All Right, Max Domi, I'm A Sucker
That's right, bombing Braylon Edwards is followed up by hockey recruiting. Projected comments: four. Whateva, I do what I want.
Yeah, Don Cherry hands him stuff, he's good.
I shouldn't do this to myself, but as the title indicates… I'm a sucker. News that the Indiana Ice thought uber-touted Max Domi was likely enough to play NCAA hockey to spend a second-round pick on him in the USHL Futures Draft sent me on yet another Quest For Information on the Hockey's Future message boards. I didn't get much on Domi other than all the OHL partisans claiming him a 100% lock for junior. Google turned up his twitter, though, and, um… I'm all like… maybe this is happening?
One:
Mdomi1616 Max Domi
Men's Ice Hockey Division 1- NCAA Final Four! Notre Dame vs. Minnesota Duluth North Dakota vs. Michigan HERE WE GO MICHIGAN! …
Michigan loses in overtime to UMD in overtime...tough one
Two: a few days ago he tweeted he was in Indiana for the weekend—presumably to visit the Ice—and today he threw up a tweet that said only "Indiana Ice 2011/2012." If this is all a smokescreen to get him to London it's finely wrought.
The OHL draft is on May 7th, so we won't have to wait long. I'm cannot shake my skepticism he's headed to college but now it seems like there's a legit chance.
The even more distant future
Meanwhile, I wandered over to the NTDP tryout thread and found a couple of guys who had seen 2013 commits Tyler Motte and Evan Allen play. A guy who watched the 3-2 Honeybaked win over Shattuck in which Motte and Allen put three up to steal a national title on that decisive third period:
3-2 Honeybaked final!
Great period. Big saves made at both ends, and great pace. Allen tied it up at 1 on a great one timer from the point on the PP. McTavish set up Rodriguez on a 2-on-1 to put SSM ahead 2-1. Motte scored on a nice tip in to square things up at 2. With a minute and change left Motte punced on a loose puck in front to put Honeybaked up 3-2.
Can't say enough about Motte. He's one big time player. Was incredible in the Silverstick final versus the Marlies, and now puts his team on his back and leads them to a national title. Made a huge shot block with about 5 seconds to go while SSM had a 6-on-4.
Congrats to both teams on wonderful seasons. Glad I had the chance to see Honeybaked live on their one trip up to up to the Greater Toronto Area this year. This is one big time team.
One of the regulars says Allen doesn't get enough buzz: "absolutely love his game and hope he accepts a USNDP offer." With classmate JT Compher one of the select few to get NTDP offers before their tryout camp and Alex Talcott another second-round USHL futures draftee, that 2013 recruiting class looks like it will be big-time if it hangs together.
The slightly more immediate future
In news that will be relevant to you in this calendar year, USHR freed up their December stuff. It contains news of Michigan's commitments from John Gibson and Brennan Serville. The Gibson stuff is the usual by now: large, good, calm. Serville:
-- 6’3”, 185 lb. Stouffville Spirit (OPJHL) RD Brennan Serville, a great skating defenseman with size who is good on the breakout, has good hands and sees the ice well. Serville had originally committed to Canisius last winter, but then decommitted this September. …
Serville was on the silver-medal winning Team Canada East at last month’s World Jr. A Challenge in Penticton. Last week, he played for Team East at the 2010 CJHL Prospects Game – games, really (there are two) -- in Dauphin, Manitoba, a CJHL/NHL Central Scouting showcase for the top 40 draft-eligible players across Canada’s ten Jr. A leagues. …
Serville made his final pick from between Michigan, Michigan State, and UNH.
So he's a nice pickup in December. Unfortunately, the 2012 class doesn't have a guaranteed star on the other end of the ice where Michigan could really use one. All three incoming guys could be scoring line types, though:
- Alex Guptill was a third round pick last year but only put up 13-12-25 in 43 USHL games—he's big, which means his draft status is less exciting than it would be if he was 5'8".
- Phil DiGiuseppe put up a lot of points in the OJHL, but a lot of people put up a lot of points in the OJHL. He did finish the year as the top-scoring '93 in the league; the guy closest to him was nine points back (and is 5'7").
- Travis Lynch was a no-scoring checker destined for the fourth line and PK when he committed, but after scoring eight points in his first 30 games this year he put up 36 in his last 30. That's a hell of a breakout. (Caveat: that may be shooting percentage driven. He went from 7.6% last year to 14.7% this year. Shooting percentage is notoriously variable; one as high as Lynch's can be an indicator of regression.)
"Whateva, I do what I want."
This quote summarizes the reason I read this blog every day hoping for new content, written by its founder.
Brian, uber alles!
Hell yes. I'm 25% of the projected comments.
April 20th, 2011 at 12:27 PM ^
I definitely should have taken the "over" on four comments.
So while we might not have elite scorers, having defensemen who can skate is almost as if-not-more important. Having defensemen who can either join the rush or start the rush is huge... Hopefully we get more dirty goals going forward
Projected comments due to projection of comments: 38
Just throwing this out to pad the stats.
Always happy when SSM loses, especially to Honeybaked/Compuware/LC teams.
I think of SSM as the bad guy varsity team from Mighty Ducks 3, but douche-ier, although I don't think of Honeybaked as a JV team, either.
Yay for awesome recruits. Please stick around.
Don MotherFucking Cherry!
Little Canadian Celeb!!
All posts regarding Tie Domi's son should include this photo
More MANPUCK next year.
If he goes the college route, it will be Michigan. The Hockey News' Ryan Kennedy tweeted this morning that he talked to Max Domi last night and "he'll move to Indiana to play there if he commits to U. of Michigan."
While most, myself included, are skeptical of his intentions to go the college route based on history, Bob McKenzie later tweeted, "Max Domi, son of Tie and a very good prospect, drafted by Indiana Ice in the USHL. Was there for a visit. Expected to play there next season," so we'll see.
OHL draft will probably tell all we need to know. I hope everything comes up Milhouse. Would be a great addition to our class as we enter the BTHC.
It makes sense if Tie wants his kid to not end up the target of some douche looking to make a name for himself by destroying someone named Domi. He'd have a literal target on him every time he stepped on the ice in the OHL. And tweeting about the Frozen Four? You don't do that unless there's a serious amount of interest. And who wouldn't want to play at Yost instead of "Insert Canadian Town You've Never Heard Of Here"? I think the fact that we got him in the stands for a game is what will make the difference.
April 19th, 2011 at 11:23 PM ^
Current OHL buildings are pretty damn impressive here in the home of hockey. If he's drafted to London or Windsor I'd worry a lot. In particular, I'd worry about London with Dale Hunter coaching, a building that sells out 9000+ for every home game and a team with serious recruiting abilities. Yost has it's nice qualities but I'd be careful about discounting the value of the OHL...I suspect Domi, if he's truly serious about developing as a pro prospect, goes to the OHL if the team drafting is along the lines of London, Kingston, Barrie or Windsor.
JLC London
April 20th, 2011 at 10:07 AM ^
I don't feel like debating the ever-closing gap between the OHL and US Junior/NCAA, and I will acknowledge that there are a few teams in the OHL that can make a better offer than UM (minus the free college education of course). I also know that Tie probably has a lot of sway over how this turns out for his son. He knows his son will be a target in Canada because of who he was in the NHL. He knows there is less risk of someone targeting his kid here in the States. Anyone who can read an NHL roster knows that ex-collegians are everywhere on NHL rosters. If this in addition to his tweeting is a ploy to help him get to play where he wants to play in the OHL, it's probably the most elaborate and believable that I've seen so far.
There's enough depth for the forward lines and Serville and Gibson are helpful for a defense first gritty team which will have to be Mich.'s identity. Looking forward to it and seeing some great counterattacks.
Would Domi be a 2014 recruit?
From an earlier post on Domi: "Domi visited Michigan about a month ago, FWIW, and is supposed to be highly interested. If Domi actually goes to college and actually picks Michigan he'd be a 2012 recruit."
Max already seems to be more skilled than his dad was, and he's not even OHL age yet.
So far, BC and Miami seem to be killing it in 2012 and 2013 recruiting. I just hope we can somehow convince players like Jacob Trouba and Henrik Samuelsson to stay in the US and go the NCAA route rather than end up in the OHL like they're almost certain to do. Especially after losing Lessio and missing out on Marcantuoni (both out of St. Mike's) in the past year, we need someone soon who is an offensive dynamo. I miss having players like Cammalleri, Comrie, Hensick, Tambellini, et. al.
Don't get me wrong, our teams have been great but all through the tournament people kept talking about how Michigan is known for their offensive skill. Frankly, we haven't really had truly dynamic scoring since Porter and Kolarik. Maybe Caporusso and Palushaj the year after? But nothing recently. It would be awesome to get some high end offensive players
That's the major disadvantage the NCAA has compared to the CHL. Players can play in a CHL league at a younger age than they can play in the NCAA. Generally speaking, the top end players go through the NHL draft before they would start their freshman year, and the cream of the crop players are starting to make NHL rosters their first year. Look at Cam Fowler for example - committed to play at Notre Dame, jumped to the OHL before he played in South Bend, drafted before he would have started his freshman year, and played the entire season on Anaheim's blue line. Success at such a young age is going to push more and more of the truly elite players to the CHL because it offers a higher level of competition than the USHL at a younger age than the NCAA. Plus, if the players are good enough, they can earn what essentially amounts to a salary for playing in the CHL. It sucks for college hockey fans, but Canada won't change for the sake of the NCAA, and I don't blame them.
In my opinion, the NCAA should just bite the bullet and allow former CHL players to play, but dock a year of eligibility for every year a player plays in a CHL league to keep the overagers from sucking up roster spots everywhere.
EDIT: I just looked it up, and Fowler is a bad example as he had a late birthday (December) but accelerated his high school graduation, so his OHL year would have been his freshman year at ND.
Patrick Kane might be a better example because, unlike Fowler, I think he was unable to accelerate his high school degree a full year (if I'm recalling it correctly, I think he could have graduated in December and played half a year in the NCAA), and had to choose between playing in the OHL or half a season in the USHL and half in the NCAA, and chose the OHL.
Love hockey recruiting news... thanks and keep'em coming....
There would be something very odd about seing the name DOMI on the back of a jersey and not having the inhabitant beating the shit out of someone.
That's right, bombing Braylon Edwards is followed up by hockey recruiting. Projected comments: four. Whateva, I do what I want.
I read this and skipped right to the comment box. Now that I have added to the number I will go back and actually read the blog.
I swear I once read somewhere that Tie Domi was recruited to Michigan to play football.
Okay, from the man himself - http://www.tiedomi.com/?page_id=8
He was "scouted" by Michigan in football...whatever that means.
That kid looks foreign.
Well, his genetics are Canadian...
I'm still depressed about losing to duluth
I'm glad Domi is too at least. I believe that he may end up here a little more after seeing that tweet
I don't know why I feel this and it's mostly baseless, but I just have thi feeling that the incoming class is going to be better than anyone expects. I tracked Travis Lynch's dynamic rise up the point totals as it was happening and I think I even mentioned it here a few times, I even noticed that the shot perentage was very different, but that's when my feeling kinda started and everytime I see this class mentioned, I just get this feeling it's going to be special. Maybe it's because none of them are expected to be stars and so Red will be able to work his magic even more than normal, but something tells me that they are going to get here and be pretty dang good and that next year is going to be a lot better than people expect. Either that, or I'm still high on the Tiny Jesus/SMFH/whatever nickname you want to give him kool-aid from after the NoDak game.
You can no return to your regularly scheduled non-crazy programming.
As for Domi, obviously I think he would be a nice pick-up, but I'm not sold he's going to go here. I think that his parents might be pushing the NCAA, because of the no-fighting and think he'll be safer there, but I think that Max, himself, is leaning towards the OHL ( because he's a Canadian teen and probably most of the friends he has through hockey that are good are probably going to the OHL) and all his pro-Michigan, while some of it might be true, might also just be to humor his parents until they're more accepting of the OHL or until he convinces himself that he does want to NCAA and that it really could go either way, at this point. Or, of coure, that it's just typical OHL draft tomfoolery. And again, obviously this is all just a personal guess, no inside sources or any such.
EDIT: Also, though he still could be using the school to some extent, props to Max Domi for not really officially committing to Michigan, with the chance that he still goes to the OHL (or another school, I guess...). He could easily have just made things a little more official, scared off teams a little more and stack the deck a little more in his favor, but, though he's made it clear he likes Michigan, he has yet to say anywhere, that I've seen, that he is committed to Michigan and I, at least, appreciate the lack of anguish that would occur if he committed to Michigan, only to bail later.
Nothing is better as a chaser after rightfully knocking Braylon than some hockey news.
<br>I'll believe it when it happens, but Domi playing at auM doesn't seem crazy to me. Better than being head-hunted in the OHL.
Is it just me or does Max Domi look like Gordon Bombay from his peewee days playing for the Hawks?
was trying to place him.
Then I just thought of Banks and searched him only to find this AMAZING Mighty Ducks-related blog post: http://lowdownblog.com/2010/09/30/casting-the-mighty-ducks-with-nhl-sta…
And the UM connection comes full circle... HERE:
Ah, Cogliano...
... about the next few incoming classes. I really feel like some guys will step it up and we'll figure out a way to get it done. Red somehow always gets them to play. Adding a true star to the mix would obviously be a plus, though, of course.
The only reason I'd be worried about the tournament streak coming to an end in the somewhat near future would be if MN and WI (and MSU, though less likely at this point) come back to dominance while we schedule tough OOC games and don't perform well in that part of the schedule.
My main question is whether Pearson is the unofficial "coach in waiting" or if his (fully warranted) dabbling with Tech signals that there might be something else in the cards for when Red steps down. Will be interesting to see...
If Minnesota and Wisconsin come back, I'd bet you might see the pairwise start to favor the B1G like it currently favors the WCHA. We could probably get in 3 or 4 out of the 6 in many years because we'll have so many OOC games against (presumably) easier competition
After lurking for years, I got an ID just so I could post on a hockey thread!
April 20th, 2011 at 12:28 PM ^
welcome!
April 20th, 2011 at 12:28 PM ^
went and watched youtube of Max Domi. Kid can play
In spite of goals by Hagelin and Kolarik, the Connecticut Whale still lost 4-6 to the Portland Pirates. Scoring for the Portland Pirates included Corey Tropp. Also on the Pirates is Travis Turnbull. With the win, the Pirates advance to the next round in the quest for the Calder Cup.
The goal was Carl's first professional goal.
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