By now you should already know that Gabe Perreault and Drew Fortescue earned gold medals playing for Team USA at the World Under-20 Championships that just finished up over in Sweden. They join the likes of Brett Berard, Brennan Othmann, Chris Kreider and more who have won gold medals while representing their countries at the Under-20 Championships which might be a good sign for their futures in becoming New York Rangers.
Perreault had a goal and two assists in the gold medal game against Sweden as his goal was the one that got Team USA on the scoreboard at 16:56 of the first period when Perrault pulled another new trick out of his bag of tricks. The young forward redirected a shot of teammate Will Smith past the Swedish goalie for a 1-0 lead.
Perreault on the redirect from Smith for the 🚨 #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/0M5bgGzL98
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) January 5, 2024
It was the third goal of the tournament for the Boston College first-year student and to be honest a score that had not been seen by him. So far this year, Perreault has done some amazing things mostly via the passing game, but this was his first “magic” trick to score with. If anything I am going to start calling Perreault “The Magician” for the magic he creates with his stick.
In the second period it was teammate Drew Fortescue’s turn to lead to a score as Fortescue from behind his own goal sent a pass along the boards that teammate Ike Howard picked up and took it in to score to give Team USA a 2-1 lead. Now Perreault’s play has been more of an extension of what he has been doing all season long but this tournament has been a “coming out” party for the Boston College first-year defenseman.
Fortescue’s play at both ends of the ice has been excellent during this tournament as he has led the Team USA defenders with a 1-3-4 +6 mark. The Rangers desperately needed an upgrade among their prospective defensemen and Fortescue is giving them a hope that he will develop into a top-pair defender.
In the third period with Team USA up 3-2, Perreault earned a secondary assist on Zeev Buium’s goal at 1:19 of the period. And then Perreault put the dagger into the hopes of any Swedish comeback when he set up fellow Boston College teammate Ryan Leonard for Team USA’s fifth goal and this game was all over but the shouting.
Perreault’s 1-2-3 performance gave him a 3-7-10 +4 for the tournament as Team USA won its sixth gold medal of the World Under-20 championships. Bad news for the rest of the world but this was a young USA team with pretty much most of the key parts are eligible to return for next year’s tournament which will be held in Minnesota.
The third Rangers prospect to play in the World Under-20 was Adam Sykora of Slovakia as the Rangers “loaned” him to Slovakia from the Hartford Wolfpack. Sykora was 1-1-2 for the tournament and to be honest, I am not sure what was gained by it as maybe the problem was the expectations for Sykora.
Sykora will be returning to Hartford this weekend.
Don’t look now but defenseman Victor Mancini of the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks is turning into an offensive machine. After going his first 75 NCAA games without a goal, Mancini now has three goals in his last 12 games thanks to an unassisted goal in the opening round of the Dessert Hockey Classic Championship being played at Arizona State.
Mancini scored an unassisted goal in the third period against UMass-Lowell to tie the game up at 2-2. The junior defenseman intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and then took it all the way to the UML goal where he scored.
It was part of a 1-0-1 on five shots with a +2 for Mancini as they advance to Saturday’s tournament final against host Arizona State. Mancini improves to 3-3-6 in 17 games this season.
Zakary Karpa had an assist but his Harvard Crimson were no match for 13th-ranked Arizona State in an opening round matchup at the Dessert Hockey Classic Championship as they dropped a 5-2 decision to the host team. Karpa was 0-1-1 on two shots with a 12-10 mark on his faceoffs.
Ty Henricks was scoreless as his Muskegon Lumberjacks got spanked by the Dubuque Fighting Saints 8-2 in USHL action. Henricks had a secondary assist to improve his season totals to 11-5-16.
Rasmus Lawsson was scoreless as his Green Bay Gamblers were edged 4-3 by the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders in USHL play.
Did Not Play
Bryce McConnell (Dec 10th) remains out for the Soo Greyhounds. The Greyhounds reportedly expected him back to play earlier this week but that never happened.
