Miami University’s Riley Barber headlines a list of Caps prospects at the NCAA Tournament (Photo credit: Rachel Lewis / Triple Deke Photography)

Washington Capitals prospects have been no strangers to the NCAA hockey tournament recently. A year ago, four of them (including then-UFA Cameron Schilling) made it to regionals. This year’s tournament includes six Caps prospects.

Regionals will be held in Toledo, OH; Providence, RI; Grand Rapids, MI; and Manchester, NH. The winners of the tournaments will face each other in Pittsburgh on April 11-13.

Grab yourself a bracket and let’s learn about our competing Caps prospects.

Riley Barber, RW, Miami University

Strong and skilled, Barber has made a statement in his freshman year. One of the biggest surprises for the Caps organization this year, Barber has built tremendous chemistry with fellow Michigander Austin Czarnik on the RedHawk’s first line.

Barber is among an impressive group of players who have won CCHA Rookie of the Year honors. He is the last name on a list that starts with George McPhee and includes Max Pacioretty, Brendan Morrison, and Rod Brind’Amour.

The RedHawks will face Minnesota State at 5 PM Eastern on Saturday.

Patrick Wey, D, Boston College

The big, rugged, stay-at-home defenseman Wey contributes to his team more than his statline suggests. As Wey completes his NCAA career, he has a chance to win his third national tournament. The Pittsburgh native usually plays on the right side of the Eagles’ first pairing, next to Teddy Doherty.

Wey’s outstanding defensive play this spring earned him Hockey East’s Defensive Defenseman of the Year title.

The Eagles start their road to the NCAA title on Saturday at 9 PM against Union.

Thomas DiPauli, RW, University of Notre Dame

DiPauli has been eased into NCAA action by the Notre Dame coaching staff. As the end of the season neared, DiPauli’s role increased and his production improved dramatically. A two-way forward, the Italy native has a chance to make a name for himself in the tournament. Thomas’ older brother, Theo, is playing for Union. They could play one another in the Frozen Four.

Notre Dame will begin the tournament at 1:30 PM ET on Saturday.

Travis Boyd, C, University of Minnesota

Boyd has mostly been a bottom-6 player on a stacked Gophers squad. It’s difficult to get more than that when Erik Haula and Nick Bjugstad are ahead of you on the depth chart. Boyd is a solid penalty killer and plays a balanced, two-way game.

The Gophers will face Yale on Friday at 2 PM.

Austin Wuthrich, RW/LW, University of Notre Dame

Just like DiPauli, Wuthrich has been up and down the lineup all season. Wuthrich had a tough second half and missed a considerable amount of time due to a head injury. Wuthrich was back on the Fighting Irish’s first line again during the CCHA Tournament, where he scored the tournament-winning goal and was named to the All-Star Team.

Greg Burke, RW/LW, University of New Hampshire

Burke is not expected to play this weekend due to a concussion. His NCAA career has been injury-filled: during four seasons with the Wildcats, Burke has been limited to 97 games. When he is healthy, however, he is an important player for his team.

UNH will battle Denver on Friday at 8 PM.

All games will be on ESPN3 in the US and ESPN Player outside North America . Most will also be available on ESPNU.

Filip Forsberg is back in North America. (Photo credit: Pavel Paprskar)

While the Capitals are still a month away from training camp (please, no lockout), up to six of their prospects may participate in under-20 tournaments that will be held this week, including 2012 first round draft picks Filip Forsberg and Tom Wilson.

The first tournament, which is being held in Lake Placid, New York, hosts hopefuls from the United States, Sweden, and Finland for an eight-day camp to prepare for the 2013 World Junior Championships in Ufa, Russia.

While Team USA’s official roster for the Lake Placid tournament has not yet been announced, four Caps prospects are currently attending the Evaluation Camp — defensemen Garrett Haar and Connor Carrick, and forwards Thomas Di Pauli and Travis Boyd.

In two intersquad games at the camp, Travis Boyd scored a goal and Connor Carrick has recorded an assist. Garrett Haar and Thomas Di Pauli didn’t have any points.

The USA Blue team (featuring Haar, Di Pauli and Carrick) also played in a scrimmage against Finland on Monday. Their team won 5-4, but neither of them was able to put points on the board. Meanwhile the USA White team (with Travis Boyd) played against Sweden and lost 1-5. Boyd didn’t contrubute to the scoresheet.

Here’s the rest of the schedule for a Team USA that will be united after Monday’s games.

August 8th, USA vs. Finland 4:00 PM
August 9th, USA vs. Sweden 4:00 PM
August 11th USA vs. Finland 1:00 PM

While Team USA still figures out its roster, Filip Forsberg was officially named to the Swedish team. Christian Djoos, another Swedish Caps prospect drafted this year, unfortunately had to be left at home after he was diagnosed with a concussion.

Forsberg had a goal and an assist in each of the two exhibition games against Czech Republic before crossing the ocean, and Djoos had a goal and an assist in the first of the two games. In a contest against USA White, Forsberg was unable to keep his scoring streak alive.

Schedule for Team Sweden

August 7th, Finland vs. Sweden 4:00 PM
August 9th, USA vs. Sweden 4:00 PM
August 10th, Finland vs. Sweden 4:00 PM

The best part? Thanks to USA hockey, you can follow all of the live action from Lake Placid this week online.

The other tournament taking place this week is the Canada-Russia challenge, which is celebrating the 40th anniversary of 1972 USSR-Canada Superseries. The top junior players from Canada and Russia will compete in a four-game series — two games will be payed in Yaroslavl, Russia and two games will be played in Halifax, Nova Scotia — beginning on Thursday at 11am EST.

Tom Wilson, who the Capitals selected 16th overall, was named to Canada’s Roster. Surprisingly, the Capitals will have no prospects playing on the Russian team.

Russia-Canada games schedule

August 9th, 11:00 AM – Yaroslavl, Russia
August 10th, 10:00 AM – Yaroslavl, Russia
August 13th, 7:00 PM – Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
August 14th, 7:00 PM – Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

For those of you who have TSN, you can watch the tournament on TV or also follow along on TSN’s live blog.

Adam Oates, clearly thrilled, coaches his first game as the Caps’ bench boss, albeit not a real one.

Today was the opening day of the Capitals Development Camp, and new coach Adam Oates‘s first day on the ice as head coach. The first day featured a scrimmage, some goals, and glandular freak Tom Wilson destroying everyone like Godzilla let loose on Tokyo – and there’re still five days left to go! We assume at the end of the week they will all burst out of their cocoons and fly away as hockey butterflies.

After both sets of prospects had a chance to practice in the morning, all of them came to the ice for the first of five scrimmages that will take place this week.

Team White won the scrimmage today, 3-1, with Greg Miller scoring the red team’s lone goal. The white team’s three tallies were scored by Greg Burke, Travis Boyd, and Andrew Ammon.

RMNB’s Chris Gordon has pictures of all the action below the jump!

Photos From Day 1′s Scrimmage

Free agent invitee Brent Tate prepares for the drop of the puck.

2012 third-round pick Chandler Stephenson goes for a ride.

Red gets on the board.

Stan Galiev celebrates the goal.

Andrew Ammon, a free agent invitee, tallies for the white team from what we expect is not the most comfortable position.

The white team celebrates another goal.

Norwegian goalie prospect and 2011 fourth-round pick Steffen Soberg after the victory.

Stephenson congratulates Soberg.

Hershey Bear Cameron Schilling speaks to the media.

Galiev talks to the press.

Adam Oates holds court for the first time at Kettler.

Garrett Mitchell attempts to headbutt Scott Wietecha into submission. (Photo credit: Chris Gordon)

After losing the first scrimmage game, Group A turned the tables on Group B on Thursday to take the second match of Development Camp, 4-3, in the shootout.

Garrett Mitchell, David Citviarese and Danick Paquette tallied Group A’s goals in regulation, while Travis Boyd scored twice along with Reid Edmondson in Group B’s losing effort. Mitchell also added the only shootout goal.

Below, I recap the game in photos.

(All photos by Chris Gordon — Click to enlarge.)

Jacob Gervais-Chouinard warms-up before the game.

Head coach Bruce Boudreau talks to the referee.

Reid Edmondson opens the scoring.

Group A ties the game.

Adam Mitchell gets hit up high.

Andrew Cherniwchan loses his balance.

Garrett Mitchell and Scott Wietecha drop the gloves.

Group A takes a 2-1 lead.

Group A goes up by two.

Group B comes back to force a shootout.

Video of the entire shootout via YouTube user freakinandpeakin

Mattias Sjogren is stopped.

Garrett Mitchell nets the lone shootout goal.

Danick Paquette dishes out a hit along the boards.

After participating in workouts for first two days of the Capitals’ annual Development Camp, 19 of the organization’s prospects and 25 free agent invites took to the ice for the first intra-squad scrimmage of the summer on Wednesday.

Group B — wearing the red sweaters — controlled the play throughout the game at Kettler Capitals Iceplex, taking it by a score of 4-2. Caleb Herbert, Stanislav Galiev, Travis Boyd and Aaron Schmit scored for the winning team while Andrew Cherniwchan and Garrett Mitchell tallied in the losing effort.

“The thoughts were is they played hard,” Caps head coach Bruce Boudreau told reporters after the game. “I think there was a lot more physical contact than the last two development camps, at least early on for the first game. … They’ve gotten better every day, I expect them to be even better tomorrow and by Saturday I’ll be a pretty good game.”

Forward Cody Eakin, a third-round draft pick in 2009 and a veteran of three camps, attributed the style of play to the players desire to make an impression on Washington’s brass.

“They’re some big guys out here and everyone is fighting for a job, a second chance and a second look so it was pretty physical. Guys are stepping up and there wasn’t a lot of room out there.”

Below, I recap the game in photos.

(All photos by Chris Gordon — Click to enlarge)

Caleb Herbert opens the scoring

Andrew Cherniwchan ties the game from Group A

Free agent invitee Wade Epp goes down hard into the boards, leaves game with possible shoulder injury.

Taylor Stefishen gets hit hard by Dmitry Orlov, injuring his knee.

Group B celebrates Galiev’s goal

Mattias Sjogren throws his weight around.

Travis Boyd gets on the scoreboard.

Group A celebrates Garrett Mitchell’s goal.

Group B walks away victorious.

Apparently the Capitals have traded for the hockey-equivalent of Keanu Reeves.

The Caps didn’t call any names on day one of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft in St. Paul, Minnesota but they did not stand pat, trading their 26th overall selection to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for the negotiating rights to Troy Brouwer. Washington hasn’t been shy with their disfavor of this year’s draft class with General Manager George McPhee saying there were few “real difference makers” and the club trading away their first three picks.

Brouwer, a 25 year-old 6′ 2″  214 pound left wing, is a restricted free agent who is likely to receive a hefty raise after making $1.05 million last season. The Vancouver, BC native tallied 36 points including 17 goals as well 262 hits, good for fifth in the league, in the 2010-11 campaign. He has a career total of 113 points and 53 goals in parts of five seasons in the NHL and won a Stanley Cup with the ‘Hawks in 2010.

“He’s a power forward who can get us 20 goals a year and play physical, just won a Stanley Cup a year ago and is supposed to be a real good leader,” said McPhee. “You always welcome a guy who plays hard and plays physical.”

The acquisition and expected signing of Brouwer calls into question the future of Brooks Laich, who plays a similar style of game to the new forward, and Matt Bradley. Though, at least for now, there has been no news on that front.

Now, on to the draftees.

Steffen Soberg 4th Round, 117th overall, goaltender, Manglerud (Norway)

Stats: 27 games played, 4.17 GAA, .884 SV%

With their first pick in the draft, the Caps added to their stock pile of young goalies, selecting Steffen Soberg, a 17 year-old from Manglerud, Norway. The son of an American mother, Soberg has spent the past two years playing in GET-ligaen, the top Norwegian hockey league, for Manglerud Star. Playing 27 games in GET-ligaen this past season, Soberg posted a goals against average of 4.17 along with a save percentage of .884. The left-handed catching netminder represented his country at the 2011 World Junior Championship, ending the tournament with a GAA of 3.90 and a SV% of .931, good for second amongst all goalies, in six games. His brother, 16 year-old Markus Soberg, also played for Norway at WJC, tallying a goal and two assists.

Press Conference with Caps Goalie Coach Dave Prior

Patrick Koudys, 5th Round, 147th overall, defenseman, RPI (NCAA)

Stats: 31 games played, 1 goal, 2 assists, 14 PIMS

Koudys (pronounced cow-DICE), played 31 games for the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Engineers as a freshman, notching 3 points. Prior to attending RPI, the hulking 6′ 4″, 190 pound defenseman from Smithville, Ontario, suited up for the Burlington Cougars in the Ontario Junior ‘A’ Hockey League. He played 50 games, scoring five goals and accumulating 33 points. Hamilton, Ontario native was named the OHA’s Top Prospect plus Burlington’s Rookie of the Year and Top Defenseman.

His father, Jim, was drafted by the New York Islanders in the 12th round, 252nd overall in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft.

Koudys is the third RPI player taken by the Caps, following Todd Hilditch in 1988 (8th round) and Ryan Kummu in 1987 (12th round).

Press Conference after being drafted

Travis Boyd, 6th Round, 177th overall, forward, USNTDP (USHL)

Stats: 31 games played, 5 goals, 13 assists, 18 points, 10 PIMS

Boyd, a 5′ 10″, 185 pound winger from Hopkins, Minnesota, is an incoming freshman at the University of Minnesota. Minnesota Hockey Prospect says of 17 year-old that he’s a “quick and shifty player that has great hands and a keen ability to read the play in front of him.” Boyd has spent the past two season with USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program and models his game after Claude Giroux.

Video

Press conference after being drafted

Garret Haar, 7th Round, 207th overall, defenseman, Fargo (USHL)

Stats: 51 games played, 7 goals, 16 assists, 23 points, +/- +9, 38 PIMS

Haar is a 6′ 0″, 193 pound defenseman from Huntington Beach, California. His favorite athlete is Torii Hunter and — from the looks of these photos — enjoys going to hang out at libraries and read books to kids.

Video

Additional reporting by Ian Oland