Hockey scouting from a different angle

Being talented in hockey is one thing - getting noticed by scouts can sometimes be a bigger challenge. But thanks to technology, aspiring hockey players have a new medium to get noticed. It’s called video scouting. It’s when a player gets a video made of how their abilities on the rink during real game situations.

Dawstar Freelancing based in North Bay has been providing this service since 2001 and owner Chris Dawson says interest is growing.

“What I do is isolate my camera on the player during a game so that scouts and coaches can see the way they move, even when they don’t have the puck. I then do an interview with the player and edit together a DVD.”

Some videos are making their way onto www.youtube.com in order to reach a wider audience. Dawson says on his clients, Max Bouffard, who played most of the season with the Nickel Centre Midget 'AA' Flyers in Sudbury was drafted in the 11th round in this year’s OHL draft by the Niagara IceDogs.

His parents say video scouting helped play a role in that accomplishment.

“Not every athlete is lucky enough to be discovered,” said his father Marc Bouffard.

"For everyone else wanting to play at a higher level, self promotion is the only alternative. Whether you forward a DVD of your video, or email the video link as an introduction, the feedback I have received has been extremely positive,” he added.

Former North Bay Skyhawks coach Randy Edmonds is also a fan of this system. He says hockey is now a global game and getting noticed can be challenge.

“It’s a totally different situation when you’re the coach and your job is on the line every night to be able to actually see this player play and see what kind of player he is in combination with statistics and references from different coaches, it just adds a final touch to the whole situation and really gives you confidence if that player can play at that level or not.”

Dawson says a good example is the video he produced for former Centennial Igor Valeev. It was one of the first scouting videos he produced and it was sent to several NHL teams. He went from being under the radar, to being taken in the 4th round by the St Louis Blues back in 2001.

“The General Manager to this day says the video may have helped create the buzz”, said Dawson, “that may have helped him get drafted into the NHL, so there’s an example at the highest level where video ended up benefiting a player that would not have been drafted potentially and helped him instead achieve his goal and get drafted into the National Hockey League.”

Some of Dawson’s recent clients have been North Bay Skyhawks forward Joe Trotter, North Bay Trappers forward Nick Huard and Trappers goalie Patrick Rochefort.

He says he has already received several calls for bookings this fall – including calls from OHL level players looking to get drafted into the NHL next spring.

Almost all the Dawstar scouting videos can be viewed at www.dawstar.com/videoscouting.html