It wasn’t as intense as Friday night but the results were still very positive for the New York Ranger prospects as the NCAA regular season came to an end. Ten prospects took to the ice with once again Gabe Perreault missing for his Boston College Eagles. No worries about Perreault as it made no sense for him to play on Saturday in a meaningless game and risk reinjuring him.
Brody Lamb and his eighth-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers advanced to the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament after defeating Penn State 3-2 to earn a 2-0 series sweep. Lamb set up the series clinching goal with this play at 18:52 of the third period.
Have a look as Lamb to Huglen for the lead and the sweep.
LAMB TO HUGLEN FOR THE LEAD pic.twitter.com/LW0908z3fl
— Minnesota Men’s Hockey (@GopherHockey) March 9, 2024
Lamb who normally is the goal scorer gets the credit for setting up this goal. It was his 14th assist on the season as he improves to 12-14-26 and extends his mini-scoring streak to three games (1-3-4). Minnesota has to wait until the outcome of Ohio State/Wisconsin’s third game to see who they face on March 16th.
Victor Mancini and his 17th-ranked Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks sent a loud message about facing them in the NCHC playoffs after they handed third-ranked North Dakota a 4-1 loss and sweep of their weekend series. Granted the game was meaningless to North Dakota who had already wrapped up the top seed in the NCHC playoffs but Omaha ended their season on a seven-game unbeaten streak (7W-0-1OTW).
It was the first time in Nebraska-Omaha history that they swept the season series from North Dakota.
Mancini who turned up his game in the second half finishes his regular season with a 4-6-10 which are career bests for the junior defender. If the tiebreakers are correct then next weekend it will be Nebraska-Omaha on the road against Colorado College in the NCHC quarterfinals.
Noah Laba had an assist but his 12th-ranked Colorado College Tigers fell to fourth-ranked Denver University 4-3 in NCHC play. Laba had the primary assist on Colorado College’s first goal for his only point of the night.
Laba was held without a shot and a -1 with a roughing minor and a 11-9 faceoff mark. The sophomore center finishes the regular season as the leading scorer for Colorado College thanks to a career best 19-16-35.
The fight for the second seed in the USHL’s Eastern Conference continued on Saturday as Ty Henricks and his Muskegon Lumberjacks defeated the Youngstown Phantoms 3-2 for the second straight night. Henricks was scoreless on one shot as the Lumberjacks won their third straight game.
Rasmus Larsson and his Green Bay Gamblers lost to the Omaha Lancers 3-1 as Larsson was scoreless with no stats credited. Not sure how up to date the USHL website is but our math says Muskegon should have moved into the second seed with their win.
These two teams are going to fight down to the last game to determine the second seed (which earns a first round bye in the Clark Cup playoffs).
Maxim Barbashev was scoreless on two shots and credited with four hits as his Rimouski Oceanic defeated the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada for the second straight night. It was the fourth straight win for the Oceanic who are sitting in fourth place in the QMJHL’s Eastern Conference.
Bryce McConnell-Barker earned a secondary assist as his Soo Greyhounds extended their unbeaten streak to seven games (6-0-1) after they defeated the Windsor Spitfires 5-2. McConnell-Barker earned his assist on the Greyhounds fourth goal which put the game away in the third period.
McConnell-Barker with his 0-1-1 on three shots with a -1 and was 6-7 on his faceoffs as he improved to 19-26-45 on the season.
Jaroslav Chmelar was scoreless as 10th-ranked Providence finished their Hockey East regular season with a 3-3 overtime tie. Providence would earn the extra point in the standings by winning the shootout 2-1.
Chmelar finishes his regular season with 5-10-15 stat line but to be fair missing nine games because wrist surgery and it is a different story for the sophomore right wing. Providence finishes as the fourth seed in the Hockey East and they will host UMass-Amherst in the Hockey East quarterfinals next Saturday.
No Gabe Perreault for top-ranked Boston College in their Hockey East finale against Hugo Ollas and his Merrimack Warriors and that made sense. Defenseman Drew Fortescue did play and did not record anything. Hugo Ollas got the start for Merrimack and sadly he is playing his way out of a contract after a 6-4 loss.
Ollas surrendered six goals on 35 shots as he got off to a good start stopping all ten shots he faced in the first period. He gave up two goals in the second period while making 10 more saves but the third period doomed him.
Ollas gave up four goals on 13 shots in the third period as his defense failed him. The junior goalie finishes his junior season with a 7-11 record along with a 2.83 goals against and a 0.909 save percentage.
Ollas and his Warriors finished as the 10th-seed in Hockey East, they will face 7th-seed Northeastern in a single elimination game next Wednesday night. Boston College earns a bye and will face the lowest remaining seed nest weekend.
More Playoffs
After the results of Saturday’s games in the ECAC first round, Zakary Karpa and his Harvard Crimson will face second-seed (and 15th-ranked) Cornell in the ECAC quarterfinals a best of three series.
