Rempe's 17th Helps Seattle Finish Regular Season With Win

Matthew Rempe (Brian Liesse)

It is the final weekend of the regular season for the New York Rangers prospects playing in the Canadian juniors.  Seven prospects saw action on Friday night and two possible future teammates on next year's Hartford Wolfpack team led the way. 

6'9 Matthew Rempe of the Seattle Thunderbirds is by all rights a project player for the New York Rangers, but the more you see of him in action, the more you realize he offers more than just muscle. Like his goal that he scored Friday night against the Tri-City Americans.

In the second period, with Seattle already up 2-1, Rempe took a pass from a teammate just inside the Americans' defensive zone, then did his best Chris Kreider imitation and took the puck right to the Americans' goal. Somehow Rempe was able to get the puck to trickle in the "five-hole" and into the net for a goal. 

It was Rempe's career-best 17th goal of the season and it came on a night when Seattle was resting most of their older players. Rempe played like a leader tied for the game high with seven shots and going 10-5 on his faceoffs.

It was most likely his final regular season game in the WHL and he came a long way this season. Going 17-6-23 with four power-play goals and one shorthanded goal offers the possibility of his developing into a power-play specialist who, with his 6'9 240 frame, is almost impossible to move out of the crease area.

And those 240 lbs? Rempe looks like he can add another 15-20 lbs to his upper body and if he does then he just might become the most popular teammate. Seattle will face Talyn Boyko and his Kelowna Rockets in the WHL's first round; this is really a series that is looking like a seven game series.

Ryder Korczak (Marc Smith)

Center Ryder Korczak and his Moose Jaw Warriors played a strange but very entertaining game despite suffering a 5-4 overtime loss to the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Lethbridge would score a goal early in the first period but after that both teams would trade scoring two straight goals to tie then take a one-goal lead.

Whatever issues he had been having with his faceoffs, Korczak appeared to have fixed them as he was 19-15 for the night. His 34 faceoff chances were more than the second and third line Moose Jaw centers combined (18+13=31).

Korczak continued his late season push scoring a goal for the third straight game while improving his current scoring streak to four games (3-5-8) as he improved to 25-54-79. With this being Korczak's fourth full season in the WHL, he is eligible to play in the AHL next season despite having a late October birthday.

Talyn Boyko (Kelowna Rockets)

Talyn Boyko stopped 27 of 29 shots as his Kelowna Rockets rallied to earn a 3-2 overtime win over the Vancouver Giants. Boyko kept the Rockets in this game as his teammates had trouble scoring on Vancouver's goalie.

The Rockets goalie earned his fifth straight win; he hasn't looked as dominant as he was earlier in the season, but he is finding ways to earn wins. Boyko improved to 29-18-2-3 with a 3.03 goals against and a 0.908 save percentage.

Dylan Garand gave up three goals while facing 29 shots as his Kamloops Blazers lost to the Prince George Cougars 4-2. Garand just didn't look sharp as his teammates limited the Cougars to just two shots in the first period.

In the second, the Blazers were outplayed by the Cougars, allowing them 19 shots and two goals that put them in a hole. The Blazers found a way to rally to tie the game in the third period, but Garand surrendered the game-winning goal just 26 seconds after the Blazers had tied it.

For Garand, the loss drops his record to 33-9-1 on the season. His goals against fell to 2.17 while his save percentage rose to 0.924. He might regret this loss as he fell back in several goalie categories. 

The Blazers still don't know who they are facing in the first round of the WHL playoffs, but it could wind up being these very Cougars who are currently seventh in the WHL's Western Conference. The Blazers will play the Vancouver Giants on Saturday, with the outcome of that game possibly determining who they face.

Will Cuylle and his Windsor Spitfires just could never finish off the Erie Otters and it cost them a chance to win their 14th-straight game 3-2 in overtime. Cuylle was scoreless on three shots but was called for a "player-safety foul from behind" that led to a penalty shot that Erie cashed in for the win with just 43 seconds remaining in overtime. 

It was an ugly game as far as Windsor was concerned as they had scoring chance after scoring chance but missed on wide open nets or hit the posts. Erie was fighting to stay alive for the last place spot in the OHL's Western Conference found a way to earn the win.

Windsor has one last game on Saturday against the Niagara IceDogs, already have home ice advantage for all of the OHL's Western Conference wrapped up. They might regret giving Erie a chance to face them in the first round.

Brennan Othmann was scoreless as his Flint Firebirds dropped a 6-3 decision to the Soo Greyhounds. With the Firebirds locked into the third seed in the OHL's Western Conference playoff race, the Firebirds had little to play for.

Othmann had a quiet game by his standards, four shots with a -1; a slashing minor and a ten-minute misconduct in the third period. The Flint captain is 46-47-93 with one game remaining in the OHL regular season. 

Brody Lamb is the only Rangers' prospect whose team will not make the playoffs, but it is hard to complain about his play this season. Lamb recorded his 19th goal of the season in a losing effort as his Green Bay Gamblers were eliminated from postseason contention after a 9-3 loss to the Dubuque Fighting Saints in USHL action.

Lamb scored his Gamblers first goal of the game, a power-play marker coming at 6:09 of the first period. At the time, it tied  the game up at 1-1, which was pretty much the only highlight of the game for the Gamblers.

Lamb is 19-22-41 with two games left on his season. Not to worry as Lamb is heading to Minnesota of the Big Ten so the Rangers will have five years to decide whether or not Lamb is NHL material.