03/25/2007

Weber could change view of prep hockey

By James Cook
Staff writer
jcook@
record-eagle.com

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For too long, high school hockey has been viewed as the place where second-tier players play.

The so-called best players leave after a year or two to go to Midget AAA, where they seek the eye of scouts.

Will Weber is helping change that notion.

A state Dream Team selection, the Gaylord defenseman chose to stay at home and graduate with his classmates.

By doing so, Weber may have made as big an impact on high school hockey as any other player in the state.

The 6-foot-4 blueliner proved that high school players can still draw the scouts' eyes, with NHL teams regularly in attendance at Blue Devils' games late in the season.

"When we played Sault Ste. Marie in the playoffs and the scouts were there,” Gaylord coach Bill Touroo said, "the Soo coach came up to me and said it was one of the best things that happened to them all season.”

Even though he has a deft scoring touch, what has drawn the NHL's attention to Weber is his skating ability. "(The scouts) told me they have trouble finding that in people that large,” Touroo said.

He was the Blue Devils' second-leading goal scorer this season with 18 — as a defenseman.

With a hard shot, good skating ability and a sound head on his shoulders — he was academic all-state — Weber has colleges and the NHL alike drooling.

The Columbus Blue Jackets had scouts at Gaylord's final six games of the season. The Detroit Red Wings, Ottawa Senators, Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers are among at least eight teams who have had scouts come to Gaylord games this season.

"It's an unusual thing — and a very good thing for us and high school hockey in general,” Touroo said. "It says something about Will as a person that he wanted to stay. It does great justice to high school hockey.”

NHL scouts have even indicated to Weber that he may be drafted this year.

"That's insane,” Weber said. "But that's what they keep telling me.”

If Weber is a success at the next level, it will be even more of a boon to prep hockey.

Weber has his pick of colleges to play for, likely playing a year of Junior hockey before going to college. He has been offered full-ride scholarships by every CCHA team, narrowing his choices down to Michigan State and Miami (Ohio), where he had dinner with the school president during a visit.

Weber — in Chicago this weekend for a Team Michigan tryout — has shattered nearly every record for defensemen at Gaylord.

But hopefully, he will change more than just the Blue Devils' record books.