Day 5: 2021 USA Hockey Select 16 Camp - Joe Connor’s most prominent feature is the fluidity and airiness of his stride. He seems to effortlessly float across open ice with impressive speed and minimal exertion, however, the apparently labourless characteristic of his stride in open ice should not fool you. In addition to his abilities in open ice, Connor is entirely capable of using his athleticism to assist him in winning contested puck battles, and overcoming stubborn defenders.

The more I see of Joe Connor recently the closer I get to becoming speechless with the amount of improvement he’s had over the last year. Mid-way through the first period I was amazed by a play that he made to help get Team Red on the board. After slipping past a Team Forest Green defender at the offensive zone blueline, Connor proceeded to protect the puck with his upper hand on his stick and his lower hand outstretched to guard. As he approached the hash marks, Conner flicked his stick hand to slide an accurate one-hand pass to the slot where the puck eventually found it’s way to Joe Gramer before ending up in the back of the net. The goal was only made possible because of a second, third and fourth effort by Connor to execute on a highly technical and intelligent play. He attempted to recycle this technique later in the second period which tells me that it was likely a play he’s practiced – putting it to use generating results in at least one instance is great and I commend him for working to refine pragmatic tools like this.

Joe Connor’s ability to manipulate his speed was a key element of his performance in this game. The forward possesses excellent footspeed but also the wisdom to know when other tools may serve him better. His speed is entirely sufficient to blow past many of his peers, yet he is and was far from a uni-directional player. I commend Connor for committing himself to coming deep into his defensive zone in this game, thus making his defensemen’s lives much easier when attempting to exit the zone. In putting his team up 6-0 in the 2nd period, Joe Connor strung together an excellent sequence of inside-outside edgework and forehand-backhand deking through relatively high traffic to get into a clear spot of the offensive zone. Once he had gained optimal position, he quickly shifted the puck from his backhand to forehand before picking the top-left corner of the net. The fluidity of the sequence in congestion showed how much of Connor’s adaptive skill has become second nature, and something that he should be able to ply at a higher level of competition.