2/23 Recap: Breault goes 1-2-3 for B-C

2006 pick Benjamin Breault scored his 28th goal of the year and added a pair assists in Baie-Comeau's 6-3 win over Quebec. Breault, whose goal came while being down a man, was named the game's first star with his three point night. He now has 63 points in 54 games as the top-line pivot for the Drakkar. Steady IceDogs defender Drew Schiestel assisted on the first two Niagara goals in their 4-2 road defeat of Peterborough. The 2007 2nd round pick continues to impress after an up-and-down run through the early parts of the season. T.J. Brennan scored for the second straight night as St. John's defeated Drummondville, 2-1. The first pick of the second round in last June's draft, Brennan now has 12 goals and 34 points for the Fog Devils. Foggies forward J.S. Allard went pointless in the two game set with the Voltigeurs. In Elitserien, Jhonas Enroth made 21 saves as SSK was defeated by Timra, 1-0. Despite the loss, Enroth is still sparkling with a .928 save percentage and a 2.18 GAA. Meanwhile, SSK remains on the outside looking in by just a point as SEL teams start looking towards the playoffs. Nick Eno made 22 saves to earn another "W" in Bowling Green's 2-1 win over Ferris State. The weekend split with the Bulldogs was the second time all season that Eno started both games of a weekend set over Flames prospect Jimmy Spratt. The steady frosh has now collected 11 of the Falcons 16 wins on the year. Tim Kennedy scored his 16th goal of the season on the power play, but his Spartans allowed a goal in the final minute of all three periods en route to a 5-2 loss to Michigan at Joe Louis Arena. In the second period, a Jeff Petry shot rebounded in the high slot to a waiting Kennedy who potted his third goal in four games. Freshman right wing Corey Tropp punched up one shot on goal in the loss. The Spartans will close the regular season next weekend against Eno and the Falcons. Alex Biega was even with five shots on net as Harvard defeated Brown, 2-1. The Crimson have now won four straight games since their loss to Boston College in the finals of the Beanpot. Andrew Orpik scored the only Eagles goal right out of the penalty box, his fifth of the season, as Boston College dropped another game to New Hampshire, 5-1. Nathan Gerbe was held scoreless with five shots on goal for the second straight night, and has just one point in his last five outings. Chris Butler was even as Denver used a weekend broom on Alaska-Anchorage, 3-1. Matt Generous was -1 as St. Lawrence lost to union, 3-1. The Saints lost their fourth straight game despite out-shooting the Dutchmen 47-26. Brad Eidsness faced just 17 shots, stopping 15 of them, as Okotoks defeated Camrose by a 3-2 score. Drew MacKenzie registered a shot on goal as Waterloo exercised the weekend sweep over Green Bay with a 2-1 win. Tonight also marked the NHL debut of Sabres prospect Marc-Andre Gragnani, who appeared in a Buffalo sweater in their 4-3 loss to the Rangers. Drafted as a defenseman but playing well as a wing at the AHL level, Gragnani was -1 with two hooking penalties in nearly six and half minutes of ice time. The hooking calls were the result of not moving his feet, something that can't be done at the top level. It's an overwhelming experience to play in your first NHL game, so he shall receive a mulligan from SabresProspects.com.

2/22 Recap: Gogulla passes in the clutch

In DEL play, Philip Gogulla continued to rack up assists with two more in Cologne's 5-4 OT win over Duisburg. Down 4-2 with under three minutes to play, Gogulla picked up the primary helpers as the Sharks rallied with two goals in 1:40 to force the extra session. The Dusseldorf-born left wing furthered his career best totals of 31 assists and 41 points as Cologne clinched a playoff birth with the win. Felix Schutz assisted on the game's first goal as Ingolstadt edged Straubing, 4-3. The 2006 fourth-rounder will carry a season-best three-game point streak into Sunday's contest with the Iserlohn Roosters. Michigan State LW Tim Kennedy scored a goal and an assist as the Spartans upended top-ranked Michigan, 5-2. Just 18 seconds after Justin Abdelkader gave the Spartans a 3-1 lead, the Buffalo native pounded home an Abdelkader rebound to break the game open in the early third. Kennedy was one of three Spartans to post a game-best +3 in the big win at Munn. Buffalo's 2007 third-rounder, Corey Tropp, hit a post on a first-period breakaway, and ended up scoreless for the Spartans. Chris Butler scored the game-winning goal while short-handed to give Denver a much-needed 4-2 victory over Alaska-Anchorage. Breaking down the ice on a two-on-one, Tyler Bozak delivered a perfect pass to Butler who directed the puck home for the Pioneers. The goal was Butler's second of the season after a 2006-07 campaign which saw him pot 10 from the Denver blue line. Matt Generous netted his third goal of the year as St. Lawrence fell to RPI, 4-2. Down 3-1 in the third, Generous went hard to the net to finish a give-and-go pass from Casey Parenteau. RPI was strong down the stretch as the Saints continued their season-long struggle. Freshman goaltender Nick Eno made 39 saves for the second consecutive start, but this time the result was different as Bowling Green lost to Ferris State, 2-1. Ferris dominated from the get-go as 33 of Eno's stops came in the first forty minutes. Boston College LW Nathan Gerbe fired seven shots on the Wildcat net, but proved unsuccessful in the Eagle's 2-0 shutout loss to #3 New Hampshire. The crucial loss leaves Boston College trailing UNH by eight points for the Hockey East season title. Like the rest of the Eagles squad, junior RW Andrew Orpik had a quiet night in defeat. Alex Biega notched an assist in Harvard's 6-1 trouncing of Yale. Paul Byron had an assist in Gatineau's 3-2 loss to Drummondville. With twelve seconds to play, Byron set-up a Jean-Philip Chabot goal to send the game into overtime. The assist extends Byron's point-streak to seven games. In the OHL, Drew Schiestel was even in Niagara's 2-1 win over Mississauga-St. Mike's. Drew MacKenzie was +1 as Waterloo beat up on Green Bay, 6-1. Dennis Persson went scoreless as Nykoping took it on the chin in a 9-3 loss to Leksands. In the AHL, Binghamton used three power play goals to shut down Rochester, 4-0. Adam Dennis made 22 saves to take the loss in his ninth straight start in the Amerks crease. Bad blood permeates this rivalry, and the night's chippiness resulted in Mark Mancari and Mike Funk each receiving misconducts as part of the festivities. Defenseman Mike Weber missed the game to attend the funeral of former teammate and close friend, Mickey Renaud. The Amerks were also without F/D Marc-Andre Gragnani, who earned his first call-up to the NHL thanks to his fine play of late as a forward. The rundown: Dennis - 22 saves Mancari - 12 PIM, 6 SOG Funk - 12 PIM Zagrapan - 3 SOG Sekera - 4 SOG Hunter - 3 SOG Weber - DNP Hunter - 3 SOG

2/21 Recap: Brennan comes up short

T.J. Brennan scored his 11th goal of the season in the final minute of play, but it was too little too late as St. John's fell to Acadie-Bathurst, 3-2. The short-handed goal was Brennan's first this year for the Foggies. J.S. Allard was pointless with a pair of minor penalties in the loss. Brad Eidsness made 30 saves in Okotoks' 3-2 loss to top-ranked Camrose. All the scoring was done in the first period, with the Sabres 2005 fifth-round pick making 19 stops the rest of the way. Unfortunately, the Oilers couldn't get another mark on the board while he was doing so to take the loss. Jhonas Enroth had the night off as SSK held off Mora, 1-0.

SabresProspects will return Saturday evening

Hi Folks, After some business related travel, and the ensuing woes of getting back to the bunker, SabresProspects will return full-throttle Saturday evening. Many apologies for delays in getting you the freshest info from Thursday and Friday contests.

News and Notes: Rough week for Weber

It's been a rough week for Amerks defenseman Mike Weber. First, he returns to the lineup on Sunday after a two game suspension, only to carry his physical play into penalty box, costing his team two goals against.

"He just wanted to make an impact in his return," Cunneyworth said. "We want him physical and playing the body, but not that way."

Then, he gets a call on Tuesday afternoon with news that his good friend Mickey Renaud had collapsed and died. Weber and Renaud were teammates last season in Windsor of the Ontario Hockey League.

"He was like a little brother to me," said Weber, a rookie defenseman for the Rochester Americans. Renaud, the son of former Amerks defenseman Mark Renaud, was captain of the Ontario Hockey League's Windsor Spitfires and Weber's teammate the past two seasons. He was drafted in the fifth round, 143rd overall, by the Calgary Flames in June. "You find yourself asking, 'Why?'" Weber said following practice on Tuesday. "He was my workout partner. Here's a healthy, 19-year-old kid, getting ready to sign a contract with Calgary, and he's gone in a second." Weber has asked for permission to attend Renaud's funeral and could miss Friday's home game against the Binghamton Senators. The Amerks are home tonight to play the Albany River Rats at 7:05 p.m. "It's all business (tonight)," Weber said. "He's a hockey player so he'd want me to play. He should have been right here in my shoes next season, playing his first pro season.

USCHO is running an article about Bowling Green's goalie tandem of Freshman Nick Eno (2007, 7th round), and junior Jimmy Spratt (CAL). It's a pretty unique situation for a NCAA club to have two NHL draftees between the pipes. NHLers in waiting, Eno and Spratt have created a formidable duo in net

Eno, on the other hand, probably couldn't wait to escape his doomed fate with an Eastern Junior Hockey League team called the Green Mountain Glades. He finished his lone year in juniors with nine wins in 25 starts. "Last year [in juniors], we didn't have the best team, so there were a few times when I'd see 40 or 50 shots a night," Eno said. Even with that amount of pucks flying at him some nights, Nick Eno ranked in the top 10 in save percentage and goals against average in the EJHL last winter. Thus, when Eno started out 4-0 with the Falcons in 2007, and has now continued to a 10-6 mark with two weekends to go, it surely is a refresher for the freshman goalie.

As expected, some suspensions were handed out after the melee at the end of the second period of Saturday's DU-UND contest. Chris Butler wasn't penalized in the fracas, but there's still a nice shot of him looking for a piece of the action in the Denver Post. The Niagara IceDogs recently held an open skate with the public that also featured a skills competition. Sabres 2007 second-rounder Drew Schiestel took home first place in the puck relay portion of the event. 2008 draftniks get out your clipboard: Alex Pietrangelo's slap shot clocked in at 96 MPH. Finally, don't look now, but Nathan Gerbe has some company in the national points-per-game race. Senior Ryan Cruthers of Robert Morris picked up three points at Bemidji over the weekend to tie him with the Sabres 2005 pick at 1.52 ppg. Michigan's Kevin Porter is right behind at 1.5 ppg. Gerbe will need to keep pace as #7 Boston College has a key home-and-home battle with #3 New Hampshire this weekend.

2/20 Recap: Grags bags another; Dennis comes up big

Marc-Andre Gragnani scored short-handed to force overtime in Rochester's 2-1 win over Albany. Skating at a forward position, Gragnani's seventh goal of the year extends his streak to eight consecutive games with a point, and his three shorties are now tops among AHL rookies. Adam Dennis earned the win by stopping 39 River Rat shots (33 in the first forty minutes), while Andrej Sekera added an assist on the Gragnani goal. The rundown: Gragnani - goal, +1 Sekera - assist, +1 Weber - 2 PIM Hunter - +1 Zagrapan - 4 PIM Funk - even Mancari - even Dennis - 39 saves In the Q, Ben Breault picked up a goal and an assist before getting tossed from the game in Baie-Comeau's 7-1 rout of Quebec. With just under seven minutes to go in the second period, Breault was whistled for a dangerous check from behind on Remparts defenseman Samuel Groulx. The hit earned Breault five and a game, and luckily Groulx, ranked #161 on CSB's mid-term list for next June's draft, seemed uninjured on the play. In Sweden, Dennis Persson had a power play assist as Nykoping did some routing of their own with a 7-1 win over AIK. Persson now has points in three consecutive games, and is playing steady defensively with the increased ice time he's seeing in HockeyAllsvenskan.

2/19 Recap: Germans show well in match-up

Philip Gogulla and Felix Schutz each had a goal and an assist as Cologne defeated Ingolstadt, 7-5. Gogulla is now a point shy of 40 on the season for Cologne, while Ingolstadt's Schutz scored his second short-handed goal of the season, and will look for his first three-game point streak on Friday against Straubing. Jhonas Enroth made 28 saves, but it wasn't enough as SKK lost to Djurgardens, 3-1. With the loss and a Skelleftea win the night before, SSK drops out of the final playoff slot to 9th place in the SEL.

2/18 Recap: Hockey world rocked by OHL death

Okotoks netminder Brad Eidsness made just 18 saves in the Oilers 4-3 OT win over the Calgary Royals. Despite the win, it appears that Camrose has the AJHL South Division locked up thanks to a win of their own over the Calgary Canucks earlier in the day. Regardless, the Oilers would like to send a reminder that the second season is just beginning when the two clubs lock horns Thursday and Saturday. In the USHL, Black Hawks defenseman Drew MacKenzie was pointless with three shots on goal in Waterloo's 2-0 loss to Tri-City. The Sabres prospect happenings are overshadowed by the sudden loss of Windsor Spitfires center, Mickey Renaud. Taken from the world at just 19 years of age, Renaud collapsed at his home Monday, and was pronounced dead just hours later at a local hospital. Renaud was a 6'3, 220-pound center who was showing promise as a two-way performer. The captain of the Spits, he was a fifth-round pick by Calgary last June. Anyone who had seen Mickey develop over the past two seasons will tell you that he had a future playing professional hockey like his father, Mark, and uncle, Chris. Mark Renaud played 10 games for the Buffalo Sabres in 1983-84. With deepest sympathy, SabresProspects.com would like to extend its thoughts and prayers to the friends and family of Mickey Renaud as they deal with the tragic loss.

Schedule for week of 2/18-2/24

Monday through Thursday will be fairly slow this week, with just ten games to fill the gap. SabresProspects may even get a reprieve from the coffee IV for a few days. All good things come to an end though, as Friday kicks off a wild 32-game weekend that is sure get the cha-chings going at the Tim Horton's down the block... Game To Watch Sabres prospects Philip Gogulla (2005, 2nd round) and Felix Schutz (2006, 4th round) will do battle on Tuesday as Ingolstadt visits Cologne. The meeting will be the third between the German forwards this season, with Schutz (2-2-4, +2) getting the better of Gogulla (1 goal, +2) in the two previous encounters. Other Notes Michigan and Michigan State (Tim Kennedy, Corey Tropp) will take the ice for what should be another exciting set to settle the state of Michigan's hockey affairs. In New England, New Hampshire and Boston College (Nathan Gerbe, Andrew Orpik) will swap home-ice as the top of the Hockey East standings start to settle out. In the AJHL, Brad Eidsness and the Okotoks Oilers have another home-and-home series with top-ranked Camrose on Thursday and Saturday. The complete run down: Monday (2/18) Waterloo at Tri-City Calgary Royals at Okotoks Tuesday (2/19) SSK at Djurgardens Ingolstadt at Cologne Wednesday (2/20) Albany at Rochester Baie-Comeau at Quebec AIK at Nykopings Thursday (2/21) Mora at SSK Okotoks at Camrose St. John's at Acadie-Bathurst Friday (2/22) Niagara at Mississagua-St. Michael's Drummondville at Gatineau Yale at Harvard Ferris St. at Bowling Green New Hampshire at Boston College Alaska-Anchorage at Denver Michigan at Michigan State St. Lawrence at RPI Green Bay at Waterloo Nykopings at Leksands Duisburg at Cologne Straubing at Ingolstadt Binghamton at Rochester Saturday (2/23) Michigan vs.Michigan State (at Joe Louis Arena) Alaska-Anchorage at Denver Ferris St. at Bowling Green Boston College at New Hampshire Brown at Harvard St. Lawrence at Union Quebec at Baie-Comeau St. John's at Drummondville Niagara at Peterborough Green Bay at Waterloo Camrose at Okotoks SSK at Timra Sunday (2/24) Sudbury at Niagara Chicoutimi at Gatineau St. John's at Shawinigan Drumheller at Okotoks Ingolstadt at Iserlohn Hannover at Cologne Houston at Rochester

2/17 Recap: Byron Flows

Paul Byron potted his 30th goal of the season to go along with an assist as Gatineau pounded last-place Drummondville, 9-2. Les Olympiques got most of their mileage out of a Matthew Pistilli hat trick and a four-assist effort from Claude Giroux (PHI) to win their fifth game in a row. Byron, on the other hand, is in the midst of a six-game point streak that has seen him go 9-4-13. Benjamin Breault scored his 26th goal of the season on the power play in Baie-Comeau's 5-3 loss to Chicoutimi. Breault was also pocketed an assist in the game against Marek Zagrapan's former club. Despite the two points, the former seventh rounder was -2 for the Drakkar. In Rochester, the Amerks out-shot defending AHL champion Hamilton 34-21, but could only find the back of the net once in a 4-1 loss. Dylan Hunter scored the lone Amerks goal, his 11th of the season, and Adam Dennis made 18 saves in the loss. Marc-Andre Gragnani notched another assist to extend his point-streak to a season-high seven games. The line: Hunter - goal, +1, 2 PIM Gragnani - assist, +1 Mancari +1 Weber - 6 PIM Zagrapan -1 Funk -1 Sekera - even Dennis - 18 saves