Ed Wittchow

History

2009-10: Ed Wittchow scored 2 goals with 6 assists and was +3 as a junior at Minnesota's Burnsville High School. Burnsville finished third in its last season in Lake Conference play and fell to Bloomington-Jefferson (4-3 in overtime) in the semifinals of the Section 2AA tournament.

2010-11: Wittchow was one of the top offensive defensemen in Minnesota High School hockey as a senior – scoring 11 goals with 15 assists in 28 games (including sectional playoffs) as Burnsville captured the South Suburban conference title and advanced to the Section 2AA finals before falling to Edina. He was named to Team Minnesota team for the six-team Minnesota NIT tournament and was scoreless in four contests. Wittchow was selected by Waterloo in the 1st round (4th overall) of the USHL draft. He was ranked 111th amongst North American skaters by Central Scouting in their final rankings (after not being ranked at mid-season) and was selected by the Florida Panthers in the 6th round (154th overall) of the 2011 NHL Draft.

2011-12: Wittchow played in all 60 games for the USHL's Waterloo Black Hawks in his first junior season. He scored 5 goals with 13 assists and was a team-best plus-22 plus/minus. After finishing third in the West Division, Waterloo reached the Clark Cup finals – taking 2011 runner-up Green Bay to a decisive seventh game. Wittchow had 4 assists and was even with 6 penalty minutes in 12 playoff games. He committed to playing college hockey at Wisconsin in 2012-13.

 

Talent Analysis

Wittchow is a tall, physical defenseman with good skill and solid defensive play. He took advantage of his year in the USHL, scoring a respectable 18 points and impressing coaches and recruiters alike by finishing the year in the top ten of AHL defensemen in plus/minus and in shots taken. Wittchow is a good skater who uses positional play to his benefit. He needs to continue to work on consistency in his own zone, but he showed an admirable on-ice work rate last season.

 

Future

Wittchow originally declined a scholarship from Wisconsin in order to spend a year in the USHL, but has since accepted a renewed offer from the Badgers and will head to Madison this fall. Although he found success in his year in Waterloo, Wittchow still has quite a way to go in his development, and must continue to work hard at refining his game and learning his craft.