It is playoff time and that means the number of New York Ranger prospects shrink faster than one can blink. Friday night saw just one Rangers prospect see his team eliminated from post-season play leaving just six remaining between the NCAAs and the CHL.
What is does not suggest is that the Rangers will see many of the eliminated prospects joining Hartford on an Amateur Tryout Contract (ATO). So far just Noah Laba has signed an ATO and while Jackson Dorrington is the most likely possibility, he still has his senior year that he can go back to Northeastern for.
NCHC Frozen Playoff
Ty Henricks and his top-seeded Western Michigan Broncos eliminated E. J. Emery and his North Dakota Fighting Hawks 4-2 in the semifinals of the NCHC Frozen Playoffs. Henricks and his teammates advance to the finals of the playoff with the opportunity to win both the regular season (Penrose Cup) and playoffs.
Neither prospect factored in the scoring with Henricks credited with two shots as the fourth line left wing for Western Michigan. Defenseman E. J. Emery (third pair right side)returned to the North Dakota for the first time since February 22nd did not record any shots but was credited with one blocked shot.
Emery had missed six games with what was called a lower-body injury did not look out of place as he finished his freshman season with a 0-1-1 stat total, he was credited with averaging 18:55 of ice time with 29 blocked shots and 40 total PIMs.
Very doubtful that Emery will even consider leaving school after this season as he does need to improve several areas of his game starting with his offensive side. Defensively Emery showed a lot of good promise and that part of his game is what will get him to the National Hockey League.
On offense, lets just say every area on offense needs to improve starting with his shot selection. It really looked that as the season wore on and his offense just was not there that Emery avoided looking to take shots. Hopefully he will attend as many of the Rangers off-season camps as possible because if he can improve his offense even in the slightest then at worse, the Rangers will have a good second pair defender.
Henricks and his Broncos will be facing an experienced team in the 2024 defending NCAA champions Denver University. With the win in Friday’s game, Western Michigan moved up to four in the most current Pairwise rankings. A win would lock up a number one seed in the NCAA tournament and Western Michigan would most likely be sent to Fargo North Dakota.
Who is in the NCAAs and who is not?
Boston College- Gabe Perreault and Drew Fortescue- ranked first overall and they will be the number on seed in the entire NCAA tournament
Western Michigan- Ty Henricks – fourth in the rankings mostly likely a one seed
Minnesota- Brody Lamb- they are currently ranked fifth overall so they will most likely be a two seed and forced to travel east since Michigan State will be a one seed and expected to be sent to Toledo Ohio.
North Dakota – E. J. Emery- they needed to win the NCHC playoff and the automatic bid that went with it. They are ranked 19th in the Pairwise and have too many teams in front of them to sneak in to the tournament.
No other Rangers prospects playing in the NCAA even came close to tournament consideration as this was a poor year for the Rangers prospects.
Canadian Juniors
Nathan Aspinall had a primary assist but his Flint Firebirds were beaten by the Sarnia Sting 5-2 in OHL action. Aspinall earned the primary assist on the Firebirds first goal which was a power play goal. He was credited with one shot as he improved 17-27-44 on the year which is first in goals and third in overall scoring.
Flint has qualified for the OHL playoffs and will finish their regular season with a “home and home” series with archrival Saginaw. Currently the sixth seed in the OHL’s Western Conference, they need any combination of two points to lock in the sixth seed but lose both games and they could fall to seventh.
Raoul Boilard was scoreless as his Baie-Comeau Drakkar defeated the Chicoutimi Saguenéens 2-1 in QMJHL play. Boilard was credited with two shot with a +1 and was 5-12 on his faceoffs.
The Drakkar have one game remaining in their regular season as they will host Chicoutimi to finish their regular season. Thanks to a five game unbeaten streak (4-0-1), Boilard and his Drakkar are going to finish as the fourth seed in the QMJHL’s Eastern Conference and will host the Cape Breton Eagles in the first round.
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