Update On Habs Prospects At NCAA Frozen Four Tournament

Before discussing the Habs prospects, let’s discuss the results of Michigan without one of their stars. Despite this, the Michigan Wolverines are still dominating Bentley as the #1 seed in the tournament, winning 5-1, and have moved on to the 2nd round to take on Minnesota-Duluth on Sunday. We will know more before that game if Hage will be good to go and make his debut at this year’s Frozen Four event.

Next up is Habs prospect. Logan Sawyer, who has had a solid season at Providence College, where he finished his sophomore season with 14 goals and 28 points in 35 games as one of the team’s three top players with the Friars all year long. Sawyer continued to perform well in Providence College’s 1st Round matchup, as he finished the game leading the way for them with a goal and an assist. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough as Quinnipiac beat Providence 5-2 to end Sawyer’s greatly improved second season in the NCAA. His season may have ended, but it was a huge success nonetheless.

As for forward Sam Harris and the Denver Pioneers, they had a great opening tournament matchup against Canadiens goaltending prospect Alexis Cournoyer and the Cornell Big Red with a huge 5-0 victory. Harris played a key role in the victory as he scored a goal and added an assist. He has quietly been one of the most underrated prospects in the Habs prospect pool for his performance at Denver this season. Harris put up a very good 14 goals and 33 points in 40 games, and for the 2nd year in a row, he has produced 30+ points. On top of Harris, Canadiens’ goaltending prospect Quentin Miller was the backup goaltender in the game for Denver. Based on how starter Johnny Hicks played in Round 1, it is unlikely that he will get a start during this tournament, but he does have a chance to come into the game if an injury occurs. Denver will face Western Michigan in the quarterfinals on Sunday.

On the other end of that game, Cournoyer had a tough night where he allowed 4 goals on 25 shots, which ended his solid freshman season. In 28 games, he posted a .915 save percentage and 2.05 GAA, where he proved to be a solid starter for Cornell going forward.

Finally, we have Emmett Croteau, who was the goaltender for the Dartmouth Big Green against the Wisconsin Badgers on Thursday night. Croteau wasn’t able to stop the Badgers, who dominated from start to finish. He didn’t have a terrible game as he stopped 23 saves on 26 shots, but the team in front of him wasn’t strong enough. Croteau ended up being one of the best goaltenders in the entire NCAA with his . 922 save percentage and 1.93 GAA but when it came to playing against better schools, he and his team didn’t have enough to get by Round 1 of the NCAA tournament.

Overall, it was a mixed bag for the Habs prospects during Round 1 of the Frozen Four, but there are still three prospects to follow as the tournament goes on. However, only one of them may get to play the rest of the weekend.