Chris Heisenberg is reporting that USHL Tri-Cities Storm forward Sean Wiles has committed to UAA for the 07-08 season. Sean is 6'3" and 200lbs and turned 20 on June 15th. In 55 games this past season Sean recorded 19 points (12g-7a). He was among the 15 finalists for Wisconsin's 2005 Mr. Hockey award as the states best hockey player.The NHL's CSS also had him on their 06 "players to watch" list as a "B" player. He received Tri-Cities Most Improved Player award at the end of the 05-06 season. His addition brings the total number of fowards on the 07-08 UAA roster to 15. This creates a healthy competitive atmosphere for playing time which should make every player on the squad work hard.
The Beloit Daily News had this great article about Sean's commitment with lots of comments and quotes. He sounds excited about coming here and pretty self confident. His high school coach Brice Gustafson said:
“Sean has that great size, lots of talent and he just doesn't take no for an answer..."Chris at WCH attended Tri-Cities Camp back on June 5th and his only comment about Wiles was:“I was worried because it was getting kind of late to get an offer, (Alaska-Anchorage) had contacted me about three months ago. I guess his skill, work ethic and experience finally sold them on Sean.”
"Black's team had three overage players on it in Sean Wiles and two Omaha recruits: Alex Hudson and Jordan Willert. All three weren't necessarily the slickest players, but they had a big advantage in terms of maturity and strength and were probably the best players for Black."
3 comments:
Definitely not someone I was overly impressed with over the course of his USHL career. He has excellent size, but doesn't seem to have much for offensive talent. Maybe he will thrive in a new situation.
Regardless, it's always good to see kids moving on to D-I schools.
ryan:
I tend to agree in terms that he doesn't have any impressive stats. Role players (size and strength in his case) are important for D-1 teams as well. Perhaps that is all he may bring to the ice but it is possible for him to (as you say) thrive here.
In any case, I think UAA's forwards should all keep a mental note to work hard lest they lose playing time to someone that is working hard. In those terms he is probably a good recruit.
I'm still waiting to hear about another GOALIE!
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