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Scouting America
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Getting scouted Players and their coaches and parents are sometimes approached by scouts from the junior leagues and "bird dogs" for agents, but rarely by NHL and college scouts. "The colleges are not allowed to contact prospects off campus until the completion of their junior year of high school," said Chicago Blackhawks scout Ron Anderson, the former Merrimack College coach. "If he comes to your campus though, you can talk to him. "With the Blackhawks, we don't talk to kids who aren't old enough," Anderson continued. "We look at them, but we don't talk to them until their draft year. If I want to talk to a kid, I approach his coach. When the draft is approaching, if there's a kid were interested in we'll set up a formal interview in his home." That's what the Blackhawks did in Boyle's case.
"I had followed Boyle for several years and I know what he can do," Anderson said. "Obviously, he's big and he can skate. When the season was over, we asked if we could meet him. His coach, Steve Dagdigian, gave me his phone number and we called Brian and made an appointment. Bill Lesuk, our director of amateur scouting, was there and that's the way everybody does it." "NHL scouts don't contact a kid until well along in the process," Dagdigian concurred. "With the coaches, they may want to verify height and weight, but it's mostly a background observation. Later in the process, they'll ask about things like their character and work habits." NHL veteran Phil Housley, who remembers the night he was scouted by University of Minnesota coaches John Mariucci and Glen Sonmor, was recently asked to evaluate players for a district select under-17 team. He said there a couple of things he looks for in a prospect. "You look to see how he fits with his team," Housley said. "Is he a leader, does he play both ends of rink and does he make those around him better?" USA Hockey Coach-In-Chief Bob O'Connor exemplifies another unique aspect of competitive sports: When the game is over, the participants recognize each other as fellow members of the hockey fraternity. He's one of the most celebrated coaches in American high-school history, winning the 1995 American Hockey Coaches Association John "Snooks" Kelley Founders Award for his contributions to American hockey. He was a highly competitive coach who won state championships and he also scouted for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Providence College, which he attended and where he played on a line with New Jersey Devils chief executive Lou Lamoriello, later the Providence coach and athletic director. O'Connor and his Edina players did everything they could to defeat every other team and player in Minnesota, but when the games were over, O'Connor helped nearly 40 kids from Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota go to Providence College. Two of his Edina players, David Maley and Brian Burke, are well known to NHL fans. O'Connor recommended Burke, now the Vancouver Canucks GM, to Providence as well as Grand Forks, Minn., native Kurt Kleinendorst, now a key member of Lamoriello's Devils' staff.
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