Down the Frozen River

Tag: Ryan Bourque

  • Lake Erie is 1 win away from breaking Cleveland’s curse

    By: Nick Lanciani

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    Do you believe in Cleveland?

    While Steph Curry might be crushing your dreams in the 2016 NBA Finals (and as a blog founded in Charlotte, NC we’re okay with that— we can be impartial when it comes to sports outside of hockey, right?), the Lake Erie Monsters are one win away from breaking Cleveland’s long awaited championship curse in professional sports.

    They might be a minor league team, but they’re a major league team in your hearts, Ohio. Especially when you guys have to watch Columbus Blue Jackets games every now and then (okay, that was a low blow- I apologize).

    lake-erie-monsters-logo-13bd4f971e24a58cBut on Monday night, the Monsters defeated the Hershey Bears 3-2 in overtime in Game 3 of the 2016 Calder Cup Finals and took a 3-0 series lead.

    Anton Forsberg made 17 saves on 19 shots against in goal for Lake Erie en route to the win, while Justin Peters stopped 25 of 28 shots on goal for Hershey in the loss.

    Ryan Stanton kicked off the game’s scoring at 2:07 of the 1st period with his 3rd goal of the 2016 Calder Cup Playoffs. Carter Camper and Riley Barber picked up the assists on the goal that made it a 1-0 game for Hershey early in the first period. Stanton’s goal marked just the second time in the series that the Bears had a 1-0 lead.

    But Oliver Bjorkstrand continued his fantastic play in the series and fired a one-timer past Peters to tie the game at 1-1, over four minutes after Hershey opened the scoring. Bjorkstrand’s 8th of the postseason was assisted by Lukas Sedlak and Brett Gallant at 6:44 of the first period and was the first of two goals on the night for Bjorkstrand.

    After twenty minutes of play, the game was tied 1-1. Lake Erie led in shots on goal 11-6 after the first period and looked to capitalize on their home ice advantage coming out of the first intermission.

    Daniel Zaar scored the go ahead go for the Monsters on the power play at 18:13 of the 2nd period. Dean Kukan and Alex Broadhurst recorded the primary and secondary assists on Zaar’s 7th goal of the playoffs.

    But Lake Erie could not maintain a 2-1 lead for long, as the Bears found a way to tie the game almost 50 seconds later.

    297_hershey-bears-primary-2013Dustin Gazley fired a shot past Forsberg’s glove and made it a 2-2 game with one minute remaining in the second period. The goal was Gazley’s 4th of the playoffs and was assisted by Zach Sill and Ryan Bourque at 19:00 of the 2nd.

    Lake Erie continued to lead in the shots on goal department 20-13 at the end of forty minutes of play.

    A scoreless third period resulted in a necessary sudden death overtime that would only last 1:20 when Bjorkstrand secured the win with a game winning goal. His 9th goal of the postseason, Bjorkstrand’s goal was assisted by Zach Werenski and Steve Eminger.

    With the win, the Lake Erie Monsters have a 3-0 series lead heading into Game 4 on Saturday at Quicken Loans Arena.

    While their arena roommates, the Cleveland Cavaliers, are at home battling the Golden State Warriors for the 2016 NBA Championship, the Monsters will be getting ready for Saturday’s chance at Cleveland’s first AHL championship since the 1964 Cleveland Barons won the Calder Cup.

    A win on Saturday would also be Cleveland’s first professional sports league championship since the 1964 Cleveland Browns won the NFL Championship Game (pre-Super Bowl era).

    Lake Erie has now taken a 3-0 series lead in all four rounds of the Calder Cup Playoffs and is looking to sweep the Hershey Bears, which would provide the franchise with their first Calder Cup Championship in history.

  • NHL Trades Since January 1, 2016

    NHL Trades Since January 1, 2016

    By: Nick Lanciani

    Here’s a quick recap (and I mean really quick recap- more like a brief refresher) of every trade made in the league since January 1st. For anything before the 2016 calendar year, check out NHL.com’s Trade Tracker.

    This year’s trade deadline is Monday, February 29, 2016 (in other words- tomorrow). All trade calls must be made by 3:00 PM EST on Monday in order for any deal to potentially go through.

    On January 3rd, the Chicago Blackhawks traded F Jeremy Morin to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for F Richard Panik.

    January 6th saw two trades made across the league with the Philadelphia Flyers having traded F Vincent Lecavalier and D Luke Schenn to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for F Jordan Weal and a 3rd round pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.

    That same day, the Columbus Blue Jackets acquired D Seth Jones and sent F Ryan Johansen to the Nashville Predators in a one-for-one trade.

    The Anaheim Ducks traded F Max Friberg to the Montréal Canadiens in exchange for G Dustin Tokarski on January 7th.

    On January 8th, the New York Rangers dealt F Emerson Etem to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for F Nicklas Jensen.

    The league saw several days off from trade action until January 14th when the Nashville Predators acquired D Patrick Mullen from the Ottawa Senators for D Conor Allen.

    January 15th witnessed two trades in the NHL, first with the Nashville Predators trading D Victor Bartley to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for D Stefan Elliott. This trade became part of the now infamous, John Scott trade, in which the Coyotes then traded D Victor Bartley and F John Scott to the Montréal Canadiens for D Jarred Tinordi and F Stefan Fournier.

    On January 16th the Pittsburgh Penguins traded F David Perron and D Adam Clendening to the Anaheim Ducks for F Carl Hagelin.

    The Chicago Blackhawks sent D Ryan Garbutt to the Anaheim Ducks for F Jiri Sekac on January 21st.

    Then on February 9th the Toronto Maple Leafs sent D Dion Phaneuf, F Matt Frattin, F Casey Bailey, F Ryan Rupert and D Cody Donaghey to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for D Jared Cowen, F Colin Greening, F Milan Michalek, F Tobias Lindberg and a 2nd round pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.

    February 21st played a part in the day that the Toronto Maple Leafs traded F Shawn Matthias to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for D Colin Smith and a 4th round pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.

    The Toronto Maple Leafs followed up with another trade on February 22nd, sending D Roman Polak and F Nick Spaling to the San Jose Sharks for F Raffi Torres, a 2nd round pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft and a 2nd round pick in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft.

    That same day (February 22nd) the Calgary Flames acquired F Hunter Shinkaruk from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for F Markus Granlund.

    The Washington Capitals sent a 3rd round pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for D Mike Weber on February 23rd.

    On February 24th the Edmonton Oilers traded the rights to RFA D Philip Larsen to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a conditional 5th round pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.

    The Winnipeg Jets traded F Andrew Ladd, F Matt Fraser and D Jay Harrison on February 25th, to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for F Marko Dano, a 1st round pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft and a conditional 3rd round pick in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft (if the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup in 2016).

    The Chicago Blackhawks then traded D Rob Scuderi to the Los Angeles Kings for D Christian Ehrhoff on February 26th.

    Not to be outdone, the Montréal Canadiens sent F Tomas Fleischmann and F Dale Weise to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for F Phillip Danault and a 2nd round pick in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft also on February 26th.

    February 27th began a long list of trades, first with the Edmonton Oilers sending G Anders Nilsson to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for G Niklas Lundstrom and a 5th round pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.

    Next the Toronto Maple Leafs traded G James Reimer and F Jeremy Morin to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for G Alex Stalock, F Ben Smith and a conditional 4th round pick in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft (can become a 3rd round pick in 2018 if the Sharks reach this year’s Stanley Cup Final).

    The third trade on February 27th sent D Jakub Kindl from the Detroit Red Wings to the Florida Panthers in exchange for a 6th round pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.

    The Calgary Flames then sent F Jiri Hudler to the Florida Panthers in exchange for a 2nd round pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft and a 4th round pick in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. 

    Also on the 27th, the Edmonton Oilers acquired a 3rd round pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft and sent D Justin Schultz to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

    The sixth trade of the day saw the Oilers send F Teddy Purcell to the Florida Panthers for a 3rd round pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.

    Finally, the last trade on February 27th witnessed the Buffalo Sabres trade F Jason Akeson, F Phil Varone, D Jerome Gauthier-Leduc and a conditional 7th round pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for D Michael Sdao, F Eric O’Dell, F Cole Schneider and F Alex Guptill.

    On February 28th the Carolina Hurricanes dealt F Eric Staal to the New York Rangers in  exchange for F Aleksi Saarela, a 2nd round pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft and a 2nd round pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.

    The New York Rangers traded F Ryan Bourque to the Washington Capitals in exchange for F Chris Brown.

    In the third trade of February 28th, the Carolina Hurricanes acquired F Valentin Zykov and a conditional 5th round pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft and sent F Kris Versteeg to the Los Angeles Kings.

    Finally, the Washington Capitals closed out trading on February 28th by sending F Brooks Laich, D Connor Carrick and a 2nd round pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for F Daniel Winnik and a 5th round pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft (previously acquired from the Anaheim Ducks).