Bridgeport and Prospect Roundup 4/10

With this afternoon's game being the last one on Bridgeport's schedule, the very least you can say is that they didn't give up. While the team has struggled in just about every aspect of the game since Josh Bailey was called back up, they are currently 6-3-1-0 in their last 10 games. It was a team in which young forwards were asked to do too much, while a depleted defense didn't help the youngsters or goaltending. When you finish the season having dressed over 60 different players, it's never going to be good. Today's game actually means something though, if BP defeats the Albany Devils, they will not finish in last. A loss means they finish in the cellar.

On Tuesday BP took it to Springfield 6-2 powered by Rhett Rakhshani's hat trick. Jeremy Colliton was second star with a four assist game and Tyler McNeely was third star with a goal and two assists. Mikko Koskinen had a solid game in net with 24 saves on 26 shots. Goals were by Justin DiBenedetto (Art Bidlevskii, Tony Romano) [seriously? Art Bidlevskii? I swear they are purposely signing guys with weird last names to make my life hell] Joe Pereira [Rob Hisey, Brian Day]  Rhett Rakhshani x 3 [Jeremy Colliton, Tyler McNeely] [McNeely, Colliton] [Rob Hisey, Colliton] McNeely [Benn Olson, Colliton]. In the following game they fell 4-1 to Connecticut with an empty netter as they pulled Mikko with over 2 minutes left. Mikko had a strong game, being named 3rd star for his 36 saves on 39 shots including keeping BP in it while they were outshot 18-3 in the first. David Ullstrom [Aaron Ness, Matt Donovan] scored the lone goal for BP.

In the following game at Connecticut BP won 4-3, and somehow Nathan Lawson wasn't given a star despite a 3rd period onslaught in which BP was outshot 13-1. McNeely [Donovan, Colliton] Hisey [Pereira] Colliton [McNeely, Romano] Pereira [Day, Hisey] scored for BP. McNeely was named 2nd star and Periera 3rd star. Thanks to Tyler McNeely and Matt Donovan BP defeated Albany 4-3 and finished outside of the AHL Cellar. Goals scored by Hisey [DeBenedetto, Pereira] McNeely [Olson, Romano] Colliton [McNeely, Donovan] Donovan [McNeely, Koskinen]. Colliton was named first star, McNeely was named second star and Koskinen was named third star. Koskinen was instrumental as he stopped 46 shots and faced 18 shots in the second and third. Keep an eye on Tyler McNeely too, he finished the year with 8 points (4 Goals, 4 Assists) in 9 games. [Highlights from 4-3 Connecticut game]

Half a Kirill

Kirill Kabanov's Lewiston Maineacs split the opening games of the 2nd round 6-5, 6-2 with Lewiston taking the second game. Kirill had an assist in game 1, and 2 assists in game 2 for 3rd star. For the playoffs Kirill has 2 goals and 5 assists for 7 points in 7 games.

OHL

Oshawa split their first two games, losing 2-1 and winning 5-4. Calvin De Haan and Tony DeHart had no points and were a -1 for game 1, but in game 2 Calvin had 3 assists and DeHart notched an assist. In 7 playoff games De Haan has 1 goal, 8 assists for 9 points and DeHart has 2 goals, 9 assists for 11 points.

It's the end of the road for David Toews and the Brandon Wheat Kings as they dropped a heart breaker to Medicine Hat 7-5 in game 6. Toews had no points in his final playoff game, but in 6 games he did have 2 goals and 5 assists for 7 points and a -2. Toews started the season off slow after returning to the team from injury, but in the end had a strong season and was instrumental down the stretch as Brandon turned their season around and made the playoffs.

WHL

Following their sweep, Portland had a week off and it might not have been the best thing. They dropped the first game of their series with Kelowna 5-1, Nino Neiderreiter had an assist, but was one of four Winterhawks with a -3 on the night. Kelowna isn't going to be the pushover that Everett was, as they had 20 more points on the season and 70 more goals. In 5 playoff games, Nino has 4 goals and 7 assists for 11 points.

College

Notre Dame outshot the University of Minnesota-Duluth 15-2 in the 3rd but it was too little too late as they dropped their frozen four game 4-3. Anders Lee ha no points in the game but did get off 5 shots.

UND lost 2-0 (EN) in their Frozen Four game with Michigan. The big news for Islander fans was the injury to Brock Nelson which included him leaving the game on the stretcher. Thankfully the injury wasn't as bad as it appeared and the staff was just taking precautionary steps.

Well now that we're at the end of the AHL season, College kids and our one European, you might be wondering what will happen to this weekly update. Well as long as there's enough to write about, I'll continue having updates on how the CHL kids are doing. Next week we'll also take a look at how the prospects in Bridgeport did this season.

I am also working on a project for next season, if your knowledgeable with editing a wiki and you watch a lot of the prospects (you could go into detail on how they did following a game) leave a comment or email me.

Also coming up at 2 PM (EST) at Justin.TV is Episode 1 of The Flashlight. Topics to include the end of the Isles season, UFAs and RFAs, are the Islanders a mirage? Jack Capuano's future and questions from the audience.