Tage Thompson goal lifts Blues Prospects past Blue Jackets

Nobody’s perfect.

That fact became abundantly clear on Monday (Sept. 11, 2017) at the Matthew Wuest Memorial Cup tournament in Traverse City when round robin play wrapped up and nobody was left with a perfect 3-0 record.

The Columbus Blue Jackets, winners of four of the past five versions of this event which has run a dozen years in Traverse City, ended up just short, edged by the St. Louis Blues prospects 3-2 in a thriller settled by Tage Thompson with just under five minutes to go as he shattered a 2-2 draw and put his team in front to stay.

Thompson, 19, from AZ was the Blues’ First Round (26^th Overall) selection at the 2016 NHL Entry Draft and after cutting his college education short at the University of Connecticut with a 16-game stint with the Chicago Wolves, he has a legitimate shot at sticking with the Blues out of training camp that starts on Friday (Sept. 15).

Also on Monday: the Carolina Hurricanes entered its final round robin game with a 2-0 record having outscored the Red Wings and New York Rangers aby a combined score of 10-2, but they proved no match for the BlackHawks Prospects who pushed them aside with a 9-2 decision; the Minnesota Wild Prospects doubled up the Dallas Stars 4-2 making the Stars the only 0-3 team at the event and the Detroit Red Wings got off the shnide with a 4-1 win over the New York Rangers.
Blues Prospects 3 Blue Jackets Prospects 2

This was tough all afternoon for the Blue Jackets who never led in the contest.

Pierre Luc Dubois, 19, from Quebec, First Round (Third overall) pick by the Blue Jackets at the 2016 NHL Entry Draft and another player expected to get a long look at training camp, pulled the Jackets even at the 9:31 mark of the opening period, just 74 seconds after Adam Musil, 20, from Czech Republic, Fourth Round (94^th Overall) pick by the Blues at the 2015 NHL Entry Draft opened the scoring.

Jake Walman, 21, from Ontario and Third Round (82^nd Overall) pick by the Blues at the 2014 NHL Entry draft scored the lone goal of the middle period before Paul Bittner, 20, from Crookston, MN; a Second Round (38^th Overall) selection by the Blue Jackets at the 2015 NHL Entry Draft pulled his team even once again.

Stephen Dhillon, 18, from New York stopped 31 of 33 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blues while Matiss Kivlenieks, 20, from Latvia handled 20 of 23 in goal for the Jackets.

BlackHawks Prospects 9 Hurricanes Prospects 2

Luc Snuggerud, 21, from Eden Prairie, MN, a Fifth Round (141^st Overall) pick by the Hawks at the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, led a massive BlackHawks charge, collecting two goals and setting up three others as the Hawks steamrolled its opponent.

The Hawks piled up a 3-0 first period lead and after the Canes got on the board with one early in the second the Hawks put up another pair to carry a 5-1 cushion into the final 20 minutes.

Robin Press, 22, from Sweden, Seventh Round (211^th Overall) pick by the BlackHawks at the 2013 NHL Entry Draft chipped in with three assists while Michael Cramarossa, 21, from Ontario and Will Pelletier, 24, from Quebec both chipped in a goal and a helper. Other Chicago goals came from: Alex DeBrincat, 19, from Farmington Hills, MI, Second Round (39^th Overall) pick by the Hawks at the 2016 NHL Entry Draft; Matthew Highmore, 21, from Nova Scotia, Graham Knott, 20, from Ontario, Second Round (54^th Overall) pick by the Hawks at the 2015 NHL Entry Draft and Matt Iacopelli, 23, from Wyandotte, MI, Third Round (83^rd Overall) selection by the Hawks at the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.

Noah Carroll, 19, from Strathroy, selected in the Sixth Round (164^th Overall) by the Hurricanes at the 2016 NHL Entry Draft and Martin Necas, 18, from Russia, First Round (12^th Overall) pick at the 2017 NHL Entry Draft scored the goals for the Hurricanes.

Collin Delia, 23, from Californa, made 26 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Hawks while Callum Booth, 20, from Quebec, a Fourth Round (93^rd Overall) pick by the Hurricanes at the 2015 NHL Entry Draft turned aside 27 shots.

Wild Prospects 4 Stars Prospects 2

Matt Bradley, 20, from British Columbia, a Fifth Round (131^st Overall) pick by the Montreal Canadiens notched a key goal for the Minnesota crew with 5:28 to go, clinching the win after the Stars pushed back from a 3-0 deficit to make things interesting.

The other Wild goals came from: Dmitry Sokolov, 19, from Russia, Seventh Round (196^th Overall) pick by the ‘Wild at the 2016 NHL Entry Draft; Justin Kloos, 23, from Lakeville, MN and Joel Eriksson Ek, 20, from Sweden, First Round (20^th Overall) Selection of the Wild at the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.

Stars goals came from Roope Hintz, 20, from Finland, Second Round (49^th Overall) pick by the Stars at the 2015 NHL Entry Draft and Denis Guryanov, 20, from Russia, First Round (12^th Overall) pick by the Stars at the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.

Adam Vay, 23, from Hungary made 32 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Wild while Jeremy Brodeur, 20, from New Jersey turned aside 28 in goal for the Stars.

Red Wings Prospects 4 Rangers Prospects 1

After a scoreless opening segment, the Red Wings started on its way to its first win at the tournament with two unanswered middle period goals and then clinched the win with a 2-1 margin through the third.

Jordan Sambrook, 19, from ON, Fifth Round (137^th Overall) Selection by the Wings at the 2015 NHL Entry Draft; Axel Holmstrom, 21, from Sweden, Seventh Round (196^th Overall) pick by the Wings at the 2014 NHL Entry Draft; Dylan Sadowy, 21, from Ontario, Third Round (81^st Overall) pick by the San Jose Sharks at the 2014 NHL Entry Draft and Dominik Shine, 24, from Pinckney, MI scored the Detroit goals.

Ryan Gropp, 21, from British Columbia, Second Round (41^st Overall) selection by the Rangers at the 2015 NHL Entry Draft scored the lone goal for his team.

Matej Machovsky, 24, from Czech Repubic, stopped all but one of the 33 shots he faced to pick up the win for the Wings while Chris Nell, 23, from Green Bay, WI stopped 32 shots for the Rangers.

On Tuesday (Sept. 12), the eight teams will play position cross over games, matching up against the teams from the same position in the opposite division, highlighted by the Blue Jackets and Black Hawks Prospect Teams playing for the tournament championship.