Login

Donini13 · 04-02-2015, 02:43 PM

Montreal, Canada
December 27, 2009
It's December, the middle of Christmas break. The roads are icy, the ground is covered in snow. It's so cold outside that you can see your own breath. It's a typical Montreal winter. In a backyard rink in an expensive Montreal estate are Los Angeles Panthers powerforward Brandon Donini and his little cousin Mirko. Donini didn't get around to seeing his Montreal family very much with his winters spent on the road with the Panthers and his summers spent with family in Italy so occasions like this were special for him. It had been 4 years since Donini last played hockey with Mirko who was only 7 at the time. With only a couple of days left in his week off, Donini decided to take advantage of his backyard rink and finally play some hockey with his cousin again. Mirko desperately wanted to show his SHL star cousin how good he was at hockey and asked to play against him. Being like any 27 year old would against their little 11 year old cousin, Donini decided to take it easy, until he noticed that little Mirko was not only keeping up with him but giving him a hard time. After a few hours of playing with him, Donini really saw something special in his cousin. Donini reminisced on the game recently:

Quote:It was like watching myself play at that age, he was better actually than I was at 11. I knew right away that he had big time talent.

Scuderi celebrating after scoring a goal with his Midget AAA team

Little did he know, 6 years later his cousin Mirko Antonio Scuderi would be on his way into the league that he was getting ready to leave. The 17 year old Scuderi has been attracting the attention of scouts throughout the SMJHL in the last few years. Last season he was named the Canadian U-16 hockey player of the year by Hockey Canada just barely beating hot shot SMJHL prospect Beau Ballard in the voting. But with a week left before the big day, Scuderi is not interested in Beau Ballard as much as he is in German young gun Vlad McZehrl. Also a Right Winger, McZehrl is the nephew of SHL legend Chris McZehrl and Scuderi thinks that SHL scouts will rely too heavily on that when draft day arrives. Scuderi has sent a clear message that he is here and he is ready to take the SMJHL by storm. He believes that he's the best prospect in this upcoming draft and he'll do anything to show it. Scuderi is eyeing that top pick and is hoping that he'll be a Whaler come draft day but regardless of where he ends up Wednesday night, one thing is for sure, in a draft class with such big names, no SMJHL scout wants to be known as the idiot who passed on Scuderi.