2015 NHL Draft: ASU recruit Joey Daccord on a Devil of a rise

(Photo courtesy of Cushing Athletics)

Even a goaltender can score on the rebound once in a while. Joey Daccord would know.

A second-time prospect for the NHL Entry Draft later this month, Daccord turned a midseason setback into a spark for a fireworks finale at Cushing Academy this past winter.

On Dec. 20, Cushing engaged Culver Academy in the Lawrence/Groton Tournament championship, the final game before Christmas break. The senior goaltender would take a rare albatross in a 3-0 falter, as the Penguins spilled their bid for holiday hardware in a rare opposing shutout.

On the other side of the respite, however, three straight wins at the post-New Year’s Watkins Tournament produced a Cushing-Culver rematch. Same matchup, same spontaneous buildup, same chance to claim some weekend bragging rights.

That was when the backstop approached his bench boss with a vow.

“Joey basically said, ‘Coach, I am not losing to the same team twice,’” Cushing coach Rob Gagnon told Along the Boards. “And that game, nobody was beating him.”

Indeed, Daccord proceeded to backstop the Cushing Penguins to a 4-1 triumph for the title. After the buzzer, he collected tournament MVP accolades on the heels of two shutouts and three goals against over four games in three days.

“That (championship) game also had several NHL and college scouts (in attendance),” Gagnon added. “I think that was a defining moment for him and our season. I think what he was able to do is show all the scouts that Joey Daccord can win a big game.”

Within two-and-a-half weeks of that Jan. 3 sparkler, Daccord emerged a still-unflattering No. 29 among North American netminders in Central Scouting’s midterm rankings. But with the help of a 15-2-2 tear post-Watkins, complete with only four three-goal games for Cushing’s adversaries, he skyrocketed to No. 10 on the final leaderboard in March.

While other aspirants had similar surges, none of the higher-end goaltenders matched that 19-spot pole-vault. Only United States League stopper and Miami University commitment Ryan Larkin came remotely close, escalating from No. 20 to sixth.

As it relates to Daccord’s year-to-year ripening, the late perk-up marks a four-space improvement from his No. 14 finish on the CSS’ final ranking for 2014.

“I was hoping that I would just stay on the list. I didn’t think I would be on it at all, actually,” Daccord told ATB. “There are some pretty big-time names on that list, so it’s cool to just be on there.

“I think it just kind of showed the kind of year I had at Cushing.”

For what it’s worth, only a 1-0 playoff falter at the hands of Dexter in the New England Tournament quarterfinals brought an end to that ride. Translation: Daccord only lost games with hardware on the line in 2014-15 when his skating mates could not beat his counterpart.

“I think, in my humble opinion as a hockey coach, everybody was waiting to see Joey Daccord dominate,” Gagnon said. “Everybody knows he’s good. Of course, he’s been trained by his dad. He’s one of the best.” 

Brian Daccord, a Merrimack College alum and former Boston Bruins goaltending coach, founded the Stop It Goaltending program in 1999. He still oversees the SIG staff, which consists largely of Division I team staffers and offers a comprehensive variety of development services for the position.

The younger Daccord is swift to acknowledge the blessing of his father’s tutelage.

“He’s been a huge part of my life,” Daccord told ATB. “I’m pretty fortunate to have such a big-time name guy so close to me all the time. There’s someone there as a resource 24/7.” 

He is equally appreciative of the expert network that comes in the form of his father’s colleagues. “They show me different aspects of goaltending that vary slightly depending on their taste and their style,” he said. “That whole group gives me a different perspective, and I constantly evolve my game.”

Perhaps just as critically, within a week of the CSS midterm rankings release, Daccord laid out his long-term path. He committed to the fledgling Arizona State University program, whose full-time varsity status will take effect when he enrolls for the 2016-17 season. In the interim, he will log a little more seasoning with the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers.

More decisive, more dominant

Though in the running for the draft as early as his junior year, Daccord was hardly in a hurry to pierce his place on the NHL radar. With that said, the notion of a blank box on the checklist proved an ideal booster shot against senioritis in 2014-15.

“It’s funny,” Gagnon said. “Coming into the season, we weren’t disappointed that he didn’t get drafted. I think the fact that he did not — quote, unquote — already have a college commitment was the reason.

“What I talked to Joey about was using all of that as fuel for the fire, and coming back to Cushing would be a good thing because he was being recruited to go to Saint John up in the ‘Q’ (Quebec Major Junior League) and also the USHL.”

Before, and even after, rounding out his profile on the ice, Daccord used his last Cushing campaign to amplify his intangibles repertoire. He held a captaincy or co-captaincy in varsity soccer, hockey and tennis alike.

A stalwart defender on the pitch, he even preceded his clutch shutdown of Culver by setting up the game-clinching goal at the Northeast Soccer Jamboree on Sept. 21.

Gagnon, an assistant coach for the Penguins’ top soccer squad, bore witness to both performances. He also saw plenty of what the average viewer did not see in the young goalie’s growth in practices, workouts and team functions.

“People are also looking for great human beings and character kids,” Gagnon said, adding that Daccord “was up for every major award at Cushing.”

As it happened, by the end of the fall athletics season, he would garner his own soccer team’s top defensive player award. He then joined teammate and fellow NHL draft prospect Dave Cotton on the first USA Today High School All-USA team.

“Everybody knows he’s technically sound as a goalie,” Gagnon said. “I think everybody just wanted to see him play like an athlete, versus a technical goalie.

“We only lost two games (in 2015), so I think it’s safe to say he did that.”

There was also the aforementioned matter of solidifying his foreseeable future plans, which could hold equal sway on his second stab at entering an NHL franchise’s pipeline.

Fertile grounds in the desert

As early as February of 2014, the likes of Central Scouting spokesman Al Jensen was stylistically likening Daccord to retired 19-year pro Curtis Joseph (per nhl.com’s Mike G. Morreale).

Such early attention of such magnitude came, in part, due to the magnetic pull of the time-honored talent factory that is Cushing. In a fair plug for his program, Gagnon pointed to Daccord’s decision to max out his scholastic eligibility as one factor in ripening his reputation over the year-plus since Jensen’s first impression.

“By playing in prep school,” the coach explained, “it gives you a better opportunity to dominate, versus the USHL or major junior.”

With that said, the Stampede and the Sun Devils each promise to yield their own unique, critical stages in Daccord’s development. Daccord announced his commitment to Arizona State roughly 10 weeks after that school unveiled its plan to upgrade from the club level to the NCAA. 

At the time of each party’s declaration, ASU was coming off its first national title. It would finish its final ACHA season at 33-3-1.

The determination to start testing that hallmark against varsity programs was part of what intrigued the Massachusetts lifer on his visit to Tempe. Another key was the captivating atmosphere of other facilities, such as Sun Devil Stadium, which houses the athletic department’s hall of fame.

Golf’s Phil Mickelson, baseball’s Barry Bonds basketball’s Byron Scott and football’s Jake Plummer and the late Pat Tillman represent a handful of the household names in that hall.

“It shows their dedication to sports,” Daccord said. “It appealed to me.”

While the same glamor may not burgeon for the hockey program by the time Daccord leaves his tracks, he foresees no shortage of healthful rigor and self-starting among his future ASU allies. The crossing of each party’s path, he says, “gives me a great chance to come in and compete for playing time right away.”

“An awful lot of shots”

While Daccord will embark on his first hockey-only sports year in the USHL next season, ASU will bridge its way to varsity status with a mixed ACHA, Division III and Division I schedule. He is implicitly in line to then claim the Sun Devils’ starting job in advance of a baptismal fire stoked by as many as 34 Division I contests in 2016-17.

“They haven’t picked a starting goalie for their first real year as a Division I team,” Gagnon acknowledged. “Of course, he has to prove it and beat out the other goalies, but Joey’s on a full scholarship. I’m pretty sure he’s going to get the first opportunity.”

But, if all goes according to plan, “he’s going to see an awful lot of shots those first couple of years,” the Cushing coach predicted.

By that logic, Daccord will go from a proven big-gamer to a battle-tested, leaned-on X-factor. Will that trajectory suffice to bump up his draft status just a little more?

If so, then he can secure one of ASU hockey’s first milestones three-plus months before their first Division I contest and 15-odd months before his own debut. He could finish what incoming forward Jordan Masters, now 21 and therefore overage, started in 2011-12 and become the first Sun Devil to attain NHL auspices. (Masters was passed over despite a solid showing in the 2012 USHL/NHL Top Prospects Game.)

“Just getting drafted in general would be an absolute honor,” Daccord said. “Now that I got Phase One complete with my commitment, Phase Two would be kind of set in motion, a childhood dream fulfilled.”

From a Cushing standpoint, Gagnon echoed that sentiment. “It would be an honor. Those guys out there are really good. At the end of the day, we here are Cushing are proud of our kids that are going to Division III schools, let alone Division I schools.

“It’s hard to play college hockey these days, so we’re going to be honored to have Joey hopefully be the first guy drafted in that program, and also honored to have their goalie on their first team.”

A new result in a new year on the same basic stage? That would be nothing new on Daccord’s track record. Friends and foes from Cushing and Culver alike can attest.

 

This article originally appeared on Along the Boards