Hockey Prospects, NHL Draft, Hockey Scouting,OHL Draft

Hope was drafted out of the Detroit Honeybaked system; the same system that saw the Windsor Spitfires select Grant Webermin in the 1st round. The Sting chose to select Hope in the 3rd round of the 2010 OHL Priority Selection. Easily one of the best goaltenders available, the pick was seen by some as a little risky, due to strong pushes from NCAA recruiters, due to Brandon's ability both on the ice and in the classroom. The gamble payed off, as it took a little while but they were able to convince Hope to join the OHL's Sarnia Sting. Entering camp, Hope was facing two veteran goaltenders, however with Shayne Campbell being traded near the end of camp, Brandon was able to grab up the back-up position for the Sarnia Sting, en route to playing more minutes than any other 1994 born goaltender in the entire CHL.

Brandon first and foremost has excellent leg movement. He is able to throw the pad out at a quick rate, and above the learning curve for goaltenders his age. The balance he possesses with the movement allows him to recover strong, and allows him to reset himself quicker than the average junior goaltender. His reflexes; particularly in his glove hand are also ahead of the curve, and he has thrown it out there to steal a sure goal more than once. His angles are strong, however earlier on in the season he appeared to get a little lazy by the 3rd period, but he appears to have shaken this habit, and maintains solid positioning in general throughout the game. Not being a big net minder, it's important for Hope to come out and appear bigger to shooters, and he appears to does this with good positioning. One of the few negatives against Brandon, due to his size, is his ability to see the puck through traffic at times. This would improve with a bit of a growth spurt, but his awareness helps him out, and he follows the play very well. The mentality in the net that Hope displays is strong. He has let in his share of bad goals, which will hopefully disappear through development, but Hope was not a goaltender who's game was affected by this, he seemed to shake this fairly well and, generally you wouldn't see this happen again. He displays a positive demeanor, and is a well liked player in the dressing room. Another skill that you don't see in goaltenders very often is Hope's ability to drop the gloves, or should we say glove and blocker. At a game in Niagara, Hope threw down with Dalton McGrath. Hope actually had trouble getting his one arm loose, McGrath used this opportunity to try and get the jump on Hope a little, and it didn't turn out well. Needless to say, it's become a popular you tube video, and Hope has proven he can stand up for himself when needed. Going forward there aren't a lot of holes in Hope's game, he just needs to continue to gain experience. One thing that gave him some issues at times, was rebound control, but you really need to break down Brandon's game to pick out areas of improvement.

In order to fully benefit from his draft year he will need to excel when called upon; due to shared ice time with overage net minder Brandon Maxwell. However Jacques Beaulieu has made several adjustments to the team this year, and if Hope excels in training camp, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Hope get more than 50% of the starts. He is one, in a group of 4 goaltenders who all show great potential in the OHL with Matthew Murray (Sault Ste. Marie), Malcolm Subban (Belleville), and Jake Paterson (Saginaw). Being able to see all 4 goaltenders in multiple starts, has left me believing the 2012 goaltending crop out of the OHL looks solid. Although Subban is the highest regarded goaltender available in the OHL right now, I would be shocked if by the end of the year Brandon Hope is at the top of a lot of lists in that area.