"When we recruit, we look for guys with certain qualities, and he checked the boxes on a lot of the things we look for," Berry said. "He's an outstanding young man that just wants to get better every day, that listens to coaches and wants to play at the highest level.
"We identified him as having very high-end skill level, but kind of a blue-collar mentality approach to the game. Some of the terminology we use, that we like to have in our group, is not wasting a shift and making every shift count. When we watched him, he was a guy that was engaged all the time."
Pinto will get his first taste of the NCAA alongside fellow Senators prospects Jacob Bernard-Docker (No. 26 pick in the 2018 NHL Draft) and Jonathan Tychonick (No. 48 pick in the 2018 NHL Draft). Both have already spent a year at UND, and Pinto is looking forward to learning from two players he hopes to call teammates in Ottawa one day.
"They're awesome guys, first of all," Pinto said. "Once I met them, you could tell they had good personalities. We've been talking, I've been asking some questions about how the life is there and what kind of hockey that they play, and they just told me all good stuff."
Good stuff that will help Pinto progress as a top prospect with the Senators.