New York Rangers: NCAA prospects report

All eight New York Rangers prospects in the NCAA were in action this weekend. Top prospects Morgan Barron and Tyler Wall continued their fine play.

It was a weekend full of upsets and unexpected results.  New York Rangers top forward prospect Morgan Barron added to his statistics and goaltender Tyler Wall had another stellar outing in net.  A couple other prospects contributed as well as the college hockey season nears its mid-point.

Most college teams are off for the holidays with action resuming around the new year.

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

It was an odd weekend for #2 Cornell as they beat a ranked team, then were upset as they took their first loss of the season.  Friday night they defeated  #12 Harvard 2-0 in a key ECAC Conference match up.  Ranger prospect Morgan Barron was held off the scoresheet for the first time in ten games.

They followed that by losing their status as the last undefeated team in the country, dropping a 2-1 decision to unranked Dartmouth.  Dartmouth stopped the Big Red on five power plays, a key to the win.  Morgan Barron scored the only goal for Cornell, in the last minute of the first period.

Barron now has seven goals and 14 points in 11 games.  Cornell dropped to 10-1 overall and 7-1 in the ECAC.

Cornell doesn’t play again until January 3 when they take on Ohio State at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

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

Wisconsin is rapidly becoming one of the major disappointments of this college season.  Currently ranked 18th nationally, they risk dropping out of the top 20.  They lost both games this weekend to unranked Michigan State.  On Friday, they lost 2-0  and Saturday were beaten 5-4 in overtime.  The two losses dropped their record to  7-10-1 (2-7-1 Big Ten)

Ranger prospect K’Andre Miller didn’t get on the scoreboard in either game and was a minus four in the second loss.

Their next game is on New Year’s Day, an exhibition against the United States National Development U18 team.

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

Unranked Michigan hosted #8 Penn State in a Big Ten match up. Friday, the Wolverines notched an upset 4-1 win with Rangers prospect Eric Ciccolini getting an assist on the game winning goal.  After scoring his first college goal last weekend, Ciccolini now has one goal and five assists in 16 games on the season.

Look for Ciccolini’s assist at the 40 second mark of the video clip below.

Penn State got their revenge in the second game, beating Michigan 3-1.   Ciccolini did not score. The split gives Michigan a record of 6-9-2 overall and 2-7-1 in the Big Ten.

Michigan is off for the holidays until the Great Lakes Invitational Tournament at the end of the month.

Zac Jones (D) – 2019  3rd round – #68

Massachusetts and Rangers draft pick Zac Jones came into the weekend’s two conference games with Maine having dropped one slot to 11th place in the college rankings.  Although Jones didn’t figure in the scoring, Massachusetts swept the two games over Maine, winning 5-1 on Friday and 4-1 on Saturday. With the win, Massachusetts is 11-4-1 overall and 6-3-1 in the Hockey East Conference.

The Minutemen have one more game on Tuesday night at Brown, before taking their holiday break.

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

Northeastern University played only one game this weekend and it wasn’t a good result for the #8 Huskies.   They dropped a 6-3 decision to Boston University.   Ranger prospect Riley Hughes didn’t figure in the scoring and had a plus/minus for the game of -2.   The loss gives them a 9-4-1 conference record in the Hockey East, 11-5-2 overall.

It’s a light schedule for NEU as they play only one game next weekend , a  home game versus Dartmouth.

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

It was a big  conference home and away for #16 UMass-Lowell as they took on #15 Providence in a home and away series.  Ranger goalie prospect Tyler Wall held Providence to two goals as the River Hawks took the first game on the road 3-2.  Wall was spectacular, allowing only one even strength goal and making 35 saves.  It was the 50th win of his college career.

The second game was played in Lowell and Providence came back with a 4-1 win.  Wall allowed three goals on 34 shots as the Friars added an empty net goal.

UMass Lowell ‘s record is now 10-4-4 overall (5-2-3 Hockey East), while the Friars are 9-5-3 overall and 6-4-2 in Hockey East play.  They are now off until December 29 when they play an exhibition game against the Central Canadian All-Stars.

Wall was named Hockey East Goaltender of the Month for November and is a candidate for the Mike Richter Award, given to the top NCAA goaltender.

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

The RPI Engineers took on Yale on Friday night and lost 4-1.  Rangers prospect Simon Kjellberg was not in the lineup.  He was back in for Saturdays thrilling overtime win over Brown.  The Engineers scored with two seconds left to tie the game 1-1 and then added game winner 36 seconds into overtime.

Kjellberg didn’t figure in the scoring of either RPI goal.  The team is now 6-9-1 overall and 3-5-1 in the ECAC Conference.  The next game for Rennselaer is December 29 versus Massachusetts.

Tyler Nanne (D) – 2014 5th round –  #142

Unranked Minnesota lost the first game of a home and away against #7 Ohio State, 3-2 in overtime.  Ranger draft pick Tyler Nanne assisted on the second Minnesota goal on the power play.  He had to be pleased to score against Ohio State. He had originally commuted to play in Columbus, but with his heart condition he couldn’t play and the Buckeyes wouldn’t let him play even when he was cleared medically.

You can barely see Nanne on the play, bu there is the goal:

In the second game, it was overtime again and this time, the Gophers picked up the bonus point, scoring in the second three-on-three overtime period.  The game goes into the record book officially as a tie, but Minnesota picks up a bonus point for the double overtime decision.  Tyler Nanne didn’t score in the second game.

The loss dropped Minnesota  to 5-9-4 (2-4-4-3 Big Ten). The Gophers play next on December 28 in the Mariucci Classic tournament that features Bemidji State, St. Cloud State and Minnesota State, all Minnesota teams.