On Frozen Blog

What a weekend for Caps’ prospect Andrew Gordon! His line read 2 goals and 4 assists in St. Cloud’s weekend sweep of Minnesota-Duluth in WCHA conference play. He now has 16 goals and 18 assists in 24 games, leading the Huskies in scoring. The junior from Halifax has improved his offensive numbers each season in college hockey’s tougest conference. And he may not even be the Caps’ best prospect in that conference.
I highly recommend that you take a glance at what looks to be Battleship’s final offering on the Caps’ board at Hockeysfuture. I interviewed him back when OFB was just getting up and running, and I join a few hundred other regular HF readers who will miss his laser-sharp insights on Caps’ kids. Anyway, he’s of the opinion that Minnesota State senior Travis Morin might well be a Hobey Baker candidate were he a part of a higher profile program, and he forecasts Morin’s joining the Hershey Bears this spring, at the end of the Mavericks’ season. It will be interesting to see what Gordon does if he continues to put up gaudy numbers through the postseason for the Huskies — go pro or return for his senior season.
Gordon was a 7th round pick by the Caps in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. Morin went to the Caps in the 9th round of that draft. Wisconsin Badger Captain Andrew Joudrey, whom Battleship also sees getting a look from the Bears, was an 8th-rounder in 2003. Quebec wunderkid Mathieu Perreault was tabbed by the Caps in the 6th round of last summer’s draft. Noticing a trend?
I get to see a great deal of televised WCHA play. Gordon is a bulldog, strong and compact — allegedly the strongest guy in the Huskie weight room — and while perhaps not blindingly fast, moves with efficiency and agility. He’s very tough to knock off the puck. Morin is somewhat lanky and plays more upright, not unlike Eric Fehr. Joudrey has nowehere near the offensive skills of his fellow Caps’ forward prospects in the conference, but Head Coach Mike Eaves, I wager, would tell you he’s the Badgers’ MVP. In last season’s postseason, when St. Cloud upset Minnesota in the WCHA semifinals, on a sheet of ice that featured the likes of Phil Kessel, Blake Wheeler, and Ryan Potulny, Gordon was the best player on the ice.
Last spring Hershey brought in Caps’ right wing prospect Stephen Werner straight from the UMass captain’s completed senior season. Morin and potentially Gordon would be regarded as greater impact guys. Joudrey would almost certainly be a 4th line shut-down guy.
The Bears, incidentally, got a great big win at home last night, 4-1 over Wilkes Barre. Dave Steckel potted his 14th and 15th goals of the season, and added an assist — look for him to be a training camp troublemaker (in a good way) this September — and another Battleship favorite, Chris Bourque, had a goal and an assist. The Bears are now 28-8-3-5 (5 shootout losses), good for 64 points and second place in the AHL’s East Division, three points behind Norfolk and three ahead of Wilkes Barre.