Hockey - Andrew Sinelli Commits

Submitted by Clarence Beeks on

Dexter native Andrew Sinelli has committed to attend Michigan next year.  Sinelli was a '10 draft eligible who went undrafted and split time last year between Dubuque and Youngstown, and has bounced around the USHL during his two years there (also split '09-'10 between Sioux City and Dubuque).  Of interesting note, he was a '10 verbal to Michigan State (there really isn't much of anything out there on why that fell through, though).

Evaluation of his game, in his own words:

""I am a high energy forward," said Sinelli. "I like to play physical and I am not afraid to block some shots. I will have to compete for my playing time and my work in Youngstown on the penalty kill will allow me to succeed on the college level.""

http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=4189196

Hasn't put up overly stellar offensive stats during his time in the USHL, but did before that (and was regarded as an offensive talent before he arrived in the USHL), so it's possible that his lack of production thus far has a good bit to do with the amount that he's bounced around and that there may be a little more offensive upside than meets the eye.

JustGoBlue

April 22nd, 2011 at 12:46 AM ^

your definition of "a ton of blue-chippers" no, not really.  The only recruits I would consider, "blue-chip" coming in next year would be Gibson, probably Guptill and MAYBE Serville.  Compared to a lot of past Michigan classes, next year's haul still isn't great.

The freshman this year, a lot of them committed early and they were all super hyped early (I believe Clare, Moffatt, Merrill and Jack Campbell (who went OHL but was committed)) were all supposed to be first round picks at some point.  In the end, Merrill and Moffatt were considered blue-chip and Bennett I think (Campbell certainly was).  The year before that Brown, Lynch and I believe Treais and that was good for the size of the class (it was them + Moffie + 2 walk-ons, both recruited to some extend, Sparks much more so, I believe).  The year before that, Wohlberg, Burlon and Czarnik (left for OHL) were all blue-chip, I don't think Pateryn was, he was a guy that had a lot of potential, but I don't think he was considered blue-chip.  The year before that was a more typical class, Louie, Patches, Palushaj, Quick, Rust and Winnett (yes Winnett) were considered blue-chip.  The year before that, was a small class, but Summers and Kampfer were both blue-chip.  The year before that, Bailey, Cogliano, JMFJ, I think MacVoy was, Mitera and  Sauer.  I could go on for about 20 classes worth. We're incredibly spoiled to have recruiting classes like we do every year and to most schools this class would probably be great, but compared to past classes here, this one is fairly weak.

Trebor

April 22nd, 2011 at 3:59 AM ^

Not to rain on the parade or anything, but I think you're being a bit generous with the "blue chip" tag there. Moffatt, for one, was considered blue chip when he committed at age 15. But his lackluster play for two years with the NTDP took the shine off of him, so it would be a stretch to say he was blue chip given that he was only a 7th round pick (at age 15 there was talk of him going top-5 in the draft). Unless, of course, you consider blue chip to be in the NHL draft, in which case basically the entirety of the top 5-10 teams in the NCAA are blue chip, which seems too wide of a net to cast for "blue chip."

Of the players you mentioned, the ones I would consider "blue chip" are: Cogliano, JMFJ, Mitera, Caporusso, Pacioretty, Palushaj, Burlon, Merrill, Campbell and Gibson. Brown's a tough one, because he's considered a decent NHL prospect due to his size and physical game, but he was never considered a big offensive threat. Same with Lynch and Bailey. Wohlberg and Czarnik were similar to Moffatt in that they were top-tier players when they were 15, but didn't maintain their level of play through matriculation from the NTDP. MacVoy wasn't even close; yeah, he might have played for the NTDP, but he was one of the worst skaters I've ever seen in a Michigan uniform. Sauer was forced in a year early due to Montoya leaving, and was considered a decent but not stellar goalie prospect in juniors. Winnett was on the fringe; he was a decent scorer in his junior league, but the decent scorers are really hit an miss. He wasn't a can't-miss prospect (4th round pick), but was certainly expected to put up more points than he did. Quick, Treais, Bennett and Rust were kinda the same - good players, but wouldn't be 5-stars to someone like Rivals.

Also, if we're considering Campbell, also note that Lucas Lessio would have been blue chip this year, as would Trevor Lewis in 2006. 

Of course, I wish I had half the talent that some of these guys have...

MichiganStudent

April 22nd, 2011 at 6:36 AM ^

Exactly, we have not gotten the blue chip players like we have in the past. 

Sinelli is not a blue chip player by any means. He has bounced around the USHL and will not be a game changer at UM. He's a 3rd of 4th liner player, which is fine, but Michigan hockey has dropped off in game changing talent in the past few years. Hagelin, Louie, and Rust were not your typical NHL caliber talent that we're used to seeing (i.e. JMFJ, Cogliano, Pacioretty, Porter, Hensick, etc). 

JustGoBlue

April 22nd, 2011 at 11:03 AM ^

on purpose and trying to including 4-star equivalents, too.  Not just draft status, but that was a part of it.  Everything you say is true, though you left Summers off the blue chip list and I would say he was pretty blue chip.  I didn't remember Bailey/MacVoy enough, just saw their draft status/NTDP past and assumed...  I mixed a lot of things together, recruiting hype, at any point, it it was really high  at any point I gave it to them and if it was pretty decent, but then they came here and did well, I gave them the benefit of the doubt as well. 

I remember the talk of Moffatt being top 5.  When the current freshman class committed, man, were we sitting pretty.  There was talk of Michigan having, the best D-man, forward and goalie in their class, in its class.  Clare was talked about as a potential first-rounder at one point, too.  Then real life happened and well, we still got Merrill, who is still a fantastic player, but wouldn't it be nice if Moffatt was putting up 20 goals a season and Clare was an absolute shut-down monster on the blue line...  They still got time though, it could happen and they've both shown flashes.

 

Sgt. Wolverine

April 22nd, 2011 at 12:29 AM ^

I had to double check to make sure you meant Dexter, MI.  That's awesome to see a local kid will be on the M roster.  (And I'm saying that as a Chelsea native.  It's hard for me to say nice things about Dexter sports.)

JustGoBlue

April 22nd, 2011 at 1:11 AM ^

just about everybody expects next year to be a very defensive-oriented team, since Michigan's D should be rock-solid and so should the goalkeeping, between Gibson and Hunwick, while the scoring is a very suspect, especially considering they didn't score a ton this year and they were probably more expected to than they will be next year.  And that's perfectly logical given what's on the roster and how they got to the Championship game and what will probably work next season.  But I really, really hope Red starts out with his more traditional offensive schemes.  I just have the sneaking suspicion that, given the chance, some of our current and incoming forwards might surprise a little bit with their offensive abilities, especially with the offensive gurus on the coaching staff and I'd like to see them open things up a little bit more than most people are predicting. 

Welcome to Sinelli, it's good to have him.  Especially with the current forward depth, which is/was almost nonexistant.  He certainly sounds like he could develop into a nice player.  I wonder though, if this has any impact on Fallon's return.  I would think no, since there are still only 13 forwards on the roster for next year (without Fallon, with Sinelli), but I suppose we'll see...

JustGoBlue

April 22nd, 2011 at 1:39 AM ^

on what you mean.  If you mean the guy that came in with a ton of hype, really never matured into what he was supposed to (though he did have a few HUGE goals, 2 in the Frozen Four this year, the tying goal last year against State at Munn in the second game of that CCHA play-off series and some others), but Red always played him a ton anyways, to many people's confusion, because he did ocasionally score those big goals and was solid defensively, then I can certainly see that, minus the ton of hype, part (Sinelli obviously was not a 4th round draft pick and didn't tear it up scoring-wise in his most recent Junior League).  If you mean something else, I don't know which Winnett you're talking about :-) 

If you just mean stepping into the checking line, possibly.  Glendening, either K. Lynch or Wohlberg, and a freshman (probably T. Lynch or Sinelli) might do it (I don't think you can't do both Lynch and Wohlberg, because we're going to need at least one to be scoring), but Mat Rust was really the heart and soul of that line last year and I don't think it could be as successful without him.

MichiganStudent

April 22nd, 2011 at 6:32 AM ^

State surprised me when they offered him a scholarship. I just never saw it out of the kid and still don't. He doesn't put up big numbers and looks like a 4 year 4th liner to me. 

Some of these kids Michigan is signing in the past few years just confuses me. 

MichiganStudent

April 22nd, 2011 at 10:32 AM ^

I agree, I probably shouldn't have said that in the way I did, but I really believe that Michigan hockey has been signing or commiting to sub par players in recent years.

No offense to the kids, but to me, these guys are not game breakers. We are lacking those players, not your "energy guys", "checkers", "penalty killers", etc.

Michigan is becoming more and more blue collar and its really starting to bother me.

JustGoBlue

April 22nd, 2011 at 11:18 AM ^

you're making the distinction between "signing" and "recruiting".  Because I'm sure Michigan is still going after those future first-rounders, they just aren't coming here like they used to.  OHL is a big part of that, as is the emergence of Notre Dame and Miami as legitimate powerhouse programs.  Another part of that is the newfound necessity to go after prospects earlier and earlier, you get them and then hope they continue developing or your in trouble.  Most of the players on the roster were very highly regarded once, some just never ended up panning out, but they committed when their stock was high and now they're playing at Yost.

This year especially and more so after Lessio's decommit, they need people, any people, just to fill out depth.  They may be checking line players, but at least that means there will be a checking line.  There was one point where there were only going to be 11 forwards on the roster for next season.  That's up to 13 now, without Fallon, which is more normal.  The past few year's classes haven't really been as great as people are used to, but still pretty good.  This year is abnormally weak, but that's what happens when it's November and you have Guptill and a walk-on-type D-man committed.  Getting Gibson and to a lesser extent Serville, was absolutely enormous and really salvages this class from disaster.  The other forwards are necessary, just to fill roster spots.  I'm comfortable, though not thrilled with, Lynch, Brown, Treais, Wohlberg, Sparks, Guptill/Glendening as the top-6 forwards.  As long as we have 2 more lines that can go out there, not get scored on and give those guys a breather.  The third line almost certainly won't have the firepower of past years, but that's what happens...

And, hopefully, help is on the way.  Carrick's a pretty good prospect and Nieves is a great one and I think we're sitll in the running for Trouba, if he doesn't go OHL and he's very big time as well.  The year after that is filled with kids that are, right now, pretty top end scorers.  We just have to wait and hope they make it on campus and don't drop off between now and then.

Trebor

April 22nd, 2011 at 1:31 PM ^

The problem is that, if you think back to the time from 2000 through probably 2007 (and even earlier, but that's another discussion), our nominal top line for next season will be about the same level as our third line was during that time period. Times have changed a little bit since then, and in reality it's hard to sustain that kind of offensive talent, but at some point it'd be nice to have the kind of guy on offense that has to be game planned around. The US is getting better and better at churning out talented players, but there is more competition from other schools, and the OHL has money that the NCAA can't offer.

Also, I'd love to have Trouba, but he's probably 95% likely to end up in the OHL. I reffed a game where he played back in like 2007, and even then he was noticeably better than the other kids (I had to ask his coach after the game who the defenseman was that was obviously the best kid on the ice).

Kevin_blue

April 22nd, 2011 at 1:17 PM ^

I know Andrew, and he's a really good kid.  Somebody we want representing our program.  Don't count him out as a future contributor.  Congrats Andrew!