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.

Update: Cody Eakin

 photo by me

Well, I got to see Cody Eakin in action myself this weekend, as I headed up to Hershey for the Bears' last home game of the regular season. I'd heard from Hershey friend Derek that Cody didn't have such a great game on Saturday night against the Crunch, but I was hoping he'd still see action in the lineup on Sunday. Did he ever.

At the end of the night, Eakin was awarded the #2 star of the evening (#3 being Patrick Wellar and #1 being Mathieu Perreault). For the most part, the scouting reports I read were very correct. While I didn't really get to see the extent of his speed in action, I did notice that he is very good at seeing the ice. Just watching him during a particular shift, I saw that his eyes were constantly moving (literally darting around), even when the puck was nowhere near him - looking around the ice to see where the puck was, where his teammates were, where his opponents were. He could see the next play before it even happened. This kind of ability will no doubt prove to be important and extremely beneficial to Eakin and his team.

His #2 star came from his beauty of a goal in the second period. As Cody was providing a screen in front of the net, Patrick Wellar launched a slapshot from the blue line, and Eakin angled his stick to deflect the shot past Admirals goalie Tokarski's shoulder for a goal. Aside from the goal, Eakin had a good game - creating scoring chances and establishing a decent forecheck. I can't wait to see him continue to improve, get stronger (at 179 lbs, he's still mighty scrawny for a 5'11" hockey player), and one day make it up to the Capitals roster.

Highlights of Sunday's game are here. Patrick Wellar's shot that Eakin deflects in comes at about the 0:22 mark.