About 10 days ago I read that Des Moines Bucanneers forward Matt White had committed to the University of North Dakota. Though I had seen Des Moines play a couple of times, I had little to no recollection of White. Luckily, I was able to check them out a couple of days after the announcement came out. Here is what I saw:
Matt White, not to be confused with UNH recruit Matt White of the Omaha Lancers, is a 6’2, 180 pound center/winger who has been sort of non-descript in limited viewings. He has good size and decent speed (despite a choppy skating stride) and finishes his checks. White seems to work hard and compete on every shift, though I can’t identify any one area where he excels. Face-offs were handled competently, he wins battles on the boards and can find the open ice (as evidenced by his goals in the game I saw). I suppose he could be best summed by saying he is a raw talent that has a myriad of tools but needs to put it all together to be the complete package. This is certainly not a knock on the player, just stating that his skill set hasn’t meshed as of yet. On a positive note, his skipper JP Parise is quoted as saying that White is a very coachable player.
White already has a year of junior under his belt and is a 1991 birthday, so he has some time to put it all together. Watch for him to return to junior next year and likely be very dominant. The Sioux expect him to report in 2010 or 2011, according to numerous sources.
