Incoming SCSU freshman defenseman Colin Ralph’s draft stock continues to rise – The Rink Live

ST. CLOUD — Colin Ralph began his senior season at Shattuck-St. Mary’s last fall on the radar for NHL Central Scouting.

Ralph, an 18-year-old defenseman from Maple Grove, was a C-rated skater in the preliminary players to watch list by the scouting service in October. C-rated skaters are projected to go in the fourth- or fifth rounds of the NHL Draft.

In January, the midterm rankings came out and Ralph had moved up to the No. 46-rated North American skater. In April, Ralph was listed at No. 32 on the final rankings.

The guess work will be done soon. The NHL Draft will take place on June 28-29 in Las Vegas. Ralph, who will be a freshman for St. Cloud State in the fall, is planning on attending the draft with his family.

“It’s super nice to be recognized and see your name up there and get some recognition, but I never want to be satisfied and I want to continue to get better,” Ralph said. “It was kind of surreal for me the second half of the year. Almost every day in the week, I was having interviews with teams or filling out forms or taking their little tests.”

There’s a lot to like for NHL scouts. Ralph is listed by NHL Central Scouting at 6-foot-4 and 226 pounds and he helped Shattuck-St. Mary’s win back-to-back 18-and-under Tier I national championships.

His senior season, he had nine goals, 83 points and 36 penalty minutes in 73 games. He played two games at the end of the season for the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints.

“He had steady improvement throughout the year and then he goes to Dubuque at the end of the year and looks like a veteran USHL defenseman,” SCSU head coach Brett Larson said. “Anytime you can show continual growth and step into a league like that and fit right in, in your first couple games, it says a lot about where you’re at.”

While the offensive numbers look good, Ralph knows what the strengths of his game are.

“I think I’m a reliable, shutdown defenseman who can play in any situation,” he said. “I kind of consider myself a late bloomer. I’m filling into my frame.

“I feel like a lot of it is just confidence. Going into my senior year, I knew I had a really good summer and had all my bases covered from working out, skating with skills coaches — it helped grow my confidence and helped me throughout my game.”