You would be hard-pressed to find a high school senior who did not feel deprived of some of the best times of their lives last spring. The coronavirus and the ensuing lockdown robbed them of proms, senior trips, graduations and all the accompanying fun associated with a last year of high school.
For Sam Colangelo, it was particularly tough. The Stoneham native, now a freshman at Northeastern, was not only playing on the juggernaut Chicago Steel in the United States Hockey League — a favorite for the Clark Cup championship — but he was a few months away from what has been a rite of passage for elite 18-year-old hockey players like himself: the NHL draft.
Well, you know what happened. In the second week of March, the rest of the USHL season and playoffs were scrapped. Soon, the draft soiree, where the entire National Hockey League front offices and scouting staffs usually come together (scheduled this year for Montreal in June), was canceled as well.
While Colangelo will never get some of those moments back, at least part of the former Lawrence Academy star’s deferred dream likely comes true by Oct. 7, possibly as early Oct. 6. That’s when the NHL will finally hold its virtual two-day draft event. The league’s central scout bureau had the right wing ranked 31st among North American skaters, while several talent evaluators had him pegged to go anywhere between 25 and 35.
Wherever he goes, it will be a nice reward. But the shutdown last March was a gut punch.
“Obviously it was pretty devastating,” Colangelo said recently. “We were having a great year in Chicago and on pace to set a few records. I think we had the team to do it and make a good run at it. It was my draft year, but I tried not to think too much about that during the year. I just wanted to be with my teammates and enjoy my last year of juniors. When it all started happening, with the NBA canceling the night before and we were getting the idea we were going to get sent home, obviously I wanted to finish out the season and go through the playoffs. We all did. But we knew it was best that we probably didn’t. After that, I just wanted to take it one day at a time. Even when I was at home quarantining, I was trying to find ways to get better during such hard times.”
Colangelo possesses the combination over which GMs drool – size and skill. One Western Conference scout likened his skill set to that of Vegas’ Alex Tuch. Another comparable, from central scouting’s Greg Rajanen in a recent NHL.com story, was the Flyers’ James van Riemsdyk.
Now listed as 6-foot-2, 208 pounds, Colangelo was Lawrence Academy’s team MVP his junior year before moving on to play one full season with the Steel, where he played with the likes of possible first rounder Brendan Brisson as well as good friend and fellow Huskie freshman Gunnarwolfe Fontaine.
As a junior at Lawrence Academy, he had 19-29-46 totals in 29 games but, despite the competition upgrade in going to the USHL, Colangelo did not experience much dropoff at all, posting 28-30-58 totals in 44 games.
He credited the seamless transition to the fact that he had the opportunity to play 13 games with the Steel the previous spring. By the time September rolled around, he was neither nervous nor wide-eyed.
“That was huge for me, just getting accustomed to living away from home,” said Colangelo. “I was away from home for three years at prep school but it’s a lot different when you’re halfway across the country with a billet family. But I got used to it that first year and I hit the ground running. It still took a little more time my second year, it’s much faster and tougher, but I was prepared for that and knew that going in.”
Steel general manager Ryan Hardy, a former Bruins’ amateur scout, said when Colangelo arrived for training camp in September 2019, he was “comfortable in his own skin” and was able to grow as a leader on a loaded team. Also, the physical maturation process was well underway in Chicago.
“A lot of people looked at his numbers of 6-2, 205 pounds and think he’s probably a man. But he’s not yet a man. He’s a boy. He had some baby fat on him. And in that, he’s made a lot great strides on his body, which has helped him get more explosive,” said Hardy. “So I think his skating was probably the biggest area of growth and that’s an area that he’ll continue to work. His playmaking ability really improved. He had a reputation coming in as more of a pure goal-scorer and I think that he did a really nice job showing that he had more to give than just scoring goals. He can make plays and do a lot of different things. And then just the shift-to-shift consistency and his details away from the puck that will help him at Northeastern and beyond were areas of growth.”
While some may look at his size and think “power forward,” that is not really his game, Colangelo readily admits. Skill is the attribute that stands out the most right now.
But Northeastern coach Jim Madigan, who has watched Colangelo’s development for a long time – Colangelo made his first campus visit at the age of 13 (he didn’t even know where he was going to high school yet) and committed to NU at 15 – believes his size will play an important role in his game, even if he may not be the next Cam Neely.
“He’s got skill, he’s got hockey sense. He sees the ice really well,” said Madigan. “What he’s going to develop is the down-low game and that comes with playing at higher levels. He started to do that this past year in the USHL, developing a down-low game, protecting pucks, using his body to shield the puck, controlling pucks down low and buying yourself some time. So that down-low game, being strong along the walls, which he made some inroads in, he’s going to continue to build that. Not everyone’s born with a (6-foot-2) body. You’ve got the skills and the sense, now that size can give you more room on the ice and use it more effectively. That will come with time.”
Once he was sent home in March, Colangelo did whatever he could to stay in shape in the hopes that the season would resume, though that never happened. He worked with the pull-up bar he’d had in his old bedroom since he was 7 or 8. He also worked out with a couple of sets of dumb bells and used a nearby track to get his running in. And in helping out at his parents Mark and Karen’s restaurant, Local 436 Grille and Sport, he also got a little creative.
“I was using boxes of meat for farmer’s carries. It was pretty funny to see if anyone was watching,” said Colangelo.
When the lockdown became less restrictive, Colangelo was able to skate as much as he usually does in the offseason. His main focus was his initial burst.
“My speed is actually pretty good now and if I can just get to that top speed faster it will be beneficial for me,” said Colangelo.
He said he’s met – virtually, of course – with 28 or 29 teams, including the Bruins several times. Having traded away their first-round pick on the Ondrej Kase deal, they would most likely have to trade up to get Colangelo but, in this unprecedented offseason, it’s anyone’s guess what will happen.
“I’ve had multiple conversations with the Bruins and they’ve all gone well and that would obviously be a dream come true, but that would be true for any team in the National Hockey League. It’s going to be an honor,” said Colangelo.
When he hears his name called is still a guess, too, but indications are that he won’t have to wait long. If he doesn’t get chosen in the first round on Oct. 6, then he’ll go quickly on Oct. 7. He’s confident in his abilities and he hopes NHL teams are as well.
“If I’m being honest, I think I’m going in the first round and I think that’s where I should be,” said Colangelo. “But obviously, it’s a once in a lifetime experience and if I don’t go in the first round, I’ll try not to get down on myself and just try and enjoy the moment. It’s going to be one of the best days of my life if not the best day, for sure, so I don’t really want to have too high expectations. I kind of had idea of where I might go and that’s between 18 and 35. But whatever happens, happens and it’s out of my control.”
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Stoneham’s Sam Colangelo ready for NHL draft - Boston Herald
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