Russell stands out as a mountain in the Valley

Merrimack College and Hockey East has a lot of ties to the local high school hockey scene.

Casey Kesselring coaches up at Pinkerton Academy (Derry, NH), Mike Jankowski coaches the Super-Eight Central Catholic Raiders and Denis Barrette leads the North Andover squad.

Mario Martiniello (Northeastern grad) leads a talented Andover squad into the tournament (and also coaches, for my money, the best player in the area – I’ll get to that in a bit).

I’ve watched quite a bit of the local high school scene, and while it hasn’t been loaded with talent, there are a few prospects who stand out.

The best player in the Merrimack Valley is probably someone you’ve never heard of. Andover’s Paul Russell is, from top to bottom, the best in the Valley.

Russell has 19 goals on the year, and he’s only a sophomore. He’s got size (I’d estimate him at about 5-foot-8, 170 pounds) and in last night’s 5-0 Division 1 North opening-round win over Lexington, he dominated. At roughly 15 or 16 years old, he’s only going to get bigger.

Lets put it this way — if he played at CM or Malden Catholic, he’d be noticed by now.

Against some of the best teams in the state, Russell has shined brightest.

Against a powerful Waltham bunch, Russell netted two points in two games. Against Central Catholic, the best team in the area (15-0-7 on the season, ranked 5th in the Super 8), Russell netted three goals in two games leading the Warriors to a 1-1 tie and a tough 4-3 loss.

He’s all over the nice, not only crashing the net with total disregard for his own well being, but ferociously back checking which wreaked havoc on the Lexington transition last night. He caused turnovers which he quickly turned into scoring chances with his speed, size and flashy release.

He didn’t look like the typical high school forward that will sometimes just throw a puck at the net, hoping it finds a hole. He picked his spots. He danced around over-matched defensemen. Oh, and I did mention he’s only a sophomore, right?

He’s certainly the player that played the NCAA game best of anyone in the area. Ryan Sifferlen is a tremendous talent at North Andover, but he won’t be able to get away with merely outskating opponents at a Division 1 level. The talent gap won’t be as wide as it was in the CAL. Russell has that mix of talent, hard work, and size. Sifferlen will put up big numbers at a NESCAC school, and there’s a lot to be said for that.

The crazy thing about Sifferelen is despite leading the area in scoring (I don’t count Chris Kreider, because he’s a Phillips), hockey probably isn’t even his best sport. He’s a tremendous soccer player, one of the best midfielders in the region, and hit .333 on the baseball team last spring. He’s a three-sport titan who will have plenty of options when it comes to making a college choice.

And despite a weaker league, 47 points in nothing to ignore.

I watched the Knights lose to Lincoln-Sudbury 5-4 in a shootout on Tuesday night, and Sifferlen put his team on his back. Trailing 2-0 early in the game, Sifferlen potted the game-tier in the second period after assisting on the Knights’ first goal.

Trailing 4-2 late in the game (just over 6:00 left), Sifferlen struck twice in 45 seconds, carrying his team to overtime before falling in a shootout (which is an awful way to end your season, by the way).

He’s on another level when it comes to other Division 2 players. If hockey is the sport he chooses to move forward with, it would be very interesting to see what he does at the prep or junior level. In the CAL he had superior talent. When that gap is closed a bit, I’d be interested in seeing how he adjusts.

From a body standpoint, he reminds me a lot of John Heffernan his senior year. Tall, but a little thin, and could just out-talent anyone he played against. Albeit Heffernan and Sifferlen were playing much different opponents.

Methuen goalie Jonathan Borden would be considered one of the best in the state if he wasn’t on a Ranger squad that has struggled since the turn of the millennium. You have to give credit to  Borden for loyalty. I’m sure he had chances to run to juniors or transfer to other schools, but the senior, who started all but three games this season (missed some time due to illness), posted a 1.94 GAA to finish his career.

Methuen coach Denny Eagan said that Borden was the best high school goalie he had ever seen — this coming from a guy who has coached at the high school level for some 30 years.

My colleague, David Willis, wrote a great story on Borden a few weeks back. Borden is small (5-foot-8, 140 pounds), but is certainly battled tested, regularly facing 40 or so shots a game.

Salem’s Rob Liberatore also stood out as one of the better netminders in the area. Russell’s teammate at Andover, Kyle Berthiaume, has been stellar since taking the starting job. He has posted shutouts in four of his last five games (including last night’s 15-save 5-0 win over Lexington), and hasn’t allowed more than one goal in his last seven (1-1 ties to Central Catholic and Waltham).

Not much Division 1 talent comes out of the Valley, but there is some. Right now, Russell is the best of the bunch.

Andover barely missed out on a Super Eight bid (ranked fourth in the Division 1 North Sectional), with losses to Malden Catholic, Central Catholic and Waltham likely hurting their chances. But they are still among the best teams in Division 1, certainly top-15.

Russell and former Andover skater Tucker Mullin (who pg’ed at Phillips for a year and is now with the Boston Jr. Bulldogs) are on par from a talent standpoint — in fact I would argue that Russell is as good as a sophomore as Mullin was as a senior — and Russell has more size, and better intangibles.

He has that swagger about him, too. An attitude that sometimes you like to see, at least on the ice.

Will be he be a Division 1 superstar? Likely not. But can he carve out his niche on a DI program? From what I’ve seen, absolutely.