Some Notes from the CHL

 photo by Sylvain Buisson/Collaboration Spéciale

Last night was an interesting one in the CHL Playoffs, and some of the results may be of interest to Caps fans (more specifically, Hershey fans).  The Victoriaville Tigres and Québec Remparts of the QMJHL met in Game 4 of their playoff series last night, and the Tigres ended up victorious, sweeping the Remparts in the series.  The Remparts are now out of the QMJHL playoffs and their season is over.  So why should Caps fans care?

The Remparts elimination last night means that Dmitry Kugryshev, who the Caps signed in March, is now eligible to be called up to the Hershey Bears.  The question is, will he?  Mark French already has a stacked Bears lineup, further inflated by the recent additions of Anton Gustafsson and Cody Eakin.  Plus, the Bears only have two more games in this regular season (Friday and Saturday against Norfolk).  Would the Bears add another new forward in the playoffs?  We'll have to wait and see; as we all know this organization can definitely surprise us.

UPDATE 4/9/10: It has been reported that Dmitry Kugryshev has been called up to the Hershey Bears and is expected to join the team Monday.

photo by Tyler Brownbridge/The Windsor Star

In other teams-I-like news, the reigning CHL Memorial Cup champions the Windsor Spitfires required extra time in Game 4 of the OHL Western Conference semi-finals, finally defeating the Plymouth Whalers in OT 3-2, sweeping the series.  At the end of regulation, the Spitfires had put an eye-boggling 66 shots on goal, yet only scoring on 2 of those shots.  Calgary Flames prospect Greg Nemisz scored for the Spits with just 19 seconds left in the 3rd period to send the game into OT.  Florida Panthers prospect Scott Timmins then scored the OT winner.

The amazing part of this story is that the Whalers did not even have their #1 goalie in net - Matt Hackett had been suspended for the game due to a roughing match penalty in Monday's game.  Back-up Plymouth goalie Scott Wedgewood, just 17 years old (eligible for the 2010 draft), ended up facing 73 shots for the night, saving 70.  Spits goalie Philipp Grubauer faced 21 shots.  73 to 21.  Unbelievable.  A Whalers blogger has a really great recap, I recommend reading it.  Windsor will meet the winner of the Kitchener Rangers/London Knights series, which is currently tied 2-2, in the OHL Western Conference Finals.  Game 7 (if necessary) for the Rangers/Knights series is scheduled for April 12, so Windsor will have some rest until the next round begins (likely mid-next week).  The winner of that matchup will play for the OHL Championship.