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McLeod, Bastian Each Have Multi Point Game in OHL Playoff Opener

Despite the Devils being out of things in the NHL, there is other playoff hockey going on around North America. From the American Hockey League, where the Albany Devils are gearing up for a run at the Calder Cup, to the Canadian Hockey League, which will be finishing up with the Memorial Cup in May, to the NCAA Frozen Four, there is still plenty of meaningful hockey to be played. Some Devils prospects will be involved with most of them, so we will take a look at some of them from time to time over the next few months as they play out.

The Ontario Hockey League’s Mississauga Steelheads kicked off their first round playoff series this week with the Ottawa 67’s. The game took place March 24 at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ontario. The Steelheads have two Devils prospects on the roster, Mikey McLeod and Nathan Bastian. Each had a pretty good outing in their team’s 6-2 victory in game one.

McLeod had the opening goal for the Steelheads to tie things at one after Sasha Chmelevski gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead. Bastian then had the primary assist on the go-ahead goal (scored by Owen Tippett) as well as the secondary assist on the game-winning power play goal scored by Vili Saarijarvi. All of those goals came in the first period.

Bastian then scored a goal of his own at 3:32 of the second period to put things out of reach for Ottawa. McLeod then had the secondary assist on an empty netter scored by Trent Fox late in the third period.

In all, McLeod had a goal and an assist for two points while Bastian had a goal and two assists for three points.

Game two takes place at the Hershey Centre on Sunday.

In other news, former Devils beat writer Tom Gulitti, who now works for NHL.com, tweeted out yesterday that Boston University played North Dakota in the NCAA men’s hockey tournament and it had an interesting Devils connection.

Bobo Carpenter scored for Boston University while Christian Wolanin scored for North Dakota in the contest. While neither is a Devils prospect, they do have a Devils connection. Bobo’s father, Bob and Christian’s father, Craig, both played for New Jersey with Bob Carpenter winning a pair of Stanley Cups with the team as a player and a coach.

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Oshawa Generals Advance to Memorial Cup with Devils Connection

The Oshawa Generals defeated Connor McDavid and the Erie Otters four games to one to advance out of the Ontario Hockey League into the 2015 Memorial Cup Championship. Although the Devils do not have a prospect playing for the Generals, they do have a connection to the team in the form of 18 year-old backup goaltender Jeremy Brodeur, son of all-time Devils and NHL great, Martin.

Oshawa will kick off their portion of the round robin tournament on Saturday, May 23 at 4:30 PM against Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champion, the Rimouski Oceanic. They will then face host Quebec Remparts on Sunday, May 24 at 4:30 PM and the champions of the Western Hockey League, the Kelowna Rockets, on Tuesday, May 26 at 7:30 PM. All games will be played at the Colisee Pepsi in Quebec City. The 2015 Memorial Cup champions will be crowned on Sunday, May 31 in the Championship Final.

The Generals advanced to the Memorial Cup by defeating the Peterborough Petes and the Niagara IceDogs each four games to one and the North Bay Battalion four games to two in the OHL Playoffs before finally toppling the Otters in the OHL Championship series.

Jeremy Brodeur, one of Marty’s five kids and one of two of his kids to follow in his footsteps as a goaltender, made 19 appearances for the Generals this year, his first as a Junior. He had 46 goals against in 1,098 minutes played and 407 saves for a 2.51 goals against average. His save percentage was 0.898 and he went 12-4 with 2 overtime losses and no shootout losses or ties. He had three shutouts.

In the playoffs, he has appeared in seventeen minutes over two games with one goal against and one save. He has a 3.53 goals against average and a .500 save percentage. He has no decisions in the playoffs, making only relief appearances.

The native of Essex Fells, New Jersey is one of two players from the Garden State on the Generals roster, 20 year-old defenseman Chris Carlisle is a native of Fort Lee.

As the Oshawa Generals get ready to compete for the highest prize in Canadian Major Junior hockey, the Devils and the state of New Jersey will both be going along for the ride, if not literally, than at least in spirit.