Monday, April 27, 2026

A goal-scorer for 2027; Recruits deliver at World U18s

 Mooseheads Forward Shawn Carrier Announces NCAA Commitment cover image 

Terriers strengthened their recruiting pipeline Sunday when 4-⭐️Halifax Mooseheads left wing Shawn Carrier committed to BU for the 2027-2028 season.  The 5'10", 183 lb., native of Trois-Rivières, Quebec, just completed his third QMJHL season with a team-high 37 goals--eighth best in the Q--and 65 points.  

Carrier is ranked 178th among N.American skaters for the 2026 NHL Entry Draft and is a second-year eligible. The Halifax team site notes:

The energetic and creative player was passed over in his first year of eligibility in 2025 mainly due to his smaller stature at 5-foot-10, but his no-fear style of play, paired with his elite scoring talent opened the eyes of many NHL scouts during the recently finished season. Carrier was second on the team in points with 65 while scoring a team-leading 37 goals and adding 28 assists. 

With one more junior season ahead of him, Carrier, who turned 19 last month, already has 179 regular season CHL games under his belt along with 19 playoff games. A first-round QMJHL draft pick (sixth overall) by Moncton in 2023, he struggled in his rookie season with the Wildcats. Traded to Halifax in 2024,Carrier blossomed into consistent scorer, racking up 44 points (18G,34A). 

Following the season, Elite Prospects wrote:

Although Carrier plays a straight-line, chip-and-chase game, he does so with a higher level of cunning than most, depositing the puck in the right areas to quickly get it back, evading sticks, and running inside. He engages opponents with skill, driving through their space and using his arm and leg to shield possession, as he finds an escape. 

Carrier joins fellow QMJHL skaters Egor Shilov and Rian Chudzinski, OHL forward Braidy Wassilyn, USHL forward James Scantlebury, and NTDP forwards Jamie Glance, Carter Meyer and Sam Pandolfo in the current 2027 forward recruit group.

Shilov, who was the Q's top rookie scorer with 82 points, Meyer and Scantlebury all are 5-⭐️prospects.

IIHF U18 World Championships 

Glance scored a goal and assisted on three others in Team USA's 11-2 drubbing of Germany in the team's final preliminary round game. The win clinched the Group B title for the U.S. Meyer, who centered Team USA's second power-play unit, assisted on two tallies, while defenseman Luke Schairer added a helper.

● USA Hockey recap, Glance slick assist

In the quarterfinals, the U.S. takes on Latvia, which upset Canada in the preliminary round. Gametime Wednesday is 10 A.M. with NHL Network carrying the contest live.

On Saturday, 2027 recruit Brady Knowling stopped 18 shots in Team USA's 9-1 win over Sweden. Meyer scored a goal and added an assist while Glance and Schairer each contributed an assist.  

● USA Hockey recap 

Tynan Lawrence score a goal, assisted on two others and won 11 of 16 draws as Canada thumped Norway, 8-0. Lawrence has a 2-3-5 line across four preliminary round games.Canada takes on Sweden in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. 

The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler's took a deep dive into Lawrence in his feature piece, Why Tynan Lawrence is still one of the best prospects in the 2026 NHL Draft. 

“When you look at guys like Crosby and Celebrini and Tynan Lawrence, you think about habits and details,” Muskegon GM McGroarty said. “Their habits and details are through the roof, and that’s what separates them. They’ve got hard skill. And you put it all together, and they’re the best players on the ice, and every coach would want them centering their top line.”

St. Clair, Lawrence’s head coach this season and assistant coach last season with Muskegon, couches it a little more.

“I don’t want to get any crap for this, especially after the year that Celebrini had,” he said, “but I would say as far as players that have that skill set and can produce but have that work ethic for a 200-foot game, that’s the closest comparable. I’m not saying he’s Macklin Celebrini, but I think there are some similarities as far as his identity.”

“You just saw him get better and better. The production wasn’t there to start, but you still saw a lot of the things that make him a really good hockey player; just his relentless effort and motor, creating turnovers with a good stick, his pace,” Jay Pandolfo told The Athletic. “And I thought in the last 3-4 games he played for us that he was arguably our best forward.”

Pandolfo thinks that will serve him well next year. Burgess went as far as to predict a 45-point post-draft season.

“I think he can be a driver for our team,” Pandolfo said. “For him, too, just his confidence is going to be higher knowing what to expect. He’s going to be a guy who plays all situations for us and really drive play to the middle of the ice. And in practice every day, he has that ability to push the group because of his work ethic. He can pull our group along.”

 

Looking ahead

2026 recruit Viktor Norringer scored his third playoff goal—and seventh point—in six games as Muskegon doubled up Dubuque, 4-2, to tie their playoff series at two games apiece.

The 6’4” right wing, who rang up 24 goals and 49 points in 48 regular-season games, had also scored in game three of the series.  2026 returnee Carter Amico, who skates on the Lumberjacks’ top defensive pair, is +5 in the playoffs.

Chudzinski scored his second playoff goal in Moncton's 6-2 win against Blainville-Boisbriand. A former standout at Dexter Southfield prep, Chudzinski had a 21-17-38 scoring line in 54 regular season games and has 12 points in 11 playoff games. 

Looking back 

Jack Eichel assisted on three goals, including the overtime game-winner, as Vegas edged Utah, 5-4. Clayton Keller scored his first post-season goal for the Mammoth. 

Macklin Celebrini will be lacing 'em up for Canada in next month's World Championships in Switzerland. He's coming off a milestone-filled season with San Jose, setting a team single-season record of 115 points and being a standout for Canada in the 2026 Winter Olympics.  

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