Somebody decided to move April Fools Day up from Monday to Friday as some strange stuff happened to the New York Ranger prospects who played on Friday night. Six Ranger prospects saw action on Friday as the NCAA Tournament and CHL playoffs entered day two.
Gabe Perreault and Drew Fortescue were making their NCAA tournament debuts for number one seed Boston College as they were facing off against CCHA champion Michigan Tech. This was expected to be a huge mismatch and for the most part it was as Boston College had little trouble defeating Tech 6-1 to advance to the Providence Regional final on Sunday.
What wound up being strange was that Gabe Perreault saw his 18-game point scoring streak ended by Perreault being ejected during the second period of the game for what was a illegal check to the head to Tech’s Tyrone Bronte. Not going to argue whether it was a good or bad call because replay deemed the play to be dangerous and that turned it into a game misconduct.
It was a crazy way to see an 18-game scoring streak end on a play that more than doubled Perreault’s PIM total (he had 12 PIMs prior to the ejection). Ironically Bronte would wind up being ejected for also a illegal check to the head in the third period after Boston College had broken the game open.
Not sure if Perreault will face any extra discipline (even less sure who makes that ruling in the NCAA tournament) so hopefully he is back for Sunday’s game in the Providence final. More on that in a second as Perreault was credited with three shots on a -1 with 15 PIMs and teammate Fortescue was credited with one shot and a +1 for the game.
Sunday Boston College will face off against last year’s tournament champions the Quinnipiac Bobcats in what should be a very good matchup. The only reason that Boston College is facing Quinnipiac this early in the tournament is because the Bobcats were upset in their league tournament and had to earn their invite via an at-large big.
This one is a great matchup of two top programs so set your DVRs to ESPN2 Sunday starting at 4PM EDT/1 PM PDT. It is also a great chance to see two top Ranger prospects in action.
So picture this Dylan Roobroeck and his Oshawa Generals rode a 12-game winning streak to win the OHL’s Eastern Conference title and the first seed that went with it. It got them a playoff series against the last seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs the Barrie Colts. (Do I really need to tell you what happens next).
So game one in Oshawa and someone forgot to tell Barrie they were the eighth seed as the Colts scored three unanswered goals on their way to a 4-2 game one win. The Colts have stolen away home ice advantage from the Generals who honestly got what they deserved by taking the Colts so lightly.
Dylan Roobroeck had a goal in the losing effort as he scored late in the third period to cut the Colts lead to 3-2 with just over two minutes remaining in regulation. Roobroeck going 1-0-1 on six shots with a -1 and was 8-5 on his faceoffs.]
Game two will be on Sunday in Oshawa, pretty sure the Generals won’t take the Colts lightly from this point out.
Maxim Barbashev was scoreless with no shots and four hits as his Rimouski Oceanic got spanked by the Cape Breton Eagles 6-2 in game one of their QJMHL playoff series. This one was over after the Eagles scored four goals in the second period and the Oceanic had no answers for them.
Game two will be tomorrow night in Cape Breton.
USHL
Ironically the USHL starts before every one else but finishes after they do as they don’t end their regular season until April 13th. That being said, Rasmus Larsson was scoreless and didn’t record a stat as his Green Bay Gamblers held off the Chicago Steel 5-4.
The win allows Green Bay to maintain a one-point lead over the Muskegon Lumberjacks for second place in the USHL’s Eastern Conference. The second place team earns a first round bye as well as home ice in the second round of the USHL’s :Clark Cup.
The Gamblers hold a game in hand over the Lumberjacks as they have six regular season games remaining to play.
Ty Henricks recorded his 17th goal of the season a power play goal (his
fourth) as his Muskegon Lumberjacks rolled to a 4-1 win over the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders. Henricks scored Muskegon’s third goal of the game as they used two power play goals to take this one from the RoughRiders.
Henricks improves to 17-12-29 as he is on a three game scoring streak (2-2-4) and has raised his plus/minus number to a +6. The win was the fourth straight for the Lumberjacks who trail Green Bay by a single point in the USHL’s Eastern Conference standing but the Lumberjacks have just five games left to play.
