Ryan Yessie's Thoughts on Owen Sound from January 16

Ryan Yessie returns with his first report of the New Year, and was able to take in the Sarnia - Owen Sound game this past Friday. All 5 goals are scored before the game reached the midway point. Huge saves were made early by Dan Spence en route to the Sarnia Sting defeating Owen Sound 4-1.

Steven Shipley - YOB: 1992 - 6’2” - 200 lbs.
NHL: Eligible in 2010
Report: Jan/17/09: This guy is a player. No question of this guy’s skill. I didn’t hear much about him going into this game but he’s certainly going to have an impression on me for the next 18 months leading up to his draft. He has some dynamic offensive skills and if not for two massive saves by Dan Spence Shipley could have single handedly kept his team in the game. He skates with great speed which is very impressive considering he has NHL size and is only 16 years old. Shipley has good stick handling moves and shows great agility and has big potential to be a game breaker at every level he plays at. Very impressed with his puck control and his overall offensive awareness. This looks like something Owen Sound saw come in about 5 years ago, except his name was Bobby Ryan. I’ve only seen two guys skate and handle the puck with the size that Bobby Ryan had , and Shipley is definitely the better of the two I’ve seen so far. I really don’t see any flaws in his game, his defensive play wasn’t noticeable so I guess that can’t be considered positive or negative. (Shipley had 1G)

Joey Hishon - YOB: 1991 - 5’10” - 166 lbs.
NHL: Eligible in 2010
Report: Jan/17/09: Hishon is a late birth date so he’ll have to wait till next year. Hopefully that gives him time to add to his size because he desperately needs to add about 15-20 lbs in the next 18 months. Hishon was another guy I was very impressed with, I was surprised Sarnia kept Owen Sound to only one goal with these two skating around the ice. Hishon displayed great speed, a quick release, good awareness in the offensive zone, and distributes the puck very well. What I was really surprised about is how good of a penalty killer Hishon is. His positioning is as good as it comes, and he always had a stick in the passing lane. A complete player and could certainly push into the top 15 of the draft next year, and the only flaw I could see in his game is his 5’10” - 166lb frame that desperately needs a little more muscle added to it, if he does that he could be a dangerous prospect.

Garrett Wilson - YOB: 1991 - 6’2” - 199 lbs.
NHL: Eligible in 2009
Report: Jan/17/09: Wilson had his good sides and bad. The good is that he has a fairly quick release on his shot, and it comes off with some force, he’s a good physical player and is not afraid to hit. His best asset is his net presence, he looked like Holmstrom out there on the power play he was an unmovable object when he was in front of the net which could be useful to an NHL team looking for a mid-late round pick. On the bad side his skating could use some help, and he does seem to get very over aggressive at the wrong times and winds up taking bad penalties. Not someone I was considering untill I saw what he was able to do in front of the net, so certainly someone to keep an eye on. (Wilson had 1A, 2PIM)

Michael Lomas - YOB: 1990 - 5’11” - 198 lbs.
NHL: Eligible in 2009
Report: Jan/17/09: I know some out there are wondering about this guy, he was rated last year but didn’t get picked, he has good numbers so I was curious myself. I was very disappointed in Lomas’ play. He turned the puck over at some bad times for his team, and a few were just lazy turnovers not moving his feet, or paying enough attention to the play. I have no clue how this guy has 19 goals so far this year, because he missed the net wildly 3 times. He was within 20ft. Of the net and missed by atleast 5 ft. every time, his stats must be padded at least a little from playing with Shipley and/or Hishon. The one bright spot I saw in his game was his defensive play, he was out there on the PK a couple times and played fairly well during that time. (Lomas had 2 PIM)

Michael D’Orazio - YOB: 1990 - 6’1” - 211 lbs.
NHL: Eligible in 2009
Report: Jan/17/09: I was impressed a bit with this guy last year so I was curious as to how he was playing this year. D’Orazio was a good stay at home presence, he was throwing hits every chance he had and he threw some big ones, he looks like he’s built like a tank when he hits, definitely looks taller than 6’1”. Doesn’t look like there is much offensive potential to speak of, but a solid player that I could see getting late round consideration.

Tyler Beskorowany - YOB: 1990 - 6’5” - 199 lbs.
NHL: 2nd Round - 59th Overall by Dallas in 2008
Report: Jan/17/09: Beskorowany was starting for Owen Sound tonight and I wasn’t very impressed with him. He let in two very soft goals which between that and if Shipley didn’t get robbed this could have been a very different game. He does have great positioning; he faced 48 shots and he was in position for probably 47 of them. His biggest issue is the amount of rebounds he gave up, if it was possible to give a rebound on a shot he gave it, and they were big rebounds. He also doesn’t seem to cut down the angle enough when players are coming in down the wing even if they’re by themselves and gave them a lot of net to look at. (Beskorowany stopped 44 of 48 shots)