Predictions: Who will move on from Mass. Hockey Festival Final 40?

ROCKLAND, Mass. — The 2023 Mass. Hockey Festival has come to a close after two straight, action-packed weekends.

The first weekend featured roughly 80 players in each of the 2006, 2007 and 2008 birth years. The raters widdled the crew from 80 to 40 for the second weekend, played at Lovell Arena.

So, what now?

Players will be selected from each birth year to participate in USA Hockey's Select 15, 16 or 17 Camp during the summer in Amherst, N.Y. I made my picks based on the numbers for each birth year, which are as follows:

• 2006: Nine forwards, five defensemen and one goalie
• 2007: Seven forwards, four defensemen and one goalie
• 2008: 10 forwards, five defensemen and two goalies

While I don't decide who goes, I thought it'd be a fun exercise to make my own selections to send to camp. The official picks are slated to come out early this week. When they're live, we'll have them here.

Let's dive in.

2006s

Forwards: 

• Gavin Cornforth
• JJ Monteiro
• Teddy MacAusland
• Jack Sadowski
• Callum Hughes
• Nate Porter
• James Marshall
• Laz Giardina
• Joshua Itri

Defensemen: 

• Kiernan Poulin
• Dylan Hunt
• Owen Keefe
• Joseph Mense
• Nathan Walsh

Goalies: 

• Cole Pouliot-Porter

Rationale: Up front, the last two picks were especially tough because I felt Dennis Davidson, Derek Rhodes, Will Doherty and Jackson Delleo had legitimate cases. Giardina and Itri both had excellent performances at the Festival, so I went with them. The first four picks on defense were clear to me. Walsh showed well and will be impactful for St. George's next season. It's hard to judge goalies off events like this. Leaving Sam Caulfield, Evan Zhang and Keagin Wilson off was hard considering all three are encouraging, young netminders. But Pouliot-Porter was on a different level over the past two weekends and continues to rapidly raise his profile.

SUMMER HOCKEY: Check out the rosters for the 2023 Foxboro Summer Prep League 

2007s

Forwards: 

• Cam Caron
• Michael Munroe
• CJ Watroba
• Dylan Krayer
• Rian Chudzinski
• Jack McDonough
• Joe Marchi

Defensemen: 

• Shayne Gould
• Tyler Russo
• Evan Jones
• Nick Evans

Goalies: 

• Anthony Palmer

Rationale: Being limited to seven forwards was extremely difficult. I was really impressed with Chudzinski and Marchi, so they made it onto my team. The tough omissions up front were Billy MacAusland, Tommy Anderson, Liam Gore and Jack Fitzpatrick. The top four defensemen in this birth year were clear, so I wasn't feeling the heat in picking them. Palmer impressed me a lot over the two weekends, so he got the lone spot.

2008s

Forwards: 

• David Bosco
• Spencer Thornborough
• Benjamin Short
• Stephen Rousell
• Casey Mutryn
• Noah Survilas
• Matthew Krayer
• Ty Hymovitz
• William Bent
• John Paul Messuri

Defensemen: 

• Kristofer Soja
• Gavin Callahan
• Brady Sloper
• Nolan Nassar
• Thomas Broderick

Goalies: 

• Parker Stockseth
• Thomas Saulnier

SELECTIONS: Check out the full list of players who made it to USA Hockey Select Camps

Rationale: I had 10 spots to play with at forward and it was still a difficult call. The last slot for forwards was especially tough. Other candidates were Andrew Giguere, Owen McHale and Miles Mireault. But Messuri was outstanding over the past two weekends, so he got my 10th seat at the table. Tough decisions continued into the defensive unit. If I had a sixth selection, it would've been William Howard. It was tough to pick two goalies from the 2008s just because, as I wrote earlier, this event really isn't prime for goaltenders to find success — especially when it's their first time. But, in my opinion,  Stockseth and Saulnier earned spots.