UMass vs Maine University Weekend Series 3/9

Watching Lucas Mercuri, Scott Morrow and Bradly Nadeau

I didn’t think that I’d be spending my spring break doing some scouting of prospects in Maine but, nevertheless, that was me! Over the weekend, I got to watch two great games between these programs and each prospect had solid games.

Lucas Mercuri

The prospect that I had admittedly not watch a ton of, Mercuri impressed me in a few ways. The biggest factor that jumps out is his size and how he uses it. Mercuri is 6 foot 3 and every bit of 220 pounds and he knows that. Any time that he would get into a board battle, he would win that battle 90% of the time. He was extremely physical, knocking many Maine players on their keister during those games. Mercuri also understands his role, which is use that frame to post up in front of the goalie, as well as crash the net which is how he got his goal. His linemate was behind the net and he won the box out in front and just tapped the puck home. His skating can be a little suspect at times and his faceoffs were 50/50 on the weekend (went 3/16 on Friday and 9/14 on Saturday) but I see an NHL player in there. Mercuri’s play style is about as NHL 4th line center grinder as I have seen, so there is a chance he could see NHL games down the line.

Scott Morrow

It was a weird weekend for Morrow, who didn’t play bad by any means but had external circumstances that led to unfortunate mistakes. The first game was his better one, having 5 shots and overall playing a great game on both ends of the ice. The second game wasn’t bad, but as he was trying to complete a pass, a teammate skated in front of him which gave the puck straight to a Maine player who tucked it home. This ended up being the game winning goal, which was about as unfortunate as you can get. I had talked to UMass PxP commentator Nathan Strauss before the game about Morrow and he had mentioned that he had gotten a lot more physical, which had led to his defensive game getting better. This was evident during the weekend, as his defensive game was at the best that I had seen so far in his college career. As for his offensive game, it is still very, very good. There was so many instances of Morrow effortlessly completing breakout passes, leading the rush on his own and generating opportunities due to his skating. Morrow’s game is basically NHL ready and depending on how UMass plays over the coming weeks, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him sign after the season is over.

Bradly Nadeau

What a weekend it was for Nadeau, ending the two game sweep with a goal in the first game and a primary assist in the second game. Going into the game, I knew the shot was already good but seeing it in person was a whole new experience. The speed at which the puck explodes off his stick is something that I haven’t seen on a college player in a while and his playmaking was a lot more advanced than I previously thought. His passing lead to his brother, Josh, (who the Canes should totally sign, by the way) having a wide open goal and his shot was lethal enough to fly past the goalie in the first game. Weirdly enough both goals were basically the same, just on different nights. After the second game, thanks in large part to Bradly’s dad and his advisor, Phil Reid, I got to ask Bradly about his transition from the BCHL to the college game. Bradly said that the biggest factor was getting to Maine early to get summer workouts in, which I can tell have paid off.