By Brian Weidler, "Game Time" Prospect Department
We will be keeping this short and sweet today; Game Four of the Blues-Kings series is on everyone's mind, and it's an early game. If the Blues win, no one is going to want to talk about prospects, and if the Blues lose, no one is going to want to talk about prospects. So just the highlights (such as they are) this week...
...and go see "The Avengers." It. Is. Awesome.
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.
PROSPECT NEWS AND NOTES:
ITEM: PROSPECT PLAYOFF UPDATE.
NHL: Jake Allen made his NHL debut earlier this week, playing all of 67 seconds against LA as a result of a Keenan-like goalie switch by Ken Hitchcock. Jaden Schwartz has yet to appear in a playoff game, and likely will not this year, but graduated prospects Ian Cole and Ryan Reaves will skate in Game Four today.
ECHL: The Alaska Aces were defeated in five games by the Las Vegas Wranglers in the ECHL Western Conference final. Defense prospect David Shields finished the playoffs with an 0-2-2 scoring line (plus-1, 0 PM) in three playoff games for the Aces.
JUNIOR: The Blues are down to four prospects left standing in major junior playoff action; five if you consider that Yannick Veilleux and the Shawinigan Cataractes are hosting the Memorial Cup in a few weeks.
QMJHL: Saint John leads Rimouski two games to none in the QMJHL President's Cup final. Neither Stephen Macaulay or Ryan Tesink have scored in the two games played this far; in the playoffs to date, Macaulay has a 5-6-11 scoring line (plus-3, 10 PM, 1 PPG, 1 GWG) in 15 games, while Tesink is 5-7-12 (plus-4, 24 PM, 2 PPG, 2 GWG) in 15 games.
Game 3 of the series is scheduled for Wednesday evening at 6:30 CDT. The Saint John radio feed can be heard HERE, for those interested.
OHL: The Niagara Ice Dogs and the London Knights are tied at one win apiece in the Rogers OHL Championship series. Niagara took the first game on Thursday with a 3-2 OT win in London, and the Knights returned the favor by defeating the Dogs in St. Catharines last night by a 5-3 score. Niagara defenseman Brock Beukeboom tallied an assist in last night's game, and in 17 playoff contests, the Blues' prospect has a 2-2-4 scoring line (plus-1, 8 PM).
Game 3 of the series is set for 6:00 Monday night in London; for the Niagara radio feed, click HERE, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and click on the IceDogs link (next to Alice Cooper).
WHL: The Oil Kings are tied at one game apiece; both the current Edmonton Oil Kings franchise and the former Oil Kings, known since 1976 as the Portland Winter Hawks, have won a game in the Ed Chynoweth Cup final series out West.
The Hawks split the two games in Edmonton, losing the first contest 3-2 on Thuirsday night. In the third period of that game, über-prospect Ty Rattie took a big hit and went head-first into the boards. Rattie was helped off the ice and held out of Game 2 on concussion watch. The Hawks rallied without Rattie to win on Friday 5-1, and got more good news afterwards when it was revealed that Rattie was not concussed, and would play in game 3, which is scheduled for this evening at 8:00 CDT. The Hawks' radio stream can be found HERE.
In the playoffs, Rattie continues to lead all WHL players in scoring with a 17-13-30 line (plus-12, 12 PM, 5 PPG, 1 SHG, 2 GWG) in 16 games. Only Saint John's Charlie Coyle (15 G, 17 A), a Minnesota prospect, has more playoff points among all major junior scorers.