By Brian Weidler, "Game Time" Prospect Department
ALL GAVE SOME, SOME GAVE ALL...
On behalf of myself, Sean, Jesse, and all the other members of the "Game Time" family who have served, I ask you all to take a minute this weekend and remember our fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins who have given back to our country, and especially those who paid the ultimate price.
"All gave some, some gave all."
PROSPECT PROMOTIONS / DEMOTIONS:
None to report this week.
PROSPECT TRADES:
None to report this week.
PLAYERS ON SICK CALL:
None to report this week.
PLAYERS RETURNED TO DUTY:
None to report this week.
PLAYERS ON SUSPENSION:
None to report this week.
LAST MAN STANDING:
There are three championships left to be decided in the hockey world -- the Stanley Cup, the AHL's Calder Cup, and the Memorial Cup.
The Memorial Cup will be decided today, and the last Blues' prospect still playing this season will be front and center.
Yannick Veilleux, the Blues' fourth-round pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, will take the ice this evening with his team, the Shawinigan Cataractes of the QMJHL. Shawinigan, the host team for this year's Memorial Cup, will take on the powerhouse London Knights, champions of the Ontario League, in a winner-take-all battle for major junior hockey supremacy.
LINK to a preview of tonight's game at the Master Card Memorial Cup official site.
The preview linked above also contains a link to the webcast and radio feeds for tonight's game. The seminfinal game on Friday, which was won by Shawinigan over Saint John, had Peoria assistant coach Drake Berehowsky as part of the broadcast team, so Rivermen fans may be able to hear more on Berehowsky's plans for the future during tonight's broadcast. Berehowsky's contract has expired, and he is said to be interested in a head coaching poisition if one is offered to him.
Most of Shawinigan's top players in this game -- Michael Chaput (CBJ 2011), Brandon Gormley (PHX 2010), Michael Bournival (MTL 2011) and Kirill Kabanov (NYI 2010) -- are players in their last year of major junior eligibility. This leaves Veilleux and 2012 draft-eligible forward Anton Zlobin as the top players likely to return to Shawinigan next season.
Veilleux is a left wing with decent size who broke through this year to become a primary scoring threat for les Cataractes. His 58 regular-season points (27 G, 31 A in 59 GP) and 11 playoff points (5 G, 6 A in 11 GP) ranked him third on the club in both segments of the season. In five games at the Memorial Cup tournament, Veilleux has two goals (including the game-winner on Friday vs. Saint John) and six minutes in penalty time with an even plus-minus. Veilleux is also among the team leaders in hits, with 13 of les Cataractes' total of 97 hits in five games -- including a team-high five hits registered in Shawinigan's 6-2 win over London in the preliminary round of the tournament back on May 20.