The fun part of hockey season (I mean if the NHL had started on time) has started as the AHL has begun it stretch drive and NCAA playoffs are getting under way just as the CHL will be wrapping up it’s regular season within the next two weeks. As for this week we had prospects have some big games and two having their season’s ended.
The stretch drive has begun in the AHL with the league beginning to post its daily playoff primer. The Falcons appear to be a lock with 19 games remaining but weeks like this one won’t help much. Starting off on Sunday, the Worchester Sharks came to town with some history occurring. With the Falcons already having six points on the weekend, Springfield would win 2-0 with Curtis McElhinney picking up his franchise record eighth shutout of the season. In the first period, the Falcons took a 1-0 lead when Sean Collins found Jonathan Audy-Marchessault whose shot deflected out to Ryan Russell who’d fire it past the Sharks goalie for his sixth of the season. Tomas Kubalik would make it 2-0 and seal the victory when Michael Chaput drove to the net firing a shot with Kubalik doing what he does best – being on the doorstep for his 14th of the season. McElhinney would make 30 saves in the win for his eighth shutout of the season tying Manny Legace’s franchise record in much fewer games. “McShutout” only took 36 where as Legace took 153. Friday night, the Falcons were off to Glen Falls New York for a game against the Phantoms. This marked the teams’ third meeting in a week but this time it’d be the Phantoms picking up a 4-1 victory. Andrew Joudrey would score his first power play goal in two seasons – going off the game recap it sounds a lot like Kubalik’s goal from Sunday when Michael Chaput would drive to the net taking a shot that would deflect out to Joudrey for his sixth of the season. Curtis McElhinney would make 32 saves in the loss. The Albany Devils would be the Falcons next opponent with the Devils using three third period goals to pick up the 4-1 victory. David Savard scored the Birds only goal when he’d take a one timer from Nick Holden for his fifth of the season. Paul Dainton returned to the Falcons lineup filling in for the injured Allen York making 18 saves. The leading scorers for the Falcons would be Jonathan Audy-Marchessault and Michael Chaput each with two assists.
While the Falcons had no game on Sunday, they weren’t without news as the Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekelainen made his first move as GM. He sent Falcons forward Tomas Kubalik to the Winnipeg Jets for St. Johns Icecap forward Spencer Machacek. I’ll have more on this move in next week’s recap.
Down in Evansville, the IceMen would be in Cincinnati on Sunday for a game against the Cyclones with the Clones picking up a 9-4 win. Oliver Gabriel picked up two of Evansville’s goals. Oliver would be held scoreless in Evansville’s next two games – both losses. You can complain about the Jackets injury woes but things could be a lot worse – in their three games last week, the IceMen only dressed 13 or 14 skaters.
Josh Anderson-London Knights(OHL)
Season Stats 64GP 23-22-45 +9 73PIM
It was a big week for Josh as he picked up four points and the Knights clinched first overall in the OHL. Starting off on Sunday, London hosted Kitchener for their last home game of the season. Josh picked up an assist on Chris Tierney’s second period goal when he got the puck out to Tyler Ferry at the blueline. Tyler found Chris Tierney in the slot and he went on to score his 17th of the season. Josh would later get in a fight after Max Iafrate delivered a hard hit on Tierney earning a checking to the head penalty, Josh stood up for his teammate with Ben Thomson stepping in for Iafrate. Tuesday it’d be off to Owen Sound with Josh earning a career first: in the first period he got a penalty shot (even if it was the weakest penalty shot drawing infraction I’ve ever seen). Anyway, Josh showed off his skating and nice hands with some crazy stickhandling – snapping it high on Team Canada goalie Jordan Binnington. Josh would get into another fight on the week but, for some reason, there’s no video. To close out the week, London would be on national television for a game against the Sarnia Sting. Josh picked up his third two goal game of the season. The two goals came within five minutes of each other. In the third period, Josh and his linemates Chris Tierney and Alex Broadhurst would work a pretty passing play (plus the Sting’s goalie JP Anderson was sliding through the crease) and Josh deked around him backhanding it high. Later, Max Domi would take the puck behind the net causing Anderson to go to the butterfly and Max would find Josh in front where he’d snap it high for his 23rd goal of the season. Ultimately, the Knights would fall in a shootout and it would seem the Sting somewhat have the Knights number this season – snapping London winning streaks of 24 and eight games.
Boone Jenner-Oshawa Generals(OHL)
Season Stats 54GP 44-37-81 +21 52PIM
Boone and the Generals would host the Kingston Fronternacs with Boone scoring his 41st goal of the season tying a former General you may have heard of named Bobby Orr with his 107th goal all time. The goal came when he drove through the Fronts’ defense and snapped a shot from the blueline into an empty net. Friday night, it’d be the Fronts and the Gens again. Kingston couldn’t stop Boone as he’d pick up his 13th multi goal game and second career hat trick. Boone got started when, with the Generals leading 1-0, he drove to the net, ran over a Fronts defender and got the puck over to Michael Dal Colle who’d pass it to Matt Petgrave who’d find Boone down in front for his 42nd goal of the season. With the game tied, off a faceoff win Matt Petgrave would find Boone again and Boone snapped a shot from above the faceoff circles. To finish off the trick, Tyler Biggs stopped a Kingston rush finding Boone in the slot who fired it past the Kingston goaltender.
Gianluca Curcuruto-Plymouth Whalers(OHL)
Season Stats 63GP 9-34-43 +31 28PIM
Somehow, the Whalers got a light week only having two games – playing on Sunday then a 10am start on Tuesday. Sunday against Mississauga, Ginaluca would add to his six game point streak picking up an assist on Cody Payne’s third period goal when he sent a rink long pass that resulted in Payne snapping a laser past the Steelhead’s goalie. Gianluca would have his seven game point streak snapped when he would go pointless in a 4-1 win over Saginaw on Tuesday. During the streak, Gianluca would pick up nine assists including a three assist game to begin the streak.
Lukas Sedlak-Chicoutimi Sagueneens(QMJHL)
Season Stats 47Gp 15-17-32 -2 62PIM
Sedlak would return to the Sags lineup this week scoring three goals in Chicoutimi’s two wins this week. Starting off on Wednesday, Lukas would be held scoreless in a 6-2 loss to Blainville winning 15 of 22 faceoffs. Friday night, Lukas picked up his first multi point game of the season scoring two goals and being named second star winning 11 of 18 faceoffs in a 7-2 win over Sherbrooke. Saturday, against a depleted Gatineau lineup, (only dressed 16 skaters) Lukas would open the scoring with his 15th goal of the season. He also won eight of 15 faceoffs.
Quickly some NCAA wrap up. Thomas Larkin finished his NCAA career as Colgate lost its first round series against St Lawrence in a sweep. Thomas scored 58 points (15-43-58) in 147 career games, picked up 187 penalty minutes, and had eight of his 15 goals on the power play. I’m not sure if the Jackets will sign Thomas, his 6’5 221lb frame would be a welcome addition to the Falcons and possibly someday for the Jackets. Mike Reilly and Seth Ambroz helped Minnesota win the McNaughton cup for the second straight season as co-champs splitting it with St. Cloud who will be the number one seed in the WCHA tournament. Minnesota will be the second seed because of a tiebreaker but the Gophers got to celebrate with the trophy. Maine would faceoff against New Hampshire beating and tying the Wildcats with Martin Ouellette playing in both games. Friday night the Bears would beat the Wildcats 4-3 with Martin making 31 saves and almost scoring an empty net goal missing just by inches. Saturday, Martin would stop 31 of 35 in a 4-4 tie with New Hampshire. Next up is the Hockey East Tournament where the Black Bears will be the eighth seed facing off against league regular season champ UMass-Lowell. In three regular season games against the Riverhawks Martin and the Bears went 2-1.
Joonas Korpisalo-Jokerit J20(Finland)
Over in Finland, Joonas Korpisalo wouldn’t dress in Jokerit’s J20 team’s last game with the team losing and not qualifying for the playoffs. Joonas played for three teams in the Jokerit organization this season. This included action in his first SM-Liiga game where he played 15 minutes – stopping all six shots he faced. Joonas played in 18 games with Jokerit’s minor league team Kiekko-Vantaa in which Joonas went 8-9 with a 2.71GAA and a .900 save percentage. For the J20 team, Joonas would play in 13 games going 6-7 with a 2.67GA, a .914 save percentage, and a shutout.
Kevin Lynch-Michigan(CCHA)
Season Stats 36GP 9-13-22 40PIM
Kevin and the Wolverines played Northern Michigan in the CCHA first round with the Wolverines sweeping the Wildcats. Kevin put on a show scoring a power play and a shorthanded goal – the first Wolverine to do it since Lee Moffie on March 12, 2011. With the Wolverines leading 1-0, AJ Treais would fire a blast from the point that would rebound out to Kevin for his 8th goal of the season giving him points in seven of Michigan’s last eight games. Kevin’s shorthanded goal would be a real beauty as a Northern player, while skating backwards, would run into a teammate trying to get in the bench. With that opportunity, Kevin would be off to the races. He waited for the goalie to commit and then shot it over the sprawling goalie. Kevin’s second goal would be the game winner in the 3-2 game one victory and he was named first star (postgame interview with Kevin and Jon Merrill). Saturday night it would be more of the same as Michigan would roll over the Wildcats 6-2 with Lynch being held off the scoresheet.
Daniel Zaar-BIK Karlskoga(Sweden)
Playoff Stats 4GP 2-1-3 +4 0PIM
Daniel and Karlskoga played four of the six games in the round robin where the top team will play for a chance to move into the SEL next season. The team went 2-2 (link to all game highlights – you’ll have to click the game). Starting off against IK Oskarshamn, Daniel would score BIK’s third goal in a 6-3 loss when it appears he attempted a wrap around with Daniel picking up the rebound. Next up would be a game against Orebro hockey with Orebro picking up a 4-1 victory and Daniel scoring Karlskoga’s only goal. After battling behind the net, one of Daniel’s teammates would try a shot but not get much on it. This led to Daniel being Johan on the spot (Swedish version of Johnny? No? Okay) and coming from behind the net and scoring his second in as many games. To close out the first round of the round robin, BIK woulf play Djurgardens IF with Daniel being held scoreless for the first time in the playoffs but BIK would win 4-3. The very next day would be the rematch with BIK picking up another win and another point for Daniel. Midway through the third period, Daniel would intercept a DIF pass and, after some skating, would get the puck to Martin Thelander who shot a blast from the point that was stopped and the puck would go right to Ken-Andre Olimb who’d score the game winner. Daniel is currently tied for fourth in playoff scoring, second on BIK in scoring, and tied for the lead in goals scored.
As for next week, the NCAA playoffs will be in full swing with the WCHA and Hockey East getting going while the CCHA will be in the second round. The CHL regular season will be finishing up as they’ll be playing their last few games with all but one prospect qualifying for the playoffs. We’ll have all the action from the Blue Jackets prospects here!
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