Gregg Krupa

The Detroit News

Plymouth — The future civil engineering major seems smart enough to figure a lot of things out, and some scouts say Keith Petruzzelli, 18, will one day play as a No. 1 goalie in the NHL.

Petruzzelli, the Red Wings’ 6-foot-6, third-round pick in June, is practicing and playing for the USA at the World Junior Summer Showcase this week.

It could turn out the Wings were lucky to nab Petruzzelli 88th overall.

His size is obvious. So is his dedication to positioning in the crease, to best take advantage of his proportions.

At his best, Petruzzelli is a “quiet” goalie; limiting unnecessary movement and remaining continuously square to shooters.

What seems to get the scouts excited is an additional attribute one might not expect: He looks pretty quick.

Petruzzelli, from Wilbraham in western Massachusetts, is in the middle of his transition from Muskegon, in the best junior league in the United States, the USHL, to Division I in the NCAA, and the Quinnipiac Bobcats.

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Development is a whimsical process. But to think he might play in the NHL in the next three seasons clearly is not out of the question.

Right now?

Petruzzelli says Quinnipiac has a really pretty campus and he is looking forward to classes and improving his game.

“This year, I worked a lot on my depth” in the crease, he said of his season with the Lumberjacks. He played 35 games, with a 2.40 goals against average and .918 save percentage.

“I was able to kind of sit back and rely on my size a lot in U-18 hockey,” Petruzzelli said of his previous season, in 2015-16, with the under-18 team at the Selects Hockey Academy, in Connecticut.

“Coming up to the USHL, the pace is a lot faster and the guy’s shots are a lot harder and more accurate.

“So I had to always push out to the top of the crease and always be challenging them with my depth.”

He chose Quinnipiac because they chose him, Petruzzelli said, recruiting him early and hard. And he really seems to like the thought of life on the comparatively small campus, which Petruzzelli called “gorgeous,” working at both school and hockey.

“Great coaching staff,” he said, of a group headed up by 23-year-veteran Rand Pecknold, who has 20 victories in 17 of the seasons, and five consecutive ECAC semi-final appearances.

Pecknold assisted Jeff Blashill behind the bench for the United States in the 2017 World Championship, earlier this year.

“Great people,” Petruzzelli continued. “Just awesome, awesome coaches.”

And, yes, he likes the idea of majoring in civil engineering, even as he works enough on his game to hasten the day when his time on ice might be in the NHL.

Petruzzelli is smart enough to try to perform in the classroom, too, and wise enough to know he must strive to achieve what any academic counselor or academically-minded coach would counsel: the need for a balanced life on campus.

“Yeah, obviously grow as a player,” he said, of his goals for his freshman year. “School is going to be a little tough for me.

“I’m doing civil engineering, so that’s going to be hard. So, I’m hoping to work on balancing everything.

“It’s going to be a lot. But I’m really looking forward to it.”

The fact that the Red Wings like them “smart,” is reflected in Petruzzelli’s intended major, and what 2016 first round pick Dennis Cholowski was about to bite off at St. Cloud State.

Before the Wings decided that Prince George of the Western Hockey League might hasten his development and, they hope, the eventual timing of his move to Grand Rapids, Cholowski intended to take after his dad, an engineer, and major in mechanical engineering.

“Well, it’s a great field,” Petruzzelli said, as a matter of fact. “Lots of job opportunities.

“If hockey doesn’t work out, then I got something to fall back on.”

One gets the feeling hockey might work out, at least for a while.

Petruzzelli said it is much too early to think of whether he will complete four years at Quinnipiac, or eventually respond to a possible request from the Red Wings to move to Grand Rapids.

He said he is just taking care of his end of any business.

And, by the way, the scouts also say they notice his lateral movement is sometimes labored, instead of a smooth thrust.

“Something I probably want to get better at,” Petruzzelli said, “is making things look easy.”

gregg.krupa@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @greggkrupa