Siberia Representation at the Prospect Tournament

 

Hello sports fans. As we get closer to the Christmas and New Years seasons, the CCHL will be holding a special event this season, a prospect tournament. CCHL teams will be paired together and will put forth their best team, with equal representation from both teams. The Siberia Icecats have been paired with the Georgetown Millers. Both teams have a deep prospect pool which should yield a very strong prospect team. Let’s take a look at the representation from the Siberia Icecats.

Goalies

·         Yaroslav Askarov – all-world Russian netminder will be one of the two goalies representing the team. Askarov certainly has the pedigree to backstop this team. He has a ridiculous 0.96 GAA through 7 games in the KHL this season.

Defense – this is the area of strength for the Icecats

·         Bowen Byram – the young Colorado rearguard is well known for his offense. He may anchor a top even strength of power play line

·         Jake Sanderson – the recent fifth overall pick is a “do it all” defenseman and will be relied upon to shut down some of the best prospects in the tournament

·         Thomas Harley – the Dallas dman has been rising up the prospect charts and should spark the Icecats/Millers offense

·         Evan Bouchard – Evan is the most mature of the Icecats defensive prospects and should bring leadership and experience to this young group

Forwards – while not as strong, the Icecats have several talented players ready to contribute

·         Josh Norris – this Senators prospect is being counted in on Ottawa to stabilize the center ice position for years to come. He will be looked upon to do the same in this tournament

·         Vasily Ponomorev – the young Russian center is averaging a ppg this season in the Q and will bring offense to this team

·         Jamieson Rees – this young center came out of nowhere to dominate the OHL last year, averaging over 1.5 ppg

·         Samuel Poulin – this hulking winger has the size to drive opponents crazy in front of the goal. He has been lighting up the Q the past 3 seasons

·         Noel Gunler – the talented Swedish winger is a natural goal scoring ability. Can he translate that into success against the CCHL’s best prospects?

·         Raphael Lavoie – the young winger may end up on McDavid’s wing in the near future, but for now, he will have to put his goal scoring skills to use to help the Icecats/Millers team win. Lavoie averaged .70 goals per game last year in the Q. Wow!

Overall, it seems that the Icecats are well represented in this tournament. Couple that with the equally talented prospects from the Millers and it’s easy to see that this team will be one of the favorites. That’s it for now, sports fans, see you in late December!