Edina's Sammy Walker to the Gophers
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Edina's Sammy Walker to the Gophers
He comes from a great hockey family..Congrats to him!!
http://www.sbncollegehockey.com/college ... -minnesota
http://www.sbncollegehockey.com/college ... -minnesota
Re: Edina's Sammy Walker to the Gophers
congratsSuperStar wrote:He comes from a great hockey family..Congrats to him!!
http://www.sbncollegehockey.com/college ... -minnesota
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From a development/skill perspective, he's significantly ahead of where both of his brothers were at the same age. Both older brothers are doing just fine in the AHL and WHL, and have shown steady progress each step of the way. He's always been highly skilled and ultra-hyper-competitive. It's a pretty safe bet he'll be able to perform extremely well at the NCAA level which is still roughly 4-5 years away when you figure in a year or two of juniors. His modest production of just 5 goals last year can easily be explained away as a player doing exactly what the coaches asked him to do - focus on defense first and kill penalties. Rest assured, he'll produce big HS numbers when that's what is expected from him. It's probably no coincidence the commitment came immediately after playing for the Team USA 17U team in the Five Nations Tournament. Even though he didn't score much, clearly he did enough to impress folks who may know slightly more about hockey and player projections than some of us on this bored. Size will always be a question, beyond NCAA, but both brothers grew late and there is still plenty of time for him to gain height and put on muscle.
His game is very rounded and he is excellent in his own zone. But, as a freshman I thought Jack was a bit better. Jack was probably the best D on the team for his one year and 3 of the other D men went on to play D1.GoBigorGoHome wrote:From a development/skill perspective, he's significantly ahead of where both of his brothers were at the same age. Both older brothers are doing just fine in the AHL and WHL, and have shown steady progress each step of the way. He's always been highly skilled and ultra-hyper-competitive. It's a pretty safe bet he'll be able to perform extremely well at the NCAA level which is still roughly 4-5 years away when you figure in a year or two of juniors. His modest production of just 5 goals last year can easily be explained away as a player doing exactly what the coaches asked him to do - focus on defense first and kill penalties. Rest assured, he'll produce big HS numbers when that's what is expected from him. It's probably no coincidence the commitment came immediately after playing for the Team USA 17U team in the Five Nations Tournament. Even though he didn't score much, clearly he did enough to impress folks who may know slightly more about hockey and player projections than some of us on this bored. Size will always be a question, beyond NCAA, but both brothers grew late and there is still plenty of time for him to gain height and put on muscle.
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Fair enough, I'll back off the "significantly ahead" part of my comment, but it is a bit of apples to oranges, since they were asked to do different things their freshman years. Regardless, he is a tremendous player with significant long term upside, and he'll be a lot of fun to watch over the next few years.green4 wrote:His game is very rounded and he is excellent in his own zone. But, as a freshman I thought Jack was a bit better. Jack was probably the best D on the team for his one year and 3 of the other D men went on to play D1.GoBigorGoHome wrote:From a development/skill perspective, he's significantly ahead of where both of his brothers were at the same age. Both older brothers are doing just fine in the AHL and WHL, and have shown steady progress each step of the way. He's always been highly skilled and ultra-hyper-competitive. It's a pretty safe bet he'll be able to perform extremely well at the NCAA level which is still roughly 4-5 years away when you figure in a year or two of juniors. His modest production of just 5 goals last year can easily be explained away as a player doing exactly what the coaches asked him to do - focus on defense first and kill penalties. Rest assured, he'll produce big HS numbers when that's what is expected from him. It's probably no coincidence the commitment came immediately after playing for the Team USA 17U team in the Five Nations Tournament. Even though he didn't score much, clearly he did enough to impress folks who may know slightly more about hockey and player projections than some of us on this bored. Size will always be a question, beyond NCAA, but both brothers grew late and there is still plenty of time for him to gain height and put on muscle.
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Kind of unfair to all the brothers to compare in hindsight. As a 10 year old Ben Walker was one of the best players in the state. His predator team was the equal of the blades then and he was their go to guy. As far as doing well in the AHL, here is his line from 2014-15
34 gp, 1G, 3A, 4 tp, 16 pm, -14
he'll have his hands full staying out of the ECHL.
I agree...Sam will be a fine college player.
34 gp, 1G, 3A, 4 tp, 16 pm, -14
he'll have his hands full staying out of the ECHL.
I agree...Sam will be a fine college player.
I thought Giles did a great job in bringing Walker along slowly but steadily last year.
There wasnt much to get excited about early in the season, minimal ice time and based on what I saw I was beginning to wonder if he should be playing varsity.
Then he got a shorty at either the Braemar tourney or sometime in January I think. Might have been against the Trojans in a Lake Conf game at Braemar, cant remember for sure That seemed to be a turning point. His teammates really rallied around him that game.
Whenever I saw him after that, he seemed to be showing more confidence and skill level, and Giles was steadily increasing his playing time.
During playoffs and at X, he was performing at a pretty high level for an freshman, albeit I recall he is an old freshman.
Give credit to Giles for excellent coaching development plan. Makes all the difference in the world.
There wasnt much to get excited about early in the season, minimal ice time and based on what I saw I was beginning to wonder if he should be playing varsity.
Then he got a shorty at either the Braemar tourney or sometime in January I think. Might have been against the Trojans in a Lake Conf game at Braemar, cant remember for sure That seemed to be a turning point. His teammates really rallied around him that game.
Whenever I saw him after that, he seemed to be showing more confidence and skill level, and Giles was steadily increasing his playing time.
During playoffs and at X, he was performing at a pretty high level for an freshman, albeit I recall he is an old freshman.
Give credit to Giles for excellent coaching development plan. Makes all the difference in the world.
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MrBoDangles wrote:New meaning to the term "green
I agree!!! Sammy rarely gets blown up. He has eyes in the back of his head! He sees the ice very well and if he plays with a finisher he will get a pile of assists!! I know Sammy very well so he won't be mad if I said his clap bomb could use some help, but he may be one of the sickest blue paint goal scorers I have ever seen!! Way to go Sammy!!!!
There's a freshman D coming up who will be better than all of them.sooyou wrote:congrats to him!! With him, Phillips, Copeland, Pugh, Scheerer, and Dornbach, the hornets are going to have a solid team yet again!
I suspect that Sammy will be taking the Junior route rather than the College route, for the same reason as his brothers.
Brinkman, Bishop, Vorlicky, Reiners all Edina Dmen coming thru Bantam Elites.
Have been told Brinkman will likely make varsity as freshman, like Phillips did.
He will have to play big to match Phillips, who is in top 10 Dmen in state this season.
Suspect this may be last year we will see Phillips in a Hornet uniform, so watch while the watching is good
Have been told Brinkman will likely make varsity as freshman, like Phillips did.
He will have to play big to match Phillips, who is in top 10 Dmen in state this season.
Suspect this may be last year we will see Phillips in a Hornet uniform, so watch while the watching is good
Even more so than Bellows? When I was still at Edina all you would hear about was how talented Bellows was going to be.57special wrote:Shame. This is the most "can't miss" kid I've seen in Edina. No flaw to his game, has good size and great strength.minnscout wrote:Westmetro
Yes, BB had shoulder surgery. I heard minimum of 4 months he will be out.