Team Tiger Williams defeated Team Kelly Hrudey 7-4 in the 2002 Home Hardware CHL Top Prospects Game, played Thursday night before 10,087 fans at Sask Place in Saskatoon.
Pierre-Marc Bouchard of the Chicoutimi Sagueneens of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League scored a pair of goals to lead Team Williams to the win in the seventh annual Home Hardware Top Prospects Game, which annually features 40 of the top CHL prospects eligible for the National Hockey League&rsqou;s Entry Draft.
Petr Taticek of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League became the first player in Top Prospects history to score on a penalty shot to put Team Williams in front 5-3 in the second period. That goal seemed to give Team Williams the momentum it needed to come out on top in the entertaining, wide-open contest.
John Boychuk of the Calgary Hitmen (WHL), Armands Berzins of the Shawinigan Cataractes (QMJHL), Jay Bouwmeester of the Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL) and Lance Monych of the Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL) scored the other goals for the winning Williams&rsqou; side.
Team Williams out-shot Team Hrudey 43-41 and went two-for-five on the power play, while Team Hrudey failed to connect in five power play chances.
Joffrey Lupul of the Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL) scored a pair of goals for Team Hrudey, while Gregory Campbell of the Plymouth Whalers (OHL) and Brandon&rsqou;s Tim Konsorda added singles.
Jeff Deslauriers of the Chicoutimi Sagueneens (QMJHL) allowed two goals on 17 shots for Team Williams while Tyson Kellerman of the North Bay Centennials (OHL) made 22 saves and allowed two goals.
Maxime Daigneault of the Val-d&rsqou;Or Foreurs (QMJHL) stopped 21 of the 25 shots he faced for Team Hrudey, while Todd Ford of the Swift Current Broncos (WHL) stopped 15 of the 17 shots he faced.
Medicine Hat Tiger players won both player-of-the game honours, as Lupul was selected top player for Team Hrudey and Bouwmeester took the honour for Team Williams.
WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE
There are eight games on the busy Friday night WHL schedule. Spokane plays at Kootenay, Prince Albert visits Regina (7), Tri-City is at Vancouver, Portland plays in Seattle, Moose Jaw is at Brandon, Saskatoon plays in Medicine Hat, Kamloops visits Prince George and Kelowna travels to Swift Current (3).
There were no games in the WHL on Thursday night.
ONTARIO HOCKEY LEAGUE
There are eight games on the OHL schedule for Friday night. Oshawa goes to Erie, Guelph is at Kingston, Belleville travels to Kitchener, Windsor plays at London, Peterborough visits Ottawa, Owen Sound is in Sarnia, Mississauga plays at Sudbury and Plymouth (2) visits Toronto St. Michael&rsqou;s (10), in a battle between two of the CHL&rsqou;s top 10 ranked clubs.
There were four games in the OHL on Thursday night. Kitchener stopped Brampton 3-1, Barrie beat North Bay 4-1, Peterborough routed Guelph 8-3 and Windsor doubled Toronto St. Michael&rsqou;s Majors (10) 4-2.
At Brampton, Derek Roy scored a pair of goals for the Rangers, while Sebastien Savage scored the lone goal for the Battalion. Scott Dickie had to make just 18 saves in goal for the Rangers.
At North Bay, Steve Farquharson and Jan Platil both had one goal and one assist for the Colts, while David Chant made 39 saves in goal. Denis Yachmenev scored the lone goal for the Centennials.
At Peterborough, Greg Chambers had two goals and two assists for the Petes, who scored eight goals on just 26 shots. Dustin Wood and Brad Self both had one goal and two assists for Peterborough, while Martin St. Pierre had one goal and one assist for Guelph. David Currie made 30 saves in goal for the winners.
At Windsor, the Majors out-shot the Spitfires 40-20 but lost thanks to two goal games from both Steve Ott and Ahren Nittel. Darryl Bootland scored his 27th goal of the season for Toronto, while Cory Campbell made 38 saves in goal for the Spitfires.
QUEBEC MAJOR JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
There are six games on the QMJHL schedule for Friday night. Rimouski plays at Acadie-Bathurst (1), Cape Breton visits Baie-Comeau, Moncton plays in Chicoutimi, Drummondville travels to Shawinigan (4), Victoriaville is in Sherbrooke and Rouyn-Noranda plays at Val-d&rsqou;Or.
There was one game in the QMJHL Thursday night as Hull defeated Montreal 4-1.
At Montreal, Philippe Lacasse had two goals and two assists for the Olympiques, while Jean Morin added two goals and one assist. Ales Hemsky added three assists for the winners, while Eric Lafrance made 27 saves in goal. Danick Jasmin-Riel had the lone goal for Montreal.
For complete QMJHL statistics and standings, visit the official QMJHL site.
