Hello all, time for the week in review! Starting off in Cleveland as we do, the Monsters got a boost as Jackets’ first round pick Zach Weresnski joined the team for the remainder of the season and the AHL playoffs. Zach and the Monsters were immediately off to Chicago for their final two game set of the season (they finish the season with a pair of three in threes).
Starting off on Friday, Zach made his presence known early by laying a big hit on Ty Rattie that led to a kerfuffle as Zach’s teammates came in to guard their new teammate. The Wolves struck first before Steve Eminger scored his first of the weekend to tie the game. Six minutes later, Josh Anderson scored when Markus Hannikainen got a loose puck and set off on a two on one with Anderson finishing it. The Monsters allowed a second period goal before striking again. In the third, just after making the save of the night, John Ramage pinched in and took a pass from TJ Tynan who curled around the net to make it 3-2. The Wolves would score just 17 seconds later to tie it before Eminger notched his second of the night with only 1:50 remaining to win it. Anton Forsberg made 25 saves in the victory.
In the rematch, Eminger open the scoring with his third of the weekend and it wouldn’t be until the second before the Wolves scored to tie it. The third period was all Monsters as they scored three straight. Michael Chaput opened the scoring when he tipped a Daniel Zaar shot five minutes into the third to score his 15th of the season. Local boy Tynan struck next when Kerby Rychel gathered a loose puck in the neutral zone and skated in on a two on one with TJ befpre Kerby fired a shot and TJ picked up the rebound to make it 3-1. Four minutes later, Anderson put the nail in the coffin when he took a rink long pass from Ramage and skated in to score his 18th of the season. Brad Thiessen made 25 saves in the win.
Now after the game, the Monsters did some scoreboard watching as, based on their win, the Monsters needed a win by San Diego over San Jose to clinch a playoff spot. And win the Gulls would do with a little help from ex-Jacket Corey Tropp. This is the second playoff berth in franchise history and the win also moved the Monsters into second place in the division. As for next week, the team will open with a game against the top team in the AHL, the Toronto Marlies, who were the last team to defeat the Monsters. After that, Lake Erie wraps up the regular season with a home and home against Rochester.
Kole Sherwood-London Knights (OHL) Won Series 4-2
Series Stats 5GP 0-0-0 -1 0PIM
Kole and the Knights won their opening series against Owen Sound 4-2. In the series, Kole went without a point and was scratched in game six despite the Knights being down a forward due to Max Jones’ 12-game suspension.
Jordan Maletta-Niagara IceDogs (OHL) Won Series 4-1
Series Stats 5GP 1-1-2 -1 5PIM
The newest Jacket prospect opened the playoffs by getting into a fight with Ottawa’s Travis Barron in a 5-4 win. Maletta also won 10 of 17 draws.
In game two, Jordan picked up his first point of the playoffs when he cleared the puck out of the zone with Anthony DiFruscia who passed it to Brendan Perlini who scored into the empty net in a 5-4 win. Jordan won 16 of 24 faceoffs.
In a 4-2 game three loss, Jordan was a -3 while going without a point. He won 12 of 25 draws.
In game four, Jordan played the hero when, in overtime Vince Dunn blocked a pass and found Jordan near the point. Jordan was able to get past the 67’s defense and score on a backhand to clinch the 2-1 victory. In the game, Jordan won 16 of 28 draws.
In game five, Jordan was held pointless and had his worst night of the series at the dot winning only 11 of 28.
Blake Siebenaler-Niagara IceDogs (OHL)
Series Stats 5GP 0-1-1 -3 0PIM
Blake only picked up one point in the Dogs opening round game but it was a pretty one. In the second Blake took a pass along the boards and showed off his speed by screaming down the wing and passing to Josh Ho-Sang. Ho-Sang’s shot was stopped but Pavel Jenys picked up the rebound to make it 4-3 in a 5-4 game one win.
Blake went without a point in the rest of the series. As of this writing, it’s not settled on who the Dogs will play in the next round.
Olivier LeBlanc-Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (QMJHL) Won Series 4-2
Series Stats 6GP 0-8-8 +6 10PIM
Olivier and the Eagles opened the QMJHL playoffs against Chicoutimi Olivier and the Jackets’ prospect was pointless in a 3-1 game one loss but he was be a big part of the rest of the series.
In game two in the second period with the Eagles leading 1-0, Olivier kept the puck in and found Evgni Svechnikov who fired a shot from just above the circle to make it 2-0. Olivier picked up his second assist of the game on Massimo Carozza’s (great name btw) third period goal to make it 4-2 in a 5-2 game one win. Those points are the first of Olivier’s playoff career.
Now after two assists what does he do for an encore…he does what he did in game three. We start off with an assist on Maxim Lazarev’s goal to make it to 1-0. Late in the second, Olivier earned an assist on Lazarev’s second power play goal of the night. After leading 3-0, the Eagles let the Sags roll back to tie it at three. So on to overtime and there, Olivier gathered a loose puck and skated down the wing before passing to Pierre-Luc Dubois (my first choice for the CBJ at the draft). Dubois fired a shot in the slot to make it 4-3 and give the Eagles a 2-1 series lead.
Olivier kept it up in game four by picking up two more assists in a 5-4 loss. Sorry folks, with no game audio or scoring info it’s hard to tell the series of events from the highlights.
Olivier was held pointless in a 4-0 game five victory.
In game six, Olivier returned to the scoresheet when, in the first, the Sags cleared the puck towards the Eagle’s goalie. Olivier blocked it and got the puck to Giovanni Fiore at about the center redline. Gio skated in and fired a rocket just above the circle to make it 2-0 in a 7-4 Eagles series clinching win.
Up next for the Eagles is a series with Olivier’s old team, the Saint John Sea Dogs in a battle of Maritimes Division rivals.
Julien Pelletier-Sherbrooke Phoenix (QMJHL) Lost Series 4-1
Final Series Stats 5GP 0-2-2 -8 4PIM
Julien and the 15 seed Phoenix took on the two seed Shawinigan Cataractes and, well, it took one game longer than I thought it would to decide this series. Starting off in game one, Julien picked up an assist early in the game when he fired a shot that was stopped but Daniel Audette picked up the rebound to make it 1-0 in a 3-2 game one win.
Julien’s assist in game two looked a lot like his assist in game one. It came with the Phoenix leading 1-0 when Julien fired a shot that was stopped but this time it was Guillame Gauthier who tapped in the bouncing rebound to make it 2-0 in a 3-2 game two loss.
Julien went without a point in the rest of the series, more than likely being the end of Julien’s time as a CBJ prospect.
We haven’t been able to talk about Paul Bittner in a while but we do have an update as the news was tweeted he’s begun practicing with Lake Erie.
Sam Ruopp-Prince George Cougars(WHL) Lost Series 4-0
Final Series Stats 3GP 0-0-0 -6 2PIM
Sam went without a point in a sweep loss to Seattle but it’s also important to note he took a big hit from fellow CBJ prospect Keegan Kolesar that forced Ruopp to miss game four and earned Keegan a two game suspension.
Keegan Kolesar-Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL) Won Series 4-0
Series Stats 3GP 3-0-3 +6 4PIM
Keegan and the TBirds faced off against fellow Jackets prospect Sam Ruopp and the Prince George Cougars and Keegan went without a point in a 3-2 game one overtime win.
In game two, Keegan was the star. Starting in the second period, he kept the puck in at the blueline and passed to Mathew Barzal who passed back to Keegan who skated into the slot and shot to make it 1-0. Early in the third, Keegan struck again (even with Barzal doing most of the work by skating with Sam Ruopp all over him). The goalie tried to poke check resulting in Keegan getting the puck and firing into an almost empty net to make it 3-1 in a 4-1 TBirds win. Here are Keegan and Head Coach Steve Konowalchuk’s postgame comments.
Game three marked the end of Keegan’s series but not before he scored another goal. In the first Keegan got the puck out of a board battle and skated into the slot before firing to make it 2-0 in a 5-0 game three win. Now for the unpleasantness. In the second, Sam Ruopp was playing the puck deep in his zone and whiffed on a clearing attempt. Keegan came in fast and while he may not have been able to tell what team he played for but he could see what number he wears. Keegan faced a big hit from a Cougar later in the game in retaliation as well. This isn’t the first time Sam and Keegan have had an issue – the pair got into a fight earlier this season.
As a result, Keegan earned a suspension for game four. After that game concluded, the entire duration of the suspension was announced – two games in total. This means he’ll miss game one of their second round series against US Division rival Everett who swept Portland.
Gabriel Carlsson-Linkoping HC (SHL)
Final Series Stats 6GP 0-0-0 E 0PIM
Gabriel went without a point in the Lions 4-2 series loss to Vaxjo. In the game six loss, Gabriel played a season high 19 minutes.
Veeti Vainio-Blues J20 Team
Stats 2GP 2-0-2 +2 2PIM
Veeti was assigned to the J20 team but he sat out most of the playoffs with an injury and ended up having to play for the main club due of lack of bodies. Veeti finally saw the ice in the finals and scored two goals in a 6-5 loss in game one. He went pointless in the following game two 2-1 loss. That gives Ilves a 2-0 series win in a best of three series.
Markus Nutivaara-Karpat (Liiga)
Final Playoff Stats 7GP 1-4-5 +5 0PIM
Markus opened the Liiga playoffs against TPS and was pointless in a 2-1 overtime loss.
Markus did, however, pick up two assists in a 6-1 game two victory.
In game three Markus scored the game winner with his second period goal to make it 1-0 in a 3-0 victory. The goal came in the second when TPS left Markus wide open in the slot (as in, the nearest defender was in the next county) and he took a pass and fired for his first of the playoffs. In game three Markus played a playoff high 26:14.
Up next in game four, Markus picked up an assist on the opening goal when, from the point, he passed to Sebastian Aho who passed to Juuso Ikonen to make it 1-0 in a 2-1 game four loss.
In game five Markus picked up another assist on the Stoat’s 2-0 goal in a 5-2 victory (little hard to tell the series of plays from the highlights).
Markus went without a point in the series clinching in a 3-2 overtime win.
Markus and the Stoats advanced to the Liiga semifinals setting up a matchup between the top two Europeans available in the NHL draft (the ones that are actually European) with Karpat taking on Tappara.
Now, I’d normally wait until after the series to write this player update, but Markus’ series ended after only 1:53 of icetime as he suffered a broken collarbone.
It also sounds as if, according to who I follow for Karpat news Janne Onnela(translation), that this might’ve been the last time Markus Nutivaara wore the black and white meaning he could be on his way to North America next season.
Elvis Merzlikins-HC Lugano (NLA)
Series Stats 6GP 4-2 2.42GAA .941Sv% 1 shared shutout
Playoff Stats 10GP 8-2 2.27GAA .925Sv% 1 shared shutout
The Panthers opened the NLA semifinals with a big 5-0 win in which Elvis stopped all 39 shots he faced before turning things over to Daniel Manzato who played the final 6:05. In relief, Manzato stopped the five shots he saw. Of note, Elvis did take a big bump during a poke check.
In game two, Elvis had another big night, making 42 saves, but his team ultimately fell by a score of 2-1 in overtime.
For Game three, Elvis was busy again facing 50 shots and stopping 47 in a 4-3 overtime win.
Game four was ugly for Elvis, however, when he allowed four goals on 29 shots in just over 31 minutes of work. Daniel Manzato entered the game and allowed two more goals in a 6-1 loss.
Game five went a bit better for Elvis. He stopped 38 of the 40 shots he faced in the 3-2 overtime win and the Panthers scored with Elvis on the bench.
Game six was another overtime game with Elvis making 33 saves in a 4-3 win that clinched the Panthers a spot in the NLA Finals.
As for the finals, Lugano will take on SC Bern. During the regular season, Elvis went 3-1 against the Bears with one win coming in a shootout. In those games, Elvis earned a 2.47GAA and a .937 save percentage.
There you have it folks, another stretch in the world of CBJ prospects. Next week we’ll be back to our Monsters-only update as their push for the playoffs continues.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
