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YOU ARE VIEWING THE HISTORIC TIMELINE OF THE PROSPECTS HOCKEY TOURNAMENT
Oct 7, 2006: The Prospects Historic Timeline - Read about how it all began in the next few weeks, one year at a time! 1995 and 1996 complete, 1997 now online! by Prospects
Introduction:
The Prospects Hockey Tournament gathers all the best players together. The truth of the matter is, hardly anybody makes it to the NHL. Even with the best, only so many can make it. In compiling this timeline, Prospects scoured through our previous programs. It was an incredible trip down memory lane looking back at the many events we have had and the spectacular players. Notwithstanding, the people in the stands left many with some very interesting memories to say the least.
Looking back on the tournaments, it was interesting to see how so many of the players were so highly regarded and rated into Major Junior Hockey or recruited by NCAA Division 1 schools. Interestingly, there was one common theme that kept coming through over and over again and that was how few of them actually made it to the National Hockey League. Many have used hockey to obtain an education that has served them for life. Here are some of the memories starting with 1995!
Prospects Hockey Tournament: May, 1995
Bob Turow and Lindsay Hoffort begin the Prospects Hockey Tournament in 1995. 1The event was held the 3d and 4th weekends in May because the OHL draft was at the end of May. The tournament ran with only 12 teams, who competed in the 2 weekends. The teams were comprised of 15 and 16 year olds (combined). The OHL draft at the time, was a 16 year old draft, with each team being able to select only two 15 year olds at anytime in the first 4 rounds.
The idea for Prospects was to gather all the best players eligible for the Ontario Hockey League Draft, in order to give OHL representatives a last chance look at the best players in a super elite environment, and to give NCAA Division 1 Colleges an early scouting opportunity to view the top possible recruits.
As the doors opened, the first NCAA coach to walk through the door of the arena was Mark Mazzolini, the head coach of Miami of Ohio at the time (2006 Coach of Green Bay USHL).
The first OHL representative to walk through the door was the late Bert Templeton, the former coach at the time of the Barrie Colts (second most wins as a coach all time in the Ontario Hockey League). He made history by selecting Daniel Tkaczuk the first overall OHL pick right out of the Prospects Hockey Tournament (Calgary Flames round 1 #6 overall 1997 NHL Entry Draft).
The first 2 picks in that years OHL draft were Joe Thornton (Boston Bruins round 1 #1 overall 1997 NHL Entry Draft), and Daniel Tkaczuk.
Other notable players included Mike Van Ryn (Michigan, New Jersey Devils round 1 #26 overall 1998 NHL Entry Draft), 4 Bryan Campell (Buffalo Sabres round 6 #156 overall 1997 NHL Entry Draft), Andy MacDonald (Colgate, Anaheim 2006, Undrafted in the OHL and NHL), Richard Jackman (Dallas Stars round 1 #5 overall 1996 NHL Entry Draft) , Boyd Devereaux (Edmonton Oilers round 1 #6 overall 1996 NHL Entry Draft), Mike York (Michigan State, New York Rangers round 6 #136 overall 1997 NHL Entry Draft) , Mike Weaver (Michigan State, Los Angeles Kings 2006, NHL Undrafted), and many many more!
Of note, coaching in the tournament included Geoff Ward (Kitchener OHL, Hamilton AHL, Edmonton NHL and other), Lindsay Hoffort (OHL, WHL) just to name 2.
In total, 15 OHL teams and 12 NCAA schools attended the first ever Prospects Hockey Tournament!
The first even winners of the Prospects Hockey Tournament were Pro Hockey Development, headed up by Lindsay Hoffort.
Prospects Hockey Tournament: May, 1996
The Prospects Hockey Tournament moved in 1996 to the University of Guelph twin pads, and it doubled in size from 12 to 25 teams. The tournament was held over 2 weekends, the same time in May.
Detroit Compuware and Detroit Little Caesars were the first American youth club organizations to get involved with the event as they both fielded elite all star teams.
Why do many of the players who are top notch NHL pro's decide to play in Prospects? Just ask Joe Thornton, Daniel Tkaczuk, Dale Legault, and Jason Ward. Amazingly all these players who all played in the Ontario Hockey League for one season, came back to play in the Prospects Hockey Tournament for a second time with their own age group. The reasoning was as follows: They wanted to play in the #1 Hockey Showcase in North America against the best in the age category!
Rico Fata, the 1st overall OHL draft pick, who had already played a year in the OHL as a 15 year old (similar to John Tavares in 2006), played in the tournament this year and played on a team with Charlie Stevens, who was to be the first overall pick in the OHL draft May 1997!
Our NHL Alumni that year is an incredible list, matched by no other tournament in North America.
Tim Connolly (New York Islanders round 1 #5 overall 1999 NHL Entry Draft)
Mark Bell (Chicago Blackhawks round 1 #8 overall 1998 NHL Entry Draft)
Rico Fata (Calgary Flames round 1 #6 overall 1998 NHL Entry Draft)
Joe Thornton (Boston Bruins round 1 #1 overall 1997 NHL Entry Draft)
Daniel Tkaczuk (Calgary Flames round 1 #6 overall 1997 NHL Entry Draft)
Byan Finley (Nashville Predators round 1 #6 overall 1999 NHL Entry Draft)
Jason Ward (Montreal Canadiens round 1 #11 overall 1997 NHL Entry Draft)
Manny Malholtra(New York Rangers round 1 #7 overall 1998 NHL Entry Draft)
Andrew Peters (Buffalo Sabres round 2 #34 overall 1998 NHL Entry Draft)
Kip Brennen(Los Angeles Kings round 4 #103 overall 1998 NHL Entry Draft)
Rob Davison (San Jose Sharks round 4 #98 overall 1998 NHL Entry Draft)
Brian Gionta (New Jersey Devils round 3 #82 overall 1998 NHL Entry Draft)
David Legwand (Nashville Pred round 1 #2 overall 1998 NHL Entry Draft)
Andy Hilbert (Boston Bruins round 2 #37 overall 2000 NHL Entry Draft)
Ryan Murphy - Son of Mike Murphy, ex-NHL player/coach and 2006 NHL executive) Carolina Hurricanes round 4 #113 overall 1999 NHL Entry Draft)
Andrew Hutchison (Nashville Pred round 2 #54 overall 1999 NHL Entry Draft)
Jon Cheechoo (San Jose Sharks round 2 #29 overall 1998 NHL Entry Draft)
Sheldon Keefe (TB Lightning round 2 #47 overall 1999 NHL Entry Draft)
Mike Jefferson (NJ Devils round 5 #135 overall 2000 NHL Entry Draft)
Mike Fischer (Ottawa Senators round 2 #44 overall 1998 NHL Entry Draft)
Brooks Orpik (Pittsburgh Penguins round 1 #18 overall 2000 NHL Entry Draft)
Sean Avery (NHL UNDRAFTED)
Peter Sarno (Edmonton Oilers round 6 #141 overall 1997 NHL Entry Draft)
Steve Montador (NHL UNDRAFTED)
Mark Popovic( Anaheim Ducks round 2 #35 overall 2001 NHL Entry Draft)
Chris Neil (Ottawa Senators round 6 #161 overall 1998 NHL Entry Draft)
John Erskine Dallas Stars round 2 #39 overall 1998 NHL Entry Draft)
AND MORE!This year also saw sports agents for the first time getting involved at the Prospects Hockey Tournament. Some of the names/agencies in attendance included Kelly Sports Management, Bobby Orr (Darren Farris, the head recruiter for Bobby Orr Sports Management ), Joe Resnick-2006 IMG, Scott Norton (Sunset Coast Management, and MORE!
The Toronto Young Nationals Ontario Bantam Championship team played this season, and to make them even more dynamic they added Jon Cheechoo. Sheldon Keefe, Joe Goodenow, and Mike Jefferson all played on this powerful team.
This season, Prospects had teams made up of many individuals who for some reason or another, where not recruited to play by managers entering all star teams into the event. Prospects , organized the teams, and they included players such as Sean Avery, Steve Montador, Darren Haydar, and Peter Sarno.
Dennis Williams, Division III NCAA coach at Neumann College (2006) and former Bowling Green player was part of the Prospects Hockey Tournament this year.
Team Canada World Jr Coach (2006) Craig Hartsburg's son Chris Hartsburg played in the tournament this year, and went on the play NCAA hockey with Colorado College.
Of interest during this Prospects Tournament was the fact that everyone realized this tournament was getting stronger and stronger. All the major player agents were at the tournament, and the top youth teams all wanted to be involved from the United States and Ontario. It was, and still is the place to be to play against the top talent.
Also of interest, was the fact that the Ontario Hockey League offered to purchase the Prospects Hockey Tournament from Bob Turow this season.
Prospects Hockey Tournament: May, 1997
The Prospects Hockey Tournament began to grow. This year, Prospects established a 17-19 year old tournament called the NCAA Prospects Tournament. The regular 15/16 tournament was in it's 3rd season and was stronger than ever.
Instead of running 2 weekends for the 15/16 year old event, Prospects ran only weekend of the 15/16 year old event. Prospects also ran a 17/18/19 year old tournament this season.
The 15/16 year old event was now known as the Pre-OHL/NCAA Showcase, and the older event was known as the NCAA Prospects Tournament.
There were 32 teams at the pre-OHL/NCAA Showcase, and 17 teams in the NCAA Prospects Tournament.
During the first 2 years of Prospects, players from Ontario and some of the bordering United States played at Prospects. This year, things changed. St. John's sent all the best kids from Newfoundland to play as the St. John's Maple Leafs. The word was getting out that the Prospects Hockey Tournament was the place to be, again! Michael Ryder and John King, 2 NHL hockey players, played on this Newfoundland all star team.
This was also the year that the Ontario Hockey League tried to organize a boycott of the Prospects Hockey Tournament, and run their own tournament called Future Stars. Future Stars ran 2 seasons and then was disbanded by the OHL in 1998. The boycott involved threats from the OHL scouts as to their attendance, but in the end, all the OHL teams were in attendance at Prospects. Why did they want to boycott an event that promoted their league? The answer is very simple. As listed earlier, the OHL offered to by Prospects in 1996, but it was not sold because Bob Turow wanted to keep the tournament neutral to players, in order to showcase every option available. Interestingly, at this event, Prospects , offered the OHL and the NCAA the chance to give seminars to educate all the top prospects about their hockey paths. The NCAA took advantage of the offer and ran a very interesting and informative seminar. The speakers included Red Berenson-Michigan, Mike Schaeefer Cornell, and Dave Poulin-Notre Dame. The OHL was not interested. They wanted to buy the Product in 1996 because of the college presence at Prospects. Since Prospects was not for sale, the OHL took other measures as noted above.
All the NCAA teams, with the exception of a few of the WCHA teams, attended Prospects this year.
All the OHL was in attendance (every area scout, GM, coach, Central Scouting, and some owners). In MANY cases, OHL teams were renting rooms in nearby hotels to interview players. Of interest, during the 2006 OHL boycott, OHL GM's and Head Scouts continued to rent hotel rooms to interview players (read about 2006 boycott at a later date).
Interesting side note: At the University of Guelph, there was a tree out in front of the arena affectionately known as the "Sherry Basin Guelph Hockey Office". This is where he would interview top players in front of anyone who wanted to see.
IHT (International Hockey Training) made their first appearance at Prospects this season.
Our NHL Alumni that year included another incredible list. Here are just some of the names:
Adam Hall ( Nashville Predators. round 2 #52 overall 1999 NHL Entry Draft)
Brian McGratton (LA Kings round 4 #104 overall 1999 NHL Entry Draft)
Mike Cammelleri (LA Kings round 2 #49 overall 2001 NHL Entry Draft)
Rick DiPietro ( New York Islanders round 1 #1 overall 2000 NHL Entry Draft)
Ryan Miller (Buffalo Sabres round 5 #138 overall 1999 NHL Entry Draft)
Nathan Robinson (NHL Undrafted)
Kurtis Foster (Calgary Flames round 2 #40 overall 2000 NHL Entry Draft)
Kevin Dallman (NHL Undrafted)
Luke Sellers (Atlanta Thrashers round 2 #30 overall 1999 NHL Entry Draft)
Chad Wiseman (San Jose Sharks round 8 #246 overall 2000 NHL Entry Draft)
John Erskine (Dallas Stars round 2 #39 overall 1998 NHL Entry Draft)
AND MORE!Caroline Hurricanes Head Scout (2006) Sheldon Ferguson's son Troy Ferguson signed up as an individual this season, and ended up playing on the US National Development Team, leading his way to Michigan State NCAA D1 hockey.
First overall NHL draft pick Rick DiPietro played as an individual entry at Prospects. Incredible! No one had recruited him to play, and he signed up as an individual. Prospects placed him on a team, enough said!
This tournament had a famous fight happen between Joe DiBiase (a bantam at the time) and John Erksine (one year older). It is a legendary fight because it vaulted Dibiase, a good bantam player who was not going to be an underage draft pick, to a second round pick of the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL.
Mike Rupp (Selected by New York Islanders round 1 #9 overall 1998 NHL Entry Draft) , from St. Ed's High School in Ohio, was a player who started the rush of players coming from very obscure areas of the world to play at Prospects. Another is Cory Pecker (Calgary Flames round 6 #166 overall 1999 NHL Entry Draft) , from the Lac St. Louis Midgets (Quebec Midget League).
Player agents such as Scott Norton brought European players to Prospects for the first time. Boris Avanof, who played for the Red Army, participated in Prospects.
43 players from the 17/18/19 NCAA Prospects tournament went on to play division 1 NCAA hockey. That is an incredible number!
Another interesting side note: The London Knights this season, went through a coaching and ownership change. The new staff, did their entire draft right out of the Prospects Hockey Tournament!
STAY TUNED FOR 1998 COMING SOON!
Last Updated:
September 30, 2008 11:28 AM
