As promised, another Monday, another look back at what the Blue Jackets’ prospects are doing around the world.
We’ll start by looking to the AHL affiliate in Springfield.
The Falcons got back to it on Saturday night facing off against the Worchester Sharks. The baby birds took an early lead when the freshly returned to Springfield Tim Erixon fired a shot that would be deflected by Lukas Sedlak for his first pro goal. Late in the first period, Jake Hansen made it 2-0 and then early in the second the Sharks would make it 2-1. Late in the second, on the power play, Frederic St. Denis and Austin Madaisky would work the puck around finding Jonathan Marchessault who snapped a shot past the Sharks goalie. The assist was Madaisky’s first AHL point. Just under two minutes later, Jake Hansen struck again but it’d be Andrew Joudrey who would do most of the work. Joudrey took a shot as a Sharks player batted the puck into the air and he then sent a cross crease pass to Hansen to make it 4-1. The Sharks would score two late but the Falcons would win it 4-3 with Jeremy Smith making 26 saves for his second win of the season. Erixon would lead the way with three assists he and Hansen were the only Falcons with multiple points.
Sunday, the Falcons welcomed the Bridgeport Sound Tigers to The Nest with the Falcons earning a 3-1 win. Darryl Boyce opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal from Trent Vogelhuber. Two minutes later, Michael Chaput scored his second of the season on the power play with Tim Erixon and Jonathan Marchessault earning assists. Late in the second period, Erixon would strike again by scoring to make it 3-0 Falcons with Jake Hansen and Dalton Smith earning assists. The Falcons would allow a late shorthanded goal to make it 3-1 but were able to seal the deal. Mike McKenna made 20 saves in his first start and win of the season.
Oscar Dansk-Erie Otters(OHL)
Season Stats 7GP 5-1-1 2.29GAA .921Sv% 1SO
Oscar and the Otters are rolling along at the moment. The team has won four straight for the first time since the 2010-11 season. Oscar started the week making 14 saves in a 3-2 win over Owen Sound. Friday would be a big night for Oscar as he picked up his first OHL shutout making 35 saves in a 4-0 shutout of Kitchener.
Gianluca Curcuruto-Plymouth Whalers(OHL)
Season Stats 10GP 1-4-5 -8 4PIM
A light week for the Whalers as they went 1-1 with The Crimson Chin being a big part of the win. After being held scoreless in the loss on Friday, with the game tied at 1, Curcuruto would take the puck from a falling Justin Bailey and then skate up the rink moving into the slot and snapping a shot for his first career shorthanded goal to make it 2-1. With 15 seconds remaining, and Kitchener with an empty net, Curcuruto chipped it out with Carter Sandlak sending it from just above the center redline. Gianluca was named second star in the 4-2 Whalers win.
Kerby Rychel-Windsor Spitfires(OHL)
Season Stats 9GP 7-9-16 +3 2PIM
Kerby and the Spitfires opened the week against the Belleville Bulls picking up a 4-2 win with Kerby picking up two points in the 4-2 Spits win. In the first period, with Windsor trailing 2-0, Trevor Murphy sent a pass the length of the rink finding Kerby behind the D for his 7th of the season and it looks like he’s giving a little trash talk to some Bulls after it. Two minutes later, Kerby drew the attention of four Bulls, leaving Brady Vail alone for his sixth of the season. Kerby was named second star in the 4-2 win. Up next was a game against Sarnia with Kerby picking up two assists. With the Spitfires trailing 1-0 on the power play Kerby sent the puck to Slater Koekkoek (Koo-Koo, no seriously) who fired a slapshot for his 3rd of the season. Late in the period, Kerby sent a crossrink pass/shot that found Josh Ho-Sang who’d make some pretty moves to make it 2-1 Windsor, although they’d end up losing the game 3-2. Windsor would close the week with a 5-0 loss to the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds.
Oliver Bjorkstrand-Portland Winterhawks(WHL)
Season Stats 8GP 10-8-18 +6 0PIM
A very light week for Oliver as the Hawks only had one game but The Great Dane made it another big one. Oliver’s first point would come on the Hawks first goal when Oliver would get the first wack at the puck starting a scrum with Adam Rossignol finally potting the goal. Oliver would pick up another assist when he delivered the puck to pointman Nic Petan who’d pass it to Derrick Pouliot who’d make it 2-1 Hawks. In the second period Oliver was hauled down earning a penalty shot with Oliver snapping a wristshot five hole for his 10th of the season. Oliver would be named first star in the 7-4 win over Kamloops.
Dillon Heatherington-Swift Current Broncos
Season Stats 10GP 1-5-6 +7 4PIM
A bit of a rough week for the Broncos who went 1-2 last week with Dillon picking up an assist in the week opening loss to Calgary. In the first period with the Broncos leading 2-1, Dillon took a pass from Julius Honka and fired a shot that would go high. Coda Gordon scored his second of the game off that rebound, however, the Broncos would end up losing the game 5-4. Dillon would be held scoreless in the Broncos loss to Saskatoon and a win over Vancouver.
Seth Ambroz, Mike Reilly-Minnesota (Big 10<-will take some getting used to)
Season Stats SA-2GP 1-1-2 +2 2PIM MR-2GP 1-1-2 +2 0PIM
The Gophers opened the season hosting the annual Ice Breaker Tournament taking on Mercyhurst in the opening game. The Gophers won the game 6-0 with the Columbus prospects having some of the prettier goals. I tweeted this earlier and I’m gonna stand by the statement that I can’t do this justice with words so just watch. Here’s Ambroz’s goal that made it 2-0.
Mike Reilly would pick up an assist on freshman Justin Kloos’s first NCAA goal when Mike shot the puck with the rebound going to Nate Condon who’d find Kloos across the rink. In the third period, Mike would show off his wheels and – well – again just watch what he does to make the score 5-0.
The next night in the Ice Breaker championship game the Gophers picked up a 3-2 win over New Hampshire with Seth Ambroz picking up an assist on Vinni Lettieri’s game winner. He shot the puck with Lettieri grabbing it and scoring.
TJ Tynan-Notre Dame (Hockey East)
Season Stats 1GP 0-1-1 +2 2PIM
TJ and the Irish faced off against old CCHA rival Western Michigan with the Irish picking up back to back shutouts. In Friday night’s 4-0 win, TJ was held without a point. In Saturday night’s win, TJ picked up an assist on Sam Herr’s second period power play goal.
Peter Quenneville_Quninnipiac (ECAC)
Season Stats 2GP 0-1-1 E 0PIM
While his teammates got a summer trip to Italy, Peter’s first trip was to…Alaska. The Bobcats opened up against the Kendall hockey classic hosting Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves losing 3-1 where Peter was held scoreless. In the Bobcats game against the Alaska Nanooks, Peter collected his first career point picking up an assist on Sam Anas’ first career goal when Anas scored off the rebound of Peter’s one timer.
Alexander Wennberg-Frolunda Indians (SHL)
Season Stats 12GP 6-0-6 -2 0PIM
In the Indians week opening win over AIK, Alexander scored two goals. In the first, with Frolunda trailing 2-0, Alexander fired a backhand shot and then picked up his own rebound to make it 2-1. Later, with the game tied at 3, Alexander worked a give and go with Sebastian Collberg and Wennberg finished it off for his second of the season and first game winner in a 5-3 win. Alexander was held scoreless in a loss to Leksands but would find his way back in a win over HV71. Alexander would make it 4-2 with a backhand goal that looks like it deflected off a teammate.
Anton Forsberg-MODO (SHL)
Season Stats 6GP 2-4 2.25GAA .918Sv%
It appears MODO’s coach is sticking with the every two game rotation with Anton and Linus Ullmark. Linus played the first two games going 1-1 with the loss being a 1-0 battle against Skelleftea. Anton would go back to the crease against Farjestads where he made 28 saves in the 4-3 win.
Markus Soberg-Frolunda J20
Season Stats 14GP 9-5-14 +6 16PIM
A busy week for the Baby Indians as they would go 4-0. In the second period of a game against Orebro, Markus scored to tie the game at three. Markus also scored a pretty backhand goal to put the Indians up 2-0 in the shootout. Soberg was held scoreless in the next game before picking up an assist in a 3-2 win over Sodertalje SK. He would be held off the scoresheet in a 3-2 win over Linkopings.
Joonas Korpisalo
On Tuesday(10/8) Joonas Korpisalo made his first Liiga start against JYP making 13 saves before being pulled halfway through the game. Sorry for the lack of updates on Korpisalo folks I’m having a hard time getting stats from Finland with even prospect people I follow struggling to get stats.
There you have it folks, another week in the world of Blue Jackets prospects. As for next week, I’ll have a live report from Windsor as I’ll be attending the Knights-Spitfires game on Saturday plus Dillon Heatherington and the Broncos begin their US Division road trip that will include five games over a 10 day trip. One of those games will be a stop in Portland to try and stop Oliver Bjorkstrand and the Winterhawks.
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