Habsworld.net has named Carey Price the November Prospect of the Month for his stellar goaltending while playing for a very young team that is struggling to compete in the WHL on a consistent basis. After a great showing at the Canadiens training camp and preseason action, Price was sent back to his junior team in Tri City to gain more experience and to hopefully get the chance to represent his country once again at the international level. But a brutal start to the season where goals were being scored in abundance, the Canadiens most recent first round draft pick has been able to turn the corner and show people why he was considered by many as the top rated goalie in the 2005 draft.
Despite the struggles that he has faced while playing for Tri City, where he faced a jaw dropping 376 shots during the month of November in just eleven starts and a half of a game in relief. Going into November, Price had only one win on the season but ended up winning five of his eleven starts with four of his six losses being in either overtime or shootout, helping his team pick up 14 out of a possible 22 points. He was named the first star in three of those eleven games, and had back to back shutouts over two of the leagues top teams in Kootenay and Everett. Price let in 25 goals for the month but ten of those were scored while shorthanded. His save percentage for the month was an impressive .934 % with a goals against average of 2.17, a far cry from the .830 save % and 4.5 gaa he had at the start of the season. Price also was solid in his most recent outing for Team WHL at the remax games against Team Russia, where he was perfect in nets in his half a game of work. He was also named to the selection camp roster for the world junior team, one of four goalies, Price is the youngest of the group and the only one that can return to Team Canada next year.
Also in the running for Prospect of the Month was Mathieu Aubin, who continues to put up career numbers in what could likely be his last season in the CHL. In twelve games during November, Aubin was able to score an impressive nine goals and fifteen points, while being on pace to set career highs in every offensive area of the game. Aubin leads his team in scoring and is among the top 20 in league scoring.
In addition to Aubin, Cornell’s Ryan O’Byrne was also in the running for his improved all round play, as the junior defensemen has taken over as the team’s top defensemen playing in all situations logging a large amount of ice time. Not only has his defensive play improved, but during the past month O’Byrne also showed off his offensive side that saw him pick up three goals and five points in eight games, setting a career high in goals with four, after getting only three goals his first two seasons combined. Ryan has been big on the power play, getting three of his four goals on the advantage with one of the four being a game winning goal. His offensive production leads his team in scoring for defensemen and he’s currently tied for third on the team in scoring overall.