Simon Kjellberg Helps Keep Rensselaer's Season Alive

Simon Kjellberg (RPI)

Sunday was a very good and exciting day for the six New York Rangers prospects who saw action. It is playoff season and these prospects will show us if they have a future or not.

Simon Kjellberg and the Rensselaer Engineers are advancing to the second round of the ECAC playoffs after a thrilling "come-from-behind" 5-3 win over the Dartmouth Big Green in game three of their first-round series. Kjellberg played his best game of the season if not his NCAA career with a 2-1-3 earning "player of the game" honors.

Kjellberg in fact was outstanding in all three games going 3-2-5 in the series. Sunday, Kjellberg got the Engineers going after the team found itself trailing 2-0 in the second period. With the Engineers on the power play, Kjellberg fired a shot that found the inside of the left side of the post to make it a 2-1 game at 11:12 of the second period.

Dartmouth would regain their two-goal lead just as the second period ended putting the Engineers in a deep hole. Kjellberg would start the comeback in the third with his second goal of the game with the Engineers on the power play again. 

Kjellberg fired a blast from the right point that found its way to the back of the net to make it 3-2 at the 6:37 mark of the third period. The Engineers would tie the game on a shorthanded goal setting up Kjellberg's third moment of heroics. 

Kjellberg would carry the puck into the offensive zone taking the puck to the net, Kjellberg fired a backhanded shot on the net that Ryan Mahshie tapped in for the Engineer's first lead of the game. It was a third-power play goal that Kjellberg earned a point on.

Rensselaer goes on to win 5-3 and advance to the ECAC quarterfinals where they will face Harvard in another best of three series. Kjellberg's 2-1-3 improves his season totals to career bests 8-19-27.

The second star of the game Evan Vierling helped his Barrie Colts to an 8-4 win over the Sudbury Wolves. Vierling scored twice to extend his goal-scoring streak to four games (6-0-6) to help the Colts win their third straight game.

Vierling got on the scoreboard while on the penalty kill as his teammates did a great job of forechecking and Vierling found a loose puck in the offensive zone. He would just skate in and roofed the puck over the Sudbury goalie for Barrie's third goal of the game at 10:07 of the first.

In the second period, Vierling was fed a pass as he entered the offensive zone and again he roofed the puck into the net for his second of the game at the 0:09 mark of the second period.

🎥🚨@evan_vierling x2 pic.twitter.com/dz9KRJYhEF

— Barrie Colts (@OHLBarrieColts) March 6, 2022

Vierling in addition to his 2-0-2 on two shots with a +2 and was 11-7 on faceoffs. The two goals improved his season totals to 17-21-38 with the 17 goals a new career high.

Brennan Othmann came an assist short of earning a "Gordie Howe" hat trick as his Flint Firebirds defeated the Guelph Storm 5-1 in OHL action. The captain of the Firebirds dropped the gloves with Guelph's Luka Profaca to earn just his second fighting major in the OHL. 

Add in Othmann scoring his 37th goal of the season, a blast coming on the rush off the left side which was a rare goal for him as most of his goals have come from the right side. 

3⃣7⃣ goals for Brennan Othmann (@BOthmann78) 🎯

The @NYRangers prospect's latest snipe extends the @FlintFirebirds lead to three goals, as they go up 4-1 late in the third period against the Storm 📽️ pic.twitter.com/iLlrF234jx

— OntarioHockeyLeague (@OHLHockey) March 6, 2022

Othmann has been scoring a goal every other game for the Firebirds over the last 10 games as they make their run as winning the OHL's Western Conference regular season title and the home ice advantage that goes with it. Their recent winning streak has them just two points behind the Hamilton Bulldogs for the best overall record in the OHL.

Othmann's 37-38-75 is good for seventh in the OHL for scoring and second in goal scoring.

Will Cuylle and his Windsor Spitfires are hot on the trail of Othmann's Firebirds by extending their point streak to four games (3-0-1-0) with a 6-4 win over their arch-rivals the London Knights. The Spitfires are six points behind the Firebirds but hold four games in hand. 

Cuylle had a mostly quiet game earning a secondary assist on the Spitfire's fourth goal which put them in front of the Knights in the third period. Cuylle was credited with four shots and a -1 as he improved his season totals to a career best 28-25-53.

Talyn Boyko was supposed to have Sunday off after playing in both Friday and Saturday's games for his Kelowna Rockets. But when Kelowna's starter gave up three goals on 11 shots in the first period, in came Boyko at the start of the second period. 

It wasn't pretty but a clearly tired Boyko was able to stop 19 out of 20 shots as the Rockets were able to rally and earn a 5-4 win over the Vancouver Giants. The win enabled the Rockets to remain just one point behind the Seattle Thunderbirds for fourth place in the WHL's Western Conference and six points with three games in hand for third place behind the Portland Winterhawks. 

What stood out about Boyko was his ability to use his 6' 7.5 size to his advantage, using it to cover the goal from side to side when he was a step slower. But his glove hand was excellent as he robbed the Giants on several opportunities thanks to a fast glove hand. 

Boyko earned his 24th win to go 24-14-2-1 with a goals against of 3.05 and a save percentage of 0.909. Technically this is Boyko's fourth season in the WHL and even though he doesn't turn 20 until next October, if the Rangers wanted they could sign him and play him in Hartford. 

The better move would be to sign him after next training camp with a nice bonus, have him play another year in the WHL so as not to burn a year of his entry-level contract to work on his game.

Matthew Rempe already has his Rangers contract as the Seattle Thunderbird center continued his strong second half with another goal to help his Thunderbirds earn a 5-2 win over the Tri-City Americans. Rempe opened the scoring for the Thunderbirds with his 15th goal of the season when he tapped a rebound through the goalie's "five hole" and it found it's way to the back of the net.

A quick start for Seattle, thanks to Matt Rempe!@SeattleTbirds | @NYRangers pic.twitter.com/lCch3TuJST

— The WHL (@TheWHL) March 7, 2022

The goal at 2:23 of the first period was the start of a five goal run for the Thunderbirds as they earned their third straight win and remained ahead of the Kelowna Rockets. For Rempe the goal was the 10th in the second half of this season as he is using his 6'9 size to attack the front of the net.

Seattle uses Rempe as a center but I can't see his future in the pro ranks as one. Rempe was 6-6 on his faceoffs which is fine for the juniors but won't cut it as the game speed will increase as Rempe works his way up the ladder. 

That size and his 240 lbs will open doors for him, his soft hands will help but the skating speed and on-ice vision will need to improve. What is scary is that Rempe is still growing and when his body fills out, we are looking at maybe a 6'10 260-270 lb power forward.