Jason Guerriero knows a thing or two about a good chirp.
The 5-foot-8 center tossed around comments with much bigger players in his playing days, backing it up with a strong career at Northeastern from 2001-05 before embarking on a pro journey that saw him skate in the American Hockey League and overseas.
Recently, the Northeastern assistant coach was the head coach for the New England District at USA Hockey Select 17 Camp in Amherst, N.Y. When he was roaming the cafeteria early in the tournament, he overheard a player from another district throw a chirp toward one of his own players, asking, “What even is the New England district?”
“The kids knew each other but they were chirping each other,” Guerriero said. “But there’s truth in every joke so the kids took pride in their district immediately.”
The New England District, which includes players from every state in New England except for Massachusetts, went on to win the Select 17 camp, taking down the Pacific District, 6-5, in overtime of the championship game.
“It’s huge for New England hockey,” Guerriero said of the win. “It sets the bar for the 16s that are coming up to 17s next year that if they continue to do it this way where now they’re looking at tryouts going ‘wow, the competition must’ve been really good’ and the 17s won it so there’s high expectations now.”
One standout from the district was Kolin Sisson (Lincoln, R.I.). The 5-foot-7, 151-pound right wing scored the most goals in the camp (six) and was tied for second in the tournament in points (nine).
“He just seemed to get better the entire camp,” Guerriero said. “He always seemed to be around the puck and when he was around it, he seemed to make an impact on his shift.”
Sisson stood out with his speed, shiftiness and skill. With the puck on his stick, it felt like something good for the New England District was always going to happen. His offensive prowess made his line of him, Niko Tournas (Redding, Conn.) and Kole Hyles (Exeter, N.H.) lethal.
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Sisson, a Mount Saint Charles and South Kent product, has significant interest from Division 1 schools. That was only heightened by his strong showing at Select 17 Camp. Sisson’s strong play also landed him a spot at Hlinka Gretzky Cup Camp in late July.
An area of improvement for Sisson will be his play away from the puck. Guerriero and his staff talked with Sisson throughout the tournament about taking pride in making small plays away from the puck that can impact a shift.
“He’s such a talented player that he needs to learn a little bit more away from the puck,” Guerriero said. “But from the beginning of the camp to the end of the camp, there was so much room for growth with Kolin and I was super excited to see that in a short amount of time.
“He was arguably our best player the entire camp up front.”
The other candidate for the best player up front was Tournas. The University of New Hampshire commit finished the tournament tied with Sissons in points with nine.
Tournas and Sissons worked well in tandem. While Sissons was the smaller of the two, Tournas at 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds provided the size on the opposite wing. He created space and fought hard to get to interior ice.
“He’s another guy that’s just scratching the surface as a hockey player,” Guerriero said. “I think he’s going to be a terrific college hockey player.”
Another area in which Tournas and Sissons thrived was leadership. In the introductory Zoom call before the team went to Amherst, N.Y., players were jokingly chirping one another and Tournas was a big part of that.
“What everybody saw was he can score and he put up some good points,” Guerriero said of Tournas. “But he’s also a great locker room guy and kept the locker room alive and kept the guys positive.”
The great play didn’t stop with Sisson and Tournas. Leading the charge on defense was Elliott Groenewold (Bellows Falls, Vt.) — a Quinnipiac commit.
“He’s just a pure athlete,” Guerriero said. “He is a bonafide athlete. He feels like he can pick up any sport and play it.”
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At 6-foot-1, 200 pounds, Groenewold showed off his two-way abilities throughout the tournament. In his own zone, his size and speed helped him break up plays. In the offensive zone, he was able to contribute with strong puck-moving abilities.
“Every game, you seemed to notice him in a positive way,” Guerriero said. “He didn’t overcomplicate the game. For a defenseman, they make a lot of money in the NHL just by having a good stick, not getting beat one-on-one and making a good first pass and having good gaps and guys make a lot of money just doing that. I think he knows his identity as a player and it showed this weekend again.”
One of the big benefits of the Select 17 Camp is giving NHL scouts their first look at players who will be eligible for the next year’s draft. Sisson’s birthday is Sept. 30, so he won’t be NHL Draft-eligible until 2025. But Tournas and Groenewold will be able to be picked by teams in next June’s draft.
With Tournas, this season will be big in determining if he’s ready for a team to pick him. Groenewold, however, already has lots of the tools that NHL teams look for in defensive prospects.
“I think Elliott has a strong chance [of being drafted],” Guerriero said. “Just because he plays the right way for a defenseman.”
When talking about Groenewold, Guerriero compared him to Hunter McDonald — one of Northeastern’s most steady and reliable defensemen. As a freshman this season, McDonald won Hockey East Best Defensive Defenseman and was taken in the sixth round by the Philadelphia Flyers in 2022.
“I think that Elliott has a little bit of that,” Guerriero said when comparing the two. “I’m not saying he’s Hunter by any means, but if he can do that, I think it gives him a really good chance of getting drafted.”
The 2024 NHL Draft is just under 12 months away. What will come sooner is Hlinka Gretzky Cup Camp, which Tournas and Groenewold will join Sissons.
Guerriero’s squad was also fortunate to receive really strong goaltending, especially from Zach Ericson. The Seacoast Performance Academy netminder ranked first among 24 goalies in save percentage (.927) and seventh in goals-against average (2.60).
“We had a good team, but our goaltending definitely played extremely well,” Guerriero said. “That gave us a chance to win those hockey games and in the end, hats off to Zach and he’s come along. It’ll be interesting to see his development this year too and where he ends up in the future.”
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Ericson regularly gave the New England District a strong half of play in every game, splitting time with Hotckiss netminder Connor Towle (Fairfield, Conn.).
Their play, along with the players in front of them, gave New England something to be proud of.
“I give credit to the players,” Guerriero said. “They bought in from Day 1. And they followed a little bit of structure and system that we put in place and then they played and they nailed it.”
