Jumpin Jack Flash #HobeyBaker (mcdavid)

mcdavid

Jumpin Jack Flash #HobeyBaker

By GARTH'S CORNER

Apr 11, 2015 • 9:39 am

0comment-bubble

Updated:

Are you ready Sabres fans?

Your Sabres can clinch the right to select the 2015 Hobey Baker Award winner with a loss tonight in Columbus.

It should come as no surprise that Boston University Terriers freshman center Jack Eichel has won the venerable Hobey Baker Award for the best NCAA hockey player in the United States.

Eichel, the second rated NHL draft eligible prospect in North America, has had a season for the ages.

Eichel is a powerful skater who makes quick decision on the fly. He reads the ice amazingly well. His is a consistent scoring threat on the ice and possesses NHL-level hockey-IQ. He has NHL hand-eye coordination and has NHL size and work ethic. He is a remarkable player.

Eichel recorded 19 points in his first 10 games this season. He led his Terriers teammates to the Beanpot Championship, NCAA Frozen Four and the NCAA mens hockey finals against Providence on Saturday night. Eichel is a remarkable +49. He excels in all three zones. Eichel won Hockey East scoring championship with 70 points this season. He also broke BU's scoring record set by former Buffalo Sabres captain Chris Drury among other things.

Eichel has 26 goals and 34 assists in just 39 games this season. He will likely add to his record breaking point totals on Saturday night.

Eichel is second only to Connor McDavid in these key ratings services:

Ranked #2 by NHL Central Scouting Ranked #2 by ISS Hockey

________________________________________________________________________

Sabres fans will have to wait until next week to get a gander at Samson Reinhart playing for the Rochester Americans. Reinhart will not participate in this weekend's home and home fandango with the Toronto Marlies.

Reinhart will likely play in the final three games of the season for the Amerks.

More to come..

________________________________________________________________________

**

The London Knights were bitten in the buttocks twice by the hockey gods in Game 1 of their series with the Erie Otters on Thursday night.

On one occasion, a Matt Rupert goal was disallowed after an official review. Rupert protested vehemently that the puck kissed off of his chest and into the net of Devin Williams. The zebras didn’t see it that way. The score remained 2-0 Knights. A 3-0 lead would have changed the complexion of the game

The other damning occasion occurred was when Otters towering, pugnacious D-man Kurtis MacDermid buried his forearm into Max Domi’s head. The ref’s arm went up to the rafters and MacDermid was given the gate for his fourth head hit infarction of the season. MacDermid received a five minute major, a game misconduct and the league will review it to determine if a suspension is deemed appropriate.

Mind you, the Knights were leading by one goal at the time of the MacDermid-Domi incident. Inexplicably, London’s vaunted power play units coughed up not one, but two shorthanded breakaway goals to give the Otters the momentum and a lead that they would never surrender. Buffalo Sabres prospect Nick Baptiste and the legend of Connor McDavid buried the Knights and their Game 1 victory chances.

The Otters were very aggressive in Game 1. They were: tactical, surgical, and sensational. Knights goalie Tyler Parsons made 41 saves on 45 shots. McDavid potted an empty netter in garbage time to make the final 5-2.

London forward Josh Sterk bottom lined the loss:

"That one five-minute power play killed us. You have to take into account who's penalty killing. Baptiste has good speed and McDavid is world class. They can bite you in the butt pretty fast."

To be fair, Domi left teh game and went to the London room for observation after he was gonged by MacDermid's forearm shiver. As I recall it, Domi missed the majority of the five minute powerplay. Had he not gotten his bell rung the way he did, I dare say that Domi may have changed the tenor of the Knights' five minute man advantage.

I asked McDavid about the pyrotechnics that he and Baptiste ignited on their penalty kill.

"If they get one there, that game's probably going the other way," said McDavid. "Even just to kill it off would've been good, but to score shorthanded goals is even better."

London head coach Dale Hunter has adjustments to make if the Knights want to win Game 2 in Erie tonight.

"It was ugly," London assistant coach Dylan Hunter said. "We gave up three breakaways trying to shove it down their throats. They made us pay for it. With speed like Baptiste and McDavid, we can't give them a step because we're not going to catch them. It sucks the energy out of the guys. They're picking off the back-door plays, so we've got to change the mentality and shoot more.

"That (London) power play was a momentum killer."

London’s Mitch Marner scored a sexy shorthanded breakaway.

Max Domi also lit the lamp for the Knights.

**

Thanks, ESPN

Jack. Freakin. Eichel.

Just. WOW!

If the Buffalo Sabres cannot win Connor McDavid in the NHL Lottery, they certainly want to draft Eichel with their second overall pick in the June NHL Draft.

He skates like Mike Modano, reads defenses and creates like Mario Lemieux, shoots like Brett Hull, and leads like Mark Messier.

This kid can do it all!

The best hockey player in the United States collected three points, including two goals, to help lead the Boston University men's ice hockey team to the program's 11th NCAA championship game with a 5-3 victory over North Dakota in a Frozen Four semifinal on Thursday night.

BU improved to 28-7-5 and will face Providence on Saturday night (7:30 p.m.) in an all-Hockey East title. The Friars defeated Nebraska Omaha, 4-1, in the first semifinal on Thursday. The Terriers will play for their sixth national title, having last won the trophy in 2009.

Eichel opened the game with his 25th goal of the season and finished with an empty-netter for his 70th point of the year. He also assisted on freshman A.J. Greer's second-period strike. Senior Cason Hohmann recorded a pair of helpers while freshman Brien Diffley posted the second two-assist game of his collegiate career. Freshman Brandon Hickey joined sophomore Doyle Somerby as BU blue liners who lit the lamp.

Junior Matt O'Connor made 36 saves between the pipes, including 27 in the final 40 minutes. Sophomore Robbie Baillargeon joined juniors Matt Grzelcyk, Danny O'Regan and Ahti Oksanen with one assist apiece. Ten different Terriers had at least one point on Thursday night.

It was a wild finish, as North Dakota (29-10-3) nearly erased a three-goal third-period deficit. UND outshot BU, 14-7, in the final frame but the Terriers remained resilient and Eichel's long-distance empty-netter sealed an eighth-straight victory. Thanks, BU Terriers

**

Speaking of the Sabres, I had occasion to speak briefly with their GM Tim Murray in the dining hall before Otters-Knights Game 1.

Of course I had to ask him about tonight’s key game in Columbus. A Sabres loss to the Blue Jax would cement 30th place overall in the NHL standings and give Buffalo the #1 seed in the McEichel Derby.

Murray was a man of few words as he told me:

“Wait and see…, he said wryly

What’s one more game for millions of Sabres fans to have to gnaw their fingernails and cuticles, right Tim?

A Sabres loss in Columbus tonight will make Saturday night's "Fan Appreciation" game night vs. Pittsburgh a party in Buffalo. Do whatcha gotta do, Nolan.

***

Samson Reinhart, come on down!

The Buffalo Sabres assigned the dynamic center to AHL Rochester on Thursday.

Reinhart met during the days with GM Tim Murray in Buffalo while the Amerks were in Cleveland to play the Lake Erie Monsters. Reinhart will skate with the Amerks this morning.

The Amerks host the front end of a home and home series with the Toronto Marlies tonight. Reinhart is expected to be in the lineup for the #Merk$

I haven't seen Reinhart since he was demoted back to juniors by Tim Murray in early November. However, I'm told by a scout friend that the 19 year old is playing a more confident, bigger, stronger, more intense game since we last saw him in Buffalo. He dominated the World Juniors tourney and brought offense and physicality to his Kootenay team that was dead in the water when he arrived there. Reinhart was responsible to guiding his Kootenay Ice team to the playoffs. I'm very excited to see how the kid's confidence has blossomed since his NHL tryout ended six months ago.

Reinhart (6’1…, 185 lbs., 11/6/95) has spent the majority of the 2014-15 season with the Kootenay Ice (WHL), where he ranked third on the team with 65 points (19+46) despite playing in only 47 regular-season games and added a team-leading six goals in seven playoff games. His 1.38 points per game in the regular season ranked him in the top 10 among all WHL players.

The North Vancouver, British Columbia native also represented Canada in the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship, tying to lead all skaters with five goals and 11 points, and posting a tournament-best plus-13 rating. His performance earned him a selection to the tournament’s All-Star Team.

Selected by Buffalo second overall in the 2014 NHL Draft, Reinhart made his NHL debut on October 9, 2014 and has appeared in nine NHL games with the Sabres.

***

Show Comments
Loading...
Loading...
0
Show comments for this article