Thursday, February 14, 2008

Give me 7 on the line: Top 7 Players Under 25?

Nation,

Just a quick post today, looking for feedback.

If you had to pick a starting seven of the best players in Canada under the age of 25. Who would it be?

7 men, 7 women. Step up and discuss.

My initial list might be as follows

Men
Oscar Pottinger- Vancouver/Furious
Derek Alexander-Ottawa/ Phoenix
Mark Lloyd- Winnipeg/ General Strike
Morgan Hibbert-Vancouver/ Furious
Jeff Lindquist- Toronto/GOAT
Lowell Hepner-Toronto/GOAT
Kielan Way- Ottawa/Phoenix




Kielan Way tries for the D
Photo Source: WJUC 2006

Women
Anne Mercier-Ottawa/Capitals
Andrea Cheung- Vancouver/TFP
Alexa Kovacs- Winnipeg
Sonia Komenda-Ottawa/BFC
Tiffany Lin- Vancouver/TFP
Shannon Becker- Ottawa/BFC
Kathryn Pohran- Ottawa/BFC

Let me admit my limitations
  • I don't know the names of all the west coast players I saw at nationals, and I'm not aware of ages outside of recent juniors
  • I know the open players much more than the ladies.
  • Thanks to lack of opportunity and lack of video, have seen more east than west

Tiff Lin D Blocks the US
Photo Source: World Juniors 2006

15 comments:

Unknown said...

I'd swap out Hibbert for Sam Kennedy (Toronto -GOAT) and Kielan for Jeremy Shaki (Montreal - Mephisto).

jhaig said...

Open:
Handlers:
Derek Alexander
Oscar Potinger
Adam Melnyk

Cutters:
Owen Blain
Ryan Lee
Keilan Way
Morgan

Obviously fairly biased, as I can only really comment on people I've played with or against. That kid from Vancouver who destroyed eveyone at nats in 2002 should probably get some mention. I think his name's Sean Boyle or something.... but I don't remember.

As for the women's side, I couldn't name enough players outside the Ottawa scene to make a good list. Obviously the 5 women from Ottawa who played in the last world juniors (Alex, Anne, Madie, Kathryn and Carrie) deserve some consideration but I couldn't possibly be qualfied to make a list for the whole country.

lank89 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Taylor said...

Yep, Sam Kennedy needs to be there. Tolya is also under 25.

Druski said...

Definitely agree on Alexa. As for team info she played with us for Swarm last year but may be playing with the yet-to-be-named Women's team that is in the process of (re)forming in Winnipeg.

Unknown said...

Agree on Tolya. Is Derek healthy?

Handlers:
Tolya
Shaki
Oscar

Cutters:
Kennedy
Blaine
Ryan Lee
Mark Leduc

Russel Street and Joel Bluman also need to be mentioned.

#9 said...

Oscar
Derek
Tolya

Kennedy
Blain
Kielan
Morgan

Is Shaki good enough to be in the top 12?

Jeff said...

o or d

Sport Management Steven said...

Picking 7 Guys/Gals from the age group of 18-25 is quite daunting. However, it's good debate and it shows how far recruiting in ultimate needs to go.

-Does anyone have the list of world junior teams from 2001- on? Please send them to me.

-I never specified O or D. Looking for overall game.

-Derek will say otherwise, but he's moving almost 100 percent again. Now, he can throw equally far with both hands.

-Did not know if Melnyk, Blaine and Tolya were under 25. Given Tolya's nationals dominance last year, he deserves serious consideration. Melnyk's performance in college has been well documented.

-I want to see Kovacs play more, but her 2006 WJUC exploits were impressive.

Merk said...

i don't have a list from the 2002 worlds junior teams, but for women there are lots of them who should be considered too:
- Alex Snyder (Fury / Vancouver)
- Kira Frew (Traffic / Vancouver)
- Danielle Fortin (Capitals / Ottawa)
- Jenna Mcbride (Capitals / Ottawa)
- Alex Benedict (Capitals / Ottawa)

i'm also not too familiar with the west coast but off the top of my head these girls are up there.

Unknown said...

"Is Shaki good enough to be in the top 12?"

Yes. He's good enough to be in the top 3. Ask anybody on Mephisto or anyone who played in CUUC 2006.

#9 said...

Top 3 is nuts,
He is a handler and he is not better then Oscar, Derek or Tolya so that takes him out of top 3 right away.

he is not a better athlete then Kielan, Kennedy, Blain, not to mention many many more so how the hell is he top 3.

Sport Management Steven said...

Any other names that should be thrown into the mix?

I hope to see Shaki and all the other college players in Ottawa really soon!

Unknown said...

"he is not a better athlete then Kielan, Kennedy, Blain".

I've played on a team with both Kennedy and Shaki and I've matched up again Kielan. Shaki is a different but comparable athlete to Kennedy (I ran 40's with them both). One on one Shaki destroys Kielan; he's a better athlete and a much better handler. Is he a better handler than Toyla, Derek and Oscar? Hard to say, they all have different styles. Shaki can break any mark and deliver pinpoint hucks through anyone. But so can all of those guys.

Shaki is likely underrated because of the city he plays in. If he was playing in Toronto or Vancouver he'd be on Goat or Furious and would get much more respect. Mephisto is good but that team name just doesn't carry the weight of Goat or Furious.

#9 said...

Well,
We dont see eye to eye on this at all. Kielan would also destroy Shaki one on one. Kenedy is a good athlete.
Maby I have not seen Shaki play enough but I still don't think he is that strong of a player.I might be wrong.

Good topic