Greetings all! Time for the week in review, along with a tiny delay to update on TJ Tynan‘s performance at the AHL All Star Challenge. The AHL break isn’t really that much of a break, as the teams still have games the day before the skills competition. The Monster’s final two games before the break had the Texas Stars coming to town.
On Friday night, Lake Erie struck in the second when John Ramage fired a shot that Manny Malhotra tipped in for his second of the season. Later in the second, and 42 seconds after a Stars goal, Lukas Sedlak stole the puck at the blueline and got it to Nick Moutrey whose shot on net started a scramble in front, with Lukas finally getting it past the Stars goalie. In the third period, Jamie Sifers led a three on two, with Sifers passing to Trent Vogelhuber, who skated in and scored his seventh of the season. The Stars would add a late goal to make it 3-2.
For the rematch, I was able to head back up to the Q to take in the game in person. After a brutal turnover to make it 1-0 Stars, Vogelhuber would strike again. Midway through the second, with the Monsters on the power play, Eric Roy appeared to make up for his earlier goof when he fired a shot that Trent tipped it in to tie it up. After a Stars shorthanded goal, the Czar would strike when Daniel Zaar scored his team-leading 11th goal of the season off a tip from a Ramage point shot. The game looked like it was going to overtime but the Stars scored late when the puck bounced off the boards, landed in the crease, and Radek Faksa tapped it in for his second of the night. Anton Forsberg took the loss with 33 saves. He would have started Friday night’s game but he was under the weather.
After that, Tynan was off to Syracuse, New York to take part in the AHL All Star Game. First up in the skills competition, TJ took on Providence forward Alexander Khokhlachev in the puck control relay. In a close race, TJ lost by just a few tenths of a second. TJ had a long layoff before his next event, the pass and score. TJ was made for this event (24 assists on the year), setting off on a line with Frederick Gaudreau and Avs first rounder Mikko Rantanen against Albany goalie Yann Danis. The trio would miss on their first attempt but TJ scored on their next after he took a pass from Gaudreau and waited Danis out, then slid the puck around his pad. They were stopped in their third attempt as well. TJ’s next event was the breakaway relay, again facing off against Danis. TJ was stopped in his attempt. TJ and the West won the skills competition 19-14.
As for the All Star game itself, let me explain how it worked. Like the NHL All Star Game, there was a change of format. Where the NHL went with just a semifinal set up, the AHL went with a round robin tournament, with the teams with the best record playing in the final. The games were nine minutes long, the first 4:30 were four on four, and the last 4:30 being three on three. TJ and the… Centralians?… Centralites?… nevermind… took on the Atlantic (Wilkes-Barre, Hershey, Portland, Providence, Bridgeport, Hartford, Lehigh Valley,Springfield). In the 2-1 shootout win TJ was held without a point.
After a small break, the Central (Lake Erie, Grand Rapids, Milwauke, Rockford, Charlotte, Iowa, Manitoba, Chicago) took on the North Division (Toronto, Albany, Utica, Syracuse, St John’s Rochester, Binghamton). After Pat Cannone scored, TJ was part of a tic tac toe sequence with Jake Dowell scoring from the goalline. A few minutes later TJ sent a home run pass to Dowell who scored his second of the game in the 4-2 Central win, making them 2-0.
After the games against the Atlantic and the North, the Central finished the round robin against the Pacific (Texas, Stockton, San Jose, Bakersfield, Ontario, San Diego, San Antonio). With the Central trailing 2-1, TJ skated in and passed to Jeff Hoggan, who tipped it past the Pacific’s goalie to make it 3-2. Down 4-3, TJ picked up a loose puck at his own blueline and again found Jake Dowell, who skated in and scored his third of the night to tie it at four. The Pacific added two late goals to make it a 6-4 final score.
In the finals, it was the Central versus the Atlantic in a rematch of their opening game. With the Central leading 1-0, TJ kept the puck in at the blueline and found Derek Ryan down low, who cut in and scored to make it 2-0 in a 4-0 Championship win. TJ led the event in scoring with five points, all of them being assists.
Olivier LeBlanc-Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (QMJHL)
Season Stats 44GP 5-24-29 +18 55PIM
The Eagles were off on a Maritimes road trip starting with a back to back with Charlottetown. Early in the third with the Eagles on the power play, the Eagles would show great puck movement when Olivier got the puck in the slot and passed to Maxim Lazarev. Lazarev would pass to Evgeni Svechnikov in front who’d put it past the Islanders goalie to make it 3-2 in a 4-2 Eagles loss(Highlights featuring the one the only George Matthews!!!!!!). Olivier was held without a point in the Eagles other two games of the road trip.
Julien Pelletier-Sherbrooke Phoenix (QMJHL)
Season Stats 46GP 22-15-37 -21 37PIM
Julien opened the week by going without a point against Quebec before scoring his 22nd goal of the season against Gatineau. Late in the third with the Piques(Olympiques) goalie pulled, Julien got a loose puck at the redline, skated in and fired just above the circle to ice the Phoenix’s 4-1 victory.
Sam Ruopp-Prince George Cougars (WHL)
Season Stats 52GP 3-15-18 +23 80PIM
Sam opened the week by facing the Medicine Hat and the young prospects was unable to earn a point. Up next against Swift Current, Sam picked up an assist when, in the third with the Cougars trailing 2-1, Sam kept the puck in and shot it. The bounce off the wall allowed Chase Witala to gather it and shoot to tie the game at two but the Cougars would fall 4-3 in overtime. Sam wsd held pointless in a game against Moose Jaw to close out the week.
Keegan Kolesar-Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL)
Season Stats 48GP 24-26-50 +10 89PIM
Keegan and the TBirds opened the week by facing in-state rival Spokane. Keegan closed out the first period in the locker room when, after Evan Fiala leveled Islanders first rounder Mathew Barzal behind the net, Keegan stepped up for his teammate and earned an instigator penalty in a draw of a fight. Early in the third off a faceoff, Keegan got the puck and skated into the slot before firing a shot to tie it at three. Late in the third with the TBirds trailing 5-3, Keegan sent a rink wide pass to Ryan Gropp who hammered a one timer to make it 5-4. Keegan was held without a point in the TBirds next two games.
Zach Werenski-Michigan (Big 10)
Season Stats 21GP 6-11-17 +5 10 PIM
The Wolverines were off to Happy Valley for a game against Penn State and it was a wild one. In the 7-4 win, Zach picked up an assist on Alex Kile’s goal in the third period with Michigan leading 5-3 and on the power play. Zach passed to Kyle Connor who was then off to the races. Connor curled around the net and found Kile in front to make it 6-3. Zach was held pointless when the series switched to MSG as part of a back to back with the basketball teams.
Gabriel Carlsson-Linkoping (SHL)
Season Stats 33GP 1-5-6 -1 2PIM
Gabriel opened the week by picking up no points in a game against the Malmo RedHawks. In the team’s next game against Djurgardens, with the Lions trailing 2-0, Gabriel fired a shot that was tipped in by Anton Blomberg in a 4-3 loss. Gabriel was held pointless in the team’s next two games.
Elvis Merzlikins-HC Lugano (NLA)
Season Stats 41GP 25-10-4-1 .927Sv% 2.64GAA 1SO
Two more games, two more starts for Elvis, making it 31 in a row for him. First up against the SCL Tigers, Elvis made 30 saves in what was his 25th win of the season. Next up against Genève-Servette HC, Elvis took the 3-2 overtime loss that was a real heartbreaker as the game winner was scored with only 25 seconds left in OT. In the loss, Elvis made 38 saves. During his 31 straight starts, Elvis is 21-8-2-0 with a .927 save percentage, a 2.68 GAA and one shutout.
Markus Soberg-Valerenga (GET-Ligaen)
Season Stats 3GP 1-1-2 E 6PIM
The Norwegian league has a bit of an odd schedule and that meant that Soberg’s team only played one game last week. In the 4-2 victory over the Kongsvinger Knights, Markus gave Valerenga the lead and the team wouldn’t give it up, winning 4-2, the goal was his first pro goal.
Quickly, I have some injury updates. Blake Siebenaler returned to the IceDogs lineup after missing only three games due to what was originally reported as a broken hand but was only his knuckle. Markus Nutivaara is currently out of Karpat’s lineup for now with a broken hand. There’s no available information regarding how long he’ll be out.
In International play news, Veeti Vainio will join the Finnish U20 team in a tournament taking place in Germany next week. Vladislav Gavrikov will take part in the Euro Hockey Tour in the Czech Republic. This will be the men’s team debut for Vladislav after he served as the captain for last year’s World Junior team. The Russians are bringing a young group with only ex NHLer Alexander Semin over the age of 24.
We’ll be back next week for more in the world of CBJ Prospects.
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