Well folks there’s a new sheriff in town with the hiring of Jarmo Kekalainen as the Blue Jackets GM. Let’s see how the kids performed that he inherited from Scott Howson (who I wish all the best to in his future endeavors).
Starting off in Springfield as usual, while the previous week was a light one due to the winter storm the past week, this week was busy as the Falcons played four games with three being at home. Starting off on Tuesday, the Falcons travelled to Bridgeport to face the Sound Tigers. Ryan Johansen opened the scoring with his 16th of the season by scoring just 46 seconds into the first period. The goal came on the Falcons first shot as Johan skated into the zone and around a Tigers defenseman before snapping a shot over Kevin Poulin’s shoulder. The Sound Tigers would score the next three goals but the Falcons clawed back in scoring two minutes after the third Tiger goal. Nick Drazenovic took a Wade McLeod pass for his 16th of the season. Late in the third with Curtis McElhinney pulled, Tomas Kubalik would charge the net flipping it over Poulin’s shoulder to tie the game at three. The Falcons outshot the Tigers 13 to two in the third period. The Falcons ultimately lost the game 2:46 into the overtime when Matt Donovan’s point shot was tipped in by John Persson. McElhinney finished with 28 saves in the loss.
Friday night the Worchester Sharks came to town with the Falcons picking up a 3-1 victory. Ryan Craig opened the scoring when he deflected a Nick Holden point shot for his 15th of the season. Midway through the third period, Sean Collins feathered a pass off the cycle to a pinching Holden for his fifth of the year. Later in the third, Andrew Joudrey scored an empty net goal when he cleared it off the boards from the Falcons zone, with the puck sliding all the way into the Sharks net. From tweets/the game story it sounds like Joudrey and Ryan Russell put on a penalty killing clinic in this game as the Sharks went go 0/7 with the man advantage, including a 1:56 of five on three in the third. Allen York was solid making 22 saves in his sixth win of the season. Saturday night the Falcons would host the Portland Pirates making it a rare double with NHL and AHL affiliates playing on the same day (the Pirates are the Coyotes affiliate so it was a double dose of Jackets-Coyotes). In the 3-1 Falcons loss it’d be a mostly non-CBJ with Ryan Johansen as the only Jackets signed player contributing. Johansen sent a pass to Ryan Craig in front of the crease who then sent a no look pass to a rushing Wade MacLeod who’d score his fourth of the season. Curtis McElhinney would make 35 saves in the loss.
Sunday, the Falcons hosted the Adirondack Phantoms with the Phantoms starting ex OSU goalie Cal Heeter. Ryan Craig opened the scoring with his 16th goal of the season just six minutes into the first period. The Phantoms would score five minutes later, then adding an early second period goal. But with 3:42 remaining in the second a scary moment occurred as Springfield forward Wade MacLeod was hit hard into the boards but while heading back to the bench, he collapsed and suffered what Springfield uberfan @Katyloveshockey described as a seizure. MacLeod was taken off on a backboard with David Savard helping the EMT’s. It was later announced that Wade was alert and responsive. The game was later postponed with the remainder of the game to be played at a later date. Here is the Falcons statement on the incident. After the game Brandon Manning, the Phantoms defenseman who hit Wade, was remorseful, sending out these tweets.
With Oliver Gabriel returning to the lineup, we’re talking about the Evansville IceMen for the first time in awhile. With his first action since October 19th on Wednesday, Gabriel picked up an assist in Friday night’s win over Fort Wayne. This marked his first professional point since October 14th 2011 in Springfield.
Oscar Dansk-Erie Otters (OHL)
Season Stats 33GP 9-17-2-3 .900Sv% 3.25GAA
Oscar would open last week against the Niagara IceDogs with a 6-3 loss. Oscar was peppered early and often. The Dogs went into the first break holding a 3-0 lead, and ultimately Oscar would stop 26 of 32 in the loss. Friday night the recently struggling London Knights came to town featuring fellow Jackets prospect Josh Anderson. The Otters gave Oscar an early two goal lead and in the 4-3 victory, Oscar would make 31 saves for his ninth win of the season. Saturday night it’d be off to Kitchener for another game against a top team in the OHL, the Kitchener Rangers. In the 4-2 loss Oscar would be solid, facing 47 shots and stopping 44 of them (the team also allowed an empty net goal). Oscar has faced 40 plus shots eight times this season going 4-3-1 in those games with a .945 save percentage and a 2.61 goals against.
Boone Jenner-Oshawa Generals (OHL)
Season Stats 46GP 35-30-65 +15 46PIM
Fresh off his 100th career goal Boone and the Generals were off to Saginaw for a game against the Spirit. In the 6-4 Generals win Boone would add a goal and an assist to his season total, putting him within in a point of his career high set during his draft year. Boone’s first point would come as an assist on Colin Sullentrop’s fifth of the season. Boone would score his 35th goal of the season, igniting the Generals comeback tying the game at three. Boone and the Gens would be off to Sarnia on Saturday to close out the week with the Sting picking up a 4-2 victory with Boone being held scoreless. This snapped a seven game point streak in which he scored three goals and seven assists for 10 points.
Seth Ambroz, Mike Reilly-Minnesota (WCHA)
Season Stats SA: 30GP 9-7-16 22PIM MR: 28GP 2-11-13 12PIM
A big weekend for the Gophers as they traveled to Madison for a game against the Badgers before facing off again on Sunday outside at Soldier Field. Friday night both Jackets would pick up points with Seth scoring the game winner on his eighth of the season. Late in the first period Mike would pick up an assist when he’d pass it to Ben Marshall whose point shot would rebound to Sam Warning for his sixth of the season. Seth would also factor in the goal by setting a screen on the Badgers goalie. Midway through the third period, Seth would use his normal scoring move (stand in front of the net), Ben Marshall would fire the shot, the Badgers goalie would fail to control it, and the puck bounced out to Ambroz who’d slide it past Josh Rumpel as he was tackled from behind for his eighth goal of the season and second game winner. Sunday was the Hockey City Classic as the Gophers and the Badgers would meet in front of 52,051 fans. The game would be almost all Badgers with them taking a 2-0 lead, with the second Badger goal going off Mike’s shin pad. But with 7:24 remaining Seth Ambroz would strike…no punch lets go with punch the puck in for his ninth of the season. Seth was doing what he does best wreaking havoc in front in the middle of a full on rugby scrum and with a Badger on his back he’d get three whacks at it sneaking it through a hole just big enough for the puck to get through. The Gophers would add another late goal to make it a 3-2 loss.
Drew Olson-Minnesota-Duluth (WCHA)
Season Stats 30GP 1-6-7 24PIM
Drew and the Bulldogs would travel to Bemidji for a series against the Beavers, Drew would snap an eight game pointless streak when his lead pass would catch Cody Danburg who’d leave the puck for a trailing Andy Welinski for his third of the season. In the rematch on Saturday Drew would be held scoreless in a 1-1 tie.
Anton Forsberg-Sodertalje SK
Season Stats 31GP 22-9 2.07GAA .91Sv% 3SO
Starting off on Tuesday SSK would go on the road to face Leksands IF and Capitals first rounder Filip Forsberg (no relation probably). In the 5-3 SSK loss Anton would stop 40 of 45, including 23 in the second period, allowing three goals in the third. Thursday it’d be SSK welcoming Orebro Hockey to town. Anton would have a bounce back performance making 39 saves in a 4-1 victory for his 21st win of the season. Saturday SSK would travel to Karlskrona to face the bottom dwelling…umm Karlskronians??? In the 2-1 SSK shootout win Anton would be solid again stopping 35 of 36 then stopping two of four in the shootout. Last week Anton would be 2-1 stopping 114 of 121 including 74 of 76 in his two victories including a .96GAA and a .973 save percentage in the wins.
Daniel Zaar-BIK Karlskoga
Season Stats 10GP 0-2-2 +1 4PIM
Daniel and BIK would open the week against Mora IK with BIK picking up a 5-2 victory. In the win Daniel would pick up his second assist on Christian Carlsson’s first period goal. Daniel would get the puck and curl around the net firing a shot that Carlsson would tap in for his fourth of the season. BIK would travel to Oskarshamn with Oskarshamn picking up a 4-0 victory; Saturday BIK would suffer the same result losing again by the same 4-0 score.
Joonas Korpisalo-Jokerit J20 (Finland)
Season Stats 9GP 3-6 .919Sv% 2.52GAA 1SO
As stated two weeks ago Joonas will be spending the rest of the season with the J20 team, Kiekko-Vantaa Jokerit’s minor league team would finish its regular season going 13-6-8-21 (W-OTW-OTL-L) this season finishing 11th in the 12 team league. With the Fishes Korpisalo went 8-9 with a .900 save percentage and 2.71 GAA. Starting off on Wednesday, Jokerit would play Blues (Espoo not St. Louis) and in the 3-1 Jester win Joonas would be solid making 31 saves. This included 16 saves in the third where Jokerit was outshot 17 to one. My Finnish source Eetu Husimen told me (and the stats show) that no one on Jokerit except for Joonas played well, saying that the team doesn’t deserve to make the playoffs (and won’t).
As for next week, it’s Michigan week as the school up north comes to town for its final CCHA series with OSU, the Wolverines feature (and I use the term loosely) Jackets prospect senior Kevin Lynch.
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