11 ...... Madison Excuvating U16 Quinte Red Devils Preview

QUINTE RED DEVILS U16

Number of players watched by OHL scouts and some are already getting attention

By: Jeff Gard Total Sports Media

It’s for sure a big year with the return of hockey, but every season is a big one for the U16 group of players, especially at the triple-A level.

That’s certainly the case for the Quinte Red Devils group that will have prospects for the Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection draft.

“Just to be able to go through the whole season. Obviously coming off a season where we didn’t play hockey at all, just to be able to play games and get back to some sort of normalcy, we’re all excited about that,” said Red Devils U16 coach Kenny Chesher, who has coached the core group of players for three seasons now. “Also getting to go through all the things that a minor midget year brings whether it be the big tournaments where all the scouts are there, the playoffs and possibly the OHL Cup if you get to that point. Just excited for all that stuff for them.” There will certainly be a number of players watched by OHL scouts and some are already getting attention.

The U16 Pod with Ryan McArthur and Connor Williams (check them out on Twitter @TheU16Pod) had Quinte ranked No. 4 in their pre-season top teams list behind the Mississauga Senators, North York Rangers and Toronto Jr. Canadiens.

McArthur (@ryanmcarthur) also released his pre-season list of 33 candidates to be selected in the first round of the 2022 OHL draft. The watchlist included three Red Devils players Ben Danford, Braedyn Rogers and Ethan Toms.

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U16 RED DEVILS

U16 RED DEVILS

The reports were:

Ben Danford: “Mobile defender with speed and great hands/ highly skilled. Fast with quick feet, which are nimble and quiet. Has good moves when working into the o-zone. Can handle super hot passes no problem with good cradling/puck control. Tall defenceman that loves to attack and join the rush. Good skater with excellent escape-ability due his mobility and edges. Utilizes edges/turns effectively to be more himself more elusive on the attack or to get out of tricky situations.

Braedyn Rogers: Skates extremely well and very smooth. Excellent lateral movement and mobility that makes the game look easy. Great passer and puck distributor and makes good decisions with the puck. Great edges and escape ability. Strong shot from the point and can hammer his slap shot with good power, especially off the one timer.

TOTAL SPORTS QUINTE Other returning players up front include Ben Vreugdenhil, Beckett Ewart and Nolan Donnelly as well as a strong goaltending tandem of Michael McIvor and Glen McInnes.

This Red Devils group once again won’t have a captain, but rather a leadership group of four alternates.

“We feel like we have more than one captain so we’ve just never named one,” Chesher said.

All Red Devils U16 home games are played at Quinte Sports & Wellness Centre. The players are thrilled to be back playing meaningful games.

Last year wasn’t a waste, though, as the players worked Mondays with the Belleville Senators coaches, had a Wednesday skill session and also had a practice or split squad scrimmage.

Ethan Toms: Excellent body control and balance. Pure scorer but also excellent at setting up his teammates in front and from behind the net by finding them and getting the puck flat/on their tape in a hurry. Special player with high-end finishing abilities. Crazy good hands and wicked dangles. Cuts to the middle aggressively and not afraid to do so against top D. Had some nice back checks where he made up lots of ground and thwarted scoring attempts. Plays a 200-foot game and skill is off the charts good.

Checkout the full watchlist and updates throughout the season at watchlist.theu16Pod.com.

That’s part of the U16 experience, but Chesher wants his players to focus on the task at hand.

“Just basically, it’s there, but you have to treat it like it’s background noise a little bit and even more than normal narrow your focus on just playing the game because ultimately the draft isn’t until the spring so there’s no sense worrying yourself about it right now,” he said.

Chesher expects a big season from the Red Devils with a strong core group of returning players to go with some new impact players joining the roster through the new open borders rule.

“We’ve made some pretty key additions heading into this year,” he said.

Toms was Peterborough’s captain and is one of the top centres in the league. The defence was also bolstered with the additions of Reed Gee, who was Kingston’s captain, and Jared Woolley, who previously played for Oshawa and whose family has moved to Port Hope.

“We kind of felt it was an area that if we could upgrade it was a spot we were looking at,” Chesher said. “We feel that we’ve upgraded substantially with those two guys as well as the group that was already there with them growing and developing as well. We feel our ‘D’ is a lot stronger than it was previously.”

Gee and Woolley join a talented defence that also includes Danford, Rogers and Carson Campbell.

In addition to Toms, the Red Devils have another top two-way center in Jared Langdon who has consistently been a top scorer with this group of players through his triple-A years. “Definitely for our kids being able to work with the Senators coaches once a week, that in itself was a great bonus for them plus for a lot of them it gave them a year to grow physically and develop their skillset,” Chesher said.