Niagara IceDogs’ Anthony DiFruscia confident bypassing NCAA will pay off

Anthony DiFruscia says his favourite course in school was economics, a discipline which is coldly rational.

That ties into why the Thorold, Ont., native deferred until this year whether to pursue a NCAA scholarship or play major junior with the Niagara IceDogs. However, the prompt to pick the latter was more of a gut feeling. The 17-year-old who has been getting good early (stress, early) notices while flanking high NHL picks Ryan Strome and Brett Ritchie saw some of Niagara's playoff run last spring while during his spring break and got hooked on playing close to home.

"There were definitely a lot of dinner talks, a lot of phone calls with my parents [mother Sherry and father Anthony Sr.] while I was away at school," says DiFruscia, who attended Salisbury Prep in Connecticut last year. "There was definitely a lot of time before deciding it was going to be the OHL.

"I really liked seeing some of the NCAA schools play like Boston College and Boston University. The speed of the game was really impressive. The idea of going to school, finishing a degree and playing hockey was cool. But when I came home and saw The Jack [the IceDogs' home, Jack Gatecliff Arena], it was crazy and loud. I knew I wanted to be there."

The IceDogs, whether by accident of design, had DiFruscia room with their star centre, Strome, during their two-game Eastern Ontario road trip. It's all part of getting the kid up to speed.

"He's been a great guy," DiFruscia says of Strome, the New York Islanders first-rounder who scored the series-winning goal in last month's Canada-Russia Challenge. "He's teaching me lots of stuff."

Going to the OHL is a gamble, with the payoff of being the one player in dozens who has a long-term pro career. The 5-foot-11, 194-pound DiFruscia was considered a first-round talent before the 2011 OHL priority selection draft after tallying a 50-goal, 102-point minor-midget season. He followed that up by helping Salisbury win a championship last season. He also doesn't need a GPS in his own zone. On Friday, he saved a possible goal by coming down from the wing to stick-check the Ottawa 67's Ryan Van Stralen in the goalmouth. That loomed large in an eventual 4-2 win.

"He's got a lot of skill and a lot of toughness," Niagara coach-GM Marty Williamson says of DiFruscia, who scored in each of his first two OHL games.

"He just needs to learn a little bit about the work ethic in the OHL, what comes every day at this level. He didn't quite get it at Salisbury last year. But Anthony has made some great strides. He's been a pleasant surprise for us."

Being on the team's top line during the oft-experimental early portion of the season means that DiFruscia is some advanced company. Figuring out where Strome and Ritchie, who each have three years in junior and a couple NHL camps on him, is as challenging as anything that comes up in economics class. It's DiFruscia's desserts, but he's still grasping the fact that his future is now.

"Never would have thought I would have started on the first line with Ritchie and Strome," he says.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.