Greatest Squirt you ever saw

[O-townClown]

There have been several threads on development. No need to rehash.

For all the talk about how these kids are just 10, I sure remember a lot of superstar Squirts that went on to successful hockey careers.

Who is the best Squirt you ever saw and what happened to them?

For me:

1) David Latta. When I was 9 I went to see a friend's team play in a holiday tournament and Latta was the talk of the rink. From Thunder Bay, he was selected in the 1st Round of the NHL Draft with the pick before Tom Chorske was selected. He was way better than anyone else at the time.
2) Best player I ever played against at that age, Scott Bloom. Scored about 135 goals, probably in about 45-50 games. Led Burnsville High to the 1985 and 1986 State HS championship before playing at the U. Decent finish to his career, but he was held back for the first few years because he didn't skate very well. Co-Metro POY as a senior, he would have been Mr. Hockey if not for George Pelawa. Surprisingly, a player off his Squirt team was a late bloomer and made it to the NHL. Mark Osiecki.
3) Best player I played with at that age, Jay Moore. Scored about 85 goals in 48 games. Very small, he still managed to play for the 1984 State HS champs as a sophomore before having a very good run at Denver for 4 years.

I'm interested in hearing how many superstar Squirts never developed further and how many were early to display their ability.

[blueblood]

Jordan George of the Madison Capitals in 2002.

At the Bloomington Squirt Tournament in 2002 they announced he had scored his 150th goal in a semifinal game! He averaged 5 goals a game that season

The kid was phenominal.

Don't know where he ended up after that.

[O-townClown]

Don't know where he ended up after that.

He's progressing. We'll see if he pops through to college.

Jordan George of the Russell Stover Midget Major team in Kansas City has reportedly signed a tender with the RoadRunners. That makes him off limits to the other teams in the NAHL. He’s still free to sign with another league, but in the NAHL Topeka owns his rights. Midget Major hockey is organized hockey for players between the age of 17-18. There has been no official release from the RoadRunners yet on George. His signing was listed on the front page of the Russell Stover‘s team website.

[crouching tiger]

Havent seen much but Jake Wahlin from WB last year was a stud. I think he was one of the top in the state and scored like 100 something goals or points. Watch for him in a few years at WB highschool where I think he will play. Plays for some machine team or somethin who are supposedly a dominant force.

[The Best 4th Liner]

are you guys serious???

The best squirt.....I mean honestly you can tell nothing by how a kid is in squirts. You have no idea what his work ethic will be like when he gets older, or any injuries he may suffer. Don't get me wrong there is always a kid who sticks out on every team as the best player but you cant make judgements saying that the kid will be the "Next One" when he is a squirt.

[breakout]

are you guys serious???

The best squirt.....I mean honestly you can tell nothing by how a kid is in squirts. You have no idea what his work ethic will be like when he gets older, or any injuries he may suffer. Don't get me wrong there is always a kid who sticks out on every team as the best player but you cant make judgements saying that the kid will be the "Next One" when he is a squirt.

I agree with your point. A guy like Sidney Crosby may have been an exception. He was called the "next one" at an early age. Although, I am not sure he was a squirt when that term first surfaced.

[breakout]

Don't know where he ended up after that.

He's progressing. We'll see if he pops through to college.

Jordan George of the Russell Stover Midget Major team in Kansas City has reportedly signed a tender with the RoadRunners. That makes him off limits to the other teams in the NAHL. He’s still free to sign with another league, but in the NAHL Topeka owns his rights. Midget Major hockey is organized hockey for players between the age of 17-18. There has been no official release from the RoadRunners yet on George. His signing was listed on the front page of the Russell Stover‘s team website.

Does any USHL team own his rights? Not sure if a NAHL and USHL team can own the rights of one person.

[O-townClown]

are you guys serious???

The best squirt.....I mean honestly you can tell nothing by how a kid is in squirts. You have no idea what his work ethic will be like when he gets older, or any injuries he may suffer. Don't get me wrong there is always a kid who sticks out on every team as the best player but you cant make judgements saying that the kid will be the "Next One" when he is a squirt.

4th, you've completely missed the point.

I feel the way you do, that Squirts is too young to mean much. However, I thought back to all the best Squirts I knew and it was an indicator that these kids had an aptitude for hockey. I'm not talking about a good one, or even a very good one. I'm talking about the elite.

Name the best Squirt you ever saw, figure out what happened to them, and prove your point.

One kid I grew up with was anointed a superstar in Pee Wees and he wasn't ever a HS player. He capped out at about 5'4" and peaked young. Share your stories.

[my2cents]

Corey Millen. So good at Squirts that he skipped peewees and went directly from Squirts to Bantam A.

Matt Christensen from Aurora Hoyt Lakes would beat good teams single handedly.

[breakout]

The following were considered great squirts:

Derek Stephan = US U18 Team, Shattuck, U of Wisconsin recruit
Jordan Schroeder = NTDP, U of M recruit
Nick Leddy = US U17 Team, U of M recruit
Danny Mattson = US U18 Team, UND recruit
Ryan Walters = US U16 Team, US U17 Team, U of M recruit
Zach Budish = US U16 Team, USU17 Team, undecided
Jake Hendrickson = UMD recruit
Tyler Barnes = U of Wisconsin recruit
Tyler Pitlick = NTDP invitee, USHL Futures Draft pick, undecided
Nick Mattson = NTDP, undecided
Keegan Flaherty = USHL Green Bay Gamblers, undecided
Jake Gardiner = US U18 Team, U of Wisconsin recruit

[theref]

I didn't see him personally, but my parents always said that when they say Neal Broten play when he was squirts, peewees, bantams, they knew that he was going somewhere. We lived in I. Falls, so they got to see him quite a bit in those days.

[elliott70]

Gigi Marvin*, skated circles around the boys.


*Not the greatest I have ever seen, but very good squirt hockey player.

[hockeyparent11]

Heres a few kids who were great squirts in the 1970's

Rob McClanahan-MV: 1980 Olympic team
Neal Broten
Scott Peterson-irondale: Great Squirt, Great PW, no h.s. hockey
Randy Zigsworth-WBL: ended up homeless

[Mister Hockey]

Being squirts, they shouldn't be labeled the Next one. I have witnessed many squirts that could skate circles around others. There are many squirts that can score like crazy!!! It is nuts to put a name on a good squirt unless his name is WAYNE GRETZKY. Gretzky scored something like 311 goals in 50 games one year and that might have actually been as a peewee. I actually heard last week that a certain player (Can't remember the name as I didn't care) is the best 2002 in the state!!! He did say however that he is a January birth date so that did put some credibility on the player..>NOT!!! I am thinking to myself "did this guy actually go all around the state to check others out at the 2002 level?"

I think that the peewee level is when you really can start to tell if a player has a chance on becoming a star (Good H.S., possible D1) But even that is a stretch at the peewee level with all of the players growing and such. Some great squirt and peewee forwards that are average turn out to be great defensemen and visa versa.

There was even a good forward from the Coon Rapids Girls program that switched to goalie as a freshman and became a star. Being youngsters you never now.

Let's let the kids grow up a little first before they become ALL STARS

[Mister Hockey]

I would like to state that my brothers baby boy that is expected to be born in January has to be the best 2008 hockey player in the state of Minnesota as of right now. You probably can not argue with that!!! Go get em Riley!!!

[Can't Never Tried]

I would like to state that my brothers baby boy that is expected to be born in January has to be the best 2008 hockey player in the state of Minnesota as of right now. You probably can not argue with that!!! Go get em Riley!!!

Some Scouts are saying he's more likely to be a chubby little cry baby, and weak on his edges

[breakout]

Being squirts, they shouldn't be labeled the Next one. I have witnessed many squirts that could skate circles around others. There are many squirts that can score like crazy!!! It is nuts to put a name on a good squirt unless his name is WAYNE GRETZKY. Gretzky scored something like 311 goals in 50 games one year and that might have actually been as a peewee. I actually heard last week that a certain player (Can't remember the name as I didn't care) is the best 2002 in the state!!! He did say however that he is a January birth date so that did put some credibility on the player..>NOT!!! I am thinking to myself "did this guy actually go all around the state to check others out at the 2002 level?"

I think that the peewee level is when you really can start to tell if a player has a chance on becoming a star (Good H.S., possible D1) But even that is a stretch at the peewee level with all of the players growing and such. Some great squirt and peewee forwards that are average turn out to be great defensemen and visa versa.

There was even a good forward from the Coon Rapids Girls program that switched to goalie as a freshman and became a star. Being youngsters you never now.

Let's let the kids grow up a little first before they become ALL STARS

Puberty matters

[Northland]

Being squirts, they shouldn't be labeled the Next one. I have witnessed many squirts that could skate circles around others. There are many squirts that can score like crazy!!! It is nuts to put a name on a good squirt unless his name is WAYNE GRETZKY. Gretzky scored something like 311 goals in 50 games one year and that might have actually been as a peewee. I actually heard last week that a certain player (Can't remember the name as I didn't care) is the best 2002 in the state!!! He did say however that he is a January birth date so that did put some credibility on the player..>NOT!!! I am thinking to myself "did this guy actually go all around the state to check others out at the 2002 level?"

I think that the peewee level is when you really can start to tell if a player has a chance on becoming a star (Good H.S., possible D1) But even that is a stretch at the peewee level with all of the players growing and such. Some great squirt and peewee forwards that are average turn out to be great defensemen and visa versa.

There was even a good forward from the Coon Rapids Girls program that switched to goalie as a freshman and became a star. Being youngsters you never now.

Let's let the kids grow up a little first before they become ALL STARS

Puberty matters

[O-townClown]

Scott Peterson-irondale: Great Squirt, Great PW, no h.s. hockey
Randy Zigsworth-WBL: ended up homeless

Great, Parent! You are finally able to identify someone that was a world-beater as a Squirt and DIDN'T advance to a pretty high level of hockey. People will probably define that differently, but to me it is being either a HS star or WCHA-level player.

Good work. Gold star for you.

For the other names mentioned, I think we're seeing a definite pattern here that the great (not good, not very good) Squirts are usually headed places.

[O-townClown]

Being squirts, they shouldn't be labeled the Next one. I have witnessed many squirts that could skate circles around others. There are many squirts that can score like crazy!!!

Did you read the thread? At all?

I didn't ask to identify the best Squirts today in hopes of anointing them. I asked a valid question, were the kids that you remember standing out in Squirts able to advance and ultimately play a high level of hockey?

The problem I see with a blanket "oh these kids are just 10" response is that oftentimes the truly elite are able to maintain their excellence as they age. In an NBA game last week the backup PGs for each team, now 21 or 22 years old, were actually teammates on the AAU 10U National Champions when they were kids.

Don't tell me it doesn't mean anything to be a world-beater in Squirts. Prove it to me and I'll agree. Someone mentioned Sidney Crosby in this thread. At what age had he separated himself from his peers? We know that was the case at 14, but what about 12? Or 10? Or 8? Or even 6? How early was it?

[O-townClown]

I think that the peewee level is when you really can start to tell if a player has a chance on becoming a star (Good H.S., possible D1) But even that is a stretch at the peewee level with all of the players growing and such. Some great squirt and peewee forwards that are average turn out to be great defensemen and visa versa.

That's funny, because I was suspecting that Pee Wees is maybe the first age where one kid could really dominate because they grew early. I haven't tested it, but that is in my mind because of what we see each summer in the LLWS. Actually, now that I think about it more I am probably off-base because the really big kids in Little League have an easier time with baseball because they don't move. In hockey I guess they are exposed because they are most likely uncoordinated. By Bantams they probably hit their stride.

[watchdog]

o - town i totally understand your topic here. some squirts fade away into the night but many go on to be the best players on their teams through high school aaron ness was really something to watch as a squirt and well hell be drafted here soon. you also have to look at the mantality of this hockey board. the majority on here have kids that are bantams now. its not as bad as it was last year but its still bad. when people come on here and start saying you cant see a hockey player at a young age its because either their kid isnt any good at the squirt level and they still want hope or they themselves wernt good as a squirt and their still holding out hope. the last one is if the topic isnt on the bantam level theyll criticize. now i know you can see great players at a young age and ive been arguing that point for years on this board. ofcourse thing change that holds true forever thats life you can have a superstar at highschool and he never can crack that d1 or junior team. so it doesnt matter what level you see talent at its all the same.

[Rocket78]

OTC, I was going to put my name on here but then remembered that I only got 5 or so goals in my second year of squirts . Eric Stoebel was a great squirt and went on to the U and the '80 olympics. Jim Johansson was an awesome 5year old squirt and went on to the Badgers and the '88 olympic team. The JM 77 championship team had about 8 guys go D1 and they were all very good when they were young especially Scott Lecy. On the other hand, one of my teammates was the best peewee in town, was playing on one of the top varsity lines as a 9th grader but then everybody just passed him by.

Two of the best squirts that we played against were Rushin and Hunt. I think one was Edina and the other was Jefferson. They had incredibly hard shots and we would have 2-3 guys limping around the bench when we played them. Anybody know if they played in college or beyond.

[waylon]

I have a '90 the same age as Jordan shroeders group,There is alot of good ones there,and have seen alot of good squirts since,the best I have seen is Rem Pitlick,write it down now he will be a good one!

[spin-o-rama]

I have a '90 the same age as Jordan shroeders group,There is alot of good ones there,and have seen alot of good squirts since,the best I have seen is Rem Pitlick,write it down now he will be a good one!

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