Scouts flock to watch Day 1 of Top Prospects

The 18U Selects, Central and North all skated their way to day 1 wins on Monday on the opening day of the NAHL Top Prospects in front of a record number of scouts at the Troy Sports Center in Troy, Michigan.  Here is a recap from Day 1 of the NAHL Top Prospects Tournament:

North 8 vs. Midwest 1 – The Midwest team opened the scoring with a goal from Janesville’s Michael Preston, but that would be it for the Midwest as team North dominated the remainder of the game on the heels of a four point night from Kalamazoo’s Andrew Graves.  The North scored five, 2nd period goals including markers from Joseph Ferriss (Michigan), Robbie Payne (Kalamazoo), Sean Murphy (Traverse City), AJ White (Michigan) and Graves.  Logan Lemirande (Port Huron) and Ferriss added two more goals in the 3rd period for the convincing win for the North.  Jamestown’s Joe Ballmer made 23 saves in the win, while Janesville’s Tony Kujava made 25 saves in the loss. Boxscore

Central 7 vs. South 4 – In the highest scoring and perhaps the most entertaining game of the day, Central scored five, 3rd period goals on their way to a come-from-behind 7-4 win over South.  Josh Obregon (Odessa) gave the South the lead in the 1st period and the teams traded goals in the 2nd period with the South’s Jack Prince (Texas) and Mikko Virtanen scoring (Odessa), while Brandon Wahlin (Austin) and Frank DeAugustine (Bismarck) answered for Central.  Dan Zawacki (Bismarck), Nick D’Avolio (Alexandria), Christian Folin (Austin), Evan Johnston (New Mexico) and Jadin Martin (Minot) all scored in the 3rd period to seal the win for Central.  Folin finished with three points for the Central team. Boxscore

NAHL 18U Selects 4 vs. West 3 – The ‘young guns’ proved they were for real in front of a host of NHL scouts as they defeated the West team, 4-3 in the final game of the day of Day 1 at the Top Prospects Tournament.  NHL prospect Anthony Stolarz (Corpus Christi) was a rock between the pipes for the 18U Selects, making 18 saves in the win.  Chris Leibinger (Traverse City) created a lot of NHL buzz with a three-point game, including the night’s first goal.  Sean O’Rourke (Fairbanks) answered for the West to tie the game at 1-1 in the 1st period.  Jake Horton (Janesville) also shined on Monday night scoring the 2nd goal for the Selects and adding an assist.  Pavlo Padakin (Fairbanks) and Justin Woods (Fairbanks) both scored in the 2nd period to increase the Selects lead to 4-1.  Two late goals from Gage Christianson (Alaska) and Shawn Pauly (Wenatchee) closed the game to within one goal. Boxscore

Fans can watch all of the Day 2 action on Tuesday live on FASTHockey.com