MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. — Last year for Will Cranley, going into Minnesota at the Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase, it was a case of overcoming some mental adversity.
Or was it?
After all the St. Louis Blues goalie, a sixth-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, wasn’t just facing shots from anyone. It was the prize of the 2023 NHL Draft: Connor Bedard.
Bedard scored three goals and had an assist in his Chicago Blackhawks debut, but 364 days later at the USA Rink inside Centene Community Ice Center, the 22-year-old Cranley put on his best version of a Velcro.
Cranley stopped 26 shots, and the Blues completed an unbeaten run in the showcase by running away from the Minnesota Wild, 6-2, on Sunday afternoon.
The Blues, who downed the Blackhawks 4-3 in overtime on Friday before the Blackhawks topped the Wild 4-2 on Saturday, finished 2-0-0 in tourney play and had some outstanding performances along the way.
Some of the solid performances included:
* Will Cranley — The goalie turned last year’s prospect game — and Bedard — into a distant memory with a solid performance on Sunday.
“Compared to the last year when I came in, it’s a little different and it’s a little nicer,” Cranley said. “I’m hoping just to build on the momentum going into exhibition games here.
“It’s a pretty good player. He made some good shots, but I wasn’t very sharp either.”
Cranley was much sharper on Sunday. His rebound control was nearly impeccable, angles were tight, puck control was steady and after the Blues opened the game with a flurry of activity at one end against Minnesota goalie Riley Mercer, when the ice was tilted, Cranley was called into action.
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He had 11 saves in the first period and never really was fighting the puck.
“He’s been good for a few days, whether it’s practice or whatever,” Springfield coach and Blues prospect coach Steve Konowalchuk said. “He looks like he can play. It’s a short sample size, but he was certainly steady out there and made the saves he needed to. Good game for him.”
Cranley, who was a combined 9-15-4 with Utah and Reading of the ECHL last season, hopes to make it a real goalie competition with the Thunderbirds, who have Vadim Zherenko and Colten Ellis, this season.
“I’ve worked a with Dan [Stewart] this summer, the Springfield goalie coach,” Cranley said. “Everything from top to bottom just sharpening up my game and tonight I think that was a good aspect to my game.
“I think it’s just taking it game by game. No matter where I’m playing, I just want to give the team the best chance to win every night. I think in the past, consistency’s been a little bit of a thing, so this year I think the biggest thing going forward is just little bit of consistency. If I can establish that, we’ll be in good shape.
“I think overall just my engagement level was good. There’s never really a question about the skill there. It’s just an engagement level kind of thing and a mental thing, and tonight it was there.”
* Dvorsky, Pekarcik rebound; linemate Robertsson shines again — After having a tough go of it on Friday, the Slovakian duo of Dalibor Dvorsky (first round, 2023) and Juraj Pekarcik (third round, 2023) combined for five points on Sunday — all in the third period.
Pekarcik scored twice, and Dvorsky assisted on three goals. Combined with linemate Simon Robertsson, who had two assists after scoring the overtime game-winner Friday, the line combined for seven points in the game.
“We felt really good these games,” Pekarcik said. “It was a good game for us, for me personally, for Robertsson. I think we had really good chemistry out there. It was really important for us.
“It was really good for us. First shift was really good and then we still continue and it was real good for us.”
The line was menacing from the get-go. The first shift Pekarcik spoke of helped the flurry of offensive activity when the Blues held a 9-2 shots advantage in the game’s first six minutes.
“I thought that line with Dvorsky was pretty solid,” Konowalchuk said. “… I’m coming in blind a little bit. I know the players a little bit and listening to the organization that you know what, these guys might play good. And then from there, if I needed to make adjustments, you can talk about it and do it, but we didn’t need to. They clicked. We had two good hockey games, fairly easy to coach as far as things. Guys played well. You don’t have to shake things up. You don’t have to make a whole lot of changes. The management staff and the scouting staff probably knew that they would play well together and they did.”
Dvorsky set up both Pekarcik goals, at 1:20 of the third period on a backdoor tap-in, and at 11:03 on a redirection in front, goals sandwiched around a beauty of an assist on Marc-Andre Gaudet’s shorthanded backhand top shelf tuck at 8:30.
“He was really more relaxed out there,” Pekarcik said of Dvorsky. “We went last night for dinner and (had) a little talk. It was really good for us and felt really good tonight.”
* Zack Bolduc — It’s quite evident: Bolduc doesn’t belong in these games and is ready for full-time NHL action.
His goal at 13:06 of the second period was a thing of beauty. He took a puck at center ice and using his speed, cut past Minnesota’s Stevie Leskovar and slipped a backhand five-hole on Wild goalie Chase Wutzke to tie the game 1-1.
“I just know he played well here and he’ll go to the next camp and what he does,” Konowalchuk said. “There’s a lot of hockey but he certainly played well here.”
Once again after a terrific game on Friday, Bolduc and linemates Zach Dean and Aleksanteri Kaskimaki played inspired.
“They’re good hockey players,” Konowalchuk said. “You can put that line out in any situation that can go get it done for you. I thought Kaskimaki, he played well. He’s a good, sneaky-good hockey player. He fits in well with them because he’s around the net, good body position, digs the puck out and has the hands to make plays. He does some sneaky-good things out there. Another good hockey player.”
* Sam Bitten, Quinton Burns, Matthew Mayich — The Blues trio get nods just for answering the bell on the fight card.
Each was involved in scraps before a goal was scored in this one since the game had some feistiness and chippiness to it.
“Part of the St. Louis Blues, I know it’s the reputation they’ve always had and want to have,” Konowalchuk said. “I know that coming into this organization and I certainly like the team I’m working with play hard. They certainly did. It was a good, competitive hockey game and our guys stood right in there and kept playing the right way.”
Burns had a mixed review game on Friday but rebounded nicely and fit in well with the aggressive, forechecking, physical style of game, which fits into his strengths.
Burns fought Carson Lambos after Bitten and Leskovar’s spirited bout opened things up. Then Mayich, who had an assist on Pekarcik’s second goal Sunday, finished things off with Mason Zebeski in another spirited bout.
* Dylan Peterson — The third round pick in 2020 had himself another solid prospects game.
Peterson, listed at 6-foot-4, 192 pounds, was once again a menace with his under-the-radar speed, his physical presence in propecting pucks, a solid forecheck and proper puck placement.
It was the second straight strong game for the Boston University product, who will attend main camp beginning Thursday.
* Jecho, Gaudet score nice goals — Adam Jecho, a third-round pick in 2024 and Gaudet, a fifth-round pick in 2022, each scored nice goals to close out the showcase.
Jecho’s wrister from the slot on the second period at 15:39, off a nice feed from Robertsson, gave the Blues the lead for good at 2-1, and Gaudet was solid in jumping up on the rush from the blue line throughout the game, and his shorthander in the third was a beauty that made it 5-1.
“A lot of players played good. It was pretty impressive, pretty impressive, very competitive hockey game,” Konowalchuk said. “They played hard, our guys played hard. I liked the start of the game. I think the first 10 minutes, the team was playing fast. Good skill to go with the fast and forechecking, pretty good pace and there was definitely some good individual play as well to win like that. Good all-around game, goaltending was good, solid, a lot of good things.
“… I told the guys for the four days, mentally they were focused, practiced good, played good. I think it showed in the games. You could tell before the games that they were serious. We really wanted to build as a team on the way we managed the puck so we can get going north quick and playing with pace. First game, it takes some time. A little bit of choppiness for both teams, but I thought that first 10 minutes (Sunday), kind of dictated the tempo. Guys were really playing a fast game and skating and moving the puck. They were able to hold at that pace and make some things happen.”
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