Saturday without a doubt was the strangest day of the prospect coverage season. Ten prospects took to the ice but due to ice maintenance issues only nine got to finish their game. But the story of the night belongs to Noah Laba and his 16th-ranked Colorado College Tigers.
If there was any question as to whether the Tigers were worthy of being an NCAA tournament team then the Tigers made sure that they belong. A 6-2 convincing win over second-ranked North Dakota said not only do the Tigers belong, they plan on making a run.
Coupled with the Tigers 7-1 win over North Dakota and Colorado College is very close to being a top-ten team in the polls. Sophomore Noah Laba had a three point night as the Tigers swept the four game season series from North Dakota for the first time ever.
Laba’s scoring began when he raced behind the North Dakota goal beating the North Dakota defender to the puck and then getting the puck to the high slot area where teammate Jack Millar who fired a shot into the goal for the Tigers first goal of the game. Here is the play:
Nice Jack…nice. #CCTigers pic.twitter.com/GREPu4vT2p
— CC Hockey (@CCTigerHKY) February 18, 2024
But it wasn’t all perfect for Laba as he took a boarding major at 17:11 of the first period and should be happy he wasn’t also ejected for the play. In the third period with his team already up 3-2, Laba was credited with the primary assist when he shot trickled behind North Dakota’s goalie. It might have made it in on it’s own but teammate Gleb Veremyev made sure it went in to give Colorado College a 4-2 lead.
Right place right time for Gleb😏#CCTigers pic.twitter.com/VdeNoSsC6r
— CC Hockey (@CCTigerHKY) February 18, 2024
All that was left was the shouting as with the teams playing “4-on-4” and the North Dakota goal empty, Laba earned his third point with his team leading 16th goal. No video of the goal but let’s settle for Laba talking in the postgame about the game and more.
Comments from Noah Laba after scoring a goal and adding two assists in No. 15/16 CC’s 6-2 victory over No. 2 North Dakota Saturday night at Robson Arena!#CCTigers pic.twitter.com/gWKjo90oDA
— CC Hockey (@CCTigerHKY) February 18, 2024
By the numbers, Laba with the 1-2-3 night improves to a team best 16-12-28 on a two shot +4 effort. Toss in the five minute major and a 11-7 faceoff line and Noah Laba is no longer a borderline prospect for the Rangers. Just a sophomore and he is the real deal as he has the tools, the size and skill set to be a NHL center.
And he is a major reason why Colorado College is on the cusp of being a legit top ten team in the polls. The win jumped Colorado College from 15th in the Pairwise rankings used to determine who gets invited to the NCAA tournament.
Typically in a normal year if a team is ranked 12th or better gets in with at least an at-large bid. It doesn’t get any easier as they head to Omaha to face Victor Mancini and his number 18 Omaha Mavericks before a series with Minnesota-Duluth and then end the season playing a “home-and home” series with their archrivals fifth-ranked Denver University.
Rasmus Larsson scored his second goal of the season as his Green Bay Gamblers defeated the Sioux Falls Stampede 6-1 in USHL action. The first year defender scored for the first time since the second game of the season when he opened the scoring for Green Bay.
Would have liked to told you the details about the goal but there aren’t any to be found. A shame too as Larsson was hyped as an offensive weapon based on the 16-18-34 he put up while playing for Vasteras Jr. in the Swedish junior league last year.
So Larsson improves to 2-9-11 for the season as he has his first two-game scoring streak in the USHL.
Maxim Barbashev scored with just 19 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game and force overtime. But what was an entertaining rally from down 4-1 became a 5-4 overtime loss as Barbashev’s Rimouski Oceanic lost to the Chicoutimi Saguenéens in QMJHL play.
After scoring just one goal in all of January, Barbashev now has two in his last three games. In this one with the clock winding down, Barbashev was standing in the crease when the puck dropped right on his stick and a wide open net to shoot at.
Barbashev cashed in for his 11th goal of the season. Got to be brutally honest here, it is highly doubtful that the Rangers intend on signing Barbashev so the prospect is doing whatever he can to gain the interest of another NHL team rather than go back into the NHL Entry Draft.
Barbashev on a 1-0-1 night on just one shot with three hits is now 11-16-27 for the season.
Dylan Roobroeck was scoreless as his Oshawa Generals earned a 2-1 shootout win over the Erie Otters in OHL play. Roobroeck was credited with three shots and was 11-13 on his faceoffs.
Brody Lamb was scoreless as his seventh-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers earned a 3-2 overtime win over Notre Dame in Big Ten play. Lamb was credited with two shots as he was the third line right wing.
Minnesota earned a split in the weekend series with the win.
Hank Kempf was scoreless as his 12th-ranked Cornell Big Red played to a 1-1 overtime tie with the Yale Bulldogs in ECAC play. Cornell earned the extra point in the standings by winning the shootout 2-1.
Cornell extends their unbeaten in regulation streak to 14 games ((10 W, 2 T, 1 SOW, 1 SOL).
Hugo Ollas made his third straight start for his Merrimack Warriors but was defeated by Vermont in Hockey East play 4-1. Ollas was credited with 25 saves while surrendering three goals as his record dropped to 6-9 with a 2.72 goals against and a 0.908 save percentage.
The second period was Ollas’s weak spot as he gave up all three goals there as he stopped all six shots in the first, 11 in the second, and eight in the third period for the loss
Jaroslav Chmelar was scoreless as his 11th-ranked Providence College got beaten by second-ranked Boston University in Hockey East play. Chmelar was credited with just one shot as he played as the third line right wing.
Zakary Karpa was scoreless as his Harvard Crimson lost 3-2 in overtime to Clarkson in ECAC play. Karpa was credited with just one shot, a minor penalty for holding while going 7-8 on his faceoffs.
Ty Henricks and his Muskegon Lumberjacks were up 3-0 over the USNTDP Under-17 team coming out of the second intermission. But the ice at the USNTDP end of the ice was deemed unsafe to play on so the game was postponed with no idea how they were going to resolve this.
Feel bad for Henricks as he had scored his 13th goal of the season ending a seven-game scoreless streak so it is unknown whether he is going to lose the goal if they decide to replay the entire game. Fun fact about Team USA NTDP Under-17 as former Ranger prospects Greg Moore (assistant head coach), and Ryan Bourque (asst coach) work with former Rangers Matt Gilroy and Chad Kolarik (both asst coaches).
