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Scouting America This is where the duck used to come down on the old "Groucho Marx Show" - when the secret, magic word was spoken. Phil Housley identified the biggest fear of scouts -- what they call the "projection," how a player will develop physically and mentally over the next two or three years -- and the reason why so many high draft choices fail to become NHL stars. This is the age when players are changing from boys to men and some don't make the transition as quickly as others. Many players find other things becoming more important in their lives. Alexandre Daigle recently admitted he had come to loathe playing hockey before he was taken with the first pick in the 1993 Entry Draft. Projecting focused Canadian major junior players against three-sport American athletes is one of the most difficult jobs, the scouts agree. "The people who do Canadian major junior scouting have a hard time projecting these American kids," NHL Central Scouting Service scout Gary Eggleston said. "Traditionally, kids here lag behind in development. Major junior is fast-track and these kids are playing soccer, football and baseball. They're not as focused, but they're more rounded athletically. They lack in experience, coaching and competition and they take a little longer to develop, but I've had Canadian people tell me that this is the best training ground for college and pro hockey players. It gives them more time to develop and catch up as hockey players."
Many people believe you can gauge a candidate's character by watching him play but it's not the whole story. "At a high-school game the elite players jump out so it's not so tough to identify them," Central Scouting's Barzee said. "You have to go deeper and interview him to find out if he's mentally tough. The first time I saw Tony Amonte and Jeremy Roenick play for Thayer Academy I was with Marcel Pronovost, the great Detroit defenseman. He loved Amonte, but he said that Roenick had no hockey sense. But, I said, Roenick, with his speed, could be out of the play and catch up with it. Marcel's a good guy. He said good point. When see that much talent you don't have to be a brain surgeon to know he'll be able to play." The scouts agree that the junior tournaments, the national team tryouts, practices and games, and special events like Hockey Night In Boston, a summer elite hockey program, are the best for evaluating talent while regional high-school matchups can be the worst. "Hockey Night in Boston for the last 20-25 years has provided a great service for scouts and college coaches," said Ron Anderson, a Chicago Blackhawks scout who won two NCAA championships at Boston University in 1971-72, playing with UMass coach Don "Toot" Cahoon and 1972 Olympic silver-medal winning goalie Tim Regan. New York Islanders coach Steve Stirling was a member of that first championship squad and he and Anderson later played together in Austria. Anderson then coached Merrimack College for 15 years. "Initially, it brought all East Coast kids together for a summer tournament but now they come from all over the United States. It saves a lot of mileage and groundwork for us. "We take into consideration that it's summer hockey. Some kids are more serious than others, so we look at it as another stage to see kids perform. You can learn positive things. I disregard negative impressions there. I get to see a ton of kids I've been tracking in high-school and midget leagues. Now they are getting of age. I see them together and how they compete against other guys I've been tracking." Anderson said an HNIB tournament in March gives him one of the best "true bills" on high-school age players.
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