Greetings all! Back again with the week in review for the Blue Jackets prospects, ok two weeks but the CBJ were so busy last week and it would have been a light update from me so my superiors said I could take some time off.
Starting off in Springfield, two weeks ago the AHL decided to make it “lets screw with the Falcons normal routine” week as the team opened with an 11AM game followed by a trip into THE FUTURE… or St John’s Newfoundland where it’s an hour and a half ahead of Eastern Standard Time. We begin in Bridgeport, CT for a game against the Sound Tigers. Anton Forsberg made his North American debut in net. In the first, the Tigers’ goalie tried to play the puck but he fired it right into Dana Tyrell who found Jake Hansen who beat Poulin back to the crease to make it 1-0. Three minutes later, Marko Dano struck for his first North American goal when he took a pass from Cody Goloubef and snapped off a shot to give the Falcons a 2-0 lead. Late in the third, the Sound Tigers spoiled Anton’s shutout bid before Cody Bass scored an empty netter. In the 3-1 win Anton Forsberg made 25 saves and was named second star with Dano being named first star.
Up next it was off to St John’s for a back to back with the IceCaps. To say Friday night was a wild one would be an understatement. The Falcons roared out to a 3-0 lead scoring all three in a 1:30 period ending starter Tyler Beskorowany’s night. The first goal was an odd one when Jack Skille (you’ll be hearing that name a lot tonight) fired a shot and missed with Carter Camper collecting the puck and deflecting a shot past Beskorowany. Skille then made it 2-0 off a faceoff win when he fired a shot for his first of the night. Not even a minute later, Camper took a check and got the puck to Sean Collins who found a pinching Matt Taormina to score his ninth of the season. After a Caps goal Skille struck again to make it 4-1. Cody Bass scored 16 seconds later when Trent Vogelhuber rimmed the puck around the boards to Cody Bass who shot to score his eighth. The IceCaps scored two goals 25 seconds apart to end the first period trailing 5-3. After an early Caps goal, Skille was back in action again. He scored off a scramble in front after picking up the rebound of a Ryan Craig shot. The Caps notched two goals late in the second which ended Mike McKenna’s night and Jeremy Smith started the third. The IceCaps score early to make it 7-6. Marko Dano appeared to tie it but the goal was called off due to a kick (our old nemesis). With 17 seconds remaining, Patrick McNeil’s shot would be tipped out by Sean Collins who directed the puck to Skille for his fourth of the night. In overtime Sean Collins was the hero when he picked up the rebound of a Matt Taormina shot to give the Falcons the 8-7 victory and their 5th straight win. Jeremy Smith stopped 12 of 13 and picked up the win while Mike McKenna stopped 17 of 23. The win clinched the Falcons a playoff berth for the second straight season.
The win streak was snapped when the Birds fell 3-1 to the Caps in the rematch only scoring late in the third. The Caps were the last team to defeat the Birds back on March 23rd. Patrick McNeil scored his 10th off a blast from the point and Jeremy Smith would stop 28 of 31 in the loss. On Sunday, due to the Albany Devils loss to Adirondack, the Falcons clinched their second straight Northeast Division title.
When they got back to the states the Falcons added another forward in TJ Tynan who was signed to an Amateur Tryout Agreement with the Falcons with his Entry Level Contract beginning next season. TJ made his pro debut against Portland with the Falcons tying a franchise record after winning their 45th game win of the season. The Falcons scored very early – I mean people were still sitting down from the National Anthem early – when, off the faceoff, Dano got the puck out to Cody Goloubef who fired a blast to make it 1-0. After that, the Pirates scored two first period goals to take a 2-1 lead going into the first break. In the second, Dano scored his second with the Falcons when, out of a scramble in front, his second shot on the puck tied it at two. The Falcons failed to convert on penalty shots by Paul Thompson and Dano. Pirates goalie Louis Domingue thus became the first AHL goalie since one time Jacket Wade Dubielewicz in 2005 to stop two penalty shots in the same period. Late in the second with the Falcons on the power play, Patrick McNeil scored on the power play off a pass from Carter Camper. Late in the third Carter Camper would score off a sequence where the Falcons controlling the play. One minute later Dana Tyrell scored an empty net goal when off a faceoff he’d corral the puck and snap off the shot at the blueline to make it 5-2. Anton Forsberg would stop 27 shots for his second win in North America.
Saturday night was the Falcons final home game of the season with the team handing out its awards. CBJ draft picks that won awards were Cody Goloubef – named Best Defensive Player and Michael Chaput named Unsung Hero (I mean he did just lead the team in goal scoring/leading scorer among players that spent the whole season in Springfield).
As for the game against Hershey, the Falcons were trailing 1-0 and on the power play when Team MVP Frederic St Denis sent a pass to Michael Chaput for his 19th of the season. Six minutes later, Tim Erixon pinched in and sent a cross rink pass to Jean Francois Jacques who scored his 15th of the season. After the Bears scored two goals a minute apart, Sean Collins tied it late in the second. Erixon started the rush and got the puck to Collins who streaked up the wing and fired a shot to tie it. Chaput would be the hero in the resulting shootout – scoring in the fifth round. Mike McKenna made 16 saves in the game and stopped two of five in the shootout in the 4-3 win. The win gave the Falcons a new franchise record with their 46th win of the season splitting that total among Mike McKenna (22) Jeremy Smith (21) Anton Forsberg (2) and Mike Clemente (1).
To close out the week it was off to Bridgeport for a game against the Sound Tigers. In the 2-1 win, after allowing a Tigers goal in the first, Ryan Craig scored his 18th goal of the season late in the second with Sean Collins scoring the game winner with only six seconds remaining. Anton Forsberg was named 1st star making 28 saves in his third win since joining the Falcons. The win made this only the second Falcons team ever to reach 100 points in a season. The Falcons will wrap up the regular season next week with a game against Hartford and a game against Albany.
The Evansville IceMen finished the regular season this week going 31-30-4-7, missing the playoffs but finishing over .500 for the first time since joining the ECHL. I’ll admitthat I don’t cover the IceMen that closely because we hardly ever use our ECHL resources – only two Jacket prospects dressed for Evansville – both are defenseman. Thomas Larkin, despite only playing in 33 games, was the team’s third leading scorer among Dmen with 20 points (3-17-20) while Austin Madaisky played in eight games and picked up two assists.
Seth Ambroz, Mike Reilly-Minnesota Golden Gophers9Big 10)
Ambroz Final Season Stats 41GP 14-9-23 +8 26PIM
Reilly Final Season Stats 41GP 9-24-33 +19 18PIM
Mike and Seth were off to Philadelphia for the Frozen Four and HockeysFuture did an interview with Mike before the game. As for the game it would be your normal Minnesota-North Dakota match going scoreless except for one 32 second sequence to tie it at 1. The Gophers won it when, with Mike in the box, Justin Holl scored the definition of a buzzer beater to clinch the Gophers’ 12th appearance in the title game. The effort also led to a well trolling t-shirt for Gopher fans (that’s Justin Holl’s dad by the way).
On the off day for the Frozen Four, the Hobey Baker award is handed out and the All American teams are named. Mike earned West first team All American team making him the third CBJ draft pick to be named to an All-American team joining Grant Clitsome in 2008 (2nd Team-East) and Cam Atkinson in 2011 (1st Team-East). Boston College’s Johnny Gaudreau (little guy wears 13 and scored a lot a goals, sounds familiar) won the Hobey Baker Award. Most writers called that in Novemeber.
Quickly in restoring faith in humanity stories, Seth Ambroz’s community helped his parents get to Philadelphia for the final. This read is worth your time.
As for the game it was a David (in first time finalist Union College) and Goliath (in Minnesota) match up and the story held up with David pulling off the win (I’m not calling it an upset because Union hasn’t lost a game since January 31st – that’s 17 games 16-0-1). In the 7-4 loss, Mike pickrf up an assist in the game. With the Gophers on the power play and trailing 5-3, Mike passed the puck to Travis Boyd who fired a shot that was stopped. But Hudson Fasching picked up the rebound and scored. Here are Mike’s postgame comments on the game where Hockeybuzz writer Julie Robenhymer said Mike was the Gophers’ best player.
Mike and Seth will return to St. Paul next season with Seth in his senior year and Mike in his junior year. Both players will be losing linemates/D partners due to graduation. Seth will be losing linemate Tom Serratore who, much like the CBJ’s fourth line that Richards loves, coach Don Lucia would start most nights. Mike will be losing D partner Jake Parenteau who appeared to be a more defensive minded defenseman as you’d expect for a partner with a player like Mike. Mike led the Gophers in power play assists and points with 21 of his 33 points coming with the man advantage.
Quickly, Alexander Wenneberg was with the Swedish National Team for a pair of games against Switzerland. In the 4-1 win on Wednesday, Alexander picked up an assist on Dick Axelsson’s goal when, on a two on two rush, Alexander took a pass from Adreas Thuresson and promptly sent a no look backhand pass to Axelsson to make it 3-0. Alexander was held pointless in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Swiss. According to Swedish source Stefan G:son these were leftovers for rosters. I’ll be honest I’m not sure what he means, but it’s possible that is an indication of players that could available for the World Championships.
Daniel Zaar-Rogle (Sweden)
Final Kval Till SHL Stats 10GP 2-12-14 +7 16PIM
Final PlayOff-serien Stats 6GP 4-4-8 +3 0PIM
Final Regular Season Stats 52GP 16-20-36 -5 36PIM
Daniel and Rogle played their final three games for a chance to move up to the SHL next season. Opening up against Malmo, Daniel picked up two assists. First, to make it 1-0 Daniel passed to Niklas Hansson who passed to his D partner who fired a blast to make it 1-0. In the second period Daniel collected a rebound and got the puck to Eric Martinsson. He fired a shot to make it 4-1 in a 5-3 Rogle win.
Up next in a game against Vasteras, with Rogle trailing 1-0, Almen Bibic threw a shot on net with Daniel somehow getting a piece of it (hard to tell from highlight) to tie it at one. Unfortunately, Rogle would lose in a shootout. In the team’s final game against AIK, Rogle needed a win and some help to move up. Daniel had another big game and picked up three assists – all in the third period. Daniel gathered a loose puck and cycled it back to Jakob Johansson who’ found Christopher Liljewell to tie it at one. Later in the third, Daniel stickhandled and got the puck to Martinsson at the point. He snapped a shot to make it 3-1. Later in the third, with the game tied at three, Daniel fired a shot that Jakob Johansson gathered off the rebound and went behind the net to pass it to Simon Olsson who scored what would be the game winner. Sadly Rogle wouldn’t get the much needed help from other teams meaning they’ll be back in Allsvenskan next season.
Daniel led the Kval Till SHL playoffs in scoring and assists. The Jackets must make a decision on signing Daniel – I think they should due to the offense he brings but I’m not sure about the rest of his game.
There you have it folks another week in the world of the CBJ’s prospects. Next week we’ll do a season recap on the AHL scene for the Falcons as well as a CHL recap after every playoff round.
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