USHL: Lancers Leblanc Making Sweet Music

The name Leblanc is synonymous to many across North America with musical instruments, but in the hockey prospects world, it brings to mind Omaha Lancers center Louis Leblanc, who is lighting up the USHL to the tune of 9 goals and 10 assists in his first 20 games of Tier I junior hockey. The Quebecois pivot was behind only Pat Mullane in Lancers scoring at the team's 20-game mark and has been a vital cog in the Lancers impressive two-way game in front of two young goalies, both first-year eligible players for the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

McKeen's correspondent Kevin Wey had the opportunity to catch the Omaha Lancers in action twice during November and has notes on Leblanc and Mullane, NHL draft picks Danny Kristo and Drew Olson, young netminders Jeff Teglia and Jonathan Sääf, the rapidly improving Seth Ambroz, and a couple other Lancer prospects, including perhaps the best defensive defenseman in the USHL.

Louis Leblanc (2009), C, Omaha

Confirming his position as one of the top USHL forwards for the 2009 NHL Entry Draft .. centerman that plays a committed two-way game .. consistently helps his defensemen down low .. plays on the penalty kill and is willing to block shots .. a threat to strip opponents of the puck .. finishes his checks .. also an adept offensive player .. has deceptive speed .. does a good job protecting the puck along the boards with swivels and overall agility .. has good offensive vision to catch teammates with passes off the boards or from around the net .. on Omaha's top powerplay unit .. just needs to continue to fine-tune his game and add more thickness to his lean 5-foot-11, 170-pound frame .. at Omaha's 20-game mark, he had 9 goals and 10 assists in 20 games.

Patrick Mullane (2009), LW, Omaha

Second year of eligibility for NHL Entry Draft and off to a good start in the USHL .. however, was only moderately impressive in these two November viewings and not as noticeable as at the Fall Classic .. plays on Omaha's first powerplay unit .. has good speed and agility with the puck .. puck seems to find him and finishes his chances .. has a somewhat choppy stride at times because he does not bring his skates back in completely in recovery phase of stride .. gets a bit upright under acceleration .. the previous two concerns did not seem to be problems at the Fall Classic, when Mullane did a good job of staying low .. may be wearing down under the wear and tear of the USHL schedule compared to prep school .. making an earnest attempt to improve his defensive game and does play with some physicality .. played for Team USA at the 2008 World Junior A Challenge and scored one goal and three assists in five games on a line with Mike Cichy and David Gerths (won the gold medal) .. at Omaha's 20-game mark, he had 12 goals and 9 assists in 18 games to lead the Lancers in scoring.

Ian Ruel (2009), D, Omaha

Probably the best defensive defenseman in the USHL in terms of a total package .. keeps a short gap and consistently engages early in the defensive zone .. regularly steps up to make nice shoulder checks or angles his man to the boards and rubs him out with a hip check near the blueline .. even if established in his defensive zone, he often lets the gap shrink and plays the body, separating his man from the puck .. has the strength to shove opponents over a la Chris Pronger .. gets low skating backwards to enable him to thrust into opponents .. willing to drop to block shots .. also willing to drop the gloves and can throw with some force .. plays on Omaha's PK .. has a hard slapper and one-timer .. has a little speed for skating the puck .. moves the puck better than his stats show .. 6-foot-4, 200-pound blueliner has everything an NHL organization could want out of a future sixth defenseman .. at Omaha's 20-game mark he had two assists in 17 games.

Ryan Daugherty (2009), LW, Omaha

It is obvious an injury is hampering him big time .. 6-foot-2, 185-pounder is lanky and has thin legs, but no way he made it to the USHL with his current stride .. left leg looked weak, as he appeared unable or unwilling to put much weight on it .. suffered a lower body injury prior to the Fall Classic that has become a recurring injury, the specifics of which are known to McKeen's but will remain unpublished at this time .. game was so compromised by the apparent effects of the injury that a true read of his game was impossible, other than he was attempting to do the right things to play a good two-way game .. at Omaha's 20-game mark had 4 goals and 2 assists in 12 games.

Jeff Teglia (2009), G, Omaha

A throwback to a time when goaltending was not as technical as it is today .. common to see Teglia go down into sprawling splits saves and to make glove saves with a lot of flare while going into the splits .. uses such old-school technique as the double-pad stack .. lunges forward with his upper body on his splits saves, leaving the top shelf open if there's a rebound .. has quick crease movements in warm-ups, but loses that during the game and almost drop kicks across the crease more than slides .. fairly aggressive in skating out to stop dumped pucks and can launch them for clears or passes .. entertaining to watch and probably gets a good workout during the game, but total lack of a technical game .. at Omaha's 20-game mark, he played over 14 games with a 6-4-2 record, and a 3.08 goals-against average and .898 save percentage.

Jonathan Saaf(2009), G, Omaha

The perfect foil to Teglia's non-technical game .. butterfly goalie that has decent lateral movement, including from the butterfly position .. able to smoothly change directions with butterfly pad slides, but could be quicker in loading up and pushing off .. able to get down and up fairly quickly and can get up two legs at a time .. does a good job of keeping his upper body upright when going down and in pad slides across the crease, covering more of the net .. 6-foot-4, 204-pound frame is that much more helpful in covering the net .. is fairly composed with his rebounds are rarely panics .. plays the percentages, sometimes to a fault, bringing into question how well he actually reads the play .. drafted in the second round of the 2008 CHL Import Draft by the Val-d'Or Foreurs with the 77th pick .. played for Boras in Swedish J20, but does not have significant experience in the league and is on a steep upward trend .. added to the Omaha roster Oct. 21 .. not implausible for the Swede's stock to rise during the season as he gains experience and a real threat to supplant Teglia as the starter .. at Omaha's 20-game mark, he had played over five games with a 2-2-0 record, a 4.06 goals-against average and .869 save percentage.

Joe Marciano (2009), D, Omaha

Battling a bit to firmly establish himself as one of Omaha's top six defensemen, but still a good defensive defenseman despite that fact .. generally keeps his gaps short and has quick feet for lateral movement .. able to stop backwards quickly to keep with opponents that try to ditch him by holding up .. skates and accelerates a bit upright with the puck, but still has decent speed .. engages physically and can thrust into opponents for hard hits, but does not pick up many penalties .. willing to drop to a knee to block shots or clog passing lanes .. plays on Omaha's penalty kill .. definitely not as good as Ruel, but still very handy for a USHL team to have .. at Omaha's 20-game mark he had two assists in 13 games.

Danny Kristo (Mtl),RW/LW, Omaha

Answering a question from the Fall Classic on whether he has finishing ability at the USHL level to go with his speed and the answer is yes .. gets a little upright under acceleration, but still has high-end quickness and top speed .. has excellent separation, which is especially evident coming off the boards .. almost effortless in how he can skate around opponents .. adept at using swivels to protect the puck around the boards and using his agility and stickhandling to evade checks .. uses his speed to pressure opponents on the forecheck and on the backcheck .. plays with some physicality and finishes his checks, some with considerable force generated from his speed and quickness .. puts in a good effort defensively, despite his team worst minus-6 rating at Omaha's 20-game mark .. played on both Omaha's powerplay and penalty kill .. a dynamic talent who should be extremely ready to play for North Dakota in 2009-10 .. played for Team USA at the 2008 World Junior A Challenge and scored three goals with four assists in four games .. at Omaha's 20-game mark, he had 6 goals and 11 assists in 17 games.

Drew Olson (CBJ), D, Omaha

Overall, looked better than at the Fall Classic .. keeps his gaps fairly short and engages physically to stand up or rub out opponents .. fairly mobile backwards and can get pretty low, but still uses too many crossovers at times .. still adjusting his timing to rub out the speediest of USHL opponents .. has good speed with the puck and can really get some momentum going from behind the net .. has a little dangle with the puck, but stickhandling is suspect .. lost the handle of the puck or was stripped too often .. able to make nice one-touch passes to advance the attack .. played on both Omaha's powerplay and penalty kill .. needs to become stronger on the puck to round out the puck-moving aspect of what could become a very well-rounded, two-way game .. at Omaha's 20-game mark had 1 goal and 1 assist in 18 games.

Seth Ambroz (2011), LW, Omaha

Youngest player in the USHL benefiting from playing with veteran big man Jake Hauswirth both at even strength, the penalty kill, and some on the powerplay .. skating still has issues and acceleration is still lumbering at times, but looking much better than at the Fall Classic in both areas .. shows a little speed and acceleration in his efforts down low in the offensive zone .. displays a decent set of hands around the net .. sees some time on Omaha's second powerplay unit .. plays with some physicality .. makes some big hits, and then sometimes he finishes his checks with only moderate force .. willing to block shots at the point .. if the USHL had an award for most improvement during the course of the season, Ambroz would be on track to win it .. at Omaha's 20-game mark had 5 goals and 8 assists in 20 games.