When we launched our ranking system powered by Sirius, there wasn't much drama surrounding who would claim the #1 2022 spot in the Top 66.
That honor belonged to Mount Sinani attackman Joey Spallina.
On August 25, 2021, we shared some of the more eye catching notes from the hundreds of evaluators and coaches who helped produced our rankings.
Joey does Joey things better than anybody.
Best hands in the class. Best finisher in the class. Throw it near him, he will catch it. Give him a square inch of net the net, he will find it.
Slide from Joey, goal. Slide to Joey, assist. Peek at the ball, goal. Slow to rotate, assist. Bad approach, goal.
In transition, Joey Spallina is a magician and he will work an Assist and a Goal. He will ride you to death. He will body up. He will slip you, roll you, shoot around you, over you, through you. He single handedly won the LI High School championship in 2021. He’s a coach on the field and brings a Long-Island swagger you can’t touch.
Spallina is a true #22.
The force is strong with this one.
Joey Spallina is the #1 attackman and #1 player in the class. These are Joey things. Repeat, Joey does Joey things.
Since August, he's been very busy.
He signed an endorsement deal with Gait.
Perhaps, this means we will no longer get to see those eye catching orange adidas gloves.
He shot a Vlog with Ohio State YouTube sensation Mitchell Pehlke.
(Speaking of gloves, how about those painted Epoch customs?)
When I saw him in person this summer in Connecticut, I was blown away with his stick skills and composure. He plays precisely as fast as he intends regardless of the defensive pressure. You cannot speed him up because he has so much faith in his stick skills and decision making.
Combine Ryan Boyle and Lebron James, you get Joey Spallina. Mental processing and game manipulation is off the charts.
From Gilman to Princeton to the Barrage to the Cannons, Boyle ran the offense. He did whatever was required at the highest level possible.
The Lebron comp might throw you off but remember his second stint in Cleveland? He willed the team back from the 3-1 deficit against Golden State. He completely dictated pace of play. He controlled every moment of the final games of the title series.
Spallina is less than a year removed from scoring the game winning goal in the state championship with 20 seconds left on the clock.
What's next for the Long Island sensation?
Winning a state title with his younger brothers at Mount Sinai sounds like a nice send off before college presumably to wear the fabled #22 for Syracuse.