The CHL Top Prospects game is where the best draft eligible players from the OHL, QMJHL, and WHL come together to play in front of NHL front office staff and scouts. It’s a “best on best” game with some of the NHL Central Scouting’s highest ranking North American players taking part. NHL teams use this game as part of their evaluation process on the players available in the upcoming draft.
This year’s game took place on Wednesday, January 24th, at the Avenir Centre in Moncton, New Brunswick, with Team Red beating Team White 3-1. Team Red was captained by Sam Dickinson of the OHL’s London Knights and Team White was captained by Berkly Catton of the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs. Each team iced 12 Forwards, 6 Defencemen, and 2 Goaltenders.
There were some notable players missing from the game due to injury, including Cayden Lindstrom from the Medicine Hat Tigers, Ryder Ritchie from the Prince Albert Raiders, and Maximilan Curran from the Tri-City Americans. All three players are currently ranked in the top 30 of North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting.
McKeen’s Western Region Scout, Adam Tate, has our recap and his standout players of the game.
First Period Recap
The first period started out with the Mississauga Steelheads’ Ryerson Leenders in net for Team Red and Carter George from the Owen Sound Attack in net for Team White. Both goaltenders were very good in the first period with neither surrendering a goal. The period was tightly contested and fast-paced, with barely any stoppages in play. Forward Cole Beaudoin (from the Barrie Colts) of Team Red stood out early with his competitiveness, two-way play, and physicality. Team White’s top line of Catton, Tij Iginla (Kelowna Rockets), and Terick Parascak (Prince George Cougars) made some nice passing plays, created some scoring chances, and forced Leenders to make some high-quality saves. There was a single power play in the period, with Julius Miettinen (Everett Silvertips) taking a penalty for Team Red. The Team White’s first power play unit consisted of the likes of Catton, Iginla, Parascak, and Calgary Hitmen defenceman Carter Yakemchuk, but they were unable to solve Leenders. At the end of the period, the shots were 13-6 for Team White.
Second Period Recap
The game started to open up a bit more in the second period, with the teams exchanging more scoring chances. Iginla really started to shine in this period, using his hockey sense to make a number of plays in all three zones. He showed good chemistry with Catton, and it started to become clear why both players are highly ranked among North American skaters by Central Scouting. Team Red’s Dickinson started to exert his will over the game in this period as well, with some nice passes in the offensive zone to create scoring chances. Liam Greentree, the captain of the Windsor Spitfires, opened the game’s scoring for Team White at the 1:52 mark of the period with a wrist shot in the slot off a broken passing play, beating Leenders with a wrist shot. Team Red tied the game a little over four minutes later with defencemen Colton Roberts (Vancouver Giants) and Ben Danford (Oshawa Generals) both skating down from the offensive blue line towards the net, with Danford scoring off a nice cross-crease pass from Roberts. The period would end tied 1-1 with Team Red leading the period in shots by a count of 13-12.
Both teams changed goaltenders at the mid-way point of the period with Lukas Matecha (Tri-City Americans) taking over for Team Red and Dawson Cowan (Spokane Chiefs) taking over for Team White. Matecha and Cowan would pick up where the other goaltenders left off, both making difficult saves over the course of the rest of the game.
Third Period Recap
Team White started quickly with Yakemchuk showing off his offensive skill, skating around defenders in Team Red’s zone on the first shift of the period. The more offensively skilled defencemen in the game really started to push for offence at even strength in this period, with Dickinson making some nice plays in the offensive zone for Team Red. Both Cowan and Matecha needed to be sharp early in the period as the pressure mounted. Cowan finally allowed a goal six minutes into the period on a scramble in his crease, with Raoul Boilard (Baie-Comeau Drakkar) pushing the puck over the line after a nice three zone rush and shot by defenceman Roberts. Team White would push for offence from that point onwards with all three forwards of the top line of Catton, Iginla, and Parascak getting scoring chances. Team White forwards Luke Misa (Mississauga Steelheads) and Beckett Sennecke (Oshawa Generals) also had a couple of scoring chances each but couldn’t beat Matecha. With the game in doubt, Team White pulled Cowan and Boilard would score the empty net goal not long after, his second goal of the game.
The final score was 3-1 for Team Red, with Raoul Boilard taking the Player of the Game honours for the winning team. Tij Iginla was named Player of the Game for Team White.
Standouts (and Honourable Mentions)
Forwards
Tij Iginla (ranked #11 North American Skater by NHL Central Scouting)
Iginla’s hockey sense was on full display in this game. His awareness in all three zones allowed him to be a force each shift he was on the ice. He buzzed all over with pace and wasn’t afraid to go to the dirty areas to make plays or retrieve pucks. While he didn’t register any points, he rang a puck off a post, and he and Catton could’ve had a couple of points each. It was easy to see why he was named Team White’s Player of the Game.
Raoul Boilard (ranked #34 N.A. Skater by Central Scouting)
The QMJHL Forward wasn’t as flashy as Iginla but was very impactful over the course of the game, factoring in on all of Team Red’s goals. Deployed as his team’s second line center, he was the only player in the game to score multiple goals. He also had the secondary assist on Ben Danford’s goal in the second period. While his first goal came from a scramble at the crease and wasn’t the prettiest, he had a laser of a shot ring off the crossbar in the first period, showing that he had a very good shot to go along with the rest of his play. His offensive skills were showcased, and his draft stock was probably helped a bit as a result.
Berkly Catton (ranked #9 N.A. Skater by Central Scouting)
While he has become more known for his offense this season as he stepped into a bigger role with Spokane, he has displayed good awareness of all three zones in his two seasons in the WHL. The Team White captain demonstrated a complete, 200ft game in this contest. There was a play late in the first period where he gave the puck away in the defensive zone with a risky pass, but he immediately challenged the shooter and blocked the shot that came from the mistake. He and Iginla were a forechecking force together and showed chemistry in the neutral and offensive zones. Catton also showed some footspeed carrying the puck through multiple zones for rush chances when his team was down.
Honourable Mentions
Terick Parascak (ranked #14 N.A. Skater)
A dangerous offensive player, with tough shots in close, goaltender screens, and puck hunting in the corners.
Cole Beaudoin (ranked #31 N.A. Skater)
Perhaps the best two-way Forward in the game. He set the tone early with his intensity in all three zones. Played on both the penalty kill and the power play.
Adam Jecho (ranked #13 N.A. Skater)
The big, smooth skating center-controlled possession and looked to be a playmaker all game long. He would often draw defenders to him to free up linemates.
Defencemen
Sam Dickinson (ranked #7 N.A. Skater by Central Scouting)
Possessing skating ability far better than most bigger defencemen and offensive skills that have people comparing him to Aaron Ekblad, the captain of Team Red was full value in this game. He started a little slowly but his game improved shift by shift. His passing was good all game long and he showed hockey sense in all three zones. He had a nice interception of a defender’s pass in the offensive zone slot that created a high danger scoring chance. The only real blemish to his game was a cross-checking penalty late in the third period.
Carter Yakemchuk (ranked #6 N.A. Skater by Central Scouting)
The highest ranked skater in the game, Yakemchuk showed all of the offensive flair that has become his calling card. Skating through the offensive zone, dangling past defenders and taking the puck to the net for scoring chances throughout the game, he was hard to miss when he was on the ice. He often used his skating in the offensive zone to draw defenders to him or cause chaos to create open ice for passes to teammates. His defensive play can be hit or miss, and it was in this game as well, but when he focuses on defending in his zone, he’s more than adequate.
Honourable Mentions
Zane Parekh (ranked #10 N.A. Skater)
The smooth skating offensive defenceman seemed to have a quiet game but in reality his skating, positional play, and stick work in his own zone showed he’s more than capable of handling himself defensively against tougher competition.
Colton Roberts (ranked #24 N.A. Skater)
The big, right-handed defenceman played a strong two-way game, taking chances in the offensive zone when opportunities presented themselves and garnering two assists along the way.
Goaltenders
Ryerson Leenders and Lukas Matecha (ranked #3 and #9 N.A. Goaltenders by Central Scouting)
We’re going to cheat and name both Team Red goaltenders as our standouts for the position. They combined for 38 saves on 39 shots and stopped many high danger chances from the likes of Catton, Iginla, Parascak, and Yakemchuk. Both goaltenders had big saves and were the reasons why their team won.
Honourable Mention
Carter George (ranked #1 N.A. Goaltender)
The least busy goaltender on the night did everything he could to keep Team White in it through the first half of the game. Made 11 of 12 saves.