Thursday night saw five New York Rangers prospects in action including a battle of divsion leaders. Not a whole lot of offense from the prospects but that too has been the norm this season.
OHL
Evan Passmore and his Barrie Colts earned a 5-3 win over Nathan Aspinall and his Flint Firebirds. Passmore earned a secondary assist on the Colt’s fifth goal; that goal put the gamne away for Barrie.
It was Passmore’s third straight game with a point which for him is a career best (1-2-3). On the season, Passmore is now 2-3-5 as his Colts are unbeaten in their last eight regulation games (7-0-1-0).
The Colts lead the Central Division and are just three points back in the Eastern Conference race.
Aspinall had the primary assist on the Firebirds first goal to extend his scoring streak to four games (0-6-6). He remains the leading scorer among the Rangers prospects and the OHL with a 23-35-58.
The Firebirds still have the best record in the OHL as they lead the Western Conference and West Division.
Artem Gonchar was scoreless as his Sudbury Wolves were edged by the North Bay Battalion 2-1. The young defenseman was credited with three shots and was a -1.
NCAA
Sean Barnhill and his third-ranked Michigan State Spartans held off second-ranked Wisconsin 4-3 in Big Ten play. Barnhill had a secondary assist on what proved to be the game winning goal.
For the freshman defenseman, the assist broke a nine-game pointless streak for his fourth assist of the season. At 0-4-4, Barnhill is still looking for his first goal at the NCAA level.
The same two teams will face off on Friday in the second game of the series.
QMJHL
Raoul Boilard was scoreless as his Cape Breton Eagles defeated his former team the Shawinigan Cataractes 3-0. Boilard’s offense remains missing in action as he has one goal to show for his last 11 games.
His faceoff numbers have taken a bit of a dip as well as he was 8-5 for the game. His season to date numbers are down to 64.9%.
