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| Brennan Othmann (Todd Boone) |
In Michigan the Flint Firebirds and the Saginaw Spirit call their season series the I-75 Divide Cup and after a 6-3 Flint victory, the cup belongs to the Firebirds. Brennan Othmann had been named captain of the Firebirds on Wednesday being just the fourth captain in Flint history.
The OHL's first star of the night as well as the game's Othmann had quite the debut as Firebirds captain, with his team trailing 1-0 in the second, Othmann fed the puck to teammate Riley Piercey in front of the Saginaw goal for the tying goal. The even-strength goal came just 14 seconds into the second period.
Othmann earned his second point of the night when his shot was stopped but rebounded right to Piercey who cashed it in for his second goal of the night. This one was a power play goal coming at 48 second of the third period and gave Flint their first lead of the night at 3-2.
After Saginaw would tie the game back up, point number three was a secondary assist on Sahli Panwar's power-play goal at 13:20 of the third period. That made the score 4-3 and would prove to be the game-winner.
Point four was Othmann's 27th goal of the season as he scored off a one-timer that was an almost impossible angle to score from. It was on the right side almost on the goal line but Othmann found a spot and made it a 5-3 game.
The final point was Othmann setting up teammate Ethan Keppen for an empty-net goal and the final score of the game. Othmann improves to 27-24-51 after 32 games and his 27 goals are second best in the OHL.
Here is the highlight package from the game, Othmann wears 78 and his goal starts at the 3:10 mark
If there was any questions as to whether or not Hugo Ollas could make the adjustment to playing in North America and the Hockey East conference then Friday night was a huge statement from the 6'8 238 goalie from Sweden. Ollas and his Merrimack Warriors posted their biggest win of the season when they upset ninth-ranked UMass-Lowell 3-1.
The River Hawks came into this game leading the Hockey East conference with a 10-2-1-1 but Ollas just stopped them in their tracks. Other than a shorthanded goal in the second period, Ollas was perfect stopping 23 out of 24 for his fourth straight win.
True freshman Ollas improved to 6-3 with 2.31 goals against and a 0.913 save percentage. Merrimack now is on their longest winning streak of the season with four straight wins to improve to 11-10-1.
Matt Rempe and his Seattle Thunderbirds had little trouble with the Spokane Chiefs earning a 7-0 win. Rempe had a two goal night for his eighth and ninth goals of the season as his play since returning from the holiday break has been really good.
Against Spokane and already up 1-0, Rempe got going with a power-play goal at 5:27 of the first period. Seattle has been on quite a run with their power-play unit ever since the 6'9 Rempe was added to it.
Rempe postgame:
“My goal is to take away the eyes of the goalie, and guys shoot around me and try to get tips and deflections. We try to get back door plays around the net and win all the net front battles.”
On the second goal just check out the tweet from the Thunderbirds:
Hey check us out #bang pic.twitter.com/ACJukYWTJ4
— Seattle Thunderbirds (@SeattleTbirds) January 22, 2022
For Rempe, the goals improves his season totals to 9-3-12 as he was credited with a game-high seven shots and was 11-6 on his faceoffs.
Dylan Garand broke a personal two-game losing streak with a 31 save performance as his Kamloops Blazers defeated the Prince George Cougars 5-1. It was a nice bounce back performance for Garand who had given up nine goals over his last two games.
Garand surrendered only a second period goal that he wishes he had back as he gave up a long rebound that bounced right to a Prince George player. Garand had taken himself out of position on the play but that was the only mistake on an otherwise strong effort.
With the win, Garand is 18-6 with a 2.04 goals against and a 0.925 save percentage. Those numbers mean Garand is second in the WHL for wins, goals against and save percentage.
Brett Berard and his Providence Friars handed Boston College a 7-0 spanking in Hockey East action. Berard had two secondary assists as the Friars broke a tie for fourth place in Hockey East.
Berard was 0-2-2 on four shots with a +3 as he improved to 13-15-28 which ties him for leading scorer on Providence. His numbers are 14th nationally among NCAA Division One's Men's scorers
Hank Kempf and his eighth-ranked Cornell Big Red suffered an embarrassing loss dropping a 5-4 decision to Princeton. For Princeton, it was just their fourth win of the season as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead and held on for the win.
The game saw five goals scored in the game's final three minutes including three coming in the final 40 seconds. Kempf had two secondary assists on two shots with a +2 as he improved to 0-8-8 on the season.
Simon Kjellberg and his Rensselaer Engineers also suffered an embarrassing loss as they fell to the Yale Bulldogs 5-3. Yale entered the game with only three wins on the season got some solid goaltending and timely goals to defeat the Engineers.
Kjellberg had a secondary assist on the Engineer's third goal which came with the goalie pulled and having the extra attacker. At the time it pulled the Engineers to within one at 4-3 but Yale would add an empty-net goal to seal the win.
Kjellberg was 0-1-1 on four shots with a -1 as his season totals are now 4-10-14.
Jayden Grubbe was scoreless as his Red Deer Rebels earned a 5-2 win over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Grubbe's offense has gone MIA on him as he didn't even record a shot on goal but he was 13-10 on faceoffs.
Seriously doubt that the Rangers expected Grubbe to struggle offensively as much as he has this season. The captain of the Rebels is 6-11-17 in 38 games but only has one goal in his last 23 games after starting with five goals in his first 15.
Brody Lamb was scoreless on two shots as his Green Bay Gamblers defeated the Chicago Steel in USHL action. Green Bay moved to within three points of fourth-place Madison for the fourth playoff spot in the USHL's Eastern Conference.
Will Cuylle had a game-high seven shots but did not score as his Windsor Spitfires lost to the Kitchener Rangers 4-2.
Riley Hughes was scoreless as his 13th-ranked Northeastern Huskies lost to 12th-ranked Massachusetts 3-2. Hughes did not record a shot and was a -2.
Did Not Play
Ryder Korczak and his Moose Jaw Warriors are pausing all team activities due to Covid protocols.
Talyn Boyko and his Kelowna Rockets are also not active due to Covid.
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