Saturday night saw just eight New York Rangers prospects in action as some NCAA leagues finished up their league regular season while the OHL, QMJHL, and USHL remain busy with their season. Our star of the night was the leading scorer among the Rangers prospects Dylan Roobroeck who had a 1-2-3 night to stretch out his lead.
Roobroeck and his Oshawa Generals handed the Sudbury Wolves a 6-2 loss in OHL play as the Generals won their fourth straight game. The big Roobroeck got his night going with a secondary assist on the General’s second goal of the game.
His second point came in the third period after the Generals had taken the lead for good, Roobroeck earned the primary assist on the goal which put the Generals up 4-2. Finally Roobroeck finished off the scoring for his team when he scored into the empty net.
Oshawa doesn’t show their empty net goals but a three-point night deserves some sort of video so here is the brick himself Dylan Roobroeck.
11:03-1st | Cooper Pierson with a nice little dish to Ty Henricks, who does the rest himself. The @muskegonjacks now lead 2-0.#StarsRise | @FloHockey | @WMUHockey pic.twitter.com/tNSzSS2wOl
— USHL (@USHL) March 3, 2024
The 1-2-3 night was aided in part by one shot with a +2 and yes they have cut back big time on the number of faceoffs that Roobroeck takes. In this one, Roobroeck was 6-3.
Roobroeck leads all Ranger prospects with a 18-38-56 mark; The goals and points are new career bests and his two assists allowed him to tie his career best for assists.
Ty Henricks had a goal as his Muskegon Lumberjacks earned a 5-2 win over the Waterloo Blackhawks in USHL play. Henricks scored off a bit of a breakaway for Muskegon’s second goal of the game, an even strength goal at 11:03 of the first period.
Check out the goal as Henricks who is 6’3.5 215 moves quite well for a big kid. This was a pretty good goal to score.
11:03-1st | Cooper Pierson with a nice little dish to Ty Henricks, who does the rest himself. The @muskegonjacks now lead 2-0.#StarsRise | @FloHockey | @WMUHockey pic.twitter.com/tNSzSS2wOl
— USHL (@USHL) March 3, 2024
It was Henricks 15th goal of the season for the young power forward and his 22nd point. Henricks was credited with three shots as the starting left wing for his team.
The win pulled the Lumberjacks to withing one point of second place Green Bay who was idle (Green Bay does hold three games in hand).
Noah Laba had two assists as his 14th-ranked Colorado College broke a three-game winless streak with a 4-1 win over Minnesota-Duluth in NCHC play. Laba had a secondary assist on the Tiger’s first goal and then the primary assist on their last goal.
The two point night was part of a four shot +1 with a 7-9 faceoff mark. Laba improved his season totals to a team leading 17-15-32 a ten point improvement over his freshman season totals of 11-11-22.
The Tigers can have a major impact on their post season hopes as they finish their NCHC regular season with a home and home series against fourth-ranked Denver University next Friday and Saturday. Friday’s game will be televised nationally on the CBS Sports Network starting at 9 PM ET/ 6 PM PT.
A regulation sweep and the Tigers could jump from the fourth seed in the NCHC playoffs to the second. But if the Tigers get swept then it opens a door for Nebraska-Omaha to jump past them for fourth.
Hank Kempf earned the secondary assist on what proved to be the game-winning goal as his 15th-ranked Cornell Big Red earned a 3-1 win over RPI in ECAC play. Kempf earned the secondary assist on the second goal by Cornell, a even-strength goal at 14:01 of the first period.
For Kempf the assist was his fifth of the season as he improves to 1-5-6 on no shots and a -1. Cornell finishes second in the ECAC and earns a first round bye so they will have next week off as they await to find out who they face in the ECAC quarterfinals
Vince Mancini was scoreless as his 18th-ranked Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks earned a 2-1 win over Minnesota-Duluth in NCHC play. Mancini was credited with three shots as he was the first pair right defense.
Nebraska-Omaha has two games remaining on their regular season schedule. They currently sit 17th in the Pairwise which leaves them on the outside looking in at the NCAA tournament. They face the 2024 league champs North Dakota next week badly needing as many points out of that series as possible to have a shot at the NCAA tournament.
Brody Lamb had a secondary assist but his eighth-ranked Minnesota Gold Gophers fell in overtime to the 16th-ranked Michigan Wolverines 6-5 in Big Ten play. Minnesota after trailing 3-0 would score five goals in the third period to force the overtime session.
Lamb earned his assist on Minnesota’s fourth goal which at the time tied the game up at 4-4. For Lamb the assist was his 12th of the season and his 24th point of the season in 34 games. Not bad for the sophomore forward who as a freshman was 4-4-8 in 39 games played.
For Minnesota they finished third in the Big Ten and will face Penn State next weekend in the Big Ten quarterfinal series.
Zakary Karpa was scoreless as his Harvard Crimson played to a 2-2 overtime tie with Brown in ECAC play. Brown would earn the extra point in the standings by winning the shootout.
Karpa was credited with one shot and was 11-7 on his faceoffs. But the good news is that Harvard was able to earn home ice for the first round of the ECAC playoffs.
The first round is a single elimination format and Harvard draws archrival Princeton.
Maxim Barbashev was scoreless as his Rimouski Oceanic defeated the Quebec Remparts 3-2 in QMJHL action. Barbashev did not record any shots but he was a +1 and was credited with three hits.
The Oceanic have clinched a playoff spot and currently sit in fourth place in the QMJHL’s Eastern Conference with eight games left in their regular season. The lead is just two points over fifth place Chicoutimi and they trail third seed Moncton but Moncton has two games in hand.
