Borgen, Peterson enter NCAA tournament as top seed with St. Cloud State

Four Sabres prospects find themselves in the hunt to bring a title back to their respective campuses as the brackets were released Sunday for the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament. While the others play on, one thought to have a good chance to continue the season entering the weekend was ultimately left on the outside looking in.
Defenseman William Borgen (2015, fourth round) and senior forward Judd Peterson (2012, seventh round) will play key roles for a St. Cloud State club that earned the top overall seed and No. 1 seed in the West Regional.

The Huskies open the tournament Friday in Sioux Falls, SD versus Air Force (4 p.m., ESPNU).
Both Borgen and Peterson went without points over the weekend as the NCHC regular season champions earned a 3-2 overtime victory over North Dakota in Friday's semifinal before falling to Denver 4-1 in Saturday's conference championship.
Borgen has tied his career high this season with 14 points (2+10) while posting a plus-10 rating in 35 games.
Peterson has solidified the center position in the middle of the St. Cloud lineup, notching six goals and 18 points in 39 contests.

Providence defenseman Jacob Bryson (2017, fourth round) will get a second chance at earning a national championship as the Friars were named the No. 2 seed in the East Regional, setting the table for a Friday matchup against Clarkson in Bridgeport, CT (6:30 p.m., ESPNU).
Bryson, who earlier in the week was named a 2017-18 Hockey East First-Team All-Star, did not record a point Friday as the Friars defeated Northeastern 3-2 in overtime. Providence was blanked 2-0 in Saturday's Hockey East Championship tilt, with Bryson providing two shots on goal in defeat.
In 38 games, Bryson has captured four goals and 25 points while logging a solid plus-16 rating.
Penn State and sophomore forward Brett Murray (2016, fourth round) return to hockey's version of March Madness for the second consecutive year as the No. 3 seed in the Midwest Regional (Allentown, PA), where they'll face Denver on Saturday (7 p.m., ESPN3).
Murray appeared in 20 games for the Nittany Lions, picking up one goal and six total points.
With some new faces emerging in the college hockey landscape, two familiar programs were unable to crack the top 16 and thus did not earn a tourney berth, including one that was thought to be a lock.
Entering the weekend with a 90 percent chance of making the dance, virtually every scenario needed to to prevent the University of Minnesota from claiming a spot came together, meaning the excellent freshman season for Casey Mittelstadt (2017, first round) has ended with 11 goals and 30 points in 34 appearances.
Boston College basically needed to win the Hockey East Tournament to get their ticket punched, but they fell short with a 4-3 overtime loss to Boston University in Friday's semifinal.
Defenseman Casey Fitzgerald (2016, third round), who was named a 2017-18 Hockey East Second-Team All-Star, ends his season with six goals and 19 points in 36 games, while fellow junior Christopher Brown (2014, sixth round) produced 19 points (9+10) in 37 appearances with the Eagles.

OHL

Kingston forward Cliff Pu (2016, third round) kept up his recent hot streak with back-to-back two-goal games last week as the Frontenacs finished the regular season with one win in three tries.
Pu got things going Wednesday with a pair of tallies in a 6-4 loss to Oshawa.
On Thursday, Pu took a defender wide for his 28th goal of the year and later added the game-winning marker in the game's 50th minute to help the Frontenacs to a 5-3 win over North Bay.
Pu earned one assist Sunday and extended his point streak to five games as Kingston closed the regular season with a 3-1 loss to Mississauga.
The late-season surge, which saw him collect six goals and 10 points in his final five games, boots Pu to 83 points in 65 total appearances split between London and Kingston.
The Frontenacs open the playoffs Friday versus North Bay.
Defenseman Austin Osmanski (2016, seventh round) went without a point in a loss to North Bay and a win over Oshawa, but connected for an assist Saturday as Peterborough closed the season with a 5-3 loss to Hamilton.
Osmanski collected one goal and 17 assists in 65 appearances this season for the Petes club that finished out of the playoffs.

WHL

Brandon Hagel (2016, sixth round) scored a goal and an assist Wednesday to guide Red Deer to a 502 triumph over Lethbridge, and ended the regular season Friday by posting one helper in a 6-2 loss to Kootenay.
Hagel, who had a strong finish to his regular season with 13 points (6+7) in his last seven games, concluded regular season play with 59 points (18+41) in 56 contests.
The Rebels open the playoffs Friday at Lethbridge in a rematch of last year's exciting seven-game series.
Prince Albert defenseman Vojtech Budik (2016, fifth round) notched an assist Tuesday in the Raiders- 2-1 shootout loss to Moose Jaw, and then finished the week without a point in losses to Regina and Saskatoon to complete the regular season schedule.
The Czech defender was superb at both ends of the rink in the second half of the season. Budik finished the year with 14 goals and 41 points in 63 games, with 13 of his markers coming in his final 38 games.
Budik will look to continue his two-way impact Friday when the Raiders open the first-round of playoffs at Moose Jaw.

QMJHL

Shawinigan forward Vasily Glotov (2016, seventh round) completed his major-junior career over the weekend, finishing the slate with a without a point as the Cataractes suffered defeats to Sherbrooke and Drummondville.
Glotov, who failed to light the lamp in his final 10 outings, finishes his season with a team-best 29 goals, while his 43 total points in 64 games placed second among team scorers.

Europe

Marcus Davidsson (2017, second round) gobbled up a turnover and made a quick pass for a primary helper Sunday as Djurgarden IF opened the Swedish Hockey League quarterfinal round with a 6-1 shellacking of Linkoping HC.
The SHL's leading goal scorer in the regular season, Victor Olofsson (2014, seventh round) will look to keep sniping with high-velocity one-timer when Frolunda begins their quarterfinal playoff series Monday versus Malmo IF Redhawks.
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Also returning to action after a one week reprieve is Farjestad BK pivot Rasmus Asplund (2016, second round), who will be relied as a key two-way contributor Monday when their quarterfinal series kicks off versus Skelleftea AIK.
In Finland, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (2017, second round) did not dress as Leki saw their season end with a playoff series loss to KeuPa HT.
Luukkonen, who did see any game action since Feb. 9, finishes the year with 11 wins, a 2.92 goals-against average, and a .909 save percentage.
For more on all the youngsters in the Sabres pipeline, check out Kris Baker's website, SabresProspects.com. You can also follow him on Twitter (@SabresProspects) for in-game updates throughout the week on any Buffalo prospects that are in action.