Prospects Watch
Abdelkader dons hero's cap to win NCAA title ...

By Matthew Wuest - www.RedWingsCentral.com
April 9, 2007

Justin Abdelkader hogged the spotlight this week.

The Detroit Red Wings prospect donned the hero’s cap and scored the winning goal with 18.9 seconds remaining to lift the Michigan State Spartans to a 3-1 win over the Boston College Eagles in the NCAA Division 1 men’s hockey championship game in St. Louis, Mo., on Saturday.

“Growing up, you’re always playing street hockey and you’re always like, ‘I scored the game winner for the national championship,’” Abdelkader told uscho.com. “You’re always thinking as a kid of scoring that game-winning goal when it’s tied with under a minute left. I was just in the right place at the right time and I was fortunate. It’s just awesome.”

The 6-foot-1, 209-pound forward, known more for his two-way play and tenacious physical style than his scoring, earned the Frozen Four’s most outstanding player award for his efforts.

Abdelkader, 20, capped a sophomore campaign that saw him collect 15 goals and 18 assists for 33 points along with 91 penalty minutes in 38 games.

The Red Wings have until Aug. 15, 2009 to sign Abdelkader and will likely wait at least until after his junior year before signing him.

Here are some other notes from the past week.

* The Red Wings signed forward Cory Emmerton to a three-year entry-level contract. He’ll have a chance to make the team next year out of training camp, although he’ll likely be reassigned to the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey League.

The Red Wings compare him to Carolina Hurricanes forward Cory Stillman.

Emmerton, a 6-foot, 190-pound playmaker, also signed an amateur contract with the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League. He can finish the year there, but is ineligible for the minors next season.

The 18-year-old had 29 goals and 37 assists for 66 points in 40 games this season, but missed 28 games with a broken ankle.

In related news, Emmerton was voted the OHL’s third smartest player in the Eastern Conference in a recent coaches poll.

* Defenceman Alexander Seluyanov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk, Russian Elite League) is in the Russian best-of-five final against Ak Bars Kazan. The series is tied 1-1 and Seluyanov has six points in 11 post-season games.

* Defenceman Kyle Quincey scored his first career NHL goal with the Red Wings during a four-game injury call-up this week. Quincey had spent the season in the American Hockey League with the Grand Rapids Griffins, where he had three goals and 17 assists for 20 points in 61 games.

* Goaltender Jimmy Howard (Grand Rapids, AHL) tied a franchise single-season record with his sixth shutout of the season this week. The 23-year-old has been red-hot lately and has a 2.65 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage along with a 20-18-3 record in 45 starts.

* Defenceman Derek Meech was named the Griffins’ man of the year for his “outstanding contributions to the West Michigan community.” The 22-year-old has six goals and 23 assists for 29 points in 63 games this season.

* The Red Wings called up Stefan Liv from Grand Rapids this week to serve as a backup for the second time this season. He has yet to make his NHL debut.

* The following players won team awards for their junior teams: Defenceman Jeff May, Prince Albert, Western Hockey League (most valuable defenceman), Logan Pyett, Regina, WHL (fan favourite) and Jan Mursak, Saginaw, OHL (rookie of the year, fan favourite, scholastic achievement).

The following are this season’s playoff statistics (grey background indicates prospect whose team has been eliminated from post-season):

NAME TEAM LEAGUE GP G A PTS PIM

R U S S I A
Alexander Seluyanov Magnitogorsk RUS 11 2 4 6 18
Igor Grigorenko Togliatti RUS 2 2 1 3 2
Gennady Stolyarov Moscow Dyn. RUS 2 0 0 0 0

F I N L A N D
Andreas Sundin Jukurit FIN-2 10 2 2 4 4
Juho Mielonen Ilves Tampere FIN-J20 5 0 0 0 20

S W E D E N
Mikael Johansson Farjestad SWE 8 2 3 5 4
Miroslav Blatak Mora SWE 4 1 1 2 6
Johan Ryno Timra SWE 5 0 1 1 0
Tomas Kollar Sodertalje SWE-2 10 3 5 8 8
Stefan Blom Balsta SWE-4 6 1 2 3 2

C H L
Cory Emmerton Kingston OHL 5 5 2 7 2
Darren Helm Medicine Hat WHL 8 4 3 7 4
Logan Pyett Regina WHL 7 3 4 7 2
Jan Mursak Saginaw OHL 6 1 2 3 10
Jeff May Prince Albert WHL 5 0 3 3 2
Jakub Kindl Kitchener OHL 6 1 5 6 8
Bretton Stamler Seattle WHL 8 0 1 1 10

The following are this season’s regular-season statistics (grey background indicates prospect whose team has completed its schedule):

NAME TEAM LEAGUE GP G A PTS PIM

A H L
Matt Ellis Grand Rapids AHL 61 25 23 48 42
Darryl Bootland Grand Rapids AHL 64 18 13 31 204
Derek Meech Grand Rapids AHL 63 6 23 29 40
Jonathan Ericsson Grand Rapids AHL 63 4 24 28 98
Eric Himelfarb Grand Rapids AHL 65 14 14 28 52
Ryan Oulahen Grand Rapids AHL 75 11 15 26 40
Kyle Quincey Grand Rapids AHL 61 3 17 20 122
Evan McGrath Grand Rapids AHL 55 5 6 11 41

E C H L
Evan McGrath Toledo ECHL 9 6 9 15 12

R U S S I A
Igor Grigorenko Togliatti RUS 49 14 13 27 71
Alexander Seluyanov Magnitogorsk RUS 54 5 12 17 102
Gennady Stolyarov Moscow Dyn. RUS 37 6 3 9 39
Evgeni Bumagin Togliatti RUS 24 1 3 4 8
Pavel Agarkov Klin RUS-2 21 10 10 20 20
Andrei Maximenko Klin RUS-2 50 13 2 15 26

F I N L A N D
Andreas Sundin Jukurit FIN-2 45 21 20 41 33
Juho Mielonen Ilves Tampere FIN-J20 8 2 5 7 22

S W E D E N
Miroslav Blatak Mora SWE 53 6 15 21 30
Mikael Johansson Farjestad SWE 55 7 9 16 42
Anton Axelsson Frolunda SWE 52 5 7 12 14
Johan Ryno Timra SWE 39 5 6 11 22
Christofer Lofberg Djurgarden SWE 34 0 4 4 6
Tomas Kollar Sodertalje SWE-2 32 12 13 25 90
Dick Axelsson Huddinge SWE-2 25 13 8 21 113
Johan Ryno AIK SWE-2 14 2 7 9 14
Mattias Ritola Leksands SWE-2 26 2 4 6 6
Christofer Lofberg Huddinge SWE-2 12 2 1 3 14
Mattias Ritola Leksands SWE-J20 12 5 7 12 16
Anton Axelsson Frolunda SWE-J20 2 4 2 6 4
Christofer Lofberg Djurgarden SWE-J20 5 2 1 3 2
Johan Ryno Frolunda SWE-J20 2 1 0 1 2
Mattias Ritola Borlange SWE-3 11 4 6 10 14
Stefan Blom Arlanda SWE-3 21 4 4 8 20
Anton Axelsson Kungalvs SWE-3 1 1 3 4 0
Stefan Blom Balsta SWE-4 14 10 7 17 14

C H L
Jan Mursak Saginaw OHL 62 27 53 80 50
Cory Emmerton Kingston OHL 40 29 37 66 22
Darren Helm Medicine Hat WHL 59 25 39 64 53
Logan Pyett Regina WHL 71 14 48 62 84
Jakub Kindl Kitchener OHL 54 11 44 55 142
Jeff May Prince Albert WHL 72 10 34 44 96
Bretton Stamler Seattle WHL 72 8 24 32 135

N C A A
Justin Abdelkader Michigan State NCAA 38 15 18 33 91
Nils Backstrom Alaska-Anch. NCAA 33 1 9 10 44

U S H L
Nick Oslund Tri-City USHL 54 7 14 21 24
Sergei Kolosov Cedar Rapids USHL 50 1 10 11 79

The following are this season's regular-season goaltending statistics (grey background indicates prospect whose team has completed its schedule):

NAME TEAM LEAGUE GP W-L-O GAA SPCT
Stefan Liv Toledo ECHL 3 1-1-1 2.29 .936
Daniel Larsson Djurgardens SWE 24 -- 2.53 .910
Jimmy Howard Grand Rapids AHL 45 20-18-3 2.65 .913
Logan Koopmans Toledo ECHL 26 17-7-1 2.83 .914
Stefan Liv Grand Rapids AHL 34 15-15-2 3.01 .895

LEAGUE LEGEND: AHL -- American Hockey League; ECHL -- East Coast Hockey League; RUS -- Russian Elite League; RUS-2 -- Russian second level; FIN -- Finnish Elite League; FIN-J20 -- Finnish under-20 junior league; SWE -- Swedish Elite League; SWE-2 -- Swedish second level; SWE-3 -- Swedish third level; SWE-J20 -- Swedish under-20 junior league; OHL -- Ontario Hockey League; WHL -- Western Hockey League; NCAA -- National Collegiate Athletic Association Division 1; USHL -- United States Hockey League.