Family Ties-The Jarrett family
The NHL has seen a lot of family connections in its history, from the
Sutters to the Hunters, from high draft picks like Brett and Eric
Lindros or Pierre and Sylvain Turgeon. There is another family looming
on the horizon, the Jarrett family. Cole and Pat are brothers, aged 17
and 16 respectively. There is also cousin Blair a third round pick of
the Ice Dogs in last years draft, currently toiling in Tier 2 Junior and
draft eligible for 2003.
Cole and Pat have a lot in common.
They both play on the point on their teams’ first power play unit
They play with a blue chip prospect for NHL 2001 draft, Stephen Weiss
and Jason Spezza.
They were first round picks of their OHL teams.
Cole saw a lot of ice time as a 16 year old, as will Pat this year
with Mississauga.
They play on teams known for their drafting (one for a good job, the
other, well not so good).
So who are they? Cole is a key defenceman on a solid Plymouth club. He
played regularly last year on a team that surprised everyone and made it
to the OHL final. This year they are expected to contend again and make
it to the Memorial Cup. Cole is partnered with a 16 year old rookie,
and they play together even strength, on the power play, and short
handed. Cole is a total package type of guy, well rounded with no big
time faults or big time strengths. His skating is pro material, but not
stellar. He plays on one of the stingiest teams in the league
defensively, and so his defensive duties are aided by waves of
backchecking Whaler forwards. He won’t get beat one on one with his
decent size and skating. He moves the puck fairly well, preferring to
pass the puck out than skate it, and who can blame him with a number of
weapons to pass to? He has a nice hard shot, and generally keeps it low
and on net where the forwards can do something with it. At the start of
the season, most of the talk in the OHL was about Spezza and Weiss,
along with a quartet of defencemen, Tim Gleason, Mark Popovic, Jay
Harrison, and Brandon Bell. I think Cole will be challenging his peers
on defence for draft position next June. He may not have the offence of
Popovic or Gleason, but he will score lots of points this year, win lots
of games, and will likely have a long playoff run to help showcase his
talents. Frankly I think this will be one of the strongest draft
classes in the OHL in quite awhile.
Pat centres the second line on the Ice Dogs. He is listed at 5′ 11″ and
175 pounds, but I think he may be a little smaller than that. He is a
good skater and passer, with lots of offensive flair. In a recent game
against Plymouth he went head to head with Weiss and held his own in a
1-1 tie. With Don Cherry refusing to draft Europeans, and with the Dogs
drafting their share of dogs over the first few years of the franchise,
he doesn’t have a lot of talent to work with even strength. The power
play is another matter. He plays the left point and gets lots of shots
away, and his shot is nice and hard and low like his brothers. Spezza
usually sets up on the left side of the rink, and as a right handed
shot, a lot of his passes go to Pat. Throw in Chad Wiseman, and
assorted right wingers, and the Dogs have some pretty decent firepower
when up a man. Eligible for the 2002 draft, Pat is chasing a talented
group of defence, just like his brother this year, Jay Bouwmeester,
Steve Eminger, and Trevor Daley have already impressed scouts. Like
Derek Roy, his size will be questioned, but never his talent, and if the
NHL keeps on cleaning up its game, there will be lots of room for
talented guys who can motor, even if they don’t fit old stereotypes of
being 6 feet 200 pounds plus. Besides he has another year to grow
before his draft year.
I see Cole and Pat as having a strong year and being very important
pieces of their teams success.
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