Canadiens Prospect Report: Top Prospects Advance To 3rd Round

Players in the Montreal Canadiens prospect pool have had a rather easy schedule thus far in the playoffs, for the most part.

Jared Davidson (Seattle Thunderbirds, WHL) and Joshua Roy (Sherbrooke Phoenix, QJMHL) advanced to the third round of the CHL playoffs in their respective leagues, while Riley Kidney (Gatineau Olympiques, QMJHL) and Logan Mailloux (London Knights) punched their ticket with an 8-1 record.

But for Owen Beck (Peterborough Petes) and Vinzenz Rohrer (Ottawa 67’s), things have been a little more complicated, and by Monday night they were the only Canadiens prospects who were yet to know their third-round fate.

Underdog Push

Going into Monday night’s matchup, Peterborough held a 3-2 series lead, a rather surprising situation given the 67’s were one of the most dominant teams in the regular season, producing a sparkling 51-12-3-2 record. Their 107 points were far and away the best result in the league, 33 points clear of the Peterborough Petes (35-29-2-2).

What’s more, Ottawa had won five of their seven regular-season matchups with a combined score of 26-16.

But Peterborough, who easily disposed of the Sudbury Wolves in the first round, is a different team, both literally and figuratively.

Not only did they add several talented players to the roster at the deadline, including Beck, but they’re also finally playing with the type of cohesion that was desperately missing in the lineup down the final stretch of the regular season.

With the 67’s facing a surprisingly early elimination the series shifted back to Peterborough, where Beck’s playmaking quickly shone.

The 2022 second-round pick made a fantastic play to set up an easy-opening goal by Vancouver Canucks prospect Connor Lockhart.

Beck (No.16) doubled down shortly thereafter, handing Lockhart another golden opportunity to score, which gave the Petes a 3-1 lead early in the second period.

The 67’s fought back, scoring three goals midway through the third period, including Rohrer’s second goal of the playoffs off a great shot from the hash marks.

Unfortunately for Ottawa, it was too little too late, as the Petes held on to their one-goal lead to secure a second-round victory and a berth into the third round of the playoffs.

Rohrer finished the playoffs with a very healthy production rate, scoring two goals and 10 assists in 11 games.

Next Step

Now that the Beck’s Petes have qualified for the third round, they’ll face North Bay Battalion, who are coming off a hard-fought 4-3 series win against the Barrie Colts, whereas Logan Mailloux and the Knights will face the Sarnia Sting in the remaining OHL matchup.

Both series get underway on Friday.

Kidney and the Gatineau Olympiques are in for the first real test of the playoffs, as they’ll face the high-flying Quebec Remparts in the third round. Roy and the Sherbrooke Phoenix will have a much easier matchup, though they will do themselves no favours if they take don’t take their series versus the Halifax Mooseheads seriously.

The Olympiques versus Remparts series starts on Friday, whereas the Phoenix versus Mooseheads series begins Saturday.

And while the OHL and the QMJHL may end up featuring two Canadiens prospects facing off in the league championships, the same cannot be said in the WHL, seeing as Davidson is the only player in the Canadiens prospect pool playing in the west.

His Seattle Thunderbirds will face the Kamloops Blazers, the Memorial Cup hosts, in their third-round series. Just like Seattle, Kamloops is yet to lose a game in the WHL playoffs. The teams will meet for game one on Saturday.

All Montreal Canadiens prospect statistics via the Canadian Hockey League.