Keating Signs with Rockland Nationals
Prospect 285 is pleased to announce that Michael Keating has signed with the CCHL’s Rockland Nationals Jr. A hockey club.
Keating, a right handed defenceman and captain of the GTHL’s Toronto Titans Midgets, spent the past season playing for Jason Nobili, a coach with extensive experience in junior hockey and a solid track record for developing young players.
“Michael is very mature and well-spoken,” said Nobili, “he comes to the rink every day looking to get better and I think that’s what stood out for as us as coaches. The players respect him, he's a good hockey player, he’s a quality person and you can see that he cares about his players, that made it an easy choice for us to name him captain.”
“Michael has good size and he skates well, he's got good vision with the puck and from a power play perspective he's got a real good shot — especially with those one timers. He makes a real good first pass, he showed us that he wanted the pressured situations and we used him a lot.”
Rockland head coach Dan Sauvé was immediately impressed with Keating’s performance at spring camp, “Michael’s game is so simple and effective. He is well-positioned and his defensive reads are bang on,” praised Sauvé, “his gap control was off the charts, and after meeting Michael we knew he was a character kid who would serve as a great ambassador for the Rockland Nats.”
With minor hockey now behind him, Michael is excited about this new challenge. “Ultimately I want to earn an NCAA scholarship, to do that I know I have to work on my skills and hockey IQ, and learn to always play with a high level of compete,” expressed Keating. “ I believe playing with the team’s veterans is going to help me grow my game and grow as a person, and I’m very excited to get started.”
Keating was quick to acknowledge that for all his hard work he didn’t get to this point on his own, “I feel very fortunate to be moving forward with my playing career and I have a lot of people to thank for their help: all the coaches, trainers and skills instructors throughout the years; coach Nobili and the Titans’ staff; my advisor Jay Barwell at Prospect 285, but most of all my parents for all their support and sacrifices through the years.”