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SPORTS
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Guenther is getting comfortable with his new team
BY DEREK MOSKAL Glendale Star Staff Writer
Ideally, there’s no better way to be assimilated into a team than living with “Captain Coyote.” For most freshman players, this is just an unrealistic standard. However, for newly drafted Coyote winger Dylan Guenther, this is reality.
For the past few days, Guenther has been living with Shane Doan, training with him, sharing experiences, and becoming comfortable in his new life as a professional hockey player.
“We’ve talked about our shared experiences with the few days we’ve had together,” Guenther said. “So, for me, I’m just going to learn all that I can and take that to where I’m playing next season.”
Doan was in the league longer than the Coyotes. He was on the Winnipeg Jets and moved with the team as it became the Phoenix Coyotes before the 1996-97 season. Doan was drafted into the NHL in 1995, eight years before Guenther was born. Now Guenther can learn from one of the greats, who has more than 20 years of experience to share with the young prospect.
The 18-year-old Guenther was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and played three seasons in the Western Hockey League with the Edmonton Oil Kings, as well as four games for the Sherwood Park Crusaders in the Alberta Junior Hockey League. Guenther had 26 goals and 33 assists in his 2019-20 season with the Oil Kings.
When the Coyotes found out they had the ninth pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, they were excited about the chance to sign a high-caliber player like Guenther. However, because of Guenther’s impressive scouting report, Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong didn’t think he would still be available. “We didn’t think he was going to be there. That was our big concern,” Armstrong said. Fortunately, Guenther was available, and the Coyotes drafted him with their fi rst-round pick. The organization saw qualities in Guenther that it knew would make him worthy of a fi rst-round pick. Armstrong said Guenther was an easy choice based on the scouts’ deep dive into Guenther as a person and a player.
“He loves hockey, he works at his game, and he’s got a tremendous amount of talent,” Armstrong said. “What we love about the player is just his passion to play the game. He’s a well-rounded player, but the No. 1 thing is that he can shoot a puck.”
After offi cially signing Guenther, the focus shifts to preparing him for the future. Part of that is not only living with Doan but practicing with players like Jakob Chychrun and Clayton Keller and working with the trainers. Armstrong said he believes this is a huge advantage for Guenther.
“It’s a huge advantage for him to come in and get comfortable with the surroundings. The opportunity to come out here and train with the guys and get used to the trainers and just incorporate that day-to-day living. It’s a great opportunity for him to come in early and get a new comfort level,” Armstrong said.
The Coyotes — whose fi rst home game is Monday, Oct. 18, against the St. Louis Blues — are admittedly taking it slow with Guenther. Armstrong emphasized that they will not put Guenther on the NHL ice until he’s ready.
“There is a process for this to be done properly, and for us we want to make sure players are there at the right time,” Armstrong said. “We want to make sure it’s a process that goes slowly and properly, and we put the prospects in the NHL when they are ready.”
On July 24, 2021, the Arizona Coyotes selected Dylan Guenther with the ninth overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft. (Photo courtesy of Arizona Coyotes)
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September 16, 2021
Shaedon Sharpe commits to University of Kentucky
BY SIMON WILLIAMS Cronkite News
Shaedon Sharpe’s basketball journey from London, Ontario, Canada, to Glendale will continue next year in Lexington, Kentucky, after the No. 1 player in Arizona recently made a verbal commitment to the University of Kentucky.
The Dream City Christian senior made the eagerly anticipated decision in a highlight-laden video on social media in which he thanked family, teammates and coaches before declaring for Kentucky.
Sharpe, one of the top recruits in the nation, chose Kentucky over fi nalists Arizona, Kansas, Oklahoma State and the NBA G-League, winnowed from a top 10 list that also included ASU, among others.
But the choice of Kentucky was not unexpected. Sharpe visited the school in July and spoke highly of the program. 247Sports said in its latest Crystal Ball projections that Kentucky was a 100% lock for Sharpe, who told Sports Illustrated this summer that “Kentucky was great.”
“I just liked going to the practices and seeing their (Kentucky’s) style. I feel like I could really rock out in their system because of how they operate,” Sharpe told Sports Illustrated’s Jason Jordan. “I loved Arizona’s campus; I go to school in Arizona, so the weather is great, but I really liked everything about it.”
The Dream City Eagle becomes the fi rst commit of Kentucky’s 2022 class.
Paul Biancardi, ESPN’s national recruiting director for high school basketball, sees Sharpe as an impact player “from day one” at the college level.
“Like any young player, they’ll come in with a big reputation, then they’ll have to learn how to defend, because they all get recruited on their offensive giftedness for the most part or their athleticism,” Biancardi said.
“He’s going to learn how to continue to get open. That’s going to be a big thing,” he said. “Because in college, you have scouting-report defense, which doesn’t allow you to do what you do best.”
Kentucky was in on Sharpe early, but ultimately it was the relationships he built with NBA stars Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander that Biancardi thinks sold him on Big Blue Nation.
“In recruiting, it’s what your peers tell you about a place that matters sometimes more than what the coaches say,” Biancardi said. “And obviously they had two tremendous experiences at Kentucky, and I think that played a factor.”
Sharpe played travel ball with Uplay Canada, the same AAU program where Gilgeous-Alexander played in his teens.
There isn’t anything sneaky about Sharpe’s athleticism. You can’t watch his highlights without seeing at least one full-extension dunk, with a leaping vertical and wide wingspan that makes him a multilevel scorer.
His 3-point shot was an area he told Jordan he wanted to work on this summer. He has a nimble step-back to create distance from defenders and gets the most out of his hops off spot-up jumpers.
ESPN moved the combo-guard to No. 1 among current seniors after Jalen Duren of IMG Academy reclassifi ed up a grade to commit to Memphis, and Sharpe had a standout performance at the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League Peach Jam event in July. 247Sports has him as the fourth-best senior.
Sharpe fi nished Peach Jam with 21.6 points per game, third-highest of the event. The run was buoyed by a combined 59 points in his team’s two losses to Pro Skills and Indy Heat. By the end of the week, Sharpe was “virtually unguardable with his special blend of quickness, athleticism and three-level scoring ability,” Jordan wrote.
After seeing limited time as a sophomore at Sunrise Christian in Wichita, where he averaged 6 points per game, Sharpe transferred to Dream City Christian, where he put up 25 points a night as a junior. By the time he transferred, 247Sports had him as the No. 2 Canadian prospect, behind future Sun Devil commit Enoch Boakye. The two paired on Team Canada for the FIBA U16 Americas Championship, where Sharpe averaged a solid 13 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals in 21.6 minutes per game in Team Canada’s silver medal run. That’s when Sharpe started drawing serious college attention. Sharpe is just the third member of the class of 2022 in Arizona to formally commit so far, per 247Sports. With his college plans set, Biancardi said Sharpe can take this year to refi ne elements of his game.
“Make sure that he handles the ball as a secondary playmaker, not just the shooting guard,” he said. “His ability to fi nd the open man is good, but he’s going to have to look to the open man even more because he may see double teams this year in high school.
“He’s got to make sure that he’s not just a one-dimensional player, which is, he’s an elite scorer,” Biancardi said. “He’s just got to make sure that his passing and ball handling helps him on the court as much as his jump shot is.”
For more stories from Cronkite News, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org.
Shaedon Sharpe, considered one of the top prospects in the nation, committed to play at the University of Kentucky after he fi nishes next year at Dream City Christian in Glendale. He was the top college prospect in Arizona. (Photo courtesy Dream City Christian)
