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IceCaps Year End Report: Michael McCarron ends rookie year on a high note

The IceCaps ended their season at home, sending fans home happy with a victory in their last game.

By Scott Matla
St. John's IceCaps/Jeff Parsons
IceCaps Player of the Week: Michael McCarron

The hot streak continued for the rookie, as he added another goal to cap off his first professional season. McCarron converted a Morgan Ellis shot into his 17th goal of the year, good for third on the team. He also collected rookie of the year honours for St. John's, a well-earned distinction for his fantastic season.

Overall, the behemoth forward put together an outstanding rookie campaign with 17 goals and 21 assists in 58 games.

Weekly Stats
Player GP G A PTS +/- PIM SOG
Bud Holloway 2 0 1 1 -1 0 3
Michael McCarron 2 1 0 1 -2 0 2
Charles Hudon 2 0 0 0 -2 0 9
Mark Barberio 0 0 0 0 +0 0 0
Daniel Carr 0 0 0 0 +0 0 0
Gabriel Dumont 2 0 1 1 -1 0 4
Morgan Ellis 2 0 1 1 -1 0 6
Sven Andrighetto 0 0 0 0 +0 0 0
Lucas Lessio 0 0 0 0 +0 0 0
Darren Dietz 2 0 0 0 -2 2 4
Joel Hanley 2 0 0 0 -2 2 5
Mark MacMillan 2 0 1 1 -1 0 0
Jeremy Gregoire 2 0 1 1 +0 2 4
Brett Lernout 0 0 0 0 +0 0 0
Jacob de la Rose 2 1 0 1 +1 0 2
Nikita Scherbak 2 0 0 0 -1 2 1
Mac Bennett 0 0 0 0 +0 0 0
Michael Bournival 0 0 0 0 +0 0 0
Max Friberg 2 0 1 1 -1 0 2
Ryan Johnston 2 0 0 0 -2 0 1
Victor Bartley 0 0 0 0 +0 0 0
Tim Bozon 2 1 0 1 +0 0 7
John Scott 0 0 0 0 +0 0 0
Connor Crisp 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Player W L OTL SO GAA SV%
Eddie Pasquale 1 0 0 0 1.00 .968
Zachary Fucale 0 1 0 0 4.00 .862

Charles Hudon: Unfortunately for the IceCaps leading goal scorer he was unable to match the team record for goals, in fact, he was held without a point in two games played. Once again Hudon and Nikita Scherbak were dominant together, but couldn't solve Mackenzie Skapski.

In the end Hudon was arguably the most valuable forward in the lineup for St. John's, tallying 28 goals and 25 assists. He also earned a short NHL stint where he collected a pair of assists. That marks consecutive seasons with 50+ points for the fifth-round draft pick, and many are ready to see him as a full time NHL player next year.

Bud Holloway: While his signing was met with little fanfare over the summer, Bud Holloway turned out to be one of Marc Bergevin's shrewdest moves. With a single assist in a 4-1 loss to Hartford Holloway added to his team high point total and matching his career high in the process.

His 61 points placed him in the top eight for overall scoring in the AHL and set a new St. John's franchise record in the process.

Gabriel Dumont: The IceCaps' captain registered just a single assist this week, on a Jacob de la Rose goal, and fell just one point shy of cracking the 50 point plateau. Like many others Dumont also set career highs this year, in both assists(30) and points(49). As captain he also collected team MVP honours before Saturday's game against Hartford for his efforts this year.

Morgan Ellis: The recipent of  the "Best Defencemen" award showed why this past weekend, when he collected another assist to book end his phenomenal season. After spending most of last year in the ECHL, Ellis exploded in terms of production for the IceCaps.

His 16 goals were second by a defenceman in the AHL, and his 42 points had him in the top ten for scoring by defenders. In a contract year Ellis had to show that he was still a top prospect in the Habs system, and he did just that.

Mac Bennett: Bennett did not play in any games for St. John's this week, capping off a disappointing sophomore season where he bounced between the press box and the ECHL for long periods of time.

Jacob de la Rose: Much like McCarron, de la Rose thrived after his return to the AHL. The Swedish forward tallied his 7th goal of the year in a 2-1 win over Hartford, and it was a beautiful snipe.

It was a season of extremes for de la Rose, he struggled to produce anything of note at the NHL level, but during his stint in the AHL he showed solid two-way play and offensive upside.

Joel Hanley: It was a quiet end to the season for Hanley, after dominating the scoresheet in the NHL, he was without a point this week. It's hard to describe Hanley's year he was never the most noticeable blueliner on the team and didn't rack up the points either. However, he did play a large role for Sylvain Lefebvre who trusted him in all situations.

Connor Crisp: There isn't much to say about Crisp's second season in the AHL. He only played ten games before suffering a concussion.

Darren Dietz: It was a solid year for Darren Dietz, at least in terms of his overall play. He notched only four goals and twelve assist in 61 games. While his production isn't anything to write home about, his defensive play and positioning were outstanding as he played big minutes in St. John's.

Jeremy Grégoire: A quiet, but effective rookie campaign came to a close with a single assist on a Tim Bozon goal. While he put up only six goals and five assists, Gregoire was a key cog in the IceCaps bottom six, using his solid two way play to create chances for his teammates.

Mark MacMillan: Much like his linemate Gregoire, MacMillan put together a great first year in the bottom six for St. John's. With one assist in the final game it brought his season total up to six goals and eleven assists, a respectable total for the role he plays.

Tim Bozon: After starting the season in the ECHL, Bozon was one of the most dangerous IceCaps forwards in the second half of the season. He scored the game-winning goal in the last game, and while he only scored five goals this year, it's important to remember this is his first full year of pro hockey since recovering from meningitis.

Michaël Bournival: The health struggles continue for Michael Bournival. After a strong start he suffered another concussion, and missed the rest of the campaign.

Max Friberg: It was a tale of two halves for the Swedish forward, after being acquired for Dustin Tokarski Friberg was a quiet producer in the lineup. However, when he was called upon to handle top line duties due to injuries he thrived, and saw his production sky rocket for over a month. He capped off his season with a single assist on a de la Rose goal, and finished with 36 points.

Ryan Johnston: After impressing during rookie camp and the preseason, Johnston missed over half the season recovering from back surgery. Upon his return he helped to kick start the power play, using his smooth skating and playmaking instincts to create space for his teammates. Despite tallying twelve assists, Johnston failed to score a goal this season.

Nikita Scherbak: Despite a quiet end to his rookie year, Scherbak was one of St. John's most creative forwards against Hartford. After struggling with injuries and adjusting to the AHL in the first half of the season, Scherbak exploded in the second half.

Even with a strange move to centre, he showcased top level playmaking skills and formed an outstanding chemistry with Charles Hudon. One should expect a huge year for the Russian next season.

John Scott: The All-Star Game MVP was welcomed with open arms by St. John's and the fans. Despite returning home before the end of the year, Scott posted a career season, with two goals and two assists in 27 games before receiving a call up from Montreal.

Zach Fucale: It was a tough end of the calendar for the rookie netminder, he gave up four goals in a 4-1 loss to Hartford during his only start of the week.

The story of the season for Fucale was consistency, or rather the lack thereof, in his starts.

He had months where he was unbeatable, then the next week he would give up three goals on five shots, not making it out of the first period.

Year to Date Stats
Player GP G A PTS +/- PIM SOG
Bud Holloway 70 19 42 61 -13 14 179
Charles Hudon 67 28 25 53 -3 79 181
Gabriel Dumont 71 19 30 49 -14 76 177
Morgan Ellis 73 16 26 42 +2 51 172
Michael McCarron 58 17 21 38 -8 91 125
Max Friberg 67 12 24 36 -6 14 123
Sven Andrighetto 26 10 13 23 +6 22 74
Nikita Scherbak 48 7 16 23 -26 20 79
Lucas Lessio 42 10 11 21 -16 41 102
Daniel Carr 24 10 11 21 +7 10 66
Mark Barberio 26 2 18 20 +0 25 51
Mark MacMillian 62 6 11 17 -10 41 54
Darren Dietz 61 4 12 16 -8 61 108
Jacob de la Rose 34 7 7 14 -5 18 54
Joel Hanley 64 5 8 13 -11 25 73
Brett Lernout 69 2 10 12 -4 73 58
Ryan Johnston 37 0 12 12 -14 14 34
Jeremy Gregoire 62 6 5 11 -5 70 78
Michael Bournival 20 1 7 8 -7 12 55
Tim Bozon 41 5 3 8 -12 14 64
Victor Bartley 2 1 3 4 -11 16 39
John Scott 27 2 2 4 -3 85 20
Mac Bennett 35 1 2 3 -11 30 32
Connor Crisp 10 0 0 0 -6 25 8
Player W L OTL SO GAA SV%
Eddie Pasquale 13 10 3 0 2.63 .919%
Zach Fucale 16 19 4 0 3.13 .903%

Weekly Record

GP W L OTL PTS
2 1 1 0 2

St. John's split their final home games with the Hartford Wolfpack, losing 4-1 on Friday and winning the last game of the season 2-1 on Saturday.

Record to Date

GP W L OTL PTS Conference Division
76 32 33 11 75 11th 5th

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