner, the '89-born standout forward from the USHL's Sioux
City Musketeers and the son of ex-NHLer Dave Gagner [see
August's
INCH Recruiting Trail for more].
Gagner arrives in Madison in the fall of 2007.
When we first spoke to the younger Gagner late last summer,
he seemed to indicate he wouldn't make a D-I decision until
this summer. But the 5-foot-10, 182-pound center had improved
so much over the last few months that the intensity of the
recruiting war increased to the point that he opted to make
his decision sooner rather than later. Boston University,
Michigan and Minnesota were all in the hunt for Gagner,
who solidified his status during the Christmas break by
six goals and 13 points for Team Ontario at the World Under-17
Challenge.
"[Wisconsin's] just a great fit for me," Gagner
told the Wisconsin State Journal. "Mr. Eaves and [Badger
assistant coach Mark] Osiecki know their hockey. And it's
a world-class place to go to school."
Even more interesting was Gagner's take on
Eaves, considered by most to be a regimented taskmaster.
"Off the ice, Mr. Eaves is very easy-going,"
said Gagner, who has nine goals and 38 points in 43 games
for the Musketeers "On the ice, he's very intense,
which is what you want in a coach."
| Nill's
Gotten Gains |
| When
a business is in trouble, it needs a boost –
a good run of success, the hiring of a turnaround
artist or even a high-profile endorsement.
16-year-old forward Trevor Nill has given Detroit-area
midget AAA club Compuware all that – and more.
The son of Jim Nill, the Detroit Red Wings’
assistant general manager, Trevor Nill [a 6-foot-2,
170-pounder] is in his first season of midget AAA
play. Not only is he an impact player earning all
kinds of D-I interest, but he's a turned into a marquee
player for the Compuware program, one has been to
some degree wallowing in turmoil, uncertainty and
player defections since dropping its NAHL club back
in 2003.
"The organization has been very good for me,"
the younger Nill said. "We have good players
and an outstanding coaching staff."
A junior at Plymouth Christian Academy, Nill raves
about his coach, John Heady.
"Coach really works hard to teach us about values…both
on and off the ice,” Nill explained. “He's
a great leader and he's really helped us develop a
sense of team bonding."
"He's been in the organization
for three years now, and he was awkward at first,
but had a heart of gold and would do anything you'd
ask," said Heady, who won two state titles for
Compuware in the late 1990's with many of the kids
playing for him today. "Now, Trevor's coordination
has caught up with his size. He has all the tools
– great hands, good vision, and he isn't afraid
to go to the corners and bang."
Though Jim Nill’s duties with the Red Wings
include identifying young talent, it’s interesting
to note that his son has only been playing travel
hockey for about three years. The elder Nill believes
today's athletic climate pushes kids too far and too
fast.
"Because of the way scouting is
these days [at the college and junior levels] kids
are always in such a rush," Nill laments. "In
our family, we realize there isn't a rush. Why should
kids this age necessarily be away from home every
weekend? It doesn't need to be that way.
“Kids should have fun and I wanted
Trevor to have fun. In my case, with me traveling
as much as I do, I didn't think it was fair to my
family to have them on the road all by themselves."
Now that Trevor is playing at the midget major level,
Jim Nill is more than pleased that he's doing so with
Compuware.
"When rumors fly, parents get buzzing,”
he said, “but I'm comfortable with where the
program is and where it's going. Compuware's close
to home” – the Nills reside about 15 minutes
from the Compuware Sports Arena in Plymouth Township
– "[and] they teach good values. I see
Compuware as a solid organization that's no higher
or lower than any other."
Though he was selected by the Ontario Hockey League’s
Plymouth Whalers in the major junior league’s
midget draft last summer, Trevor Nill is leaning heavily
towards going the college route.
"Were I ever to get injured, I
want an education to fall back on,” he said.
“There are so many great schools out there and
it would be a privilege to play for any one of them."
— P.S. |
Cloud Nine
St. Cloud State's recruiting efforts have
been paying off, particularly in the person of Minnesota
high school winger Jordy Christian. The nephew of "Miracle
on Ice" hero Dave Christian will take his game to the
Huskies in the fall of 2007.
The 5-foot 9, 55 pound Christian is a junior
at perennial Minnesota high school power Moorhead, which
fell in last year's state Class AA title game to Holy Angels
This year, thanks to Christian – he has 17 goals and
37 points thus far – Moorhead is back in the hunt,
ranked ninth among big schools as of last Thursday with
a 17-5-1 mark. The Spuds play in the Mariucci Conference
with schools such as Thief River Falls and Warroad, both
of which play at the Class A level when state playoffs roll
around next month.
Jordy's cousin (and Dave's son), Beau, could
have skated with this year's Moorhead club, but chose to
accept an offer to play for midget AAA powerhouse Team Illinois,
which is 53-7-1 thus far in 2005-06 and is the prohibitive
favorite to claim this year's midget AAA national title.
Born Together, Sticking Together
Cornell also got into the family act last
month when twin brothers Mike and Joe Devin, both seniors
at Catholic Memorial of West Roxbury, Mass., committed to
the Big Red.
Mike, a 6-foot-2, 198-pound defenseman, and Joe, a 6-foot-1,
191-pound right wing, are the second matched set of family
recruits to come out of the Eastern prep ranks this year
– back in December, cousins John and Dave Cavanagh
of Salisbury Prep both committed to Providence and will
enroll in the fall.
Catholic Memorial is a perennial Eastern prep power, as
the Knights have won three consecutive “Super Eight”
titles and 13 in the tournament's 16-year history.
Success and Introspection
Now in his sixth season behind the bench,
John LaFontaine, the older brother of perennial NHL all-star
Pat LaFontaine, had long considered himself a Mike Keenan-esque
type of coach. After being named the America West Hockey
League Coach of the Year in his first season behind the
Bozeman IceDogs’ bench and winning the league title
the following year, LaFontaine had no reason to manage his
players any other way.
"I was a taskmaster, no doubt about it," said
LaFontaine, a Detroit-area native and former assistant coach
at Lake Superior State. "I really didn't get involved
in the players' lives. I had people telling me the players
were intimidated by me and early on, that's what I wanted
to hear. I figured that way they'd work harder."
Paul Baxter, the ex-NHL defenseman who also spent time as
an assistant coach with the Florida Panthers, has been an
ally and confidant to LaFontaine ever since his son, Marcus,
played in Bozeman four years ago. Baxter, who still resides
in Florida, lends his expertise to the club during summer
tryouts and occasionally during the regular season, but
his most important advice may have been directed at LaFontaine.
"He said, 'John, the players are scared of you, they're
afraid to come to you, they're scared to give you their
input,'” LaFontaine recalled. “Paul had been
telling me this but at first, I didn't know how to do this.
I took pride in honesty but not enough pride in caring.
Then it just hit me that I was approaching things all wrong,
that I had to be more of a caring coach and be just as concerned
for their well-being as I was for what they did on the ice.
”I began to do so, and what a huge difference
it's made. Now when I challenge them, they know I'm doing
so because I care."
If this year is any indication, LaFontaine's
transformation has made all the difference in the world.
Fielding a team with only six returnees from last year,
the IceDogs lead the North American Hockey League (the NAHL
absorbed the AWHL a couple years ago) with an astounding
39 wins in 46 games.
"As a coach, you always hope for this,” said
LaFontaine, who played two years major junior hockey before
obtaining an undergraduate degree at Miami (Ohio), "but
with us being so new to each other, we thought we'd have
a tougher start and pay the price early. We had talent,
but we've more than exceeded expectations.
"We have depth, we can score, and we're hard to match
up against. We have team speed and size, and we're tough
to intimidate."
LaFontaine says every IceDog has made an impact,
but a few have proven to have a bigger bit. A 6-foot-1,
206-pound defenseman, Brian Moore (pictured, right) committed
to Bowling Green last month. The Indianapolis native, who
has 17 points in 44 games, was recommended to LaFontaine
by Monty Trottier, the brother of New York Islander great
Bryan Trottier and Moore’s coach in the Indy amateur
ranks.
Goaltender Matt Dalton leads the NAHL a 1.77
goals against average and is tied for the league high in
wins with 28. After improving his college entry scores on
his second try, Dalton has suitors such as St. Cloud State
and Bowling Green taking a hard look at him.
"He's a butterfly-style goaltender who fills the bottom
of the net very well," said LaFontaine. "He's
squares up, he's always in position and is very athletic."
Though not historically a prime recruiting stop, LaFontaine
says Bozeman is attracting more and more D-I scouts every
year.
"We've had Minnesota, Denver, Colorado College and
others here this year," said LaFontaine. “This
is important because in the past…some kids were reluctant
to come to play for NAHL teams in Montana, but that's really
not an issue anymore."
And once kids come out to Bozeman, they're usually hooked.
"There aren't too many places like this," LaFontaine
added. "Even I hooked when I came out here. I'd never
seen elk or moose before. And Yellowstone National Park
is only about 90 minutes away. You have 12,000 feet of mountains
staring at you in every direction and our rink [the 3,500
seat Valley Ice Garden, built in 1997], has a college feel
to it. It sits down in a bowl like [Michigan State's] Munn
Ice Arena and it gets pretty loud. Any time a player has
come here, I've never heard one of them say they didn't
want to stay."
And once they realize how much LaFontaine
cares about the program and its players, they may never
want to leave.
Paul
Shaheen is the publisher of Research on Ice and contributes
recruiting updates to Inside College Hockey throughout the
year. To subscribe to Research on Ice's recruiting e-mail
newsletter, contact Paul at puckkeg@comcast.net.
