A quiet return from the holiday break for the six New York Rangers prospects who played on Sunday. Nobody scored any goals and there were just a couple of assists recorded.
Tournaments
Ty Henricks and his eighth-ranked Western Michigan Broncos took on Drew Fortescue’s 12th-ranked Boston College Eagles in the opening round of the Holiday Face-off. The non-conference matchup saw Western Michigan come away with a 5-3 win.
Henricks had a primary assist on Western Michigan’s third goal of the game along with a minor for “contact to the head”. He improves his season totals to 7-7-14 in 17 games played this season.
Fortescue was scoreless and did not record any stats for this game. Western Michigan advances to face Wisconsin while Boston College will play Lake Superior with both games on Monday.
Sean Barnhill and his third-ranked Michigan State Spartans defeated Ferris State 5-2 in the opening round of the Great Lakes Invitational. Barnhill was scoreless on one shot with a roughing minor.
Michigan State advances to face Michigan Tech on Monday in the finals of the tournament.
E. J. Emery and Team USA had Sunday off at the World Under-20 tournament. They will face Slovakia at 6 PM (EDT)/3 PM (PDT), the game will be televised on the NHL Network.
OHL Play
Evan Passmore had an assist as his Barrie Colts defeated the North Bay Battalion 3-1. Passmore earned the secondary assist on Barrie’s first goal which came in the second period.
For Passmore the assist was just his second point of the season and first assist.
Nathan Aspinall was scoreless as his Flint Firebirds dropped a 4-1 decision to the Windsor Spitfires. Aspinall remains the leading scorer in the OHL with a 22-29-51 mark.
Speaking of the Flint Firebirds captain, a poll of broadcasters and writers covering the OHL said this about him:
Which player is your current frontrunner for the Red Tilson Trophy as the OHL’s Most Outstanding Player?
Nathan Aspinall (Flint Firebirds) – 44%
“He’s been electric, and when he’s doing it at 6-foot-7, that’s pretty hard to overlook. He’s been the heartbeat of Flint’s impressive first half.”
The last time a Rangers draft pick won this as the OHL MVP was Rick Middleton in 1972-73 although Vincent Trocheck won it in 2012-13.
QMJHL
Raoul Boilard was scoreless and 9-9 on faceoffs as his Shawinigan Cataractes defeated the Drummondville Voltigeurs 6-2. Boilard was also credited with five hits.