Ralph plays in outdoor game in Pennsylvania; Carbonneau keeps scoring; Jiricek piling up assists; Fischer puts up four-game point streak; Mrsic finally breaks through
It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences for Colin Ralph, a second-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft by the St. Louis Blues.
The big defenseman, playing for No. 2 Michigan State, rallied for a 5-4 win against No. 5 Penn State and potential 2026 No. 1 pick Gavin McKenna on Saturday at West Shore Home Field at Beaver Stadium, home of Penn State football, in front of 74,575.
The Spartans also defeated the Nittany Lions 6-3 on Friday. But in the big game Saturday, Ralph was a plus-1 and had three blocks to give him a team-leading 34 on the season for Michigan State (21-5-0), which has won six in a row and nine of 10.
The big, rangy left-handed D-man, who is 6-foot-5, 230 pounds has a goal and nine assists in 26 games.
* Justin Carbonneau -- The 2025 first-round pick (No. 19) has erased a recent goal drought with conviction.
The forward has tied a season-high with goals in five straight games, including three in two wins this past week for Blainville-Boisbriand of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.
In a 7-0 win over Quebec on Friday in which Carbonneau scored twice, this was an absolute beauty that made it 2-0, an end-to-end goal that culminated with quick wrists and a roof shot, a game in which he was a plus-3:
And on Sunday in a 2-1 win at Drummondville, Carbonneau's power-play goal opened the scoring in the first period, a high slot wrister:
On the season, Carbonneau now has 58 points (38 goals, 20 assists) in just 42 games and is projected to hit 54 goals and 83 points.
Last season, he had 46 goals but was only a plus-3 but has improved there, currently sitting at plus-17 with a shooting percentage of 17.6 percent.
* Lukas Fischer -- The defenseman and 2024 second-round pick along with Ralph, has matched a second four-game point streak with an assist in three games for Sault Ste. Marie of the Ontario Hockey League this past week.
Fischer, who is up to a goal and and four assists in his point streak, started a week ago Sunday on Jan. 25 that matched a streak Dec. 12-18 (five assists), scored in the third period of a 3-2 shootout loss to Adam Jiricek (2024, first round) and Brantford on Sunday:
Fischer now has 33 points (five goals, 28 assists) in 45 games this season, including 15 points (two goals, 13 assists) in 19 games with the Greyhounds.
* Tomas Mrsic -- It was quite the goal and point drought for the 20245 fourth-round pick.
In a stretch of 14 games from Nov. 14-Jan. 24 playing for Colorado College, the forward had just two assists -- both in a 3-3 tie at Miami (Ohio) on Dec. 13.
But over the weekend in a split of two games with Arizona State, Mrsic got well with three goals.
He scored twice in a 6-5 loss to the Sun Devils on Friday including this one-timer from the right circle for his first multi-goal game:
And in a 4-1 win against the Sun Devils on Saturday, Mrsic followed up a rebound to give him five goals and nine points in 26 games; he had 12 shots in two games this weekend, including seven on Saturday:
* Matthew Mayich -- The 2023 sixth-round pick found himself on the scoresheet twice in a week's span.
The defenseman would get his fifth goal this season for Clarkson University in a 5-2 loss at St. Lawrence on Jan. 24, then in a 4-3 shootout win against Quinnipiac on Saturday, Mayich scored his sixth of the season that started the comeback in the second period from down 3-1 going to the net for a rebound goal:
Mayich would score in the fourth round of the shootout to keep it alive for the Golden Knights before they would win it in the fifth round:
Five of Mayich's six goals this season have all come in the past 12 games after he had just one (in the season opener) the first 12.
He has eight points in 24 games.
* Adam Jiricek -- The defenseman may not be scoring goals at the moment none in the past eight) but that doesn't mean he's not involved offensively.
Jiricek had five more assists this week in three games for the Bulldogs, including three in a 7-1 win at home over Barrie last Monday, then two more in a 4-1 win over Owen Sound on Friday to give Jiricek 41 points (13 goals, 28 assists) in 36 games for the 34-7-6-1 Bulldogs, who are in first place in the Eastern Conference in the OHL.
* Updates -- Adam Jecho (third round, 2024) has been out of the lineup for Edmonton of the Western Hockey League since his return on Jan. 21 with illness.
The forward was out of the lineup for six weeks, including having to miss the 2026 World Junior Championship for Czechia with a hand injury.
Akil Thomas, acquired from Ontario of the American Hockey League that sent Nikita Alexandrov out west, finally made his Springfield debut on Friday against Vehigh Valley after missing two months with a lower-body injury. He didn't factor in the scoring on Friday or Saturday against Hartford, both wins for the Thunderbirds.
Otto Stenberg, who the Blues assigned to Springfield earlier in the week for the 2023 first-round pick (No. 25) can play during the Olympic break, had an assist on Friday and Saturday playing three games in three days this weekend.
One of the assists by Stenberg was on a goal by Juraj Pekarcik (third round, 2023) on Friday, who scored his first goal in 20 games:
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