It’s the seventh annual edition of the Home Hardware Top Prospects Game, which features 40 of the top CHL prospects for the National Hockey League’s Entry Draft, as selected by the NHL’s Central Scouting Department.
This year’s celebrity coaches for the game both have roots in Western Canada. Hockey Night in Canada broadcaster and former NHL and WHL star Kelly Hrudey will coach one team, taking on a squad coached by former NHL and WHL star Dave “Tiger” Williams.
Among the participating players this year are three members of Canada’s national junior team, which won a silver medal at the recent World Junior Hockey Championships in the Czech Republic. Defenceman Jay Bouwmeester of the Medicine Hat Tigers of the WHL, forward Rick Nash of the London Knights of the OHL and forward Scottie Upshall of the Kamloops Blazers of the WHL are among the bright young CHL stars taking part in both Thursday night’s game and Wednesday night’s skills competition.
Brandon Segal of the Calgary Hitmen replaces injured forward Tim Brent of the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors in the game, bringing the number of Western Hockey League players in the game to 15. There are 15 OHL players performing, along with 10 players from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Bouwmeester is the number one ranked player from the WHL on the NHL’s current North American rankings, while Upshall is number two. Nash is the number one ranked prospect from the OHL on the NHL’s list. Ben Eager of the Oshawa Generals is the second ranked OHL player on that list and he will also be in the game.
The two top QMJHL prospects on the NHL Central Scouting Department list are defenceman Martin Vagner of the Hull Olympiques and defenceman Francois Caron of the Moncton Wildcats, who will lead the 10-player Quebec delegation into the contest.
The Kamloops Blazers of the WHL have the most players in the game with three, while 12 other CHL teams have two players each participating in this year’s game (Plymouth, Oshawa, Kitchener and Sault Ste. Marie from the OHL, Chicoutimi, Hull, Moncton and Shawinigan from the QMJHL and Brandon, Medicine Hat, Calgary and Swift Current from the WHL).
Virtually every player to perform in the CHL Home Hardware Top Prospects Game has been selected in the NHL Entry Draft. Such current NHL stars as Joe Thornton, Vincent Lecavalier, Simon Gagne, David Legwand, Scott Gomez, Chris Phillips, Alex Tanguay and Eric Brewer have appeared in the Game.
2002 HOME HARDWARE TOP PROSPECTS GAME Line-Ups TEAM TIGER WILLIAMS TEAM KELLY HRUDEY Jeff Deslauriers Maxime Daigneault Tyson Kellerman Todd Ford Jay Bouwmeester Martin Vagner Aaron Rowe Paul Ranger Jesse Lane James Wisniewski Andy Thompson Steve Eminger John Boychuk Brian Lee Trevor Daley Francois Caron Scott Upshall Rick Nash Daniel Paille Gregory Campbell Adam Henrich Ben Eager Armands Berzins Patrick Thoresen Petr Taticek Brad Schell Pierre-Marc Bouchard Erik Christensen Pat Jarrett Brandon Segal Andrei Mikhnov Michael Lambert Jakub Klepis Joffrey Lupul Lance Monych Paul Brown Boyd Gordon Tim Konsorada Jimmy Cuddihy Petr Kanko
WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE
There are four games in the WHL on Wednesday night. Kamloops is at Kelowna, Portland plays at Spokane, Tri-City visits Seattle and Vancouver is in Prince George.
There were five games in the WHL on Tuesday night. Kootenay stopped Lethbridge 3-1, Red Deer (6) defeated Brandon 3-1, Tri-City routed Seattle 9-2, Kamloops stopped Portland 5-1 and Prince Albert edged Swift Current (3) 6-5.
At Kootenay, Duncan Milroy had a goal and one assist to lead the Ice, while B.J. Boxma made 25 saves. Scott Borders had the lone goal for Lethbridge.
At Red Deer, Mikhail Yakubov had one goal and one assist for the winners, while Colin Fraser added a pair of assists. Jordin Tootoo scored his 25th goal of the season for Brandon, while Red Deer goalie Cam Ward made 24 saves.
At Tri-City, Eric Johansson had two goals and two assists, while Ben Kilgour and Pat Iannone both had two goals and one assist. Rory McDade added one goal and three assists for the winners, who were out-shot 37-20 but still won by seven goals.
At Kamloops, Keegan McAvoy had two goals and one assist for the Blazers, while Jarret Lukin added one goal and one assist. Scottie Upshall added two assists for the winners after Joey Hope had opened the scoring for Portland.
At Prince Albert, Jon Kress and Riley Cote both scored twice to lead Prince Albert, while Thomas Vicers made 35 saves in goal. Paul Deniset added one goal and two assists for the winners while Ian White had one goal and two assists for the losers.
ONTARIO HOCKEY LEAGUE
There is just one game in the OHL on Wednesday night as the Brampton Battalion travels to Owen Sound to play the Attack.
There were no games in the OHL on either Monday or Tuesday night.
QUEBEC MAJOR JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
There is one game in the QMJHL Wednesday night as Sherbrooke takes on Shawinigan (4).
There were no games in the QMJHL on Tuesday night.
For complete QMJHL statistics and standings, visit the official QMJHL site.
