Wings grab control of Howe Division

Sept. 12, 2015

TRAVERSE CITY – The Detroit Red Wings brass felt it had a shot at winning the annual Traverse City NHL Prospects Tournament with a solid roster this fall and after the second day, the Wings were in control of the ‘Howe’ Division.

A 3-2 win for the Wings Prospects against the Chicago Black Hawks Prospects combined with a 5-4 overtime win for the Carolina Hurricanes Prospects against Dallas Stars Prospects left the Wings as the lone team at 2-0 with one more round to play.

The Wings grabbed control early against the Hawks with two goals in the first five minutes of the game and a 2-0 cushion after a period.

Perhaps the team’s two top prospects: Anthony Mantha and Dylan Larkin combined on the first goal, Mantha, the team’s 2013 First Round (20th Overall) Draft selection, scoring the goal with an assist to Larkin, the team’s 2014 First Rounder (15th Overall). Also assisting on the goal was Andreas Athanasiou, a Fourth Round Selection (110th Overall) from the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.

Tomas Nosek, signed by the Wings in the summer of 2014, notched his second goal of the tournament just 36 seconds later with an assist from yet another First Round Pick; Evgeny Svechnikov who was selected 19th Overall this past June.

After a scoreless middle period, the Blackhawks finally got on the board with 7:47 to go in the contest as Tyler Hore, a defenseman from Mississauga, ON who played last season for the Soo Greyhounds of the OHL found the mesh with an assist for Roy Radke, a ’96 from Geneva, IL selected this past June in the Sixth Round (164th Overall) of the NHL Entry Draft. Radke played for Barrie Colts of the OHL last season.

Mantha notched his second with another assist for Larkin with 1:56 to go. Also picking up an assist was Vili Saarijarvi, a third round pick (73rd overall) of the Wings this past June.

With goaltender Austin Lotz on the bench, the Blackhawks managed to get within a goal again as Ryan Haggerty, a Stamford. CT native who last season played with Hartford in the AHL, found an opening with help coming from Erik Gustafsson, a 23-year-old defenseman from Sweden who played in the Swedish Elite League last season and Nolan Valleau, a native of Novi, MI who playd last season at Bowling Green in the WCHA. That goal however came with just 11 seconds to nail an equalizer.

Picking up the win in goal for the Wings was Jake Patterson, Selected in the Third Round (80th Overall) of the 2012 NHL Entry draft by the Wings. He stopped 30 of 32 shots while Lotz, a 20-year-old native of St. Adolphe, MB stopped 22 of 25 for the Hawks.