You Looking At Me?

Over the last week I've been trying to identify suitors for Cushing Prep rightwing Brad Malone. Malone is the cousin of NHLer Ryan Malone, and his dad Jim was a first round pick of the New York Rangers in 1980. Malone grew up in Miramichi, New Brunswick, and moved on to Cushing Academy as a sophomore last season. While Angelo Esposito drew much of the attention in the Quebec midget this past June, Malone was the 4th rated player, but because of his announced intention to go the NCAA route, he wasn't selected until the 4th round. At 6'3, he's a power winger with good puck skills, having potted 4 goals and an assist in 5 games for the Atlantic team during the recent World Under-17. He projects as a second round pick in the 2007 NHL draft. Malone is a junior, so will be a 2007 recruit. Last year he indicated an interest in going to school in the Boston area, but as I noted in my January 17th post, scholarship spots for the Boston schools are thin. Maine is reported to have interest, as do western schools Denver, North Dakota and Michigan.

More 07 Info

Andy Baggot in the Wisconsin State Journal writes that Nick Larson, of Hill-Murray (Minn.) High School, has narrowed his choice of schools to Wisconsin, Boston College, Boston University and Minnesota.

Matt Read, a rightwing who really established himself in his first year with the Milton Merchants of the OPJHL, looks to be returning to juniors next year, at which point he has offers from Maine, UNH, St. Lawrence, Niagara & U.Mass.

USA National Development Team winger Ryan Schnell is featured in an article in the Algonquin Pioneer, in which he identifies Wisconsin, Brown and Miami-Ohio as teams interested in his services.

Commitments

It looks like highly sought after defenseman Cody Goloubef will be making his college choice this week, selecting between BU and Wisconsin. As of now, it appears that Wisconsin has the inside track, meaning that there will be a former Marlie reunion in Madison in September 2007. As I featured at the start of the season, the Midget Marlies represented an amazing amalgamation of talented players, and because the group was particularly aware of the NCAA route, the top end group has bypassed the OHL. Sam Gagner chose Wisconsin, followed in late December by Brendan Smith. Now it appears Goloubef will follow, vaulting Wisconsin to the head of the 2007 listing. The other member of that class -- and first to commit -- Kyle Turris has scored more than 30 goals in his rookie BCHL campaign, were he will challenge Evan Trupp for the rookie of the year award.

The Omaha Herald has reported that Lancer rookie Brett Bruneteau has narrowed his college choices to six western teams: Colorado College, Denver, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and UNO.