Greetings again, all! Time for the CBJ prospect week in review. The European guys are off so we have an almost all North American update (we still have to cross the pond for some hardware to be handed out, though).
Starting off in Springfield as we always do, it was a busy week for the Falcons as they had four games this week. The week started off on Tuesday with a game a lot like the CBJ game that day against Phoenix (they lost 4-1) except the Falcons were shutout by a score of 4-0. Friday night, it was a home game against Albany. Sean Collins opened the scoring on a breakaway late in the first period. After a Devils goal in the first minute of the second, the Falcons took over. Two minutes later Adam Cracknell got the puck from a Devils player and drove to the net to make it 2-1. Early in the third on the power play, Michael Chaput banged the puck home for his fourth goal of the season off a passing sequence in which every Falcon touched the puck. Next up, Trent Vogelhuber got the puck from a scramble in the slot and skated the puck in for his seventh of the season that went into an empty making it 4-1. The win snapped a six game losing streak. Oscar Dansk made 29 saves for his sixth win of the season.
Quickly, in local news, Frederic St Denis didn’t play in the game leaving an alternate captain’s A available and it was put on the jersey of Dublin’s own Vogelhuber.
Next on Saturday it was time for a trip to Syracuse with Ric Flair in the house (WOOO sorry, reflex,) and in net for the Crunch was Allen York (yes that Allen York). Ryan Craig opened the scoring when he skated in and sent a rinkwide pass (shot?) that newly signed Yann Sauve gathered to fire on net. Chaput took another whack at it allowing Craig to clean up and make it 1-0. The Crunch scored in the third to tie it and force overtime. Late in overtime, Marko Dano got the puck and skated to the circle to snipe a shot over York’s shoulder. Oscar Dansk made 39 saves in the win.
To close out the week, the Birds were off to the Dunk for a game against the Providence Bruins. After an early Bruins goal, Cracknell scored his third with the team. After another Bruins goal, Josh Anderson tied the game with his fifth of the season and second point of the game. 53 seconds later the Bruins scored what would be the game winner. They added an insurance goal late in the second period. Scott Munroe had 39 saves in the 4-2 loss.
Blake Siebenaler-Niagara IceDogs (OHL) Season Stats 51GP 10-19-29 +1 19PIM Blake opened the week with two games without a point before picking one up in a blowout win over London. With the game tied at one and the Dogs on the power play, Blake showed some patience by passing to a teammate before getting it back and unleashing a blast to make it 2-1 in a 9-3 IceDogs win.
Nick Moutrey-North Bay Battalion (OHL) Season Stats 43GP 16-28-44 +10 44PIM Nick has been a bit quiet since being acquired by North Bay other than his three point night in his debut. But you have to factor in time missed with an injury and getting back up to speed as part of that equation. After two games without a point, Nick found his way back onto the scoresheet against Ottawa. In the second with the Troops leading 2-1, Nick got the puck along the boards and skated in to pass to Brenden Miller who batted it in to make it 3-1 in a 6-5 shootout loss. The assist would help Nick set new career highs in assists and points.
Sonny Milano-Plymouth Whalers (OHL) Season Stats 33GP 14-34-48 -13 12 PIM Sonny and the Whalers opened the week against the Sudbury Wolves. In the 5-3 win, Sonny collected a goal and an assist for his 13th multi point game of the season. Next, it was off to North Bay for a game against Nick Moutrey and the Battalion. In the first trailing 2-0, Sonny stole the puck and found Victor Crus-Rydberg who scored from the circle with a one timer. In the third trailing 4-2, Sonny skated in with a dman all over him but he was able to keep control of the puck and got it out to Mitch Jones who fired a bomb to make it 4-3 in a 5-3 loss. Sonny picked up another assist in a 4-2 loss to Owen Sound, giving him 34 this season.
Markus Soberg-Windsor Spitfires Season Stats 46GP 10-15-25 -6 16PIM Markus was held pointless in the Spitfires loss to Owen Sound before picking up an assist in an already loss game. Late in the third with the Spits on power play Markus would pick up an assist on Sam Povorozniouk’s late goal to make it 5-2 Oshawa. Up next it was off to Peterborough for their pink the rink night in the second trailing 5-1 Markus would get the puck from Trevor Murphy passing it back in front with Murphy finishing it to make it 5-2 in a 6-3 loss.
Olivier LeBlanc-Cape Breton Screaming Eagles Season Stats 44GP 4-22-26 +23 69PIM A light week somehow for Olivier and the Eagles as they only had two games. Olivier did pick up an assist in a 7-1 win over Acadie-Bathurst before going pointless in a shootout win over the Q’s top team, the Rimouski Oceanic.
Peter Quenneville-Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL) Season Stats 55GP 15-36-51 +11 18PIM Peter kept his point streak alive with an assist on Tim McGauley’s goal to make it 2-0 in the King’s 6-3 victory but you can’t see it in the highlights. Next up in a home and home against Kootenay, Peter had his eight game point streak snapped after picking up 10 points with four goals and six assists. Peter was back on the scoresheet in the rematch. Peter started the play by dumping the puck that Nolan Patrick got to Morgan Klimchuk to make it 3-1 in a 4-1 victory.
Peter and the Kings finished a five game road trip with a two point game against Lethbridge. In the 7-2 blowout win, Peter scored the second goal and added an assist on Rihards Bukarts 23rd goal of the season. The Kings have been on a tear lately. They’ve won six in a row, 12 of their last 13 and 17 of their 20 games since the Christmas break. This stretch also means that the Wheat Kings are the first team in the WHL’s Eastern Conference to clinch a playoff spot (yes folks the silly season is almost upon us).
Oliver Bjorkstrand-Portland Winterhawks (WHL) Season Stats 42GP 37-35-72 +35 25PIM Oliver opened the week needing to buy a bigger trophy case as he was named both the WHL and CHL‘s Player of the Week (WHL for the third time this season) for his nine points in three games including his six point performance against Everett. Oliver was also named the WHL‘s Player of the Month for his 30 points in 12 games. Oliver ended up all over the internet with articles about his recent surge be it by Hawks play by play man Todd Vrooman, Yahoo’s Kelly Friesen or the local paper claiming Oliver is the Winterhawks top import player ever. Oliver again appeared on the WHL Radio Show with Jon Keen.
Ok, enough awards now. For game action it was off to Seattle for a game with the rival Thunderbirds. In the loss, the Tbirds rolled out to a 3-0 lead before Oliver struck for his 36th goal of the season when he skated in and moved into the slot to fire a rocket to make it 3-1 in a 6-3 loss. The loss was the team’s 20th loss and this was the first time that happened since the 2009-2010 season.
To close out the week it was a game against US Division leader Everett with title implications. The Hawks gave the Tips a 2-0 lead before…who else, Oliver, scored his team leading 37th goal of the season. This made it seven straight goals against the Silvertips that Oliver has either scored or assisted on. The game went to a tie with Chase De Leo scoring with 31.3 seconds remaining, in fact Oliver and De Leo played the final 2:12 of the game and the first 1:10 of overtime meaning Oliver and De Leo played 3:22 of game time. Unforunately, the Hawks would lose in overtime.
Tyler Bird-Brown University Bears (ECAC) Season Stats 19GP 1-2-3 -3 4PIM It’s been a while since we’ve talked about Tyler Bird but we finally get to again. Unlike most of college hockey playing the same team over a weekend, in the ECAC you play two different teams – normally the same two when the series is home or away. This weekend, the Bears welcomed Dartmouth and Harvard. After a 6-3 loss to Dartmouth on Friday, the Bears snapped a seven game winless streak and Tyler snapped a 14 game pointless streak. Early in the second period, Tyler and his linemates drove in with Sam Lafferty and Max Lorito with Lorito shooting and Tyler picking up the rebound for his first career goal. The Bears would go on to upset the sixth ranked Crimson 2-1.
Seth Ambroz, Ryan Collins, Mike Reilly-Minnesota Golden Gophers (Big 10) Season Stats SA: 26GP 7-9-16 +2 26PIM RC: 19GP 0-6-6 +5 8PIM MR: 26GP 4-24-28 +13 42PIM First up, Seth’s four goal weekend against Wisconsin earned him second star honors for the Big Ten. It’s the second time he’s been a star, he was named 1st star last year. The Gophers welcomed Ohio State to town and the Gophers took out some frustrations on the Bucks and appeared to maybe be getting back on track. Friday night, Ryan Collins and Mike Reilly picked up points. Ryan took a drop pass from Vinni Lettieri and fired a shot that was stopped but Justin Kloos picked up the rebound to make it 2-0 Gophers. In the second, with the Gophers on the power play, Mike picked up an assist when he passed the puck to Travis Boyd (who was huge this weekend) who fired a shot top corner to make it 3-1 in the Gophers 4-2 win.
Up next, the Gophers busted out their gold alternate jerseys and it was more of the same. Early in the first, Seth and his linemate Sam Warning won a board battle allowing Warning to find Travis Boyd in the Slot to make it 1-0. Very early into the second, after getting the puck off the faceoff, Seth got the puck to Sam Warning who raced in and shot allowing Travis Boyd to pick up the rebound to make it 3-1 Gophers. Late in the second, Mike helped Travis Boyd complete his first career hat trick. Mike took a pass from his D partner and passed to Boyd who fired to finish off the hat trick. To finish out his career tying night, Seth picked up another assist when he and Sam Warning got the puck out of a board battle and got it to Michael Brodzinski who skated the line and fired a shot to make it 6-2 Gophers.
Daniel Zaar-Lulea (SHL/CHL) Final CHL Stats 13GP 7-7-14 +5 0PIM As I said, the European prospects were off from regular play but Daniel and the Bears were busy closing out the Champions Hockey League in the final game against Frolunda. Daniel was held pointless in the final a 4-2 come from behind victory. In the tournament Daniel led the Bears in scoring with 14 points in 13 games. Daniel also led the team in power play goals (tied) and shots on goal. Daniel’s seven goals were good enough to end up being tied for third in the tournament.
There you have it, folks. Another busy week in the world of Blue Jackets prospects. As for next week, we’ll be back to normal with a full round of games being played.
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