Long Beach Ice Dogs

Anybody see these guys play? I've only seen 2 games on NHL network. Basically I watched to see Habs prospects. Has anyone seen them more and can give me an idea of Corey Urqhart and Christian Larrivée.Two big kids (6'3 I think) Urquhart seems to be playing a little better. He looked good but not spectacular. But he doesn't seem to be able to crack it in the AHL. What do these guys have to do to get better, and can they get better? Also, Olivier Michaud, what are his strengths/weaknesses?

Yeah I watched a couple of their games in January on a local network in Southern California.

Urquhart has improved a lot since the beginning of the season. He looks more confident and is creating offense every shift. I'm sure he will be in the AHL next season but they might keep him with Long Beach for the rest of this season to get playing time and keep working on his all around game. He needs to work on being more physical using his 6'3 frame.

Larrivee I haven't noticed as much, I can't really give an analysis of his play.

Michaud hasn't been in net lately during the games on TV, they have an ECHL All Star goalie ahead of him (Madden). From what I saw earlier in the season though Michaud looks like a really good goalie prospect, but again I can't recall enough to give a better analysis.

I tape all the games for the Mod "Montreal" at the Canadiens board, so you may want to ask over at that board for a better analysis of the Montreal ECHL prospects.

Thanks for the update. Regarding Urqhart vs. Larrivée, just seeing 2 games I assumed the same. Larrivée seemed pretty much invisible and with the team in Hamilton, he pretty much has no chance of cracking the lineup. Especially with the depth at center in Hamilton. Right now I guess it's okay to say he's a bust.

Good to hear about Urqhart. I don't know if this guy is ever going to play physical in his career though. (10 PIM in a physical league like the ECHL?) His lack of physical play has been a nock on him since his days in with Rocket. Again with Hamilton's depth he would be a spare part, or 4th liner at best. Good to hear he's improving though.

Yeah, I'd say the netminder, Madden, is the story for that team. .203 GAA, .940+ Save%, 4 shutouts. Not bad!

It's really between them and the evil Bakersfield Condors to win our division. They switch places every other week.

Another Note on the Ice Dogs:

Their most naturally skilled player is former Dallas Prospect Marco Rosa. He is listed at 6'1 but he seems more like 5'10 to me.

Dallas picked him in the 8th round of the 2001 Entry Draft and did not sign him after he finished his college career at Merrimack College.

At worst I think he will have a long AHL career consistently putting up points, at best he makes it on an NHL team in a second line role.

Rosa led the ECHL in +/- for the month of January.

http://www.echl.com/cgi-bin/ppublic.cgi?action=show_of_the_week_news&cat=6&id=250

I caught the most of the Ice Dogs vs Wrangles game on NHL network tonight. I'm confused though. Tonight LB played LV but it was 2-1. This game was 5-4. I'm guessing it's a repeat from January, maybe the 22nd based on the echl site.

Good physical game though.I agree that Rosa is probably the best out there. Chris Kenady also impressed me. I looked at his stats and he's having a great year. But he's relatively old. It was a repeat but good to see nonetheless. Pretty stupid though to play a game almost a month old. Why not play the game from tonight live?

Chris Kenady,
He's a fan Favorite too. He has played on and off here for years. Solid Hockey player.