Elite NHL Prospects Battle In Kelowna

February 10, 2012
Posted in BC Edition, Major Junior, Professional

BY JOHN CULLEN /

Even though the CHL’s top young talent all converged on Kelowna, B.C. for the Top Prospects Game last week, it looked nothing like an all-star game.

Hitting, fighting, and shot-blocking were all the norm rather than the exception as Team Orr defeated Team Cherry 2-1 in a tight-checking affair that saw two fights, a myriad of hits, and stellar performances from all four goaltenders.

Heading into the game, the story was not entirely about who was playing, but rather, who wasn’t.

Nail Yakupov, the projected first-overall pick in this year’s draft, declined the invitation to play in the game as he’s recovering from knee injury suffered in the World Junior tournament in January.

Yakupov was one of eight of the 42 top prospects originally invited to the game who had to turn down invitations due to injury, including Top 10-ranked defencemen Olli Maatta of the London Knights and Morgan Rielly of the Moose Jaw Warriors.

Yakupov, who played three games in three nights for the Sarnia Sting leading up to the Prospects Game, paid a price for his absence, as he was suspended for two games by CHL president David Branch.

It was instead another Russian who stepped up, as Mikhail Grigorenko, thought to have the best chance at being picked second following Yakupov, played in the game despite only being at “80-per cent” as he recovers from an ankle injury.

Despite the injury, Grigorenko looked dangerous all night, displaying a calmness with the puck that was unmatched among his peers. He didn’t score, but threatened the net a number of times and made quite a few excellent passes that could have easily led to goals.

Hometown boy and victorious Team Orr captain Colton Sissons had two assists and was a physical presence throughout. Sissons was recently named the No. 30 prospect for the upcoming NHL Draft in TSN’s mid-term rankings.

With defencemen clogging up the midterm Central Scouting Service Top 10 rankings (seven of the Top 10 picks in the first round are projected to be defencemen), it’s not a surprise that the game was such a close affair.

Griffin Reinhart of the Edmonton Oil Kings led the defensive contingent, as he looked strong on the puck all night while adding a goal and an assist.

Reinhart has steadily climbed the draft rankings as the season wears on, and this performance no doubt put him higher on some scouts’ lists.

Ryan Murray of the Everett Silvertips, ranked third, and Mathew Dumba of the Red Deer Rebels, ranked seventh, also looked impressive.

The smooth-skating Murray displayed his excellent vision and first-pass ability numerous times, and Dumba laid a number of crunching hits as well as dropping the gloves for a tilt with Raphael Bussieres in the third period.

Matthew Murray, goaltender for the Sault-Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the OHL, was named the game’s MVP after stopping 16 of 18 shots thrown his way in a losing effort.

Murray was huge throughout the third period, making some excellent stops on Tanner Pearson and despite picking up the loss, will no doubt have made an impression on teams looking to draft a goaltender in this year’s NHL Draft.

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