In what I feel is an untapped resource of hockey talent, I spent my time the last few weeks watching and scouting High School games. I have recently been attending games at both Bethpage arena and The Rinx.
The reason I have been attending High School games is because most of the kids that play for their high school teams, also play travel hockey. For me I like to see a Player in different situations and enviorments. High School hockey provides that, because it takes a skilled player and puts them with average or even below average players.
So while a player may flourish with their travel team. They may sink with their High School team. You may ask why is that important ? Well for me it important because anyone can play with great players. However it takes a great player to make the others around them better.
So far in recent games no one has shown this better than Brandon Baccarella.
Brandon is a 15 year old player for the JV team of Bellmore/Merrick high school team. Brandon first impressed me from the first time I watched him. From the time he the ice in warm ups till the final puck drop, he was flying around the ice.
The best part of Brandons game wasn’t that he could score a goal by batting the puck out of mid air into the top corner. It was the fact that he used all the players on the Ice to create and open up the game. From a give and go goal with his line mate. To setting up and anchoring the Power Play.
Brandon showed more than just a being a skilled player. His heart and determination to make those around him better was an pleasure to watch. In recent games of I’ve seen players that play for themselves. It was nice to see Brandon play hard for the team and stand out doing it. There plenty of players that dance around other players, but it take a truly skilled player to make those around them better.
I will be continuing my scouting of the New York and New Jersey areas. I definitely feel there a ton of talent here. I think the recent years have shown that with such players as Mike Komisarek, Chris Higgins, Eric Nystorm, Rob Scuderi and even Matt Gilroy of Bellmore/Merrick making it to the NHL. Not to mention guys such as Joe Mullen and Brian Mullen being guys that came out of New York as well.
The New York and New Jersey area has a lot of great hockey and I’ll be back at the Local rinks to watch these players trying to live out their dreams.
John Bocca-Lafalce
