College hockey conference tournaments began last weekend and all but two Kings prospects are still alive for championships. Best of all, the games will be televised, beginning tonight.
After the conference tournaments, the NCAA selection committee will announce the final list of 16 teams that will make this year’s college hockey tournament — with a shot at making the Frozen Four and eventually a national championship. An interesting note on that front is the fact that most of the Kings college prospects already know their fate. Yes, they want to win the respective conference tournaments this weekend, it’s just not do or die for most of them. The lone exception is Jack Sparkes, so we’ll start with him.
ECAC
Sparkes, a defenseman standing 6-foot-8 and checking in at 243 lbs., is LA’s lone prospect playing in the ECAC. He and his Clarkson teammates will need to win both games this weekend to get into the big dance. That’s their only shot, as they won’t earn an ‘at large’ bid; they need to win out and claim the conference tournament’s auto-bid. After winning a best-of-three series vs. Harvard last weekend, things now turn into single elimination games. Clarkson will face Dartmouth in a semifinal matchup on Friday. Should they advance to the final game on Saturday, they’d play the winner of Quinnipiac-Cornell, who are facing off in the other semifinal matchup. All games will air on ESPN+.
NCHC
This is where things could get really interesting. Two of the nation’s best teams are in the NCHC, and they just so happen to feature the Kings top goaltending prospect (Hampton Slukynsky, Western Michigan) and a forward who is likely to turn pro in just a few weeks (Jared Wright, Denver). The bracket sets up nicely too, as the two schools could meet up in the final game of this weekend’s NCHC conference tournament.
WMU swept their best-of-three series vs. St. Cloud last weekend to advance to the semis. They’ll now face a surging North Dakota team on Friday. Slukynsky started and won both games last weekend and is expected to be in the Broncos crease once again come game time. As a freshman, he’s already wrestled the crease away for the No. 3 ranked team in the country. Previously named to the NCHC All-Rookie Team, Slukynsky just received another special nomination:
NCHC Award Finalist#GoKingsGo prospect Hampton Slukynsky led the NCHC with a 2.04 GAA.
Also finished the league season with a 10-3-1 record and .915 save percentage. He had one shutout and made 313 total saves.
pic.twitter.com/XswNayWNjX
— The Mayor | Team MM (@mayorNHL) March 15, 2025
Over on the other side of the NCHC bracket is Wright and fellow Kings prospect James Reeder (freshman). They’ll be suiting up for No. 6 ranked DU in the other semi, a contest vs. Arizona State. Should WMU and Denver advance, there would be Kings prospects on both sides of the ice in Saturday’s conference final. Either way, both schools have already punched their tickets for the NCAA field of 16 coming up in a few weeks.
Both semifinal games and the NCHC championship game will be televised by CBS Sports Network (DirecTV 221), so there will be plenty of opportunities to watch some of the Kings best college prospects this weekend.
More on Slukynsky and his place among the Kings prospect pool can be found here.
HOCKEY EAST
It’s a mixed bag here. For starters, senior Jack Hughes is technically a Kings prospect, and Boston is still alive in the tournament. However, as MM editor John Hoven reported on a recent Kings Of The Podcast episode, the Kings are not expected to offer Hughes a contract. Thus, he’ll become a free agent this summer.
Also, Boston defeated UMass 3-2 last weekend in the opening round. It was a great game, and several LA scouts and members of management were in attendance for that one. With the loss, though, Kings prospect Kenny Connors is out of the conference tournament. Yet, his team has already earned a spot in the 16-team NCAA playoff bracket, so we’ll be seeing him back in action very soon. Connors is definitely a player to keep an eye on, as the Kings are expected to sign him to a pro contract next month. Meaning, he’d be leaving school after completing three years at UMass.
Ryan Conmy’s New Hampshire squad was also eliminated in the opening round; essentially ending their 2024-25 season. More on Conmy (as well as OHL forward Liam Greentree and WHL forward Koehn Ziemmer) can be found here:
MORE LA KINGS NEWS:
Follow @mayorNHL
Continue reading...
