Mancini And Omaha Force Game 3 With Win

Victor Mancini( Nebraska-Omaha)

There are times when some playoff matchups happen way to early in the playoff season. The NCHC first round matchup between Noah Laba and his 10th-ranked Colorado College Tigers and Victor Mancini’s 13th-ranked Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks is a great example of it.

Two of the better stories of the college hockey season are facing off in the first round when an argument can be made that they deserved to face each other in the NCHC finals. Instead in game two with Colorado College looking to eliminate Omaha, the closeness of the matchup showed.

Noah Laba (Colorado College hockey)

Neither Rangers prospect scored but it was still one heck of a game. Omaha needed to win to extend the series and perhaps their season to a deciding game three. And win Omaha did earning a 3-1 win despite being out played and out shot 40-21.

Laba, the Tigers leading scorer was limited to just three shots and a 13-9 faceoff line, wasn’t really much of a factor in this one. Mancini’s defensive play doesn’t show up on the scoresheet was credited with one.

By winning Omaha actually moved past Colorado College in the Pairwise rankings as they are 12th and the Tigers are 13th. Sunday they play a deciding game three with the winner most likely locking down a NCAA tournament invite and the loser in danger of not being invited to the tournament.

And it is a shame that the NCHC does not have a better TV contract with the CBS sports network as nobody is going to see what just might be a great game unless you have NCHC.TV

Drew Fortescue (Boston College)

Look it is pretty silly for Boston College to keep saying that Gabe Perreault is “day-to-day” with an upper body injury. Counting tonight’s Hockey East quarterfinals game against UConn, Perreault has no missed five games.

Several on Twitter have reported seeing Perrault at the rink wearing something covering his hand. His injury is clearly much worse than anyone has led on to be.

Do not be surprised if Perreault decides to leave school after this season to turn pro especially after this injury. And it will be hard to blame the young man either.

As for the games itself, the sometimes forgotten other Rangers prospect on the Boston College Eagles scored his first goal since November 24th (20 games) and first point in nine games.

Top-ranked Boston College jumped out to a 3-0 lead lost it and needed a goal midway of the third period to escape with a 5-4 win to advance to next week’s Hockey East semifinals against UMass.

With his team already leading 2-0, Fortescue snuck down from the left point, found a loose puck and fired it into the UConn goal for a 3-0 lead.

It was Fortescue’s fourth goal of the season and you got to ask why the freshman defenseman doesn’t do this more often. Fortescue has down this during the season and it is clear that he has much more offense than people realize.

But for now Fortescue improves to 4-3-7 as his team advances to the Hockey East semifinals next Friday night.

Bryce McConnell-Barker had a goal as his Soo Greyhounds beat the Owen Sound Attack 5-2 in OHL play. McConnell-Barker recorded his 21st goal to get his team started in their win.

Bryce McConnell-Barker (Tim Cornett/OHL Images)

McConnell-Barker with the goal has a four-game scoring streak going as he improves to 21-28-49 in 51 games. Had McConnell-Barker not missed 14 games he was on a path towards a 28-37-65 season which would have been close to what he did last season.

Tag McConnell-Barker as headed to Hartford for next season for sure. The Greyhounds with three games remaining in the regular season are five points behind the Saginaw Spirit for the West Division lead in the OHL, they will most likely be the third seed when the OHL’s Western Conference playoffs start.

Brody Lamb and his sixth-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers were defeated 2-1 by 11-ranked Michigan in the Big Ten semifinals. Lamb was scoreless and sadly invisible despite being the second line right wing.

A shame too as when his game is on, Lamb is as good a sniper as there is in NCAA hockey. But sadly on nights like this one when the best he manages is a single shot on goal then you tend to forget about him.

To be honest as a team Minnesota is a prime example of why the current Pairwise system is wrong. This has been a team that is so inconsistent but because it is sitting seventh in the Pairwise rankings will get invited to the NCAA tournament.

Sorry if I was the committee they would be at risk of being invited.

Jaroslav Chmelar was scoreless as his 14th-ranked Providence College Friars lose to UMass 3-1 in the quarterfinals of the Hockey East tournament. Chmelar did not record any stats as the third line right wing.

With his team currently ranked 16th in the Pairwise rankings, it is hard to see Providence earning a at-large invite to the NCAA tournament. What started out as a solid season for Chmelar was derailed by him having wrist surgery mid-season.

Chmelar finished with a 5-10-15 stat line and is expected he will return for his junior season next year.

Hank Kempf was scoreless as his 15th-ranked Cornell Big Red had little trouble eliminating Zakary Karpa and his Harvard Crimson 4-1 to sweep their ECAC quarterfinals matchup two games to none.

For Kempf and Cornell, they advance to face Dartmouth next Friday in the ECAC semifinals and while sitting at 15th in the current Pairwise, have think they need win the ECAC tournament to earn a trip to the NCAA tournament.

Zakary Karpa was scoreless with no shots, a -2 and was 6-8 on his faceoffs. He finishes his junior season 4-4-8 and if he really wants any hope of a contract offer to consider transferring to another school because Harvard as a hockey program has fallen on hard times.

There is talent there but few teams are going to want to sign third line center on a bad team.

Maxim Barbashev was scoreless on one shot as his Rimouski Oceanic lost 3-1 to the Drummondville
Voltigeurs in QMJHL play. The loss drops the Oceanic down to the sixth seed in the QMJHL’s Western Conference with just two games left in the regular season.

Ty Henricks was scoreless as his Muskegon Lumberjacks fell to the Dubuque Fighting Saints 3-1 in USHL play. Henricks was credited with two shots and a -1 as his team dropped their third straight.

The loss drops the Lumberjacks to fourth in the USHL’s Eastern Conference with nine games left in their regular season.

Did Not Play

Rasmus Larsson missed his second straight game for his Green Bay Gamblers. No explanation has been given for why he is not playing

ICYMI

The Rangers announced that they signed goalie Hugo Ollas to an entry level contract. Ollas who had just finished his junior season at Merrimack is expected to join Hartford for the rest of their season.

Ollas who had a struggle of a season at Merrimack has the talent but where he fits with the Rangers will be interesting to see. His signing more than likely says that the Rangers will not offer Olof Lindblom a new contract.

In terms of where Ollas sits considering the Rangers already giving Jonathan Quick and Louie Domingue contract extensions, I look at the Rangers goalie depth chart as follows

Rangers- Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick

Hartford- Louie Domingue, Dylan Garand, and Hugo Ollas

Cincinnati- Talyn Boyko and Olof Lindblom

JessRubenstein

Covering New York Ranger prospects since 2004, I have covered every Ranger prospect drafted over that time. I was lucky enough to have been trained by former Boston Bruins GM Harry Sinden having completed the NHL GM and Scouting Course taught at Sports Management Worldwide as well as the late EJ McGuire who was the director of the NHL's Central Scouting Bureau and was the former coach of the AHL's Hartford Wolfpack