By Warren Kozireski —
It has been and will be 12 months that Clarence Center’s Gavin McCarthy will remember forever.
On defense for Muskegon in the USHL, the 6’1”, 181 lb. former Jr, Sabres put up a career-best eight goals and 19 assists over 42 games despite a broken patella that kept him out of the lineup from December until February.
The set-back didn’t keep him from being one of 70+ NHL Draft prospects selected to participate in the NHL Combine June 4-10 in Buffalo where he finished tied for 10th in pull-ups with 12 and 24th in Horizontal Jump with 108”.
“It took a while to get the strength back in that leg—there was quite a bit of atrophy—but I think going to the gym with a mindset every day where I needed to get back to where I was,” McCarthy said after the Combine physical testing.
“It was great and an honor to be here, especially because I’m from here and this is my home rink, so it was really cool to be out there,”
Gavin has relied on his older brother and future Boston University teammate, Case, this season and leading up to the Combine.
“I saw Case go through the process and he’s given me a ton of advice this year and even coming into this week…good to have that mentor to look up too and ask questions whenever I want.
“One of my biggest focuses was to just get bigger and fill out my frame and I think that’s still one of my biggest focuses, but I need to get stronger so I can play against bigger guys defensively.”
Though he dropped from 39th among North American skaters at midterm to 52nd in the final rankings, in three weeks, the right shot defenseman will likely hear his name called at the NHL Draft in Nashville.
Then Prospect Camp with whichever team selects him and then donning the Scarlet and White of the Boston University Terriers this fall—maybe on the same defense pairing with one of his older brothers.
(Photos by Koz, NY Hockey OnLine; USHL)
