Thursday, October 16, 2008

Jack Campbell Commits to Michigan!

Add the best goalie in the class of 2010 to a class that arguably already contains the best forward (Luke Moffatt) and the best defenseman (Jon Merrill). USA Under 17 goalie Jack Campbell has committed to the Wolverines for the 2010-11 season. According to Bob Miller, he's been the top goaltending target of Michigan for 2+ years. They really wanted this kid, so it's huge that we were able to land him. He's currently listed as 6'1" 165.

That means that next year, Michigan will more than likely go with Hogan as the starter and Shawn Hunwick as the backup.

USAHockey had a feature story about Campbell a couple of weeks ago. His goalie coach is ex-Wolverine assistant Stan Matwijiw, who has also coached Chris Osgood and Bryan Hogan. Matwijiw praised Campbell as being the hardest-working kid he has ever coached and said that he's a technically-sound, very athletic kid.

As of a couple weeks ago, Minnesota and Notre Dame were also high on his list.

His numbers aren't pretty this year so far--he's 1-2-0 with a 3.34 goals against and a .825 save percentage--but it's early. He put up great numbers for several years in the MWEHL.

Last season, his Detroit Honeybaked team lost the 18-Under Tier 1 Championship to Belle Tire, but Campbell was named Tournament MVP anyway.

Here's an old profile of him (JPEG).

He was a 6th round pick of the Windsor Spitfires in the OHL Draft. He was the highest-rated goalie in the OHL Draft, but fell due to his commitment to the NTDP (and I assume his desire to go the college route).

He joins Mac Bennett, Moffatt, Merrill, and Jacob Fallon in the NASTY NASTY NASTY incoming class of 2010.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

So for next year, do they take a kid off the club team for the third goalie or are their walk on goalies behind Hunwick that we never see? I was 2nd team all county senior year and may be willing to help the team if need be.

Anonymous said...

that will be a nice class of freshman in 2010!!!!
Merrill
Moffatt
cambell
Fallon
Bennet
Go Blue

Anonymous said...

It looks like a great group of players. How many of them will be around in 2011-12?

Packer487 said...

@Anon#1) I'm not entirely sure. I think in the past they've pulled kids off the club team. Someone might know better than me, but I'm pretty sure that's where Spurlock came from. The only rub is that it would likely just be for one season, and I don't *think* you can go back to playing club once you've played a varsity sport. Could be wrong though. Then again, it'd probably be worth it to have a year on the Michigan varsity hockey team (and to get the requisite tail).

@Anon#3) Umm....good question! I'd imagine that Merrill will be a very high pick in the NHL Draft. I haven't seen any of the 5 play, but I'd say he's probably the best bet to be a one-and-done from what I've read.