Morning Chirps: Big night for Blackhawks prospects, Team USA onto the semifinals

The stakes are raised at the Winter Olympics. The men’s tournament is getting closer to the elimination rounds, while Team USA’s dominance carried them into the semifinals of the women’s tournament. Meanwhile, a key player of a Pacific Division rival suffered a serious injury in Milan. Friday was a big day for Chicago Blackhawks prospects around the globe, and the Rockford IceHogs return to action later tonight.

Blackhawks Chirps

• Connor Murphy is one of the Blackhawks' biggest trade chips heading into the deadline. Yesterday, I took a look at past trades and what the market may look like to try to predict what the return for the veteran blueliner might be.

• Roman Kantserov became the first player in the Kontinental Hockey League to score 30 goals on Friday. You have to think that if Russia were allowed to play in the Olympics this year, Kantserov would have been included on their roster.

• Speaking of league leaders, Marek Vanacker scored two goals in the Brantford Bulldog’s 5-1 win over the Erie Otters. His pair of tallies gave him 37 on the season, 100 career goals, and 200 career points in the Ontario Hockey League.

• Vanacker needed both of those goals to keep his OHL lead because Jack Pridham scored his 35th goal of the season. He also recorded two assists in the Kitchener Rangers' 4-2 victory against the Kingston Frontenacs. He has 35 goals and 70 points in 51 OHL games.

• John Mustard scored his 12th goal of the season in Providence College’s 4-2 loss to Northeastern. Julius Sumpf picked up the secondary assist on the play. The 2025 fourth-round pick has 15 helpers and 18 points in 28 games.

• On this date in 1989, Jeremy Roenick scored his first NHL goal in the Blackhawks’ 4-2 win over the Minnesota North Stars. He scored the first 267 of his 513 career goals with the Blackhawks.

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, Feb. 14: Gerry Lowery, Howie Glover, Petr Mrazek, and John Hayden.

NHL & Olympic Chirps

• Slovakia remained undefeated, while Finland got into the win column in the early games at the Winter Olympics. Teuvo Teravainen is still looking for his first point of the tournament.

• After being blanked by Canada in its opening game, Czechia bounced back with a 6-3 win over France. They got all they could handle as France scored three goals in less than five minutes to take a 3-2 lead in the second period. Czechia scored four unanswered goals to pull away. Former Blackhawks defenseman Michal Kempny had a goal and an assist. He was one of six Czechs to have two points, including David Pastrnak and Martin Necas.

• Canada won its 12th straight game with NHL players at the Olympics by beating Switzerland 5-1. They got goals from Connor McDavid, Thomas Harley, Macklin Celebrini, Sidney Crosby, and Nathan MacKinnon. McDavid and MacKinnon finished with three points. Logan Thompson made 24 saves to earn his first Olympic win. Former Blackhawk Pius Suter had the lone Swiss goal.

• The Los Angeles Kings’ worst nightmare became a reality when forward Kevin Fiala needed to leave on a stretcher after suffering a leg injury. Late in the game, he was hit along the boards by Tom Wilson and was in immediate pain. Switzerland has already announced that Fiala will miss the remainder of the Olympics. He is the Kings’ second-leading scorer with 18 goals and 40 points in 56 games. They just acquired Artemi Panarin to make a push into the playoffs. They currently sit three points out of a Wild Card spot and four points out of second place in the Pacific Division.

• On the women’s side, the U.S. women cruised into the semifinals with a 6-0 win over Italy. They outshot the Italians 51-6. Team USA has outscored its opponents 26-1 in its five games, with four straight shutouts. They haven’t allowed a goal in 271:23 of play. Blackhawks player development coach and Chicago-area native Kendall Coyne Schofield scored two goals.

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, Feb. 14: Murph Chamberlain, Charlie Burns, Walt Poddubny, Dave Lowry, Petr Svoboda, Calle Johansson, Sean Hill, Viktor Kozlov, Milan Hejduk, Marian Gaborik, Eric Nystrom, Tom Pyatt, Brandon Sutter, Nikolaj Ehlers, and Lane Hutson.