Rangers’ Gabe Perreault named Hockey East Co-Rookie of the Week
On Monday afternoon, seven New York Rangers prospects and their respective teams were ranked in the top twenty nationally when the U.S. College Hockey Online Division I Men’s Poll was released.
At number one in the nation were 2023 1st and 3rd round picks Gabe Perreault and Drew Fortescue of Boston College. Perreault was also named the Hockey East Conference Pro Ambitions Co-Rookie of the Week along with prospective 2024 NHL Draft 1st overall pick Macklin Celebrini of Boston University.
Related: Noah Laba having a strong season
Gabe Perreault excelling as a freshman
Perreault’s three point night with a goal and two assists in a 6-1 win over UMass Lowell on Friday were enough to earn the award for the third time this season. He scored the Eagles second goal of the game in the first period while on the powerplay, which ended up being the game winner.
Teammate Drew Fortescue got on the scoresheet when he earned his third assist and sixth point of the season in the second period. He finished the game with one shot on goal and was a +1 on the night.
Monday night saw the start of the 2024 Beanpot Tournament at TD Garden. Perreault got the Eagles on the board in the second period, and pulled within one late in the third. Unfortunately, his efforts weren’t enough to defeat the Terriers for the third time in eleven days, as Boston College dropped the second game of the night 4-3 against Boston University. Perreault now has twelve goals and twenty nine assists for forty one points in twenty five NCAA games played this season. He is third nationally in scoring.
Boston College has a record of 19-5-1 on the season. The Eagles will face New Hampshire on Friday, February 9th before playing in the consolation game of the Beanpot Tournament against Harvard University on Monday, February 11th.
New York Rangers College Prospects Update
Brody Lamb scored the game winning goal in overtime for Minnesota on Friday against Wisconsin. The sophomore forward raced down the right side of the ice on a 2 on 1 and beat the Badgers goaltender to the glove side.
This was Lamb’s fourth game winning goal, and he improved his total to eleven goals and nine assists for twenty points in twenty eight games played. The 4th Round Pick of the Rangers did not record any stats in a 1-1 tie on Saturday. The Golden Gophers climbed one spot to number eight this week. Minnesota are 16-7-5 on the season, and continue Big Ten Conference play against Penn State on Friday, February 9th and 10th.
2021 5th Round Pick Jaroslav Chmelar remained out of the lineup for the Providence College as he recovers from wrist surgery. The sophomore winger has five goals and nine assists for fourteen points in sixteen games played this season. Following a series split against the University of Connecticut Huskies, the Friars remained tenth in the USCHO Poll. Providence has a 15-8-2 record and have a tough matchup against Maine Black Bears at Alfond Arena in Orono, Maine on Friday, February 9th and 10th.
Defenseman Hank Kempf of the Cornell Big Red stayed at number thirteen in the polls. The junior was credited with four blocked shots Friday in a 5-1 win against St. Lawrence before he recorded an assist and had one shot on goal Saturday during a 7-2 win over Clarkson. It was his first point in five games. The 2021 seventh rounders sits at one goal and four assists for five points in twenty one games played on the season. Cornell have a record of 13-4-4 and will be on the road when they travel to face Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Friday, February 9th and Union College on Saturday, February 10th.
Colorado College moved up one spot in the USCHO Poll to move into fifteenth overall. Sophomore center Noah Laba remains tied with Arizona State University’s Matthew Kopperud for the national lead in game-winning goals following the Tigers 5-3 win over St. Cloud State University on Saturday.
He has fifteen goals, and nine assists for twenty four points in twenty five games played on the season. The Tigers are 16-1-1 and are off until February 16th, when they host North Dakota at Ed Robson Arena.
Junior defenseman Victor Mancini saw his University of Nebraska Omaha Mavericks at number nineteen in the poll following a sweep of Minnesota Duluth. The 159th overall pick in 2022 did not record any stats during Friday’s 5-1 victory, but was credited with an assist and one blocked shot during Saturday’s 4-3 victory. Mancini has three goals and five assists for eight points in twenty six games played. The Mavericks are now 14-9-3 on the season and will be in Kalamazoo, Michigan this Friday and Saturday for a pair of National Collegiate Hockey Conference games against the Western Michigan Broncos.
In other collegiate action, junior goaltender Hugo Ollas started Saturday’s game for the unranked Merrimack College Warriors against the University of New Hampshire Wildcats. The native of Linkoping, Sweden allowed two goals on twenty seven shots in the 3-1 loss to drop to 4-10 on the year with a 2.89 goals against average and .905 save percentage. With his struggles so far, I expect the Rangers 2020 7th Round pick to return for a senior year, where he can hopefully play more often, as he has been the secondary option in a platoon situation behind Zachary Borgiel. It was the sixth straight loss for Merrimack,, who are 10-16-1 on the season. The team will take on Boston University Terriers on Friday, February 9th before hosting New Hampshire on Saturday, February 10th.
Rounding out New York Rangers prospects in NCAA, Harvard Crimson captain Zakary Karpa had one shot on goal Friday during a 2-1 loss to Quinnipiac University. The junior went 13-6 on faceoffs. Harvard lost 3-2 in overtime to Northeastern University in the fist game of the 2024 Beanpot Tournament at TD Garden on Monday night. The Rangers 6th Round Pick in the 2022 NHL Draft finished the game with one shot on goal and was 5-9 from the faceoff dot. He has two goals and three assists for five points in twenty games played this season. Harvard’s record dropped to 4-14-3 on the year.
The team will host Dartmouth College in ECAC conference play on Friday, February 9th before the consolation game of the Beanpot Tournament against Boston College on Monday, February 12th.
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