There was a mix of good and bad on Saturday night from the eight New York Rangers prospects who took to the ice. There were mostly wins (6W-1L-1SOL) but just one goal and two assist in offense.
The number one reason for the last of production on offense was the lack of players taking shots. It is maddening to see prospect pass up on shot opportunities as you don’t score if you don’t shoot the puck on goal.
Stop us if you heard this one before; 16th-ranked Colorado College wins a game and Noah Laba has the game-winning goal. Laba recorded his NCAA leading seventh game winning goal as Colorado College earned a split in their weekend series with 15th ranked St. Cloud State in NCHC play.
The win puts Colorado College into sole possession of third place in the NCHA conference. Laba earned his third game winning goal in his last four games when he scored the fourth goal of the game for Colorado College.
When Laba scores they say that Laba has lit the Laba Lamp.
The Tigers were on the power play in the third period leading by two 3-1 when Laba found a loose puck deflected over to him and he fired the puck into the St. Cloud St goal at 11:35 of the period and a 4-1 lead.
Labaaaaaaa!#CCTigers pic.twitter.com/VUOZjRZ9z6
— CC Hockey (@CCTigerHKY) February 4, 2024
The goal would hold up as Colorado College would hold off St. Cloud St.’s late game rally for the 5-3 win. Laba’s goal was his 15th tying him with Bryce McConnell-Barker for the Rangers prospect goal scoring lead.
On his team, Laba is not only the leading goal scorer but he is the overall points scorer as well (15-9-24). He is tied for the NCAA lead in goal scoring with seven and at last check is one of the top faceoff winners at 57%.
Victor Mancini had a primary assist as his Omaha Mavericks held off Minnesota-Duluth 4-3 in NCHC action. The win gives Omaha a 4 game unbeaten streak (3W-0L-1SOW-0) as they moved up to sixth in the NCHC conference.
Mancini had a pretty easy assist as he took the puck off the sideboards, passed the puck to defensive partner Kirby Proctor who fired a one-timer from the blueline for Omaha’s first goal of the game. For Mancini the assist was his his fifth of the season as he tied his career best in points (3-5-8).
Hank Kempf had a secondary assist as his #13 Cornell Big Red had little trouble with Clarkson earning a 7-2. The win extended Cornell’s unbeaten streak to 10 games (8-0-1-1) as they move up to second in the ECAC standings.
Kempf’s assists came on Cornell’s fourth goals and was his fourth of the season as he improves to 1-4-5.
Brody Lamb was scoreless as his ninth-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers tied third-ranked Wisconsin 1-1 in Big Ten play. Wisconsin earned the extra point in the standings by winning the shootout 2-0.
Lamb was a -1 with no shots which sadly is what hurts his progress as a prospect. The young forward is a proven scorer, even more dangerous on the power play but he doesn’t take a lot of shots in his games.
Take a closer look at the prospects who have the fewest goals and the number reason why is they don’t take any shots. Go back to Noah Laba who has 15 goals and scores on 26% of his shots.
Minnesota heads east for an important series next Friday and Saturday against Penn State. Friday’s game will be on Fox Sports 1 starting at 7PM ET/4PM PT and Saturday will be on the Big Ten Network starting at 4 PM ET/1 PM PT.
Ty Henricks was scoreless on three shots as his Muskegon Lumberjacks rallied from down 3-1 to defeat the Chicago Steel 5-3 in USHL action. Henricks has been hot and cold this season as he has just one goal in his last 11 games.
But he has 12 goals on the season which has him in the top five in Rangers prospect goal scoring.
Maxim Barbashev was scoreless on one shot as his Rimouski Oceanic defeated the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada 4-1 in QMJHL play. Hate to say this but Barbashev is playing his way out of any kind of NHL ELC as last year he had 32 goals in 67 games and this year he has nine goals in 40 games.
Very disappointing to this happen.
Rasmus Lawsson did not record a single stat as his Green Bay Gamblers defeated the Madison Capitals 5-2 in USHL play. Lawsson is another disappoint so far as he was heralded as an offensive threat from his time okaying in Sweden.
Hugo Ollas continues to have trouble finding ways to win games. Ollas and his Merrimack Warriors dropped a 3-1 decision to 17th-ranked University of New Hampshire. The junior goalie was credited with 25 saves on 28 shots as he dropped his third straight start.
Ollas is 4-8 with a 2.89 goals against and a 0.903 save percentage.
Did Not Play
Jaroslav Chmelar recovering from wrist surgery appears to be at least a month from returning
