Saturday night was the soft opening for the 2017-18 college hockey season.
Most teams played exhibitions games, typically against Canadian Universities, but the two games that counted featured nice performances by a pair of Dallas Stars goalie prospects.
Jake Oettinger, a Stars first-round pick in 2017, made 31 saves as Boston University beat Union 4-1. Colton Point, a fifth-round pick in 2016, made 30 saves as Colgate beat Niagara 5-1.
There are high expectations this season for both goalies, who enter their sophomore seasons solidly entrenched as the starter at their respective programs.
Oettinger plays for one of the best teams in the country and Boston University, ranked second in the preseason polls, is a trendy pick to reach the Frozen Four. Oettinger is also a candidate to be the starting goalie for the Americans at the 2017 World Junior Championships.
Point’s team doesn’t have nearly as lofty expectations, but individually the big goalie is expected to have an impressive season after much of his freshman season was lost due to injury and illness. Point could also be a candidate for World Junior selection. While Philadelphia Flyers prospect Carter Hart is the incumbent starter, there seems to be a wide-open field for the back-up role with team Canada.
Both Point and Oettinger are big and fit the mold of a future NHL goalie. At 6-foot-4, each of them rely heavily on positioning and take advantage of their size. Oettinger in particular is incredibly smooth in his actions, and it doesn’t feel like there are any wasted movements in his game.
It’s a bit of a lofty expectation for a pair of college sophomores, but if things play out in a certain way the Stars could have their goalie tandem of the future ready to go when Ben Bishop’s six-year contract runs out.
Preseason Stats
The Stars closed out their preseason on Saturday with a loss in Minnesota. Here are the final stats for individual players:
POS NO. PLAYER GP G A PTS PIM PP SH GW OTG S PCTG
RW 25 Ritchie, Brett 5 3 1 4 3 6 0 0 0 0 15 20.0
C 13 Janmark, Mattias 3 2 1 3 4 4 0 0 0 0 6 33.3
D 2 Hamhuis, Dan 3 1 2 3 1 8 1 0 1 0 3 33.3
LW 40 *Elie, Remi 5 1 2 3 4 9 0 0 0 0 2 50.0
D 6 *Honka, Julius 5 1 2 3 0 6 0 0 0 0 14 7.1
LW 24 *Hintz, Roope 6 1 2 3 2 0 1 0 0 0 5 20.0
D 28 Johns, Stephen 6 0 3 3 3 2 0 0 0 0 15 0.0
C 17 Shore, Devin 6 0 3 3 3 11 0 0 0 0 9 0.0
C 91 Seguin, Tyler 3 2 0 2 0 2 0 0 1 0 13 15.4
RW 18 Pitlick, Tyler 4 2 0 2 1 2 0 0 0 0 9 22.2
C 90 Spezza, Jason 3 1 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 8 12.5
RW 47 Radulov, Alexander 3 0 2 2 1- 8 0 0 0 0 5 0.0
C 46 *Smith, Gemel 4 0 2 2 1- 4 0 0 0 0 1 0.0
RW 61 *Caamano, Nicholas 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 33.3
LW 14 Benn, Jamie 2 1 0 1 3- 0 1 0 1 0 7 14.3
C 16 *Dickinson, Jason 5 1 0 1 0 4 0 0 0 0 3 33.3
D 29 Pateryn, Greg 2 0 1 1 0 7 0 0 0 0 3 0.0
RW 34 *Gurianov, Denis 3 0 1 1 1- 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0
D 3 Klingberg, John 4 0 1 1 1- 0 0 0 0 0 13 0.0
D 5 Oleksiak, Jamie 5 0 1 1 3 4 0 0 0 0 4 0.0
LW 21 Roussel, Antoine 5 0 1 1 1- 11 0 0 0 0 8 0.0
C 10 Hanzal, Martin 1 0 0 0 2- 2 0 0 0 0 0 —
RW 20 Flynn, Brian 1 0 0 0 1- 2 0 0 0 0 0 —
C 37 Dowling, Justin 1 0 0 0 1- 0 0 0 0 0 0 —
D 48 *Heatherington, Dillon 1 0 0 0 1- 2 0 0 0 0 1 0.0
D 15 Nemeth, Patrik 2 0 0 0 2- 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0
LW 11 McKenzie, Curtis 2 0 0 0 2- 6 0 0 0 0 3 0.0
D 33 Methot, Marc 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.0
C 12 Faksa, Radek 3 0 0 0 2- 2 0 0 0 0 5 0.0
RW 27 Cracknell, Adam 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0.0
LW 81 Umberger, R.J. 3 0 0 0 1- 0 0 0 0 0 8 0.0
D 23 Lindell, Esa 5 0 0 0 3- 0 0 0 0 0 10 0.0
TEAM TOTALS 6 17 26 43 1 104 3 0 3 0 184 9.2
OPPONENT TOTALS 6 18 32 50 1- 86 5 0 3 0 156 11.5
RK NO GOALTENDER GPI MINS AVG W L OT EN SO GA SA SV% G A PIM
35 McKenna, Mike 1 20 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 0 11 100.0 0 0 0
32 Lehtonen, Kari 3 159 1.89 2 1 0 0 1 5 74 93.2 0 0 0
41*Bow, Landon 1 20 3.00 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 87.5 0 0 0
30 Bishop, Ben 3 159 4.15 0 2 0 1 0 11 62 82.3 0 0 0
TEAM TOTALS 6 360 3.00 3 3 0 1 1 18 156 88.5 0 0 0
OPPONENT TOTALS 6 360 2.83 3 3 0 2 0 17 184 90.8
Housekeeping Notes
– There are still a handful of spots available for a fantasy hockey league I’m putting together for readers of this site. Send me a direct message on Twitter to reserve your spot. The draft will likely be Monday or Tuesday evening. Since a couple people have asked, no money involved. Just bragging rights on the line.
– I will have a subscriber story up later today on Alexander Radulov and how his puck possession skills are going to make an impact this season.
– Ryan Satkowiak and I will be recording our season preview podcast either today or tomorrow. If you have any questions you want answered you can leave them in the comments of this post or Tweet them at me.
Catchup link
Stars end preseason with 5-1 loss, Hanzal adjusts well to new face-off rules
Today’s Schedule
The Dallas Stars practice at noon today in Frisco. It will be open to the public.
kd5mdk says
It feels like Dallas is hoarding players who aren’t going to make the team but might elsewhere. Does this mean I am too high on players who wouldn’t make it elsewhere either, or is Dallas letting assets depreciate who could have trade value?