Prospects Watch
Helm's season ends in heartbreak in Memorial Cup final ...

By Matthew Wuest - www.RedWingsCentral.com
May 28, 2007

Darren Helm saw a memorable season end in heartbreaking fashion at the Memorial Cup Canadian Hockey League championship on Sunday.

Helm’s Medicine Hat Tigers lost 3-1 to the host Vancouver Giants in the championship game, with Czech Republic sniper Michal Repik potting the winner with just 4:55 remaining in the game.

The 6-foot, 182-pound Helm scored Medicine Hat’s lone goal on the power play at 15:49 of the second period. He finished the tournament with two goals in four games, tied for fourth on the team.

The Tigers had previously beaten the Giants in the seven-game Western Hockey League final, taking the deciding contest in overtime.

Helm, an assistant captain for the Tigers, finished second in WHL playoff scoring, collecting 22 points in 23 games. He also won a gold medal with Team Canada at the world junior championship in Sweden in January.

The 20-year-old, known for his blazing speed, grit and two-way skills, signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Red Wings in September and is expected to play in the American Hockey League next season.

Helm was the lone Detroit Red Wings prospect still active this season, thus concluding Red Wings Central’s weekly updates.

* The Red Wings could lose the rights to 10 prospects on Friday: Christofer Lofberg, Mattias Ritola, Johan Ryno, Jeff May, Juho Mielonen, Bretton Stamler, Andreas Sundin, Stefan Blom, Tomas Kollar and Mikael Johansson.

Ryno is the most likely to get sign, followed by Ritola, May and Stamler.

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

NAME TEAM LEAGUE GP G A PTS PIM

A H L
Matt Ellis Grand Rapids AHL 7 4 3 7 4
Jakub Kindl Grand Rapids AHL 7 0 2 2 0
Jan Mursak Grand Rapids AHL 7 0 2 2 2
Ryan Oulahen Grand Rapids AHL 7 0 2 2 4
Darryl Bootland Grand Rapids AHL 6 1 0 1 32
Eric Himelfarb Grand Rapids AHL 7 1 0 1 12
Derek Meech Grand Rapids AHL 7 0 1 1 4
Kyle Quincey Grand Rapids AHL 2 0 0 0 0
Cory Emmerton Grand Rapids AHL 2 0 0 0 0
Jonathan Ericsson Grand Rapids AHL 7 0 0 0 8
Evan McGrath Grand Rapids AHL 7 0 0 0 0

R U S S I A
Alexander Seluyanov Magnitogorsk RUS 13 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

M E M O R I A L    C U P
Darren Helm Medicine Hat WHL 4 2 0 2 0

C H L
Darren Helm Medicine Hat WHL 23 10 12 22 10
Jakub Kindl Kitchener OHL 9 2 9 11 8
Logan Pyett Regina WHL 10 3 6 9 4
Cory Emmerton Kingston OHL 5 5 2 7 2
Jan Mursak Saginaw OHL 6 1 2 3 10
Jeff May Prince Albert WHL 5 0 3 3 2
Bretton Stamler Seattle WHL 11 0 1 1 14

U S H L
Nick Oslund Tri-City USHL 9 0 1 1 0
Sergei Kolosov Cedar Rapids USHL 5 0 0 0 4

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

NAME TEAM LEAGUE GP W-L-O GAA SPCT
Logan Koopmans Toledo ECHL 2 0-2 4.57 .855
Jimmy Howard Grand Rapids AHL 7 3-4 1.93 .927

The following are this season’s final regular-season statistics:

NAME TEAM LEAGUE GP G A PTS PIM

A H L
Matt Ellis Grand Rapids AHL 65 26 23 49 44
Darryl Bootland Grand Rapids AHL 68 18 13 31 222
Eric Himelfarb Grand Rapids AHL 69 15 15 30 60
Derek Meech Grand Rapids AHL 67 6 23 29 40
Jonathan Ericsson Grand Rapids AHL 67 5 24 29 102
Ryan Oulahen Grand Rapids AHL 79 11 16 27 42
Kyle Quincey Grand Rapids AHL 65 4 18 22 126
Evan McGrath Grand Rapids AHL 59 6 8 14 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 56 7 14 21 24
Sergei Kolosov Cedar Rapids USHL 51 1 10 11 79

The following are this season's final regular-season goaltending statistics:

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 49 21-21-3 2.70 .911
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.