Othmann Has Hat Trick

Brennan Othmann (OHL Images)

The Rangers 2021 first round pick Brennan Othmann earned first star of the game honors as he recorded his first ever OHL Hat trick to lead his Flint Firebirds to a 6-4 win over the Kitchener Rangers. It was an impressive performance by the young left winger as he has six goals in a four game goal scoring streak.

In the second with the Rangers up 2-0, Othmann takes a stretch pass and breaks in all alone firing a shot that beats the Rangers goalie five hole for his sixth goal of the season. Still in the second after his team has tied the game, Othmann gives them a 3-2 lead when on another breakaway he goes upstairs for his seventh goal.

Finally in the third period after his team had taken a 5-4 lead, Othmann gets the hat trick goal when he scores on the empty net to put the game away. By the numbers Othmann was 3-0-3 on a game high 10 shots on goal (Flint took 40 for the game), he was also a +2 with a roughing minor and was 0-1 on faceoffs.

For the season Othmann is 8-3-11 in just eight games and if he had played as many games as the OHL leaders then he would be leading the league.

Goalie Dylan Garand earned the game's third star as his Kamloops Blazers shut out the Victoria Royals 6-0. For Garand stopped 22 shots for his second shutout of the season as both he and his Blazers extended their winning streak to six games. 

Garand is 9-1 on the season with a 1.91 goals against and a 0.931 save percentage. His  nine wins are a WHL best and the rest of his numbers read like this: goals against (fifth), save percentage (sixth), shutouts (third), and minutes played (fourth).

The Rangers are going to have a hard time not offering Garand an NHL Entry Level Contract if he keeps these numbers up.

Center Evan Vierling scored his fourth goal of the season as his Barrie Colts needed overtime to defeat the Oshawa Generals 5-4. Vierling scored the game's first goal, an even-strength goal at 5:45 of the first period.

For Vierling, the goal improved him to 4-4-8 as he scored the goal on two shots and was 11-8 on his faceoffs.

Jayden Grubbe (WHL)

Jayden Grubbe's fifth goal sealed the win for his Red Deer Rebels as they held off the Brandon Wheat Kings 5-3. Grubbe scored an empty-net goal with 49 seconds remaining in regulation after Brandon had cut Red Deer's lead to 4-3 at 17:58.

For the Red Deer captain, the goal was part of a night where Grubbe took six shots and was 16-6 on his faceoffs. Grubbe is 5-5-10 on the season and has won 55% of his faceoffs for the season.

Ryder Korczak had two secondary assists as his Moose Jaw Warriors earned a 4-1 road win over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Korczak earned both his points while running the Warriors' power play from the right point. 

The goals turned out to be part of the Warrior's Jagger Firkus's hat trick and were the game-winning goal as well as the dagger goal for the winners. Korczak took three shots and was 8-12 on faceoffs as he improved to a Ranger prospect leading 5-11-16.

Brody Lamb had a goal but his Green Bay Gamblers lost to the Chicago Steel 6-2 in USHL action. Lamb took one shot with a -1 and a double minor for high sticking as he improved to 3-3-6 in 10 games. 

It was a pretty ugly game in Tri-City as Matt Rempe's Seattle Thunderbirds visited Tayln Boyko's Tri-City Americans, neither team played well as Seattle came away with a 5-3 win. Matt Rempe had on Seattle's third goal as he was credited with one shot with a +1 and was 10-6 on his faceoffs.

Rempe also got his first fighting major of the season along with a minor for hooking. For Tri-City goalie Talyn Boyko gave up five goals on 35 shots as he saw his winless streak extend to seven games (0-6-1). 

Boyko is 1-6-1 on the season with a 4.49 goals against and a 0.887 save percentage. I know this sounds like a broken record but trust me when I saw Boyko's numbers are seriously misleading because of the team he is playing for.

Riley Hughes had two secondary assists as his Northeastern Huskies knocked off New Hampshire 4-1. Hughes besides going 0-2-2 on three shots was a +2 with a minor for unsportsmanlike conduct. 

It improves Hughes to 1-3-4 as he has scored all of his points in his last three games after going scoreless in his first six.

Defenseman Simon Kjellberg had a primary assist but his Rensselaer Engineers dropped a 4-3 decision to the St. Lawrence Saints. The assist came on the Engineer's third goal of the game which was a power-play goal at 19:57 of the second period.

For Kjellberg, it was his fifth assist on the season as he improved to 2-5-7 which is second in scoring for the team.

Brett Berard was scoreless on one shot as his eighth-ranked Providence Friars were shutout 1-0 by 12th-ranked Massachusetts in Hockey East action.  Berard who leads the Friars in scoring with a 7-4-11 is scoreless in his last two games.

Freshman defenseman Hank Kempf and his 14th-ranked Cornel "Big Red" opened up ECAC league play with a 3-2 loss at 9th-ranked Harvard. Kempf was scoreless on four shots with a -2 and a minor for interference.

Did Not Play

Goalie Hugo Ollas dressed but did not see action as his Merrimack Warriors played 14th-ranked Boston College.

Eric Ciccolini of Michigan is done for the season after suffering a lower-body injury.  The information was first reported by The Michigan Daily