It was a semi light week in the world of Blue Jackets prospects as most of the NCAA prospects are already on Christmas break and some CHL teams played their final game before the holiday break.
We’ll start off in Springfield as we usually do. The Falcons continued their long road trip in Wilkes-Barre for a game against the baby Penguins where the Falcons picked up a 3-2 victory with Patrick McNeill scoring two goals and adding an assist on Jonathan Marchessault’s game winner. Jeremy Smith made 16 saves before being called up to Columbus with Curtis McEllhinney going down with an injury.
Next it was off to Norfolk for a back to back with the Admirals. In the first game on Friday, the Falcons fell 5-4 in a shootout. Frederic St. Denis opened the scoring 3:45 into the first but a little over a minute later the Admirals would strike to tie it at one. Broc Little gave the Falcons a 2-1 lead midway through the second period before the Admirals scored giving them a 4-2 lead until Jonathan Marchessault and Cody Goloubef scored 35 seconds apart to tie it at four. From there it was on to overtime and then the shootout. All six Falcons shooters were stopped with the Admirals scoring in the sixth round.
In the rematch, tempers flared right off the opening faceoff as Cody Bass and Zach Stortini dropped the gloves. Blake Parlett opened the scoring when he snapped home a rebound off a Patrick McNeill point shot. Five minutes later, Michael Chaput notched his fourth of the season when he took a pass and snapped a shot from the circle. Seven minutes later, Cody Goloubef received a cross rink pass from Alex Aleardi and fired home his fourth of the season. Emerson Etem scored early in the third to make it 3-1 before Andrew Joudrey scored his third of the season on the breakaway. Joseph Cramarossa scored late in the third, but Alex Aleardi would score an empty net when Jonathan Marchessault’s shot from the blueline bounced off the backwall and Aleardi was able to pot his fourth of the season.
Oscar Dansk-Erie Otters (OHL)
Season Stats 21GP 16-3-1 2.17GAA .919Sv% 4SO
Oscar played in two of the Otters four games before heading to Sweden to prepare for the World Junior Championships. Starting off on Wednesday, the night’s game was delayed as the Steelheads had trouble with the weather getting to Erie. The Otters picked up a 7-1 victory with Oscar making 18 saves in his 15th victory of the season. The next night it was off to Niagara for a game with the IceDogs. Oscar was solid again and made 28 saves in his 16th win of the season. The victory would push Oscar’s career OHL record over .500 for the first time. Oscar is 27-26-4-3 in 64 career games with four shutouts all this season.
Josh Anderson-London Knights (OHL)
Season Stats 31GP 16-13-29 +15 50PIM
Josh only played in one of the Knights games last week and was held scoreless before heading to Toronto for Canada’s selection camp. At the first day of camp, Josh was listed as an extra forward which made me worry about Josh’s chances to make the team. But everything changed after they played their first game. According to The Hockey News’ Ryan Kennedy, outside of some kid named McDavid, Josh was the best player on the ice in a 3-0 (TSN recap – can’t watch highlights outside of Canada) win over a team of CIS All Stars (Canadian Universities). Josh scored the second goal with Kerby Rychel picking up his second assist of the game. Josh played on a line with Kerby and Leafs first round pick Frederik Gauthier. Josh now gets a free trip to Sweden as Canada is flying all 25 players to Sweden with cuts being made there.
Gianluca Curcuruto-Plymouth Whalers (OHL)
Season Stats 24GP 3-8-11 -15 6PIM
Gianluca had one of his better weeks picking up three points in three games. Starting off on Wednesday against Saginaw, Curcuruto picked up a goal and an assist. In the second period with the Whalers trailing 3-0, right off a faceoff Gianluca fired a shot on net getting it past Jake Paterson (the one with one T-it’s a long story) even if the Whalers tv guy thought it was tipped. In the third period, Gianluca fired a blast that bounced off the backwall to Victor Crus-Rydberg who found Carter Sandlak for his 17th of the season to make it 4-2. Unfortunately, the Whalers would fall 6-2. According to my source at the Whalers on the Moon blog, Gianluca needed help getting off the ice in the third but returned in the team’s next game where he was held scoreless in a 3-2 loss to Sarnia. Next, the Peterborough Petes came to town and picked up a 3-2 shootout victory. Gianluca got another assist on the game tying goal when, on the power play, he let loose a bomb before finding Ryan Hartman at the point to tie it at two late in the third period.
Nick Moutrey-Sagniaw Spirit (OHL)
Season Stats 34GP 8-11-19 +4 40PIM
In three games last week Nick picked up an assist and helped the Spirit go 1-2 last week. Nick was held without a point in a win over Plymouth; but picked up an assist on Cody Payne’s 15th goal of the season in the first period of an 5-2 loss to Peterborough. Nick was held pointless in a 5-1 loss to Kitchener. Nick and the Spirit have one game remaining before the OHL holiday break.
Kerby Rychel and Oliver Bjorkstrand would play no games with their respective clubs this past week as they were heading off to play for their country/take part in camp for the World Juniors. On the first day of Canada’s camp, Kerby was on a line with the players expected to go first overall in the next two NHL drafts including Sam Reinhart (2014 draft) and Connor McDavid (2015 draft). Kerby picked up two assists in the 3-0 win over the CIS All-Stars including one on Josh Anderson’s early third period goal.
As for Oliver he’s currently in Poland playing with Denmark in the U20 World Championships Division 1 Group A for a chance to move into the World Championships next year. The Danes played a game early in the week against a Markus Soberg-less Frolunda J20 team (Soberg was nursing an injury but he should be fine for the World Juniors according to my source Christian Wahlgren). Oliver scored a goal in 3-2 win despite playing only two periods due to being tired from travel. As for the tournament, the Danes opened against Austria and Oliver wore an alternate captain’s A in addition to scoring the opening goal in a 3-1 win.
Peter Quenneville-Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)
Season Stats 17GP 8-7-15 -11 2PIM
Peter and the Kings opened the week with a game against the Kamloops Blazers. Peter scored his sixth of the season in the matchup by deflecting a Ryan Pulock shot to make it 2-1 Wheat Kings. Unfortunately, Brandon would win the game 5-2. In the 6-5 overtime loss to Kelowna, Peter had his best game so far with the Kings scoring two goals and an assist. It was Teddy Bear Toss night and Peter’s assist on Rene Hunter’s bear launching goal came just 29 seconds into the game. After the Rockets scored two goals and Brandon tied it up, Peter would strike again. In the second period, Peter drove to the net and took a pass from Tyler Coulter to make it 3-2. Late in the third Peter gave the Kings a 5-3 lead when he took a pass from Jayce Hawryluk. The pass got to Peter in the slot and he fired it past the Rockets netminder. Sadly, the Kings allowed two goals in the final minute to tie it at five and then allowed a goal 2:52 into overtime to lose 6-5. Peter would be held scoreless in a 4-1 win over Moose Jaw.
Dillon Heatherington-Swift Current Broncos
Season Stats 36GP 2-23-25 +13 37PIM
Dillon was held off the scoresheet in the Broncos loss to Kelowna and in an overtime loss to Victoria. Dillon picked up an assist in a 3-2 overtime loss to a very depleted Kootenay Ice team. The Ice only dressed 15 players – 11 forwards and four defensemen with one Dman being a forward that moved back. To close out the week Dillon would be held pointless in a 5-2 loss to Calgary.
Martin Ouellette-Maine Black Bear (Hockey East)
Season Stats 15GP 8-6-1 2.06GAA .929Sv% 2SO
Martin and the Black Bears had an easy weekend facing off against American International College (no really). Martin started in net Friday night making 20 saves in a 7-1 Bears victory. In the Black Bears victory they outshot the Yellow Jackets 59 to 21. Martin earned his first night off of the season in the rematch – a 5-1 Bears victory with senior Dan Sullivan picking up the victory.
Alexander Wennberg-Frolunda Indians (SHL)
Season Stats 32GP 12-4-16 -2 6PIM
Alexander had one of his better weeks picking up a point in all three of Frolunda’s games going into the SHL’s holiday break. Starting off in a 3-2 shootout over Orebro, Alexander scored a pretty one. After a pretty passing play, Alexander picked up his own rebound to make it 2-1 Indians. In the team’s next game against HV71, Alexander tallied his fourth assist of the season, all of which have been since the start of November. 5:06 into the first with Wennberg causing havoc in front he took a shot with Andreas Johnson picking up the rebound for his 13th of the season. For the Indians last game they took it outside for a game against Skelleftea AIK. In front of a crowd of 13,452, Skelleftea built a 3-0 lead before the Indians scored their only goal. Alexander came from behind the net and Tom Nilsson at the point to make it 3-1, but the Indians would fall 4-1.
Daniel Zaar-Rogle BK (Allsvenskan)
Season Stats 31GP 9-7-16 -2 16PIM
Daniel and Rogle went 1-1 last week with Daniel scoring his ninth of the season. Daniel was held scoreless in a 6-2 loss to Karlskrona. The win came when the team closed out the first half of the season against Troja/Ljungby and picked up a 3-2 victory. With Rogle trailing 2-0, Daniel took a pass from Jakob Johannson at the point, skated into the faceoff circle and snapped home a shot to make it 2-1. Daniel was named first star in the 3-2 victory.
Next week it’ll be a light week with just a few CHL games along with updates of Oliver and Denmark along with pre-tournament games for Team Canada and Sweden. See you then!
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
