GetRealHockey's Mid-Season NHL Draft Rankings

After Team Orr defeated Team Cherry 2-1 on January 31st, it marked the halfway point to this Junes NHL entry draft. Back in September Nail Yakupov and Mikhail Grigorenko were the early candidates to go 1st overall. 5 Months later not much has changed.

GetReal Hockey's rankings have Nail Yakupov at the top even though he is nursing a left knee injury he suffered during the overtime period of the gold medal game at the World Juniors. The injury does not appear to be serious and Yakupov's 9 point performance at the tournament was slightly better than Grigorenko's 6 points in 6 game's. As a result we have Grigorenko second on the list.

Mathew Dumba from the Red Deer Rebels had a very impressive prospects game as he delivered several big hits and even got involved in a fight. The 5'11 defenceman may be a little on the small side but he proved he plays bigger than he is.

Rounding out the top 5 is Filip Forsberg, a right winger with Leksand in the Swedish Junior League and Everett's defenceman and captain Ryan Murray. Murray was as high as 3rd on most lists at the start of the season but a high ankle sprain and a rough WJC see him slide to the 5th spot.

Some other notables on the list are Alex Galchenyuk at #11. Galchenyuk could turn out to be the steal of the draft as he has not played a game this season due to a torn ACL suffered in the preseason. #17 Andrei Vasilevski from Russia is the first goaltender on the list. Vasilevski had a very impressive World Junior,s going until the 3rd period against Canada. First North American goaltender is Malcolm Subban, younger brother of Montreal's P.K. Subban. The Belleville Bull has an impressive 1.93 GAA and .938 save percentage in 19 games. Rounding out the first round is Tanner Pearson from the Barrie Colts. Pearson was passed over in last years draft, but a fast start to the year and a World Junior appearance for Canada put him on the radar.

Here is GetReal Hockey's top 30 draft prospects.

Rank Player Pos Team Size 1 Nail Yakupov LW Sarnia, OHL 5'10, 189 2 Mikhail Grigorenko RW Quebec, QMJHL 6'3, 200 3 Mathew Dumba D Red Deer, WHL 5'11, 175 4 Filip Forsberg RW Leksand, Swe-Jr  6'2, 181 5 Ryan Murray D Everett, WHL 6'0, 201 6 Jacob Trouba D USNTDP 6'2, 196 7 Morgan Rielly D Moose Jaw, WHL 5'11, 190 8 Brendan Gaunce C Belleville, OHL 6'2, 215 9 Olli Maatta D London, OHL 6'1, 202 10 Griffin Reinhart D Edmonton, WHL 6'3, 202 11 Alex Galchenyuk C Sarnia, OHL 6'1, 197 12 Sebastien Collberg RW Frolunda, Swe-Jr 5'11, 176 13 Pontus Aberg LW Djurgarden, Swe 5'11, 194 14 Matt Finn D Guelph, OHL 6'0, 195 15 Radek Faksa C Kitchener, OHL 6'3, 202 16 Derrick Pouliot D Portland, WHL 5'11, 181 17 Andrei Vasilevski G Ufa, Russia-Jr 6'3, 200 18 Cody Ceci D Ottawa, OHL 6'2, 208 19 Tomas Hertl C Slavia, Czech 6'2, 198 20 Zemgus Girgensons C Dubuque, USHL 6'1, 197 21 Malcolm Subban G Bellevill, OHL 6'1, 189 22 Jarrod Maidens LW Owen Sound, OHL 6'1, 175 23 Andreas Athanasiou C London, OHL 6'0, 179 24 Slater Koekkoek D Peterborough, OHL 6'2, 183 25 Stefan Matteau C USNTDP 6'1, 210 26 Oscar Dansk G Brynas, Swe-Jr 6'2, 186 27 Hampus Lindholm D Rogle, Swe-Jr 6'2, 196 28 Phillip Di Giuseppe LW Michigan, CCHA 5'11, 176 29 Martin Frk RW Halifax, QMJHL 6'0, 204 30 Tanner Pearson LW Barrie, OHL 6'0, 198
- Mike Lord

Red Wings Come out on Top vs Stars (Game Recap)

Injuries depleted both teams for this match up as Robidas and Souray were missing from the Dallas defence whilst Helm, Holmstrom and Eaves were missing from the Detroit forward line.

The first big chance of the game fell to Jiri Hudler 5 minutes in but Lehtonen robbed the Detroit forward as he pulled off a big glove save. Hudler somehow not burying the puck as he was wide open on the Dallas doorstep with just the netminder to beat.

Filppula gave Detroit the lead at 8.02. Lidstrom and then White sent in shots wide on Lehtinen which managed to pull the netminder out of position and when the puck bounced

Hudler made it 2-0 with 2.54 left on the 1^st period. Zetterberg miss hit a shot which flew straight into the skates of Hudler and into the net. It was judged a good goal on the ice and the review confirmed that no kicking motion was made.

Erikson cut the lead in half only 50 seconds later. He picked up his own rebound off Howard as the netminder made a save short side and circled back around infront and fired the puck back through traffic and behind Jimmy Howard.

However, Detroit regained their 2 goal lead with a minute left on the period as Zetterberg skated from deep in his own zone, layed a puck off to Filppula on the wing and he sent it across to Hudler who skated infront unchallenged and buried his 2^nd past Lehtonen.

The Zetterberg, Filppula, Hudler line was absolutely on fire through the 1^st period, scoring all 3 goals and running the Dallas defence ragged. If Lehtonen hadn’t been as good as he had been through the period then Detroit could have had a lead of 4 or 5.

It took just over 1 minute of the 2^nd period for Dallas to score their 2^nd of the game as Jamie Benn picked up on a puck that was purposely shot wide by Goligoski and quickly fired it in before Howard could get across.

Corey Emmerton scored at 3.51 to put Detroit back into a 2 goal lead as he fired the puck from behind the goal line into the back of Lehtonen’s skates and into the goal.

With just over 7 minutes gone Michael Ryder made it 4-3 as he fired in a shot from the wing the crept passed Howard on his blocker side.

Franzen then made it 5-3 at 11.46 of the period as Datsyuk stole the puck behind the Dallas net and his quick pass was one timed high into the net by the Swedish forward.

That was to end the scoring in the 2^nd period even though Dallas came extremely close towards the end of the period as the post was struck by Pardy on a shot from the point.

It took 14 minutes of the 3^rd period before the lamp was lit again and it was Ryder with his 2^nd as Dallas yet again closed to within 1 goal. He picked up a puck just inside the Detroit zone and delayed on making a pass before choosing to shoot and send it high glove side past a screened Howard.

With time running out for Dallas to get the game tying goal, Lehtonen was pulled but to no avail as the clock ran down and Detroit took a 5-4 win.

It was a fast and furious opening 2 periods with goals galore. Both netminders conceded where they should have saved but both pulled off great saves as well. There was a distinct lack of penalties called in the game, the only one being 15 seconds into the game on Bertuzzi for Holding The Stick. This meant the game was played even handed throughout and made for a riveting contest.

Another 2 points for Detroit as they moved to only 1 point behind Western leading Chicago.

- Adam Yates

Merry Xmas to our readers , bloggers, and the entire GetRealHockey family

GetRealHockey started as an idea just about 18 months ago.  The idea was to create a destination for all hockey fans be they NHL,EPL,KHL, EIHL, or junior hockey.  The blog has had countless entries and we are now poised to breakout in 2012 as a force to be reckoned with in the hockey blogosphere.  The Alexa.com ranking for the blog grows on a daily basis.

The work of the blog has been put on the shoulders of some insiders but most of the burden has been endured by the bloggers who contribute stories on a daily basis.  At this time of the year, we want to reach out and say thank you on behalf of GetRealHockey and the readers of GetRealHockey.  Our bloggers have been putting out stories for zero pay.  They do it because they believe in the future of the blog and the GetReal concept.  This is about to change as we look to open to 2012 with financial backing and we will finally be able to compensate all the hard work.  It is our hope that the blogging team will continue to grow so we can best serve all the hockey niches we have targeted.

We hope all our readers will join us in this journey in 2012.  Our readers are the heart and soul of GetRealHockey and we aim to please with more cutting edge articles and insight in the New Year.  If you are a reader of the blog and you have something to share as a blogger; please email us @ getrealhockey@gmail.com.

In the mean time we wish everyone a Merry Xmas and Happy Holidays.  This is a time for family and of course hockey.  Hope you all catch the juniors and the NHL action between Santa's Day and New Years.

QMJHL Report for December 18th

The last day of action in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, before the Christmas break, is in the books. Quebec and Saint John continued their winning ways and Chicoutimi and Cape Breton went into the break on the right foot.

Quebec Remparts (28-6-3) 5 @ Acadie-Bathurst Titan (18-18-4) 1
Quebec used the strength of 5 different goal scorers to power past the Titan. Michael McNamee, Alexander Comtois and Frederick Roy all had a goal and an assist. Olivier Hinse chipped in 2 assists. Martin Lefebvre and Adam Erne rounded out the scoring for the Remparts. Christophe Losier scored the only goal for Acadie-Bathurst as their 3 big guns were kept quiet by Quebec's defence.
 
Saint John Sea Dogs (28-10-1) 5 @ Moncton Wildcats (17-18-2) 2Stephen MacAulay scored twice and Zack Phillips added a goal and an assist as Saint John defeated their provincial rivals from Moncton. Kevin Gagne and Grant West finished out the scoring for the Sea Dogs. Allain Saulnier and James Melindy each recorded a goal and an assist in a losing effort. Saint John jumped out to a 3-0 lead early in the second period, but Moncton grabbed the next 2 goals to make it interesting.

Halifax Mooseheads (22-11-3) 1 @ Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (15-21-1) 4Cape Breton outplayed the Mooseheads in all facets of the game yesterday, on their way to a win over their Nova Scotia rivals. David Rose, William Cochrane, Sebastien Payette all had single markers and Jonathan Brunelle recorded a goal and 2 assists. William Carrier chipped in 2 assists. The Screaming Eagles out shot Halifax 34-19 including a 17-2 edge in the second period. Rookie Goaltender Zack Fucale  was the reason the score was as close as it was.

Chicoutimi Sagueneens (17-11-8) 5 @ Drummondville Voltiguers (14-18-5) 4Chicoutimi scored three times in the third period to come from behind and defeat the Voltiguers. Guillaume Asselin scored twice, including the game winner, and added an assist, Gabriel Vermette (1&1) and Charles Hudon (2 assists), led the offence for Chicoutimi. Etienne Broduer and Napessis Andre completed the scoring. Drummondville got answers from Maxime Villemaire, Matthew Boudens, Jonathan Oligny and Marc-Olivier Brouillard.


- Mike Lord

QMJHL Report for December 17th

There were 5 games on the schedule last night in the Q. One game was a blow out and another had a hat trick.

Shawinigan Cataractes (25-9-4) 7 @ Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (12-25-2) 0
Shawinigan used 6 different goal scores and a 29 save performance from Gabriel Girard to thump the lowly Huskies. Anton Zlobin had 2 goals and Loik Poudrier recorded a goal and 2 assists to lead the attack. Robin Gusse was pulled 15 minutes into the first period, allowing 4 goals on 11 shots.

Baie-Comeau Drakkar (19-15-2) 5 @ Gatineau Olympiques (16-16-5) 2
Jonathan Lessard had a hat trick and Samuel Carrier had 3 assists to lead the Drakkar. Jean-Philippe Caron with a goal and 2 assists and Carl Gelinas 1 & 1 rounded out the goal scoring. Mathieu Gagnon and Alex Zafiris each had 2 points in a losing effort.

Acadie-Bathurst Titan (18-17-4) 6 @ Victoriaville Tigres (21-13-2) 3
Matthew Bissonette scored twice, including the game winner, to give him 30 on the year and Zach O'Brien had 3 assists to push his league leading point total to 66. Sebastien Trudeau had a goal and an assist as did Christophe Lalancette and Etienne Salvail. Adam Stevens rounded out the scoring for the Titan. Brandon Hynes with 2 and Yannick Dube replied for the Tigres.

Blainville-Boisbrand Armada (20-14-2) 5 @ Val d'Or Foreurs (15-19-4) 2
5 different players found the back of the net for the Armada and Christopher Clapperton lead the way with a goal and 2 assists. Cole Hawes and Jean-Christophe LaFlamme, each with a goal and an assist,  and Michael Clarke and  Jonathan Narbonne with single markers did all the scoring in the victory. Artem Sergeev and Guillaume Gelinas replied for the Foreurs.

PEI Rocket (8-24-4) 5 @ Rimouski Oceanic (22-17-0) 6
Of the 5 games played last night Rimouski was the only home team to come out on top. Liam O'Brien scored at 17:15 of the third period to give Rimouski a 2 goal lead. Jessyko Bernard tallied on the Power play with 16 seconds left but it was not enough as a wild third period came to an end. 6 goals were scored in the third period, 4 by the Oceanic, and in all 10 different players found twine.

Today is the last day before the Christmas break and there are 4 games on tap. 1st overall Quebec Remparts are at home to face Acadie-Bathurst. 2nd Overall Saint John Sea Dogs travel down the highway to Moncton to play the Wildcats. Halifax Mooseheads are on the road and take on the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. The final game sees Drummondville host Chicoutimi. Regular season action resumes December 27th with 6 games on the schedule.

QMJHL Report for December 16th

QMJHL Report for December 16th

Friday night was busy in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League as there were 8 games on the schedule. The top 2 teams were in action as the 1st Place Quebec Remparts hosted the last place PEI Rocket and Saint John traveled to Cape Breton to take on the Screeming Eagles.

PEI Rocket (8-23-4) 3 @ Quebec Remparts (27-6-3) 8PEI Stayed with the Remparts in the first period as the score was tie 3-3, but Quebec proved to be too strong and pulled away in the second scoring 3 more times and out shooting the Rocket 16-6. Owen Werthner led the Remparts with a goal and 2 assists. Ryan Culkin, Mikhail Grigorenko and Frederick Roy each chipped in with a goal and an assist. Patrick Walsh, Alexandre Comtois, Mikael Tam and Adam Erne rounded out the scoring for the Remparts. Ben Duffy had 2 goals for PEI and Louick Marcotte the other.

Saint John Sea Dogs (27-10-1) 4 @ Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (14-21-1) 3Mathieu Corbeil picked up his 21 win of the season by turning away 28 of 31 shots and Saint John got goals from Scott Oke (2), Zack Phillips and Kevin Gagne. Dannick Gauthier had 2 assists. Logan Shaw (2) and William Carrier replied for Cape Breton. Phillippe Trudeau had 22 saves in a losing effort.

Halifax Mooseheads (22-10-3) 2 @ Moncton Wildcats (17-17-2) 0Zachary Fucale made 29 saves to earn the shut out and Brad Cuzner, assisted by Alexandre Cote,  scored the game winner 9:23 into the third period to secure the 2 points for the Mooseheads. Cameron Critchlow from Darcy Ashley scored into the empty net with 10 seconds remaining. Roman Will made 34 saves in the loss.

Gatineau Olympiques (16-15-5) 2 @ Drummondville Voltigeurs (14-17-5) 5Olivier Archambault had a three point night with a goal and 2 assists and Dominic Graham made 30 saves in the win. Charlie Connell and Jonathan Oligny both had 2 assists. Rounding out the scoring for Drummondville was Simon Tardif-Richard, Maxime Villemaire, Bryce Milson and Marc-Olivier Brouillard. Jean-Gabriel Pageau 1 & 1 and Tomas Hyka replied for Gatineau.

Baie-Comeau Drakkar(18-15-2) 4 @ Victoriaville Tigres (21-12-2) 1Raphael Bussieres scored twice and Samuel Carrier had a goal and 2 assists as the Drakkar defeated the Victoriaville Tigres. Jonathan Lessard scored the other goal for Baie-Comeau and Tomas Filippi with 2 and Carl Gelinas had the assists. Philippe Halley scored an unassisted marker for Victoriaville.

Chicoutimi Sagueneens (16-11-8) 1 @ Rimouski Oceanic (21-17-0) 6Rimouski’s offence was sparked by Alexander Mallet’s 5 point performance. Mallet scored a hat trick, 2 on the power play, and single markers went to Jerome Leduc-Gauthier, Francis Beauvillier and Alexandre Tanguay. Alex Belzile had 4 assists. Chicoutimi could only get 1 past goaltender Jacob Gervais-Chouinard, despite firing 34 shots in his direction. Jeremy Gregoire was the only succesful shooter.

Blainville-Boisbriand Armada (19-14-2) 4 @ Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (12-24-2) 3
The scoring didn’t start until late in the second period as the Armada capitalized on a power play oppurtunity with a goal by Raphael Pouliot. The third period saw six goals by six different players and Etienne Marcoux picked up the win over Robin Gusse.

Shawinigan Cataractes (29-9-4) 3 @ Val-d’Or Foreurs (15-18-4) 1Shawinigan used goals by Yannick Veilleux, Justin Hache and Bronson Beaton to get past the Foreurs. Thierry Comtois scored and Francois Tremblay made 31 saves in a losing effort.

Saturday night sees 5 games on the schedule with 2 4pm starts. PEI is in Rimouski and Acadie-Bathurst is in Victoriaville. At 7pm Baie-Comeau plays Gatineau, Shawinigan is in Rouyn-Noranda and Blainville-Boisbriand is in Val-d’Or.

Mike Lord

Mike Lord Reports CHL Highlights for Dec 14th

QMJHL

There was only 2 games in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League last night. One in Shawinigan and the other in Chicoutimi.
Gatineau Olympique 1 at  Shawinigan Cataractes 4
Pierre-Olivier Morin led the attack for Shawinigan with a goal and 2 assists and Yannick Veilleux had 1 goal and 1 assist. Gatineaus lone goal came off the stick of Tomas Hyka his 12th tally of the season.
Victoriaville Tigres 3 at Chicoutimi Sagueneens 4
Brandon Hynes (2 goals 1 assist) and Phillipe Maillet (3 assist) were in on all 3 of Victoriaville's goals but it was not enough as Chicoutimi had 4 different scorers in the 4-3 win. Gabriel Bourret, Simon Tremblay, Dominic Poulin and Pierre Maxime Poudrier all found the score sheet.

There is just the 1 game on the schedule for tonight but should be a good one as 16 year old phenom Nathan MacKinnon leads his Halifax Mooseheads into Acadie-Bathurst to face the Titans. The Titans have 3 of the leagues top 5 scores in Zach O'Brien, Sebastien Trudeau and Matthew Bissonette.

OHL

The Ontario Hockey League had a light schedule Wednesday night as well with just a pair of games that both ended with identical 3-1 scores.
Kingston Frontenacs 3 at Belleville Bulls 1
Darcy Greenaway led the Frontenacs with a pair of goals, which gives him 12 on the year and Brendan Gaunce scored the lone goal for Belleville.
Saginaw Spirit 1 at Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds 3
The Soo Greyhounds recieved goals from Brendan Alderson, Corey Durocher and Michael Schumacer in the win. Joe Rogalski and Nick Cousins each had 2 assists. Anthony Camara score the only goal for Saginaw.

Tonight's action is highlighted by the 1st place London Knights who are in Peterborough to face the Petes. Also the Erie Otters take on the Niagara Ice Dogs, Owen Sound Attack play the Windsor Spitfires and the Missisauga St. Michaels Majors travel to Barrie to square off with the Colts.

WHL

Western Hockey League fans had six games to choose from last night, but there are none on the schedule for tonight.
Kelowna Rockets 3 at Regina Pats 2 (OT)
Colton Martin scored the winner at 2:33 of overtime to give the Rockets the win over Regina. Bret Bulmer and Tyson Ballie also scored for Kelowna. Morgan Klimchuk and Andrew Rieder replied for the Pats.
Kamloops Blazers 6 at Saskatoon Blades 3
Aspen Slerzer 2 goals and Ryan Hanes 1 goal and an assist paced Kamloops to the win
Victoria Royals 3 at Edmonton Oil Kings 6
Michael St. Croix had 4 point night 1 goal and 3 assists and Dylan Wruck had 2 goals as the Oil Kings cruised pass the Royals.
Calgary Hitmen 5 at Lethbridge Hurricanes 6 (OT)
Graham Hoods second goal of the game at the 23 second mark of overtime lifted the Hurricanes past the Hitmen.Cam Braes scored a hat trick for Lethbridge. Brady Brassart 2 goals and Victor Rask 3A led Calgary.
Red Deer Rebels 2 at Medicine Hat Tigers 5
James Bettauer, 1 goal and 2 assists led the Tigers and Emerson Etem and Cole Grbavac chipped in a goal and an assist.
Everett Silvertips 2 at Spokane Chiefs 3 (OT)
Steven Kuhn scored at 4:14 of overtime and Markus Kalus and Dominic Uher scored in regulation as Spokane defeated Everett. Kohl Bauml and Josh Birkholz replied for the Silvertips.

- Mike Lord