O’Neil has had a dominant junior season for the Rams, crushing opponents with a face-off win percentage right around 85 percent. He is a strong, athletic, and scrappy player with the ability to win the draw forward or through the legs. The Army commit can also shoot the rock. He is confident with the ball in his stick and makes smart plays, whether that’s shooting the ball or passing it off.

I’ve always considered the faceoff specialist an honorary member of the defensive unit. At the end of the day, the critical part of his job is making sure the other team isn’t playing offense as much as they want to. What could be more defensive than that? O’Neil is the latest in what is becoming a very strong tradition of dominance at the face-off spot for the Rams. Currently a junior, he has had an excellent year at the X. Against Wilton, I unofficially had him not losing a faceoff all day. O’Neil has a current comp to a college player like Machado Rodriguez at Yale. Rodriguez plays at 100 mph at all times. It’s maximum velocity. O’Neil, on clean wins, plays the same way. He wants to push up the field, he wants to attack the goal. He looks for chances to push tempo and force defenders into decisions about sliding to him to stop the shot. At New Canaan, a clean win forward for O’Neil means the point of the break has to decide between staying home, or sliding to O’Neil and leaving Michigan-bound sharpshooter Doster Crowell Doster Crowell 5'10" | 170 lbs | A New Canaan | 2024 CT on the point. Not an enviable position. O’Neil’s face-off unit as a trio will often include one of the above-mentioned poles or BU-bound Brayden Robie Brayden Robie 5'10" | 165 lbs | D | Left Hand New Canaan | 2025 CT , plus two-way midfielder Thomas Garcia Thomas Garcia 5'11" | 185 lbs | M | Right Hand New Canaan | 2024 CT .