With the Memorial Cup Final being played Sunday night the NHL is now the only level of hockey still playing. Let’s look at a final wrap up of what happened with CBJ prospects that finished out their season recently.
Starting off in Springfield as always, the juggernaut Syracuse Crunch made quick work of the Falcons sweeping them in four games. Game one would be a 5-2 loss with Nick Drazenovic and Ryan Craig picking up the Birds’ goals. Drazenovic would strike first on the power play when the Falcons were trailing 2-0. Nick would take a pass from Nick Holden just above the faceoff circle with his shot looking like Boone Jenner tipped it but Drazenovic was given credit for it. Ryan Craig would score with only two seconds left when he’d deflect a Nick Holden point shot. Curtis McEllhinney would take the loss stopping only four of nine in just over 30 minutes of action. Allen York would stop all 11 shots he faced.
Game two of the series brought more of the same with the Crunch winning 5-3 again with the Falcons spotting them a 2-0 lead in the first 1:15 before Ryan Russell would strike. Jonathan Audy-Marchessault won a board battle and then got the puck to Dalton Prout whose point shot would be stopped with Russell banging in the rebound for his first. After two more Crunch goals by Tyler Johnson, Andrew Joudrey would get the puck out to Cody Goloubef whose shot would be deflected by Trent Vogelhuber for his second of the playoffs. After Tyler Johnson completed his hat trick, Boone Jenner struck with his deflection of a Nick Holden point shot. Curtis McEllhinney would go the distance in this one stopping 20 of 25.
The game three recap will be a brief because the Crunch handed the Falcons a 3-0 loss with McEllhinney stopping 22 of 25 in the loss.
Game 4 went exactly like games one and two with the Falcons giving the Crunch a 2-0 lead before Ryan Craig would deflect a David Savard point shot to make it 2-1. After a few kerfuffles, the Falcons would make it 3-2 when after a David Savard point shot, and Boone Jenner getting a few whacks at it, Andrew Joudrey would score the last goal of the Falcons season. Curtis McElhinney would stop 35 of 39 in the 5-2 loss. For the playoffs, Boone Jenner and David Savard would tie for the team lead each with five points(2-3-5). Curtis McElhinney played the majority going 3-5 with a .895 save percentage and a 3.10 GAA.
As for next season, players under contract include forwards Jonathan Audy-Marchessault, Michael Chaput, Dalton Smith, Jake Hansen, Oliver Gabriel and Sean Collins. Defensemen that are locking in include Will Weber, Austin Madaisky, and Anton Blomqvist. Rookies include Lukas Sedlak, Finnish blueliner Ilari Melart who is coming over to North America after signing a one year Entry-Level Contract, Boone Jenner who will playing his first full pro season and possibly 2012 first round pick Ryan Murray who is eligible for the AHL next season (call me crazy for saying this but JD and Jarmo sent Alex Pietrangelo back to juniors twice so he hasn’t earned anything yet).
Josh Anderson-London Knights(OHL)
OHL Conference Final Stats 6GP 0-1-1 -1 2PIM
Final OHL Playoff Stats 19GP 1-2-3 -1 23PIM
Memorial Cup Stats 5GP 0-1-1 -2 2PIM
Due to the scheduling of the AHL playoffs I waited until after the OHL Finals and Memorial Cup to do a recap for the London Knights. Josh missed game one with an injury, returned for game two but was held scoreless in games two and three before picking up an assist in game four. With the game tied, Josh would help with a board battle and he’d get the puck out to one of them Rupert Boys (you just read that like Waylon Jennings didn’t you) who’d fire a shot for his ninth of the playoffs. The Colts would score three more to make it a 6-4 giving the Colts a 3-1 series lead. But since the title says Memorial Cup you know London roared back to win the series winning it in seven games with hopeful Jacket (please Jarmo!!!) Bo Horvat scoring the game/series winner with 0.1 seconds remaining. Here’s the video of the series clincher and here’s the home radio call of the goal. Here’s a picture of Josh (and another prospect I hope we draft, mammoth defenseman Nikita Zadorov) and the OHL Championship trophy.
After that it was off to Saskatoon for the Memorial Cup hosted by the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades. Other teams joining in the tourney included the QMJHL Champions the Halifax Mooseheads, and the WHL Champions the Portland Winterhawks. As for the Memorial Cup, the Knights played in the tournament opening game against host Saskatoon winning 3-2 with Josh being held scoreless. Josh would also be held off the scoresheet in the round robin in losses to Portland and Halifax (a 9-2 drubbing). London got a second chance at the Blades in the tiebreaker game with London picking up a 6-1 victory with Josh picking up an assist. With the Knights leading 4-0, Josh worked a give and go with Kyle Platzer who took a saucer pass from Josh for his first of the tournament. Josh would be held scoreless in the Knights 2-1 loss to Portland in the tournament semifinal.
As I said before, this means the end of all the prospects’ season. As for next season, before the draft Josh should return to London who will be hosting the 2014 Memorial Cup meaning they’ll be playing in the tournament for the third straight year (fingers crossed I get to go to a game). Gianluca Curcuruto will be back in Plymouth as one of the Whalers top d-men. Outside of who we draft, they’ll be the only CHL prospects the team has along with the four NCAA prospects and the three prospects in Europe. On twitter, its been reported that Anton Forsberg has been signed by the team but the team has sent out no release about it. Before you think Anton will be in Springfield however, it’s said in these reports that Anton should be back in MODO as one of the teams’ top two goalies if not it’s number one.
As always I thank you for reading my stuff all season and I’ll have draft stuff and of course the Annual CBJProspects Awards coming soon.
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