Anthony Cappello is a large forward standing at 6 foot 2 and has innate ability to handle the puck with his quick hands taking advantage of situations where he is under sustained pressure.  These abilities allow him to separate himself from defenders in most situations, but to take more advantage of this space, Anthony is looking to improve his speed to create greater chances through his first few steps.  He is also working to improve on his shot to make it more powerful and accurate.  While there has been limited ice time over the last year, Anthony has used any amount of time he can find to work on these skills, along with workouts off the ice to improve on his speed and strength.  Beginning to play the sport when he was 3, Anthony has worked tirelessly to get better as a player, and this included spending time skating with his older cousin’s team to learn from those with more experience.  While he has spent this season with the North Jersey Avalanche, he will be playing for the U16 Long Island Gulls and is incredibly eager to begin a new season to show his ability.  Anthony has been able to work around the pandemic to safely practice with the team to ensure their chemistry remains in tact, but also took part in zoom sessions with his coach to work on specific aspects of his game that they both know need to improve.  When describing his skill level, Anthony models himself after Nathan MacKinnon but still understands that he needs to improve his skating to reach a player like MacKinnon’s level.  He still has size over MacKinnon so he uses this to his advantage as he can drive to the net with his strength rather than his speed and control the puck with his quick hands in a pinch, making more of a playmaking power forward.  Enjoying the physical part of his game, Anthony plays with an edge to get himself going and challenge his abilities but does not get into his own head and remains calm under pressure to avoid panicking with the puck.  Being responsible defensively, he is also calm in his own zone as he focuses on his game at a two-way level trying to put an equal focus into a complete game.  Continuing to grow his game, Anthony wants to become more consistent in the future and will do this by improving his speed and developing his shot into a more powerful and accurate tool in his arsenal.  Using this off-season to his advantage, we look forward to seeing Anthony’s development with the Long Island Gulls next season.