Forde came up with a number of ground balls on face-offs throughout the day. He was the leader on the defense with his talk and off-ball play. The few players that tried to take him one-on-one had no luck. His 6-0, 200-pound frame makes him an imposing player.

Summer highlights

Kolwich was all over the field. He was creating turnovers and showed the ability to get the ball off of the ground and get it up the field fast. When he did handle the ball he made smart decisions with it. He had great recovery in the rare case that an attackman got a step on him. He also looked comfortable up top when the man he was guarding pulled him up top. At 6-4, his long strides make it hard to get a step on him and allow him the ability to get the ball up the field fast.

Summer highlights

Hebert was the best goalie I saw this day. Despite being small at only 5-10, 153 lbs. he made huge stops all day. In his first game he made a whopping eight one-on-one saves, five in the first half alone. In his second game I counted 12 saves in the first half. He never stopped communicating with his defense even when the ball was on the offensive end. He had a great stick when handling the ball on the clear and that was evidenced by the time he cleared the ball all the way up the field and picked up an assist.

Summer highlights

Balawejer has great feet for a big defenseman. At 6-0 and 220 lbs., there weren’t too many attackmen who could match up with his size. He beat his attackman up with hard checks and tough pushes when they drove on him. He came up with a few groundballs and cleared the ball well. When he was clearing he was good at moving the ball and finding the open midfielder on the clear though some of the passes seemed to catch the midfielders off guard.

Fall highlights
Summer highlights

Cornell is getting a nice player in Donville. The 6-1 and 170-pound midfielder was fast and used his big body to find the open man off of his dodge. Had a few very nice assists a few other looks that players couldn’t capitalize on. The righty looked very comfortable on the field and looked like an American field player more than most. He also took a handful of face-offs and won more than he lost. In the second half he played some attack and looked good there also. He is the brother of current Big Red goalie Brennan Donville, who was on the Canadian national roster this summer at the FIL World Lacrosse Championships.

Summer highlights

Haigh is very small goalie at 5-3 and 135 lbs. that made a few nice stops. What was most impressive about his game was when he had the ball in his stick. He had a few very long outlet passes that were on the money and he wasn’t shy about carrying the ball up.

See a clip from fall ball - Gareth with 3/4 field pass to brother Ryan for a goal
Clip #2 - amazing goalie clear - Gareth Haigh

A big goalie that was making saves all day. When he wasn’t making saves he was picking passes off. In his team’s first game he had nine saves by my count, a number of which were from point blank range. In a later game he had six saves in the first half (unofficially). He was unbeatable down low and smothered up everything that was shot below his knees. He made good decisions when clearing the ball finding his breaking midfielders or using his defenseman if the fast break was not there.

Cormier is a smart lefty attackman that handles the ball well. He throws a lot of box fakes that are effective and freeze his defenseman just enough to get a feed off. He took his man one on one a number of times and was able to get off high percentage shots. On one play he was able to finish off a nice fastbreak with a goal.

Szabo is a bit small at 5-7 and 145 lbs., but he has the speed and toughness to make it work. He was all over the field taking face-offs, playing the wing, on offense and on defense. He won the majority of the face-offs he took. The lefty looked comfortable scooping the ball with his off hand and moving the ball without having to come back to his strong hand. At times Szabo would also set up his strong hand with his right and sold it enough to be able to create a shot or find an open man. I also liked the way he moved without the ball, finding seams and open areas to receive the ball.

Inacio dominated the face-off X. In the game against PB Revolution he never seemed challenged. In the second game against Elev8 Black 2017/18 he was just as skilled, winning a majority of the face-offs he took. The sophomore showed the talent to move the ball up field and be the conduit in which the Hill Academy offense runs.

Summer highlights

A good defender with quick feet who keeps attackmen in front of him. Iacocca was a solid two-way midfielder who started the offense and made crisp passes and showed good field IQ.

Summer hightlight video

Walcot brought to mind the image of a bull in a china shop. The sophomore is big and strong and like a basketball power forward he was able to back his defender to the goal to get himself a shot. Walcot showed talent moving to his left and good vision to find the open man.

Summer highlights

Cormack has offensive skill. He showcased a good dodge and fake to help open the passing lane on several occasions and was able to maneuver the offense and hit the open teammate for a good shot on goal.

Cormack continued his offensive showcase from Saturday. He scored several goals against Resolute and showed the ability to get open and make the dodge toward the goal to get the shot.

Gaunt was a machine on defense. He did not rattle in traffic and was able to get the ground ball. Unafraid to transition into offense, Gaunt pushed the ball up field and showed good field awareness with several nice passes.

This was Edge’s go-to-guy on offense. His teammates were constantly looking for him and it is understandable. Pipher showed the strength to muscle his defender to the net or use a burst of speed to get around him. Either way, it was a goal.

Donville was impressive this last summer, and he looks like he’s taken his game up a notch in the last few months. Projected to be a very high selection in the OLA entry draft, Donville is playing with confidence and a smart, tough breed of lacrosse. He was the key offensive initiator for the Edge on Saturday, but as we Tweeted about through the weekend, it’s a passing clinic with Donville, who moves the ball incredibly well. He puts his passes on a rope, quite deliberately. He utilizes a subtle shoulder fake (something he picked up from watching John Grant Jr.’s play, according to his father) that allows him to keep his defender on his toes and guessing about what he’s about to do. Donville is a very strong face-off man, winning a large percentage of them for Edge throughout the day. When it was a 50-50 battle, Donville displayed his workmanlike ways, scrapping hard and showing the smarts and toughness to box out his man and get the ball up and out. Donville was one of the most impressive players of the weekend.

A talented right-handed shooter and finisher, Conlon looks like a smaller Canadian attackman, but he’s got big game and is a terrific 2017 prospect. Playing at Trinity Pawling in New York’s Hudson Valley, Conlon’s game should elevate quickly. He’s got a valuable set of hands, able to catch and redirect it or shoot quickly. He has a beautiful stroke and release on his shots, which he displayed with a perfect sidearm shot to the top right corner from out on the wing in transition. Conlon was productive in the couple games of the Edge I watched, scoring at least twice in one and both scoring and assisting on goals in the other. He’s money near the net and is more than a finisher with his quickness and his excellent field sense. He moved the ball very well and was a key offensive player for Edge as a lot seemed to go through him or end with him.

Highlight video

Balawejder is such an intriguing prospect because he combines size, power and decent speed. Balawejder is about 5-10, 220 lbs. and is an anvil out there. It’s very tough to get by him as he utilizes a low center of gravity, hard but effective stick checks and pure hustle. Watching him against both Ottawa and 3d Select Colorado, he was able to overwhelm the ball carrier with smothering one-on-one defense and out-muscled players on groundballs. He’s full-steam ahead in all that he does on the field. He overpowers opponents when battling for loose balls, scoops up the ball quickly and is dangerous in transition because he makes good decisions with the ball. He showed why on Sunday, he caused a turnover, sprinted up the field and sent the ball down low to Aidan Conlon for a fastbreak goal. He threaded a long-range clearing pass perfectly into the stick of a cutting teammate. There aren’t too many players who are going to back him down with his tree-trunk build. But, again, his athleticism allows him to be more than just a lockdown defender. He has an active stick that makes him that much more of a threat to ball carriers and in the middie of the defense.

Projected to be one of the next great goalies to come out of Canada, Hebert was a wall for Edge in the time I observed him. He locates the ball early in the release and sees it into his net very smoothly and calmly. He plays a lot of lacrosse and it shows. A few of the opportunities that Ottawa generated against him were quality looks, and he simply ate up the shots. His collected demeanor and shot-stopping abilities were clearly frustrating for the opposition. He had another outstanding outing against 3d Select Colorado in a 7-2 win. It was impressive that Edge allowed only two goals in each of its three games, and much credit should go to Hebert for his play in the cage.

Kolwich is strong enough in all the relevant categories to make him arguably the most attractive Canadian defensive prospect in the 2017 class. He’s tall at 6-4, about 190 pounds, has great reach with long arms and legs, moves enough to appear nimble, uses his stick effectively by getting on hands and not committing to one direction more than another. He’s usually the first to a ground ball and just floats up the field. He came up with lots of groundballs to help keep Edge on offense, and he helped make scoring a daunting task. As mentioned already, his team allowed only two goals in each of three games. Kolwich typically started out on the opposition’s top attackman and showed the ability to stay with all of them, showing strong positioning, great range with his stick up in the passing lanes and all over his man. He’s a bright kid and it shows on the turf as he helps lead an excellent overall defense. A lesser-known name prior to this summer, at the moment he is one of the hottest Canadian recruits.

With flashy stick work, Limoges had some sick plays throughout Sunday, also making his presence felt in the riding game. Saw him put in some impressive goals with his undermove, catching everything that was thrown his way while also racking up a handful of assists to cutting teammates. Tough player who was as consistent as anybody else on the team.

Really enjoyed watching Donville, who is an athlete who sees the field incredibly well and makes plays with his hustle and lacrosse IQ. The 6-foot-1, 170-pound Cornell-bound Canuck is a crafty, creative player with a remarkable understanding of the game and how to produce points. He made a series of great plays throughout the day and in the championship, where he had a controversial dive goal.

Standing out right away with his noticeable shoulder-length blonde hair, Boudreau made some terrific plays getting to the goal up top. He often scored off of the give-and-go and just always had his feet moving toward the goal, working well with teammates and making heads-up plays that caught college coaches’ attention. Excellent hands and impressive athleticism.

Mac Forde ’16, D, Edge / T.A. Blakelock (Ont.)
Cole Robillard ’16, M, Edge / Assumption (Ont.)
Kyle Hebert ’17, G, Edge / St. Michael’s (Ont.)
Kyle Kolwich ’17, LSM, Edge / Holy Trinity (Ont.)
Brody McLean ’17, A, Edge / Holy Trinity (Ont.)
Mason Kamminga, D, Edge / St. Catharines (Ont.)
Devin Pipher ’18, A, Edge / Oshawa (Ont.)
Lucas Snider ’18, A, Edge / Waterloo (Ont.)