It's early, but could last two Blues first-round picks face one another at the Memorial Cup? Dorion, Remparts move on after facing elimination; Fischer, Greyhounds in a bind; Jecho, Oil Kings done; Springfield clinching has to wait for final stretch; KHL update
It's still a ways off from even imaging the possibility, but let's do it anyway.
The way their respective postseason runs have started, could the St. Louis Blues see their past two first-round picks (forward Justin Carbonneau, 2025, No. 19 and defenseman Adam Jiricek, 2024, No. 16) be on a collision course to square off for the Memorial Cup?
Jiricek and Brantford of the Ontario Hockey League sure look like one of the teams to beat.
After sweeping their first-round series, the Bulldogs are off and running in the OHL's Eastern Conference semifinal, and the top-seeded Bulldogs have carved out a 3-0 series lead on No. 5 North Bay, and Jiricek has played a large role in it.
He had a goal and three assists on Wednesday when Brantford walloped the the Battalion, 8-1:
He followed it up with a goal and an assist in a 4-1 win in Game 2 at home on Friday to put the Bulldogs ahead 4-0 in the second period:
And then he had an assist on the game-tying goal with 1:42 remaining in the game before the Bulldogs won, 3-2 in overtime to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the series and can advance to the conference final with a win on Tuesday in Game 4.
Jiricek is now up to 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in seven postseason games and is a plus-6.
Carbonneau and No. 4-seeded Blainville-Boisbriand of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League have more of a battle on their hands in a matchup with No. 6 Terre-Neuve after splitting the first two games, with the Armada falling 4-1 in the opener on Thursday before evening the series 1-1 with a 5-3 win in Game 2 on Friday.
Carbonneau, who had three goals and four assists in the four-game sweep of Victoriaville in the first round, has just one assist through two games against the Régiment.
The Armada now head to the road for Games 3-5 on Monday, Tuesday and Friday needing to win at least one if the series should go to Games 6-7 at home.
For defenseman Lukas Fischer (2024, second round) and fifth-seeded Sault Ste. Marie, they are up against it against top-seeded Kitchener in the Western Conference semifinal, falling 3-1 in the series opener on Friday before losing a shootout, 8-5 in Game 2 on Sunday to fall behind 2-0 in the series.
Fischer had one assist in Game 2 and six shots on goal but was a minus-4 on the night.
The series now shifts back to Sault. Ste Marie for Games 3-4 on Tuesday and Thursday with the Greyhounds needing to hold serve on home ice to level the series.
It's all over for Adam Jecho (2024, third round) and Edmonton of the Western Hockey League in a 4v5 matchup in the opening round, and the Oil Kings couldn't push through and fell 3-2 in overtime to Saskatoon last Monday in Game 7 on home ice.
The forward had an assist in the game and finished the series with a goal and three assists in seven playoff games with 24 shots on goal.
The forward signed a three-year, $2.62 million entry-level contract on March 25, 2025 and was a slide candidate for the start of his contract, so it will be determined soon enough what the next step is after finishing his third year playing junior hockey.
For Antoine Dorion and No. 5 Quebec of the QMJHL, their season lives on after coming back from a 3-2 series deficit to No. 4 Charlottetown, winning 4-2 in Game 6 last Monday, then riding out a thrilling 1-0 win in Game 7 the following night, a goal in which the 2024 seventh-round pick had an assist on at 16:20 of the first period.
But the Remparts are now in a 2-0 hole to Chicoutimi, losing identical scores of 3-1 in Games 1-2 on Friday and Saturday.
That series now shifts back to Quebec looking to hold serve on home ice Monday and Wednesday.
* Now on to Springfield of the American Hockey League, which hasn't made the end of the season easy on itself after the Thunderbirds took care of business in the opener of three-in-three on Friday, winning 3-1 over Rochester in the debut of defenseman Colin Ralph (2024, second round), who signed a three-year, $3.23 million entry-level contract on April 3 after finishing his first and only season (second in college) at Michigan State; he played in all three games this past weekend and is in the AHL this season on a professional tryout.
But the T-birds followed that win up with a 3-1 loss to Hartford, which is in last place in the Atlantic Division, on Saturday, then dropped a hard-fought 1-0 decision to first-place Providence on Sunday.
Springfield now sits at 30-31-6-2, good for 68 points with three games remaining. The Thunderbirds hold down the sixth and final playoff spot, two points ahead of Lehigh Valley and they're a point behind fifth-place Hershey and four behind fourth-place Bridgeport.
It could all come down to a massive game on Wednesday at home against the Phantoms before concluding the season, Friday in Hartford, then finishing at home Saturday against the Wolfpack. But a win against Lehigh Valley Wednesday in regulation puts Springfield into the Calder Cup playoffs.
* The season has come to a conclusion also for goalie Love Harenstam (2025, sixth round) after No. 7 Södertälje fell in the HockeyAllsvenskan semifinal series against top-seeded Björklöven in five games.
Harenstam, who backstopped Sweden to a gold medal at last year's World Junior Championship, played in four of the five games, including Games 4-5 and went 1-3.
He allowed two goals on 24 shots in a 2-0 loss last Monday in Game 4 before allowing three goals on 29 shots in Game 5, a 4-1 loss, a theme of lack of goal support for the squad this season.
Harenstam, after going 14-18 and five shutouts with a sparkling 1.81 goals-against average and .920 save percentage in the regular season, was 6-5 and two shutouts with a 2.36 GAA and .918 save percentage in the playoffs.
* For the two remaining Blues prospects in the KHL in Russia, forward Mikhail Fyodorov (2025, fifth round) and top-seeded of the East Metallurg Magnitogorsk are off to a 2-0 series lead against No. 6 (West) Nizhny Novgorod.
Fyodorov, who had two goals in a five-game series win over Sibir Novosibirsk in the first round, did not record a point in a 4-3 win in Game 1 on Thursday but had one assist Friday in a 4-1 win in Game 2.
As for Dmitry Buchelnikov (2022, second round, Detroit Red Wings) and No. 4 (West) CSKA Moskow, they have their backs against the wall against No. 2 (East) Avangard Omsk, losing the first game of their second-round series.
The 22-year-old had a goal and two assists in the series win over Sibir, but has just one assist in three games against Omsk.
CSKA would fall 3-0 in Game 1 on Wednesday, and lose 3-2 in Game 2 on Friday with Buchelnikov picking up his only point of the series. CSKA then fell 3-2 in overtime on Sunday to put themselves on the brink of elimination.
Buchelnikov is certainly getting the ice time, playing 19:30 in the opener, 18:13 in Game 2 before getting 23:10 in Game 3.
And there is word that defenseman Arseny Koromyslov (2022, fourth round), whose season just finished with Traktor Chelyabinsk, could make the trek to North America next season, something we'll follow up with the Blues organization on.
The 22-year-old had a goal and 16 assists in 61 regular-season games while averaging 16:59 time on ice, and in the playoffs, had one assist in five games while averaging 20:35 of ice time.
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