Futurehawks: Kuraly red-hot in Indy

By John Lachmann

INDIANAPOLIS – Sean Kuraly has moved into a tie for second in his league in goals, and Saturday fans of the Indiana Ice caught a glimpse of why his season is going so well.

Kuraly, a Miami-committed forward who will join the RedHawks this fall, recorded a goal and an assist to earn second star honors in the Ice’s 3-0 win over Youngstown at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

That gave him goals in five straight games and 14 in his last 13. He also surpassed his 2010-11 points total – it took him 51 games to get to 29 last season – by scoring his 18th goal and dishing for his 13th assist.

The 2011 San Jose Sharks’ fifth-round pick is tied for fifth in the USHL in points, and he has six power play goals, one shorthanded and three game winners.

Kuraly wasted no time getting himself on the scoresheet. He skated across the blue line with a defender draped on him and somehow was able to feed a pass to teammate John Doherty, who buried it from the right wing just 1:42 into the game.

Kuraly was on the ice for Indiana’s 5-on-3 goal but did not earn a point.

But with 12:55 left in regulation, the Ice’s Robbie Baillargeon fed a pass to Kuraly, who blasted a one-timer through the five hole from the middle of the right faceoff circle, sealing the game.

Another future Miamian, forward Alex Gacek, suited up for Youngstown. Gacek finished with five shots on goal despite not logging as much ice time and losing five minutes because of an ill-advised fight the 5-feet-9 Gacek had with 194-pound Ice defenseman Joe Fiala.

Kuraly’s father, Rick Kuraly, is the all-time leading career goal scorer in Miami history with 101.

ANALYSIS: The first time I saw Kuraly play was a year and a half ago in an exhibition in Carmel, Ind., in Sept. 2010. He looked like he had talent but was very slow.

Each time I’ve seen him since he’s looked significantly better, but Saturday he was the best player on the Ice and on the ice.

Part of it may have been when I went to Pepsi Coliseum on Dec. 3 Indiana was playing Green Bay, the best team by far in the entire league. Not to take anything away from Youngstown, which is 16-10.

He made both of the goals he was involved in happen. Kuraly’s pass was the key reason the first goal happened and his blistering and pinpoint accurate shot resulted in the third.

Those who follow Miami prospects will recall that Bryon Paulazzo came out of Indiana after a big year in 2009-10, and Blake Coleman led the league by a wide margin with the Ice in 2010-11 before joining the RedHawks this season.

Both are good players for Miami, and while Coleman has six goals this season, the outstanding point-plus-per-game USHL numbers haven’t translated at the collegiate level yet. But Kuraly is 6-feet-2, 194 pounds already, and he turns 19 in two weeks, so he’s going to be a big kid.

Also, with the mass exodus of seniors after his season, Kuraly may have a chance to showcase his talent on a scoring line earlier than the other two when he comes to Oxford.

He’s not as physical as either Coleman or Paulazzo at this point, but he uses his size well to maintain possession of the puck and is solid defensively (he was the lone PK forward during a Youngstown 5x3 on Saturday).

Gacek does some good things offensively and clearly has some talent, but he doesn’t appear ready to start for Miami yet.

He has speed and put five shots on goal in about 13 or 14 minutes of ice time, but he went unnoticed for too long on offense and he didn’t impress defensively.

In his defense Indiana is the second-best team in its eight-team conference, and he has gone plus-6 in his last seven games.

At this point he’s at about the Steve Mason level, and he could battle to crack the lineup on the fourth line. He’s still 18 so he could remain in juniors for another season if he doesn’t improve or if Miami coach Enrico Blasi doesn’t think he’ll have the opportunity to get on the ice.

I’d lean toward letting him improve his skills in the USHL for another season, but he still has half of a season to prove he belongs in Oxford this fall.