Of the few prospects still remaining in the Colorado Avalanche system, a handful are still playing for a championship in their respective leagues. Here’s where each of them stand heading into a crucial portion of their schedules.
NCAA
In the friendly confines of Blue Arena in Loveland, DU won their regional bracket to send the Pioneers to the Frozen Four in Las Vegas. On April 9th they take on Michigan at 6:30 p.m. MT, which will be televised on ESPN2.
It has been a lost season for DU’s sophomore defenseman Tory Pitner as he only participated in six contests from late January to early February. A lower-body injury is suspected as the main reason for all the absences. The right-shot defender scored an assist in that time, which matches his total from his 38-game freshman season.
Fellow Denver teammate and Avalanche prospect sophomore forward Jake Fisher has enjoyed a more productive season scoring 19 points and eight goals in a mostly bottom six role. Fisher added a goal in DU’s 5-0 win over Cornell in the regional portion of the NCAA tournament.
KHL
Both Avangard and Magnitogorsk advanced to the second round of the Gagarin Cup playoffs with 4-1 series victories, which means that both defenseman Mikhail Gulyayev and goaltender Ilya Nabokov move on, respectively. These two are top teams from opposite sides of the bracket and could meet eachother in the finals.
In the first round Gulyayev almost matched his season total of three points over the five game round one series as he chipped in two assists for Avangard with a +6 rating. With a bit of an uptick in time on ice there’s hope the right shot defenseman can have a strong finish to his KHL season. Avangard begins their second round series against CSKA on April 8th.
Nabokov started Game 4 with a chance to clinch the series against Sibir but took the 1-0 loss in overtime. He stopped 31 of 32 shots and put in a performance which should earn him more time moving forward. Of course everyone is eagerly anticipating the netminder’s move to North America, which should still happen as soon as Magnitogorsk’s playoff run ends. Magnitogorsk takes on Torpedo starting April 9th.
OHL
The top seeded Kitchener Rangers dispatched Saginaw in a four game sweep with now 20-year-old forward Christian Humphreys leading the way. He scored four goals and nine points in the series and looks to keep the momentum going as Kitchener has true sights on winning an OHL championship. Next up for them is a second round meeting with the Soo Greyhounds starting on Friday, April 10th.
The other team of Avalanche interest was the London Knights but they drew a tough match with the aforementioned Soo Greyhounds in the 4-v-5 seed duel. Unfortunately Soo won out in five games and eliminated the powerhouse Knights in round one. Prospect defenseman Linus Funck provided a big goal before their ouster but even more unfortunate news is he became injured in game three with an upper-body ailment. It’s possible if Funck gets healthy in the near term he joins the Colorado Eagles on ATO to finish out the season but that remains to be seen.
