New York Rangers NCAA prospects report

One more week of NCAA action for the seven New York Rangers prospects.  Time to check up on how they did.

It wasn’t a big weekend for scoring by Rangers prospects in the NCAA.  In fact, of the seven college prospects, six were in action and collectively netted only one goal and two assists.  It’s not that surprising considering that of the seven, three are defensemen, one is goalie and two of the forwards are freshmen.

The good news is the teams they played for were mostly successful and all of the Baby Rangers contributed.

Morgan Barron (C) – 2017 6th round – #174

Morgan Barron and the Cornell Big Red remain undefeated and are now 8-0.  They won 2-1 Friday night over Quinnipiac College and routed Princeton Saturday 5-1. Cornell is now ranked #2 in the nation, only behind Minnesota State.

Barron was held off the scoresheet for the first time this season in both games, though he had five shots on goal against Quinnipiac.  Barron now has six goals and 12 points in eight games and is one of the top NCAA scorers.

Barron is getting noticed around the hockey world, featured in a CBC article about top prospects. In the article, his coach Mike Schager,  says this about his junior phenom, “He’s a beast to try and control.  This year he’s been playing with more poise and he’s got a little more step in his game.”

K’Andre Miller  (D) – 2018 1st round – #18

Wisconsin had dropped one slot to #16 in the college rankings and took on unranked Minnesota this weekend.  It was another disappointing weekend for the Badgers. Rangers defense prospect K’Andre Miller had a goal and an assist in the two road games.  Miller had an assist on the only goal scored in the first game, a 4-1 loss.  The assist came on the power play.

In the second game, Miller scored the game tying goal at 5:34 of the third period. The game ended in a 3-3 tie after two overtime periods and the Badgers went on to win in a shootout.

Miller now has five goals and nine points in 14  games for the disappointing Badgers who are now 6-7-1  and 1-4-1 in the Big Ten.   He was the subject of a Hockey News video earlier this week, calling him “a star in the making.”

Zac Jones (D) – 2019  3rd round – #68

Massachusetts played Merrimack twice this weekend with the first game a 2-2 tie and the second a 3-2 win.  Defenseman Zac Jones has been one of Massachusetts top scorers all season, but the freshman got some help from his teammates and didn’t score.

Massachusetts improved to 4-3-1 in the Big East and 8-3-1 overall and came into the weekend the seventh ranked team in the NCAA.

Riley Hughes (F) – 2018 7th round – #216

It was another scoreless weekend for freshman forward Riley Hughes.  The Northeastern Huskies  swept a two game series against Main, winning  5-2 and 3-2.   Hughes hasn’t dented the scoresheet since the second game of the season.   Northeastern improved to a a 6-3-1 record in the Hockey East Conference and an 8-4-2 overall record. They are in second place in the Hockey East standings.  The Huskies moved up a slot to 13th in the NCAA and could be moving up even more.

Eric Ciccolini (RW) – 2019 7th round – #205

Michigan split two non-conference games on the road in New Hampshire.  Ranger draft pick Eric Ciccolini  played in both games but was held off the scoresheet. Ciccolini is a freshman and hasn’t been much of an offensive force in recent games.  Michigan is now 4-7-2 overall and 0-5-1 in the Big Ten conference.

Simon Kjellberg (D)  – 2018 6th round – #163

Simon Kjellberg’s RPI split their two games this weekend, losing the opener 6-3 to 10th ranked Harvard and rebounding with a 3-2 win at Canisius.  Kjellberg was scoreless against Harvard, but still ended up with a plus/minus of +1.

In the Canisius win, Kjellberg got an assist on the game-winning goal at 17:13 of the third period. The goal was scored off the rebound of a point shot by Kjellberg. The Swede now has three goals and six points in 11 games.

RPI is 3-4-1 in the ECAC and 5-6-1 overall.  Next weekend, it will be Kjellberg and the Engineers taking on fellow Ranger prospect Tyler Wall and  UMass-Lowell.

Tyler Wall (G) – 2016 6th round – #174

Speaking of Wall, the 15th ranked UMass-Lowell Riverhawks were off this weekend so no action for Hockey East’s best goalie.