Gott Nytt År Blue Jackets fans back with the week in review and an update on how the Blue Jackets prospects did in the Preliminary Round of the World Junior Championships.
Starting off in Springfield the Falcons went 1-1-0-1 last week. Coming out of the Christmas break the Falcons welcomed the Adirondack Phantoms to the nest. The baby birds allow the Phantoms a two goal lead – each of which was assisted by CBJ draft pick graveyard member Petr Straka. But then just 1:17 after a Phantoms goal the Falcons struck on the power play. Patrick McNeil passed the puck to Jonathan Marchessault who fired a shot with the rebound coming out to Andrew Joudrey who knocked it home for his fifth of the season. Midway through the third period, Joudrey got the puck to Patrick McNeil whose shot was tipped in by Spencer Machacek for his fourth of the season to tie it at two. The Falcons ultimately fell in a marathon of a shootout with each team sending nine shooters. Springfield was on the wrong side of the 2-1 tally – Marchessault being the only Falcon to score. Jeremy Smith made 26 saves in the 3-2 loss.
Saturday, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers came to town with the Falcons looking to match their franchise record point streak. The 6-3 victory gave the birds points in nine straight and marked a night when five Falcons earned multiple points including Marchssault who had two goals and an assist. Patrick McNeil also had a three point night with a goal and two assists. Blake Parlett, Spencer Machacek and Tim Miller were the other multiple point earners with two points each. Jeremy Smith made 21 saves in his 15th win of the season.
To close out the week the Falcons welcomed Providence to town with the baby bears picking up a 5-4 win and snapping the Falcons point streak. In the defeat, Frederic St Denis led the way with two goals – his seventh and eighth. Darryl Boyce also picked up two assists in the loss. Jeremy Smith stopped 17 of 22 with the team allowing an empty net goal.
Nick Moutrey-Saginaw Spirit (OHL)
Season Stats 38GP 9-14-23 E 42PIM
Nick and the Spirit returned from Christmas break with a back to back against the Windsor Spitfires that included the OHL’s first ever outdoor game. In the first game on Friday, Nick was held scoreless in a 4-1 loss. In the outdoor game, Nick picked up an assist on Brandon Prophet’s game tying goal midway through the third period but the Spirit would fall 6-5 with Plymouth scoring a shorthanded goal.
Peter Quenneville-Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)
Season Stats 23GP 10-13-23 -7 4PIM
Peter and the Wheaties played a back to back with the Regina Pats and they were wild ones with each team getting one win. First on Friday the Kings won 8-0 and Peter picked up a goal and an assist. Midway through the first period with Brandon leading 1-0, Peter scored his ninth of the season when he rocked a one timer from the circle. In the third with the Kings up 7-0, Peter got the puck to Tyler Coulter who found Tim McGauley who made it 8-0. In the rematch it would be another blowout with the Pats falling 8-4. Peter picked up another two points in assists on the Wheat Kings first two goals. With Brandon trailing 1-0 early in the second, off a faceoff win Peter found Tim McGauley in front to make it 1-1. Five minutes after a Pats goal Brandon struck again when Peter sent a cross rink pass to Tyler Coulter whose shot was tipped by McGauley for his tenth of the season to make it 2-2. After that the wheels fell off and the Pats scored four straight in the second.
Oliver Bjorkstrand-Portland Winterhawks (WHL)
Season Stats 35GP 27-31-58 +19 14PIM
After a successful run at the World Junior Championship Division Group A, Oliver returned to the Pacific Northwest. Before his first game back with the Winterhawks it was announced that Oliver had signed his Entry Level Contract with the Blue Jackets. As I said on twitter I was a little surprised that Oliver was the first 2013 draft pick signed (my money was on Rychel but more on that later). My surprise is mainly because Oliver is only 18 and has at least two years left in Portland unless he blows the front office away in next year or the year after’s training camp.
As for the Hawks’ two games this week, Oliver scored a goal in each of the Winterhawks wins over Tri-City. It was a promising performance as Oliver will be looked to as the team’s offensive leader with some of the Hawks offensive weapons either in the World Juniors or suspended. Starting on Friday night, Oliver opened the scoring in the second period when he took a pass and skated in and firing a shot home. The Hawks won the game 3-2 in overtime with Oliver named first star. In the rematch, again early in the second period Oliver and Chase De Leo worked a shorthanded two on one with the Amerks focusing on De Leo leaving Oliver wide open. The forward skated in to score his 27th goal and fourth shorty of the season. Portland went on to win the game 4-1.
Martin Ouellette-Maine (Hockey East)
Season Stats 17GP 9-6-2 1.87GAA .937Sv% 3SO
Martin and the Black Bears traveled to Estero, Florida to take part in the Florida Hockey Classic – a tournament they’ve won the last two years. First on Saturday against Princeton, Martin stopped all 33 shots he faced in a 4-0 victory – his third shutout of the season. Sunday in the championship against Cornell, Martin made 35 more saves in what statistically will be credited as a tie to Martin and the Bears even though they lost in a shootout. Martin stopped seven of nine in the shootout. Before the tournament, a local writer named his top five Black Bears so far this season and just look who was number one.
Anton Forsberg-MODO (SHL)
Season Stats 17GP 8-6-1-2 .920Sv% 2.46GAA
With MODO’s other goalie playing for Sweden in a tournament Anton played in MODO’s two games this week losing both – one in overtime. First in a game against Brynas, Anton made 25 saves in a 4-3 overtime loss. In the team’s next game against Farjestad, Anton stopped 32 of 34 in a 2-1 loss. December was a rough month for Anton – he went 0-2-1 with a .880 save percentage and a 3.71 GAA.
Daniel Zaar-Rogle BK
Season Stats 32GP 9-9-18 E 16PIM
Daniel was a big part of Rogle’s only game last week picking up two assists in a 5-4 overtime win where Daniel was named third star. Daniel picked up his first assist on Dennis Everberg’s goal to make it 3-1 Rogle. I’ll admit from the highlight that I can’t tell exactly how Daniel got his first assist but the second is far easier to discern. With Rogle leading 3-2, Daniel brought the puck into the zone with speed, skated into the slot and fired a shot. Everberg collected the rebound and scored his second of the game.
Now to the fun stuff the World Junior Championships round robin that finished on New Year’s Eve.
Josh Anderson, Kerby Rychel-CANADA (Group A 3-0-1-0 W-OTW-OTL-L)
Stats Anderson 4GP 1-0-1 E 0PIM
Rychel 4GP 0-0-0 -2 0PIM
Kerby and Josh played together in all four games on the team’s shutdown line. Kerby also saw some action for a few games on Canada’s top line with Nic Petan and Curtis Lazar. Josh would be the only Canadian prospect to score a point with Canada’s first goal of the tournament against Germany. With the Canadians trailing 1-0 early against Germany (no, seriously) Matt Dumba skated the puck in and fired a backhand setting up Josh to do do what he does best- crash the net and flip the puck past Germany’s Marvin Cupper to make it 1-1. As expected Canada would defeat the Germans 7-2. Here are Josh’s postgame comments. Josh was the subject of a Sportscentre feature along with a yahoo post about going from 5’6″ and undrafted to the power forward we hope he can become.
In the next matchup, the Czechs took down Canada winning 5-4 in a shootout. Canada’s next game was against Slovakia with Canada winning 5-3 to close out the round robin picking up a 3-2 win over Team USA.
Next up for Kerby and Josh it’s a game against Switzerland who was fourth in Group B going 1-1-0-2. Quickly in transaction news it was announced on Monday that Kerby was signed to his entry level contract. Unlike Oliver, Kerby is eligible to play in Springfield next season.
Markus Soberg-NORWAY (Group B 0-0-0-4)
Stats 2GP 0-0-0 E 4PIM
Markus only played in two of the Polar Bears’ games due to injury. One was really bad and the other was their closest game of the tournament. Markus’ first game was a 10-0 defeat by the host Swedes, but it did sound like Markus was one of the bright spots for the Norwegians. After the loss Markus did an interview with a blog with the translation here. Markus had two of Norway’s 10 shots in the second period with one being their best chance of the game. Norway’s next game was it closest losing 3-2 to Switzerland. Up next for the Polar Bears is a three game series with Germany to see who, along with Denmark, gets to be next year’s punching bag, (sorry but it is what it is).
Marko Dano-SLOVAKIA (Group A 1-0-0-3)
Stats 4GP 2-1-3 +3 2PIM
Marko, who has served as an alternate Captain during the tournament, and the Slovaks got off to a strong start with a 9-2 win over Germany. Marko was named player of the game for Slovakia in recognition of his three point game. With Slovakia leading 1-0, Marko took a pass from behind the net that the German goalie tipped right to him. Dano didn’t waste the opportunity snapping a backhand past Cupper for his first. Early in the second period with Slovakia leading 3-0, we saw pretty much the same play again when Marko was parked in front and again snapped it past Cupper. Dano finished his big night when, with the Slovaks up 7-2, Marko brought the puck in and sent a drop pass to Mario Lunter who fired a blast past the German goalie to make it 8-2. Slovakia would lose every other game in the round robin and Marko was held scoreless and later he drew a bit of flack for a harsh critique of 16 year old dman Erik Cernak who drew two penalties in the loss to the US. Next up for Marko and Slovakia is a game against Sweden and fellow 2013 Jacket first round pick Alexander Wennberg and Oscar Dansk.
Alexander Wennberg, Oscar Dansk-SWEDEN (Group A 4-0-0-0)
Stats Wennberg 4GP 3-4-7 +5 2PIM(Tied for 3rd in Tournament scoring)
Dansk 3GP 3-0-0 .910Sv (Tied 3rd) 2.33GAA (3rd)
Alexander and Oscar starred for the Swedes in the round robin. Alexander tied for the team lead in scoring and Oscar has played in every game except for Sweden’s blowout of Norway. In Sweden’s pre-tournament games Alexander served as the team’s captain but as I predicted, Nashville Predators forward Filip Forsberg was named captain with Alexander as alternate. On to the games. In the Swede’s opener against the Swiss, Alexander played on a line with Frolunda teammates Sebastian Collberg and Andreas Johnson. With Sweden leading 4-3 Alexander stole the puck and took an off angle shot with Johnson crashing the net to score his first. Oscar would stop 30 of 33 in the 5-3 victory.
Up next for the Swedes were their brothers to the East – Finland. In the matchup, Sweden picked up a 4-2 victory. Finland scored just a 41 seconds in but made the terrible mistake of giving the Swedes a five on three advantage and well… it’s one of those goals I can’t do justice so just watch as all five Swedish skaters touch the puck before Alexander finished it. In the second, Alexander again stole the puck and fought off a check finding Collberg in front whose shot was stopped but Andreas Johnson would pick up the rebound making it 2-1. Late in the third after a Finland goal Alexander struck again. After getting the puck from a defenseman’s skate, Alexander snapped a shot with the help of Johnson setting a screen to make it 4-2 Sweden. Oscar Dansk made 18 saves and Alexander was named player of the game in the win.
Up next for Sweden was Norway and you knew this one was gonna be ugly. Oscar was given a night off with Marcus Hogberg getting the start and making 13 saves including one in the first period and two in the third. Three minutes in the rout began with Alexander picking up an assist when he brought the puck in with speed and dropped a pass to Andreas Johnson. Johnson got the puck to Gustac Olafsson who fired a blast past the Norwegian goalie who was knocked out of position by a teammate. In the third period with Sweden up 6-0 Alexander helped them pick up the extra point when he passed the puck to Collberg who tapped it to Robin Norell who snapped a shot to make it 7-0. Alexander’s third goal of the tournament brought the score to 8-0, even though Collberg did most of the work by wrapping around the net to find Wennberg in front. Sweden would end up winning 10-0.
To close out the round robin it was a game against Russia. This would be the first game that Alexander would not pick up a point. in the 3-2 victory Oscar made 23 saves and well afterwards… this happened – EVERYBODY DANSK NOW! Up next for Sweden it’s a matchup against Slovakia.
I’ll be back next week for a World Juniors wrap up along with what will hopefully be a full set of prospects in action as most of the NCAA prospects should be back in action.
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