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Prospect update: Nico Sacchetti Wednesday, November 07, 2007 By Kevin Wey Dallas Stars 2007 second-round pick Nico Sacchetti, the team’s first pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, was known for his play with the puck in Minnesota high school hockey, but he’s actively undergoing a change to his game and his life in the USHL. Sacchetti recently told McKeen’s Hockey in an interview that he was working on his defensive game and his play without the puck, because it’s harder to hold on to the puck the higher up you go, and holding on to the puck was what Sacchetti said his game was based around in high school. It was evident at the USHL Fall Classic in late September, as Sacchetti was able to calmly hold on to the puck for long periods of time and create plays doing so. Sacchetti improving his play away from the puck is not because he can’t still hold on to it for a while in the USHL, he proved he could at the Fall Classic, it’s in anticipation of what is to come as the USHL season progresses and further into college hockey and later professional hockey. “When [Sacchetti] has it on his stick, I’m not going to teach him a tremendous amount,” Omaha Lancers Head Coach Mike Hastings said in an interview regarding Sacchetti and other Lancers prospect after their Oct. 28 game against the Indiana Ice. “The best thing I can probably do is stay out of the way.” So, while Sacchetti is already an adroit offensive player, Hastings did identify a flaw in Sacchetti’s game early on that could hurt him down the road. “When the puck’s on his stick, he’s skating at a different pace than when he doesn’t have it, and I think that’s what he’s been doing since the time that he started, because he could keep it,” Hastings said, noting Sacchetti tended to skate faster with the puck than without. “At this level, they try to make sure that if you want to keep it you have to go through people.” Sacchetti’s move to the USHL is a sign that he’s serious about becoming a professional hockey player, because, as Hastings noted, Sacchetti could have stayed in Minnesota high school and taken the path of least resistance. “He could have stayed and been very comfortable and been class valedictorian and he would have been fine and he would have walked into Minnesota, but he left,” Hastings noted Sacchetti’s active decision regarding his development. Sacchetti is no longer playing primarily on weekends, with most of his travel being within the Iron Range Conference and Section 7A with Virginia-Mountain Iron Buhl. Now, he’s taking the bus to Kearney, Neb., for a game against the Tri-City Storm, getting back on to the bus after the game and arriving in Des Moines at 3:00 in the morning, waking up to take his ACTs that day, playing the Buccaneers that night, returning to Omaha at 2:00 in the morning for a 5:05 start against the Indiana Ice the next day at the Mid-America Center (The MAC), and talking to a McKeen’s correspondent after the game. The 18-year-old is also finishing up his senior year of high school, but not as a transfer student to an Omaha-area high school, but instead finishing his school through online correspondence with his old high school. Between having assignments due but no classroom to go to and no teachers to see every day, and playing hockey for the Lancers, Sacchetti has had to be extremely self-disciplined. So far, the results are encouraging, but that’s not a big surprise, given Sacchetti’s nature. “The thing I like about him is he’s an analytical kid,” Hastings said of Sacchetti. “He’s hard on himself, but not too hard. “He’s mature enough about the idea of just trying to figure out ways to get better and he’s willing to do those things, too.” For Sacchetti, that’s meant working on his defensive game, utilizing his considerable shot more often, not reducing his own angle by skating in too close to the goaltender, and honing the other aspects of his game. To end October, Sacchetti had three goals and three assists in eight games. The Lancers have a lot of depth and experience at forward and don’t need Sacchetti to carry the whole load, just to be a valuable cog in Omaha’s balanced attack. Sacchetti went without a point in Omaha’s two games the first weekend of November, and will be away from the team for a week while he represents American junior A hockey and his country at the World Junior A Challenge, where he’ll be representing Team USA. Team USA begins play in Group B on Tuesday, November 6 against Belarus and also plays Nov. 7 against Canada East. Group A is comprised of Canada West, Russia, and Germany. The gold medal game will be played on Sunday, November 11, which Sacchetti and Team USA will hope to be a part of. After that, it’s back to the grind of the 60-game USHL regular season and then the Clark Cup Playoffs. Kevin Wey is a contributor to McKeen's Hockey, which provides prospects and draft coverage. Prospects Statistical update Here's a statistical update on Dallas Stars prospects playing junior hockey in Canada and the U.S., and those playing in college and Europe.
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