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Alex DeBrincat leads Blackhawks to 2017 Traverse City tournament title

Posted on by Satchel Price

The Chicago Blackhawks wrapped up the 2017 prospect tournament in Traverse City with a thrilling overtime win over the Columbus Blue Jackets in the championship game on Tuesday. Alex DeBrincat, naturally, scored the game-winner in extra time to clinch the title.

Afterwards, the prospects looked very happy:

Winning the eight-team tournament in Traverse City is a fantastic accomplishment, but the real takeaway is how good DeBrincat looked. The Blackhawks’ top prospect underwhelmed at the team’s prospect camp in July, which led to questions about how he’d fit into the mix for the upcoming season.

Now the hype train is back on after an incredible four-game showing during which DeBrincat scored five goals, including one in every game and two against Columbus on Tuesday. He’s proving to be a scorer of the highest order, with a compact, quick shot that goalies had a tough time keying in on over the past week.

Here’s one of his goals from Tuesday:

These were games full of prospects and unproven players, so it’s not worth getting TOO excited over all this, but DeBrincat did exactly what you wanted to see in Traverse City. He was often one of the best players on the ice, just like in the OHL, and at least at this level, his almost supernatural shooting ability translated.

Training camp begins later this week, and DeBrincat will be carrying a lot of momentum in after all this. He’s still probably a long shot to make the Hawks out of camp given the number of older players competing with him for playing time, although it’ll be hard for Chicago to keep him down if he’s racking up goals like he did in juniors.

All aboard, y’all.

Talking Points