Ian McCoshen is in his third season with the Waterloo Black Hawks of the United States Hockey League. The 6-foot-2.5, 207-pound defenseman, No. 21 on NHL Central Scouting's midterm list of the top draft-eligible North American skaters, has eight goals, 33 points and a plus-24 rating in 40 games this season. The Boston College-bound McCoshen has agreed to submit a monthly blog for NHL.com that will chronicle his progress leading up to the 2013 NHL Draft.

Hi everyone!

Our season has been a good one so far. With six weeks to go, we currently find ourselves in a race for the fourth and final spot for the playoffs this year. I believe it is a great chance for our team to seize the opportunity, rise to the challenge, and get it done. We could still climb in the standings and even catch our conference leader, Sioux Falls, with fourteen games to go.

I think that will help us if we use it to our advantage in preparing for the playoffs. The playoffs are about all-out battles every single shift. It will not get any easier, and we like the challenge ahead.

Personally, I feel that I have matured more and am more patient with the puck than I was in my first season as a Black Hawk. I believe I am also more comfortable with my strength and skating ability this year. I am focused on just trying to make the simple plays and put pucks on the net.

Ian McCoshen is in his third season with the Waterloo Black Hawks of the United States Hockey League. The 6-foot-2.5, 207-pound defenseman, No. 21 on NHL Central Scouting's midterm list of the top draft-eligible North American skaters, has six goals, 22 points and a plus-23 rating in 27 games this season.

On Wednesday, McCoshen participated in his second straight USHL/NHL Top Prospects game in Muskegon, Mich. He didn't register a point but did deliver some big hits and had three shots on goal. After the game, McCoshen submitted his monthly blog for NHL.com recapping the event.

Hello, hockey fans!

It was nice to come away with a big win in the USHL Top Prospects Game on Wednesday, 2-1. After getting to Michigan on Tuesday, it was nice to just get acquainted with my teammates and then get on the ice for practice to kind of sort things out.

In the locker room prior to the game, our coaches reminded us that we were at the game for a reason, and that this was a time to prove it. We wanted to be loose, but it's also pretty intense because it's kind of a pressure situation for some of the guys.

I think, compared to last year when some guys looked at this as kind of an all-star type of game, this year had a different feel to it. I felt you had to be on your toes or else something was going to be created off a turnover. So, it was a good game overall.

Ian McCoshen is in his third season with the Waterloo Black Hawks of the United States Hockey League. The 6-foot-2.5, 207-pound defenseman, rated No. 2 on NHL Central Scouting's preliminary list of skaters from the USHL, has produced one goal, five points and a plus-15 rating in 13 games this season. McCoshen has agreed to take the time and maintain a blog for NHL.com all season long leading up to the 2013 NHL Draft.

Hi everyone:

It feels great to be back playing with the guys again. We have not been having the same success as we did the beginning of the year, and that has been challenging. We know as a group that it takes a complete buy-in from every guy in order for our team to be successful once again.

Being at the top of our division is a good feeling. But we have to realize that we cannot take any days off and that the other teams want our spot. In the USHL Western Conference right now, only seven points separate the leader from the team in seventh place

Ian McCoshen is in his third season with the Waterloo Black Hawks of the United States Hockey League. The 6-foot-2.5, 207-pound defenseman, regarded as an A skater on NHL Central Scouting's preliminary players to watch list for the 2013 Draft, has produced one goal, four points and a plus-13 rating in eight games this season. McCoshen has agreed to take the time and maintain a blog for NHL.com all season long leading up to the 2013 NHL Draft.

Last week I committed to play college hockey at Boston College following this year. I am really excited about the opportunity to play for the best program in the country. I visited the school during the beginning of one week in mid-October. Boston was really nice; I had never been there before. The city has a rich history, especially in sports…while we drove from the airport to campus, Fenway Park was right there, just on the left side of the highway. Northeastern, Boston University, and Boston College are all within six miles of each other. Boston is really a college town with great atmosphere for college hockey.

On campus, I went to a Tuesday morning literature and composition class with defenseman Mike Matheson. There were only 20 or so students taking the course. It's nice knowing that the classes are small. Once the class was over, I was able to see how small the school actually is. It is a tight-knit campus with beautiful facilities.

Ian McCoshen will be entering his third season with the Waterloo Black Hawks in the United States Hockey League in 2012-13. The 6-foot-2 1/2, 207-pound defenseman, regarded as an 'A List' prospect by NHL Central Scouting entering the 2012-13 season, has produced eight goals and 26 points in 97 career games in the USHL. McCoshen, who will take part in the All American Prospects Game in Buffalo on Sept. 29, has agreed to take the time and maintain a blog for NHL.com all season long leading up to the 2013 NHL Draft.

Now that I'm back home in Waterloo, I've had a chance to think about the great time I had in Buffalo last weekend. It was something special being part of the first-ever All-American Prospects Game.

I left Friday night after our game in Green Bay. We took off about 11 p.m., and got into Buffalo like 1:30 in the morning, and I probably didn't get to sleep until 3. Then we started early in the morning with meetings and stuff at the rink.

It certainly wasn't the normal game day. I tried to get my pre-game nap, but I was too excited so I kept waking up every 15 minutes.

Once we got to the rink and started getting our gear on, there was no tension in the room. Guys were loose, excited. We were pretty jacked up to play.

Going out on the ice in an NHL building was pretty surreal. There was a lot of fans out there. It was pretty spectacular facility that the Buffalo Sabers have. What an honor to be in that game.

It's such an honor to be part of the inaugural CCM/USA Hockey All-American Prospects Game. It's just such an honor to represent yourself and your country as one of the top prospects in America.

I was a little surprised when I got asked to play in the game because I didn't know they were going to put on a game like this. I'm definitely happy to be here, because I know a couple guys coming, some buddies from the NTDP. It's good to see all the guys.

It wasn't the easiest trip to get here. We had a game in Green Bay on Friday night. We won 4-3 and then I flew right after the game and got here in Buffalo at 2 in the morning. It's been a whirlwind, but it definitely was worth it.

I'm looking forward to just having fun with some of the guys and it being a really competitive game out there and pushing ourselves.

Ian McCoshen will be entering his third season with the Waterloo Black Hawks in the United States Hockey League in 2012-13. The 6-foot-2 1/2, 207-pound defenseman, regarded as an 'A List' prospect by NHL Central Scouting entering the 2012-13 season, has produced eight goals and 26 points in 97 career games in the USHL. McCoshen, who will take part in the All American Prospects Game in Buffalo on Sept. 29, has agreed to take the time and maintain a blog for NHL.com all season long leading up to the 2013 NHL Draft.

Hello everyone. My name is Ian McCoshen, and I play for the Waterloo Black Hawks in the United States Hockey league. This will be my third year with the Black Hawks.

I am tremendously excited for the season to start back up again. We have a talented group of guys this year, but we need to work all the time in order to really utilize the skill we have.

Overall, all of the boys are pretty excited to start up as well.

Our trip to Russia to participate in the Junior Club World Cup last month was an unbelievable experience for our team and myself. Systematically, we progressed each game throughout the tournament. I believe, if you ask any guy on the team, they would all say that our time in Omsk and Moscow was the best training camp we could have asked for. We collectively bonded as a team far earlier in the season than usual, which I believe, gives us an edge to begin our USHL season.

Hi all.

Waterloo's Ian McCoshen signs autographs outside arena

The team is really coming together during the Junior Club World Cup. We haven’t made it easy on ourselves, but have been finding ways to win. In our game against Norway, we got behind and started to panic just a little bit. Eventually we figured it out, playing our game by working hard and shooting the puck. We came back and finished off with a 5-3 win.

Again we had a quick turnaround with a game the following day. This one was really big because it was a must-win to advance to the semifinal round. It also happened to be against the hometown Omsk Hawks. That was a game I will never forget -- Hawks vs. Hawks. It was pretty crazy and surreal to play in front of that many people. I think it was almost 9,000 fans.

Ian McCoshen will be entering his third season with the Waterloo Black Hawks in the United States Hockey League in 2012-13. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound McCoshen, regarded as one of the top draft eligible prospects for the 2013 NHL Draft, has produced eight goals and 26 points in 97 career games in the USHL. Waterloo is representing the USHL in the 2012 Junior Club World Cup tournament this week and McCoshen, 17, has agreed to take the time and maintain a blog for NHL.com that will document his stay in Russia.

Hi everyone!

adjusted pretty well to Omsk already, even though we are three time zones away from Moscow and 12 time zones from back in Waterloo.

Overall, this city is not nearly as big as Moscow and it is obvious as soon as you step outside the hotel. Moscow was so robust and had so much going on, much like New York City. I would compare Omsk to be more like Minneapolis back in the United States because it is much calmer. The group is much more comfortable here and I think it is because of the city size. Omsk seems way more down to earth. Moscow was just too big for us with the large group of people we have traveling.

Hi everyone!

The time in Moscow has been really unique. We played our first game as a team against the Russian junior team, CSKA Red Army, and earned a 4-2 victory. Heading into such a historic arena to play that team was a pretty cool experience … just to think about all the great players who have played there.

Ian McCoshen (Steph Regenold/Waterloo Black Hawks)

We didn't have the start we wanted but it was a pretty good pace throughout the first period. We started to pick it up and the power-play was working. Our best period was probably the third and we really took it to them. Even though it was an exhibition game, it was a good win for the team to help build some momentum going into the tournament in Omsk.

Their style is a little different and presented some challenges to us defensemen. Coming into the zone, they always had two forwards close together, either looking for a quick shot or a drop-pass for a one-timer, and it was a little tough because we didn't want to have two of our defensemen playing so close together. The Russian team also seemed to look for that long stretch quite often.