
While Team USA with Drew Fortescue and Gabe Perreault are one win away from becoming two-time Under-20 Gold Medalist, there is something that needs to be pointed out. In this weeks’ USA Hockey/The Rink Live Men’s College Hockey Poll, it is #2 Boston College (Fortescue and Perreault), #3 Minnesota (Brody Lamb), and #4 Western Michigan (Ty Henricks).
That is a first in the 21 years of the Prospect Park to have Ranger prospects at the top of the poll like that. It will make for a very fun NCAA tournament come this spring.
At the semifinals of the 2025 World Under-20 championships as much as every one loves offense, Team USA is not headed to the gold medal game on Sunday if not for the defensive play of Fortescue.
The final score was Team USA 4 Czechia 1 but call it Fortescue and Perreault 4-1. How neither was not mentioned as one of the US players of the game is criminal.
With Team USA clinging to a 2-1 lead in the third and the Czechs on a power play, there was Fortescue disrupting the Czech offense with poke checks, with pass break ups, and with his physical play. The Czechs could do nothing with that power play and thanks to the kill, the USA saw momentum swing its way for good.
If you are not doing anything Sunday night and have access to the NHL Network then make sure you watch the gold medal game against Finland to see the future of the Rangers.
Been joking that hopefully Chris Drury and his management team brought a couple of contracts for Fortescue and Perreault to sign. After Saturday’s game, it is no longer a joke.
Perreault was one of the USA players of the game and it was well deserved.
If you want to fix the Rangers then start by adding the “Magician” Perreault and Rescue Squad #5 Fortescue to the Rangers roster. It is crystal clear that against the best of their age group, both prospects have more than proven that they are ready for the NHL.
The “Magician” Gabe Perreault leads the USA in scoring (and fourth overall) after a 1-1-2 game improved his tournament totals to 3-6-9. It was Perreault who got Team USA going when he scored the game’s first goal just 3:14 into the first period.
Perreault’s third goal of the tournament and the best was yet to come. In the third period with the USA up 2-1, it was Perreault who put the dagger into the hopes of the Czechs thanks to a perfect setup of Boston College teammate Ryan Leonard for the US’s third goal of the game.
The Czechs got caught on a bad line change and Perreault carried the puck into the offensive zone. Everyone but the Czechs knew that Perreault was looking to set up his teammate but the Czechs all went to him leaving Ryan Leonard wide open and alone in front of the Czech goal. A simple tap in and Leonard had another goal and the US was heading to the gold medal game.
Watch the entire highlights and see all the times Perreault either had a scoring chance or was setting up someone else. We counted five key scoring chances in total.
The gold medal game starts at 7:30 EDT/4:30 PDT.
Brody Lamb was scoreless on a game high seven shots as his third-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers had little trouble with Mercyhurst 5-2 for a sweep of the non-conference series. Lamb was the Gophers’ third line right wing.
Ty Henricks was scoreless on two shots as his fourth-ranked Western Michigan Broncos defeated Alaska-Anchorage 5-2. Henricks was the fourth line left wing.
Zakary Karpa recorded his second assist of the season as his Harvard Crimson let a 3-2 lead slip away as they surrendered five unanswered goals in the third period to fall to UConn 7-3. The five-goal collapse in the non-conference game ruined one of Karpas’ better played games.
Noah Laba recorded his second goal of the season, but it was not enough to prevent his eighth-ranked Colorado College Tigers from dropping a 3-2 non-conference game to Augustana. Augustana swept the two-game series as Laba was 1-0-1 on three shots and was 6-9 on his faceoffs.
Laba is 2-10-12 which is well behind his pace of last season.
Karpa who is the captain of the Harvard team was the third line center was 0-1-1 on two shots with a -1 but also a 13-5 faceoff line to lead all centers.
Nathan Aspinall had an assist on four shots as his Flint Firebirds lost in overtime to the Brampton Steelheads 5-4. Aspinall earned the only assist on the Firebirds third goal which at the time gave them a 3-2 lead in the second period.
Aspinall improved his season totals to 9-15-24.
Hank Kempf and his 16th-ranked Cornell Big Red were shut out 4-0 in the finals of the Desert Classic by host Arizona State. Kempf who was the third pair left defenseman was a -2 on zero shots and a second period interference minor that led to an Arizona State power play goal.
Exhibition
E. J. Emery had an assist as his 15th ranked North Dakota Fighting Hawks shutout Manitoba 5-0 in exhibition action. Emery has just one assist in 19 counting games earned a secondary assist on North Dakota’s fifth goal of the game.
Did Not Play
Raoul Boilard missed his sixth straight game with an upper body injury. Boilard suffered the injury on December 14th in a game with the Rimouski Oceanic.
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