The scouts sometimes say that an NHL power-forward is born AND made, and this is frequently true. A big, strong, physical forward who has excellent offensive skills is a desire of many NHL teams. The Maple Leafs drafted a young man, Frantisek (Frank) Mrazek in the fifth round, 111th selection overall from Ceske-Budjovice in the Czech. Republic. Frank is currently 19 yrs. old and finishing his second year with the Red Deer Rebels of the WHL at the juniors level. He is 6-4, 220 lbs. with excellent strength. He scored 30 goals, 24 assists for 54 pts. in 65 games for Red Deer as a rookie in 1997-98. Great production was expected of him in Red Deer this season, particularly after he raised some eyebrows with a good showing in the Leafs’ training camp.
“Our expectations for Frank were very high coming into this season”, stated Rebels assistant coach, Peter Anholt. When Frank got off to a sizzling start with 6 goals and 12 pts. in a 4 game stretch early in the season, he seemed to be on his way. He was named WHL player of the week and player of the month in October. Leafs director of player development, Anders Hedberg called him “a young man with goals. He knows where he comes from and where he is going.” in a Toronto Star article by Ken Campbell.
Read more »
[ Exclusive 2000 Draft Eligible Player Profiles and brief Scouting Reports. Click Here!!! ]
St. Albert 1 at Grande Prairie 0 (OT)
For the second night in a row, St. Albert and Grande Prairie played to an extreme defensive battle. While last night it was Kirby Millar against Chad Rycroft, tonight Rycroft’s opponent was Scott Kabotoff.
Kabotoff, who tied a league-record four shutouts in the regular season stopped seven shots in the first period, 15 in the second and ten in the third. He stopped one shot over seven minutes of overtime. Kabotoff’s goals-against average playing in three of the team’s four playoff games so far is Rycroft, who was not even the clear-cut number one goaltender in the regular season for the Storm, has played every single minute of the playoffs so far for his club. He did allow the game-winning goal tonight, but not before stopping 11 shots in the first period, six in the second and eight in the third as well as two in overtime. His average dropped to 2.47 and his save percentage rose to .922 on this night.
While the first three periods were scoreless, Mark Jackson scored his first of the playoffs with 3:53 remaining in the first overtime period. Pavel Beranek added the assist.
Fort Saskatchewan 1 at Lloydminster 4 Read more »
Lincoln clinches fifth to set up western division showdown
The Lincoln Stars clinched fifth place in the USHL over the weekend to set up a first round matchup between the Stars and the 4th place Sioux City Musketeers in the first round of the USHL playoffs. Lincoln clinched a playoff spot on Wednesday with a 6-5 shoot-out win in Sioux City. The Stars then went on to win 3 more games over the weekend including wins over Dubuque 8-3, North Iowa 4-3 (SO), and a 5-3 win over Green Bay at home. Lincoln got contributions from literally every direction as they tallied 21 goals from a total of 11 different players in their 4 games on the week, let by Eric Maksimenko’s 4 goals.
The bottom teams in the USHL continue to scramble for the last 3 remaining births in the playoffs. Thunder Bay, who has only 2 games remaining, was only able to gain a single point over the weekend in a 2 game series with the USA (18& Under) Team. They lost on Friday 4-1, and took the USA team to a shoot-out before losing on Saturday by a 3-2 (SO) score. The Flyers, by gaining the one point for a shoot-out loss, still hold on to 6th place in the league currently with 43 points.
Read more »
[ Exclusive 2000 Draft Eligible Player Profiles and brief Scouting Reports. Click Here!!! ]
St. Albert 1 at Grande Prairie 2
In a defensive struggle, the Saints dropped their first game of the series to the Grande Prairie Storm as all the scoring in the game fell within a three minute period.
With 5:26 left in the second, Shane Mudryk put the puck behind surprise starter Kirby Millar of the Saints, assisted by Rob Kimble and Clint Lehune. 23 seconds later, the Storm made it a 2-0 lead as Mark Grumetza took a pass from Lonnie DeHaan. On the powerplay, several minutes later former Edmonton Ice Joey Bastien scored, assisted by Pavel Beranek and Jeebo Manah and the Saints pulled to within a goal.
In the third period, the Saints threw everything they could at Grande Prairie netminder Chad Rycroft, but Rycroft turned aside all 15 shots and the Storm guaranteed they’d be playing back at Akinsdale Arena in St. Albert for at least one more game.
Olds 3 at Calgary Royals 7
This game was about as close to must-win as the Royals could get this early in the playoffs and they definitely rose to the occasion. Billed as possibly the only team in the South who could upset cross-town rivals Calgary Canucks, it looked for awhile like they would not get that chance. However, after tonight’s win they are without a doubt back in it.
Jamie Iwamoto was a surprise start in goal for Calgary as starter Peter Dobrowolski, who played almost 75% of the team’s games this season, allowed 15 goals in the first two games.
Read more »
With the Stars system graduating such players as Lehtinen, Langenbrunner, Mativchuk, and Hatcher, along with trades involving Iginla and Harvey, the cupboard was quickly emptied. However, in the past couple of years the Stars have had some solid drafts, and seem to have begun the restocking process. Following the “lower risk” philosophy of drafting, the best role player available has helped the Stars accumulate good defensive depth, and has given them a glut of feisty, two-way forwards. What this philosophy has not done however is provide them with true snipers and game-breakers, thus resulting in their need for high priced free agents to compensate. With this depth the Stars system has been ranked in the upper middle of NHL teams for the last two years, and will continue to be given much time and patience for further development.
Below are the Stars top ten prospects, with comments.
TOP 10 PROSPECTS
1. Brenden Morrow-LW 5-11 195lbs
Read more »
[ Exclusive 2000 Draft Eligible Player Profiles and brief Scouting Reports. Click Here!!! ]
Camrose 0 at Calgary Canucks 5
The Calgary Canucks continued on their regular season role as they became the last AJHL club to commence their playoff run. After a record-breaking 104 point season, there were probably a few people expecting a bit of a letdown as the playoffs began against fourth-place Camrose.
However, there were others who expected the Canucks to keep on rolling and that they did just that Monday night at Max Bell Centre in Calgary. It didn’t take long for the Canucks to break the ice, so to speak as Roger Leonard took a Neil McCann pass and rifled the puck past Camrose netminder Wes Schneider from the left faceoff circle.
In the second period it didn’t take Leonard long to double his playoff goal totals as he scored again just a shade under two minutes into the period. On the powerplay, with 3:28 left in the second, ’99 draft eligible and future Wisconsin Badger Dany Heatley gave the Canucks a 3-0 lead as he took a pass from Ryan Manitowich in the slot and picked Schneider’s five-hole.
Defenceman Neil McCann figured on the scoring while shorthanded in the third period. After a save by Mike Gilhooly, Heatley fed McCann who went on a breakaway. McCann didn’t squander the opportunity as he buried the puck in the net to give Calgary a 4-0 adavantage. Steve Albrecht added another in the dying seconds as Calgary took the opener handily.
Read more »
[ Exclusive 2000 Draft Eligible Player Profiles and brief Scouting Reports. Click Here!!! ]
Lloydminster 2 at Fort Saskatchewan 5
Nick Boucher is turning out to be the story in this series and quite possibly the AJHL playoffs to this point. At the start there was very little to choose between the two clubs aside from the fact that Lloydminster was on an incredible run to close out the season. Now, it appears, Fort Saskatchewan goaltender Nick Boucher is turning out to be the clincher in the Traders’ favour.
He was not as busy as last game – when he made 48 saves – but he was solid when he needed to be, especially in the third period. Sean Day opened the scoring tonight on a powerplay 13 minutes into the first period but just over a minute later John Davidson answered back for the Blazers and the two teams went to intermission deadlocked at one.
Fifty seconds into the second, Traders leading scorer Matt Gorman surprised Lloydminster goalie Ray Fraser to put the Traders ahead once again. Lloydminster’s leading scorer in the playoffs Jamie Weiss then tied it up once again as he converted Chris Dallyn’s feed on the powerplay. Trevor Baker, who may have played his best game of the year overall for the Traders, put the Fort ahead for good only several minutes later and Ryan Campbell doubled their lead on the powerplay three minutes after that.
Read more »
POS HT WT AGE DRAFTED
Jose Theodore G 5-10 180 22 D-Mtl94(2/44)
GP W L T AVG Sav%
98-99 Stats 19 9 9 1 2.44 .927 (AHL)
98-99 Stats 13 3 10 0 3.35 .887 (NHL)
#1 Strength- Winner’s attitude.
#1 Weakness- Inconsistency.
With the trade of Thibeault and the arrival of Hackett, Theodore was surprised and angered by his demotion to Fredericton. The main reason for his demotion was his inconsistent play. He has recently come to accept his demotion and is playing exceptionally well. He was just named the AHL’s player of the week and is proving himself too good for the AHL. Fredericton will go as far in the playoffs as Theodore (and his reputation as a good pressure goaltender) takes them.
Theodore finished the week a dismal 0-3, with a GAA of 3.66. he stopped 25 shots in a 3-1 loss to Rochester, stopped 31 shots in a 3-1 loss to Springfield, did not play in a 3-3 tie with Philadelphia, and stopped 23 shots in a 5-4 loss to Providence.(Week ending 3/7/99)
Projection for NHL Level- Star.
Current stock status- Stagnant.
POS HT WT AGE DRAFTED
Mathieu Garon G 6-1 175 21 D-Mtl96(2/44)
GP W L T AVG Sav%
98-99 Stats 34 10 21 1 3.21 .897 (AHL)
#1 Strength- Lateral Movement.
#1 Weakness- Goes down too early. Read more »
After spending $44 million last year and failing to make the playoffs, things could not be looking worse for the Rangers. When the media is talking draft in March, something went wrong. What went wrong was the Rangers were just too darn old. Although possessing a few solid prospects, most were from resent drafts and thus were only 18 and 19 years old and most were not under contract. As the draft grew closer the Rangers had their sights set on a center, a big center with allot of upside. Unfortunately their top choices David Legwand and Manny Malhotra were ranked second and sixth respectively. Most experts actually expected them to go second and third. The Rangers chance to draft a big time center was slim. But something happened on that hot June day, somehow to the Rangers surprise Malhotra fell into their laps.
Read more »
[ Exclusive 2000 Draft Eligible Player Profiles and brief Scouting Reports. Click Here!!! ]
[ 1998-99 AJHL Playoff Preview ]
[ 1998-99 AJHL Playoff Quarterfinal Day 1 ]
Calgary Royals 7 at Olds 8 (OT)
The Olds Grizzlys pulled off a big upset for the second night in a row as they increased their lead in the best-of-seven quarterfinal to two games in yet another high scoring match-up.
Oddly enough, in this game where fifteen goals were ultimately scored, there was no scoring in the first period. It didn’t take Moose Jaw prospect and 2000 draft eligible Ben Knopp long to score in the second, however, as he scored a powerplay goal 21 seconds into the period. The Grizzlys’ David Erickson then scored his first goal of the postseason on the powerplay to tie the game up. The Royals then added to quick tallys – from Ryan Joseph and David Evans – to take a 3-1 lead. Olds would tie it up before the end of the period, however, as Greg Davis and Matt Brunner scored. The goal by Davis was two minutes after the Royals moved in front by two and the goal by Brunner was two minutes later.
Read more »
|
