Hello, all! Time again for the CBJ prospect week in review. Much like a few weeks ago we’re going to skip the Monsters because it was ugly with a capital UGH. Let’s move on to more positive news.
Kole Sherwood-Kitchener Rangers (OHL)
Season Stats 19GP 12-9-21-4 18PIM
Kole opened the week with a game against Owen Sound. Early in the first period with the Rangers on the power play, Kole passed back-and-forth with eventual player of the week Joseph Garreffa before finding the player who is quickly becoming his partner in crime, Adam Mascherin, (Maschwood may be a thing on twitter). Mascherin fired a shot to make it 1-0 Rangers. The game was a back-and-forth affair but Kole was the one to end it. In the third, Mascherin got a loose puck and found Kole who snapped a shot to give the Rangers a 5-4 victory.
A few nights later, the teams met again, except this time in Kitchener. In the first with Owen Sound leading 2-1 and on the power play, the Rangers connected on a bang bang passing play. Mascherin found a wide open Kole who fired into a pretty much empty net to tie the game at two. The teams traded pairs of goals with the game going to overtime tied at four. In the overtime, the Attack tried to clear it but Joseph Garreffa got in the way and skated in to find Kole who did what he does best – fire a shot to make it back to back game winning goals for the New Albany native.
Kole had his four-game point streak snapped in a 3-2 overtime win over Erie. During the streak, Kole collected six points with three goals and three assists.
Maxime Fortier-Halifax Mooseheads (QMJHL)
Season Stats 28GP 17-21-38 +11 23PIM
It was a light week for Maxime and the Herd. First up against Rouyn-Noranda, Maxime opened the scoring. In the first, with Halifax on the power play, Maxime got the puck at the point and fired a shot that made it past the Huskies goalie to make it 1-0. Just under eight minutes later Maxime picked up his second point of the night with an assist on Benoit-Olivier Groulx’s goal to make it 2-0 in a 6-2 Halifax win.
In Halifax’s only other game last week, Maxime was held without a point in a 4-2 win over Val-d’Or.
Quickly in off-ice antics, Maxime and two teammates were off to a local Toys R Us to buy toys for a local drive and antics ensued.
Vitaly Abramov-Victoriaville Tigres (QMJHL)
Season Stats 24GP 14-23-37 +5 23PIM
Vitaly and the Tigres opened the week with a game against Sherbrooke. Late in the first with the game tied at one, Vitaly did most of the work when he skated the length of the ice and skated behind the net before throwing the puck back out in front to Jimmy Huntington who made it 2-1. The game went to overtime and the magician performed some magic to end it. In the overtime, Vitaly again skated from his own end into the Phoenix’s end before weaving to the circle. Phoenix’s defensemen were mesmerized by Abramov and forgot to defend him as he snapped a shot to clinch the Tigres win. Vitaly was named second star of the game.
In his next game Vitaly…and all of his teammates…were held off the scoresheet taking a 3-0 loss to Rimouski.
Closing out the week against Blainville-Boisbriand, after a scoreless first, Vitaly started a sequence by firing a shot that was stopped and gathered by Jeremie Beaudin. He then tried to corral the rebound, chased the puck and fired a shot to make it 1-0. Early in the third just 1:18 after another Tigres goal, Vitaly struck. Starting off by pressuring an Armada player into mishandling the puck, it then hit a skate and got to Pascal Laberge just above the slot where he passed to Abramov who dangled in and scored to make it 3-0 Tigres. Unfortunately, it was mostly Armada the rest of the way as they picked up a 5-4 OT win.
In World Junior news, Russia has started naming its World Junior camp roster by announcing a camp roster of players playing in Russia with players playing elsewhere being announced later. Vitaly should still have a chance, but the initial Russian camp roster already has 15 forwards on it.
It was a quiet weekend for the Jackets NCAA prospects, but we do have some things to talk about.
Andrew Peeke will be in Columbus for Team USA’s preliminary camp which will begin next week. Andrew is one of 10 defensmen on the roster and is the highest drafted defenseman.
Peter Thome, for his recent string of starts had been wearing a “Johnny’s first goalie mask” – a plain all white mask with no paint job. But this week he finally received his mask painted by Jason Livery. The mask has a King Kong (the Skull Island version not the 1933 one) motif with “thumb” on the chinguard (I’m guessing it’s a nickname). North Dakota starter Cam Johnson returned this week so Peter is back to backup/door duty.
Kale Howarth has left the Smoke Eaters for personal reasons and it is uncertain when or if he’ll return.
In more Christmas off ice antics, HV71’s twitter account posted a video of Jackets prospect Kevin Stenlund and a teammate singing Santa Claus is coming to town.
Alexandre Texier-KalPa (Liiga)
Season Stats 30GP 8-4-12 +1 20PIM
Opening the week against Sport, in the second with the Swords leading 1-0, Alexandre took a pass from behind the net and tried a backhand before being stopped. But he did pick up the rebound to make it 2-0 in a 3-0 win.
Up next in a 5-2 loss to Assat, Alexandre was held without a point snapping a three game point streak in which he collected four total tallies (2-2-4).
Closing out the week against JYP, it was another shutout win for KalPa. Alexandre again scored to make it 2-0. Just 1:01 after the team’s first goal, Tex took a drop pass and deked through the defense before throwing a backhand on net. That score gives him eight goals this season. KalPa won the game 5-0.
Next week, Alexandre will head back to France to dress for the host French National Team in the World Junior Championships Division 1 Group A. This tournament decides who will move up to play in the World Juniors around Christmas next year.
There you have it folks, a quick recap of the Jackets prospects. Sorry for the delay, hopefully I can get back to my usual schedule soon. We’re getting to one of the best times of the year with the World Juniors starting up.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
