Top Prospects You've Never Heard Of

...and you might never hear of again. Playing for the USA, trying out for the NTDP, and scoring points in a top junior league are among the easiest ways to get attention from college hockey fans looking for their favorite team's next potential recruit. However, any diehard fan won't have difficulty coming up with an example of a future college stud who didn't take any of the afformentioned routes. Here are a few players I think could potentially fit the bill, or not.

Seth Ronsberg - (F/91) - Winkler Flyers-MJHL
Why? Seth played Tier III junior hockey in the MnJHL instead of high school because his dad was the coach. Though the level of hockey is low, he was named POTY even though he was a 17-year-old playing against 20-year-olds. Seth could have played for North Iowa of the NAHL next season, but has decided to move north of the border to Winkler instead.

Wally Cossette - (D/90) - Waterloo-USHL
Another player known a little in Minnesota, he's a nice sized defensive defensman playing for Waterloo next season. He looks better in person than on the stat sheet, though the USHL's habit of tracking +/- rating can only help his stock.

Drew Brown - (F/92) - Chelsea HS
In Michigan he's well known, but prospectors outside the state tend to focus on the midget players. He earned the Michigan HS POTY award as a junior last season.

Brandon McNally - (F/92) - Bellmont Hill
You may have heard of him from scouting services, this blog, or because he was drafted in the 11th round of the QMJHL draft... but you didn't see him at the Select 17 Camp. However, that doesn't mean the big name schools aren't interested.

Kyle O'Brien - (D/93) - Cushing Academy
Another Select Camp no show.

USA U18 Select Team for Ivan Hlinka Tournament

These would be your eligible 1992 born players. Just to give you an idea of how hot these prospect are, last year there were nine uncommitted players selected to play in the Ivan Hlinka. Seven have since committed to play D1 college hockey or have gone to major juniors. The best performers on this list will not only receive multiple scholarship offers, they'll gain valuable exposure for the 2010 or 2011 NHL drafts. Like last year, expect that some commitments will come immediately after the August 11th-15th event, or possibly just before.

Forwards
Kyle Rau

Defensemen
Jamieson Oleksiak

USA U17 Select Team for Five Nations Tournament

Here we go! Outside of the NTDP players, these are the hottest uncommited Americans born in 1993...

Forwards
Ben Bahe - Hill Murray HS
Kevin Becker - Hill Murray HS
Kenneth Gillespie - East Coast Eagles
Anthony Greco - Shattuck-St. Mary’s U16 Midget
Christian Horn - Benilde-St. Margaret's HS
Alex Racino - Team Wisconsin
Lukas Sutter - Lethbridge Titans
Austin Wuthrich - Alaska All Stars

Defensemen
Brian Cooper - Alaska All Stars
Garrett Haar - LA Selects
Jake McCabe - Team Wisconsin/Eau Claire Memorial
Dan Molenaar - Eden Prairie HS
Connor Murphy - Ohio Blue Jackets

Goaltenders
Brendan Jensen - LA Selects
Jay Williams - TPH Thunder/Hotchkiss Prep

Select 17 Camp All-Star Roster

The All-Star selections for the final day of camp could probably be considered a preview of candidates for the Ivan Hlinka Tournement.

Forwards
Brian Ferlin
Garrett Allen
John McCarron
Kyle Rau
Max Edson
Terrance Wallin
Vahe Zakaryan

Defensemen
Brandon Carlson
Jamieson Oleksiak
Jordan Young
William Eiserman

Goaltenders
Cody Campbell
Matt Braun
Ryan McKay

Select 17 Camp Round-Up

Like before, the statistical sample is too small and the nature of the event is too different to draw any conclusions from the stat leaders list, but here it is anyway. Again, the team selected to participate in the Ivan Hlinka Tournament will be more telling. All of these players were born in 1992 and are uncommitted...

Forwards
1. Max Edson - Salisbury Prep
2. Terrence Wallin - Gunnery Prep
3. Mark Naclerio - Avon Old Farms Prep
4. Vahe Zakaryan - California Wave
5. John McCarron - Little Caesar's
6. Garrett Allen - Milwaukee Jr. Admirals
7. Gunnar Hughes - Salisbury Prep
8. AJ Reid - St. Thomas Academy
9. William Kessel - Honeybaked
10. Andrew Huff - Honeybaked
11. Kyle Rau - Eden Prarie HS
12. Brian Ferlin - Jacksonville Ice Dogs
13. Adrean Copeland - Buffalo Jr. Sabres
14. Kenneth Babinski - Midland
15. Tyler Hope - Dallas Penguins
16. Garret Hendrickson - Virginia HS
17. Nick Lappin - Chicago Mission

Offensive Defensemen
1. Clay Scott - Shady Side Academy
2. Jonathan Mleczko - Milton Academy
3. Eric Robinson - Berkshire Prep
4. Zack Rall - Alaska All-Stars
5. Brandon Carlson - Chicago Mission
6. Dominic Racobaldo - Shattuck Prep
7. Craig Wyszomirski - Jersey Hitmen-EmpireJHL
8. Jose Delgadillo - Milwaukee Jr. Admirals
9. Jide Idowu - Walpole-MetropolitanJHL

Select 16 Camp Round-Up

The stats don't mean a whole lot because of the extremely small sample size, but I'm not about to list all of the participants. All of these players are D1 prospects based on the rigorous tryouts they went through to get to this point. There will be a follow up post to this one listing the uncommitted players who were selected to represent the USA in the Five Nations Tournament. Meanwhile, these are all 1993 born players...

Forwards
1. Cason Hohmann - Cedar Rapids - USHL
2. Christian Horn - Benilde St. Margaret's HS
3. Ben Foster -
4. Ben Bahe - Hill-Murray HS
5. Travis Boyd - NTDP
6. Joseph Prescott - St. Sebastian's
7. Kyle Gattelaro - Florida Everblades
8. Tyler Poulsen - Eugene Generals
9. Austin Wuthrich - Alaska All-Stars
10. Alex Racino - Merrill HS
11. Brendan Burke - St. Sebastian's
12. Kenneth Gillespie - East Coast - SEJHL
13. Seth Swenson - Colorado Thunderbirds
14. Brian Hart - Greely HS
15. Evan Schultz - Portland - EmpireJHL

Offensive Defensemen
1. Dan Molenaar - Eden Prarie HS
2. Tyler Rostenkowski - Culver Academy
3. Alexx Privitera - NTDP
4. Garrett Haar - LA Selects AAA
5. Travis Walsh - Capital Center Pride
6. Joakim Ryan - NJ Devils - AtlanticJHL
7. Brian Cooper - Alaska All-Stars
8. Jake McCabe - NTDP