Mayfield dishes on season, draft rating and Combine

Scott Mayfield Youngstown Phantoms USHL

Scott Mayfield is a defenseman for the Youngstown Phantoms of the United States Hockey League. Committed to the University of Denver for the 2011-12 academic season, he also played a part in the 2009 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament for Team USA. NHL Central Scouting rated Mayfield No. 24 among North American skaters -- the seventh best defenseman -- at its final meeting in April. Mayfield, who participated in the 2010 NHL Research, Development and Orientation Camp fueled by G Series in August, has offered to maintain a monthly blog for NHL.com that will chronicle his season leading up to the NHL Entry Draft in St. Paul, Minn.

Hello everyone!

April was a tough month for my team, the Youngstown Phantoms. Although we won our last two games, we missed the playoffs by two points.  It was really tough to be so close in the end after a long season. You can't help but think about certain games that we could have won except for a strange bounce or a missed goal.  Every game, and every point earned, is important, even in a 60-game season.

I spent the days after our last game packing and saying good-bye to my coaches, teammates, and friends in Youngstown. I spent most of the last two years there, and I'll always be thankful to the Phantoms organization, my coaches, my teammates, friends, and especially my billet parents, Gail and Jim Ridge, for making me feel at home and adjust to my new life.

It's nice to be back with my family and friends in St. Louis. I miss playing hockey every day, but I am getting on the ice and am helping my former youth and high school coach, Dave Garth, coach a spring team.

I was happy to be ranked 24th in the NHL Central Scouting's final rankings for North American skaters.  It's still a little hard for me to believe all that has happened in the last two years, and that I'm being considered for the NHL draft. There are so many great players on that list, and it motivates me to work as hard as I can to justify being listed with them.

I was also recently invited to the NHL Combine. I feel the Combine will be a ton of fun and a great experience. I'm really looking forward to seeing some of the players I was able to play with at the RDO camp and how I compare off the ice to the best players in my draft class.

I will be spending May finishing up my high school courses and training for the Combine. I have a great personal strength coach, Dave Reddy, who helped me reach my weight and strength goals last summer.   We've been working hard on many of the Combine tests. It's tough, but it's also a lot of fun.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and can't wait to write about my experiences at the 2011 NHL Combine next month.