Hello all! Back again with another week in the world of Blue Jackets prospects. Was an interesting week that included the trade deadline and three prospects’ regular seasons coming to an end along with another young Jacket appearing to be on his way to Springfield.
As we normally do we start off in Springfield which was affected by the NHL trade deadline with the trade of Dalton Smith and Jonathan Marchessault to Tampa Bay for forward Dana Tyrell and defenseman Matt Taormina. Trading Smith somewhat surprised me because he seemed to fit the team’s style as “Boll 2.0”, whereas Marchessault wasn’t as much of a match.
Starting off last week against Hartford, the Falcons allowed a goal 1:45 in before Ryan Craig scored nine minutes later, the assist went to Tyrell who picked up his first point with Falcons. The Pack scored again before Craig tied it with only 55 seconds remaining in the period. The Wolfpack scored four more to make it 6-2. Jeremy Smith made 24 saves in the loss.
Up next was a game in Adirondack. Ryan Craig again opened the scoring. 2:06 into the second, Nick Cousins got the Phantoms on the board but Nate Thompson scored 30 seconds later to make it 3-2 and then Cody Bass made it 4-2 later. Cody Bass notched a shorthanded goal 7:12 into the third to make it 5-2 with the Phantoms scoring with 1:11 remaining to make it 5-3. Mike McKenna made 26 saves in the win. To close out the weekend, the Falcons took on the Portland Pirates and hoo boy it would be ugly – for the Pirates at least. The Falcons had a 3-0 lead before the 10 minute mark of the first period when Patrick McNeill and Sean Collins scored 32 seconds apart – Matt Taormina picked up his first point with the Falcons with an assist on Collins goal. Dana Tyrell scored his first with Springfield three minutes later. Darryl Boyce made it 4-0 with just a little over three minutes left in the first. In the second period, with the Pirates changing goalies, the Pirates potted one three minutes in before the Falcons would again score two quick goals with Michael Chaput scoring his team leading 16th goal and Andrew Joudrey scoring his franchise record fifth shorthanded goal just 36 seconds later. Four and a half minutes later Austin Madaisky scored his fourth goal of the season to make it 7-1 Falcons. Jack Skille scored two goals in 26 seconds early in the third to end Louis Domingue’s night meaning the Pirates went back to starter Mark Visentin who would finish the game. In the 9-3 win Mike McKenna made 27 saves for his 17th win of the season.
Oscar Dansk-Erie Otters (OHL)
Season Stats 40GP 28-9-1-0 .911SV% 2.36GAA 6SO
Oscar started in the Otters week opening game against Plymouth marking his 27th win of the season in which he stopped 18 of 20 in an 11-2 win. Friday night against Windsor, Oscar stopped 16 of 17 in a 6-1 Erie win. Oscar would start the final game of the weekend but he wouldn’t finish it. He was pulled after allowing three goals on 12 shots before Devin Williams came in and the Otters offense awakened rolling to a 7-3 victory.
Kerby Rychel-Guelph Storm (OHL)
Season Stats 55GP 31-53-84 +39 43PIM
It was a light week for Kerby and the Storm with only two games. The team was going for its 50th win of the season. In the game against Owen Sound, Kerby picked up an assist when late in the first he got the puck from Matt Finn and launched it to Robby Fabbri who’d score his 43rd goal. Unfortunately, the Storm would lose 6-2. To close out the week, Kerby and the Storm took on Sarnia Sting. In the 6-2 win Kerby hit the 30 goal plateau for the third straight season with a second period power play goal. Kerby added another goal early in the third period.
Josh Anderson-London Knights (OHL)
Season Stats 57GP 27-22-49 +28 79PIM
Josh and the Knights opened last week against the Soo Greyhounds and after scoring 10 seconds into the game it wouldn’t be until the third period that they would strike again and who would score? Why Josh of course. Josh did it all on this goal winning the faceoff back to Brady Austin whose point shot Josh deflected past Matt Murray to make it 2-0 in the Knights 4-0 win.
Up next was a blowout win over Kitchener with the Knights winning 10-5. Josh scoring twice. In the second with the game tied at four, Josh was in the slot, took a pass from Max Domi and fired it past Traverse City invite Jordan DeKort to make it 5-4. Later in the game with London leading 8-4, Josh again took a pass from Domi and again snapped a one timer to make it 9-4 in a 10-5 win. Josh was held scoreless in a win over Owen Sound but he did take on Kurtis Gabriel in a first period fight.
Gianluca Curcuruto-Plymouth Whalers (OHL)
Season Stats 55GP 6-21-27 -13 14PIM
Gianluca was held scoreless in the Whalers first two games in which they lost to Erie and beat Niagara. Gianluca picked up an assist in the Whaler’s 3-1 win over Saginaw on Victor Crus-Rydberg’s second period power play goal.
Nick Moutrey-Saginaw Spirit (OHL)
Season Stats-65GP 15-24-39 +13 82PIM
Nick and the Spirit opened the week with a game against Windsor with Nick picking up two assists. Nick won a board battle and got the puck to Jesse Graham whose point shot would be stopped with Dylan Sadoway finishing to make it 1-0. Later with Saginaw leading 6-2, Nick skated in and cycled the puck to Justin Kea who found Eric Locke for his second of the game in the 8-3 win. Nick was held scoreless in a 3-1 loss to Plymouth on Sunday.
Oliver Bjorkstrand-Portland Winterhawks (WHL)
Season Stats 65GP 45-57-102 +39 34PIM
Oliver and the Winterhawks keep rolling on with Oliver making some history this week. In the week’s first game, Oliver was held scoreless for the second time in three games in a win over Tri-City before getting back on track. Up next was a game against rival Seattle in which Oliver picked up three points to give him 100 points on the season – the first ever import player to achieve this for the Winterhawks franchise. Late in the first Oliver sent a crossrink pass to Brendan Leipsec for his 35th of the season. Again, late in the second period, Oliver took a pass from Leipsec and fired a laser to make it 4-3. To close out his three point night, Oliver and Leipsec hooked up again with Leipsec finishing the play. After the goal was reviewed, the Hawks would win 7-3 and Oliver was named third star.
To finish up the weekend the Vancouver Giants came to Portland and the Hawks picked up a 4-1 win in which Oliver had another multi point game. 3:33 into the first Oliver drew all the Giants attention and was able to finda wide open Chase De Leo who scored his 39th goal of the season. In the third with only two minutes remaining, Taylor Leier beat out an icing call and waited until the last second before finding Oliver to score his 45th of the season to make it 4-1.
Martin Ouellette-Maine Black Bears (Hockey East)-Playoffs
Season Stats (College combines playoffs with regular season) 32GP 15-13-4 .927Sv% 2.22GAA 4SO
Martin and the Black Bears faced off against the Merrimack Warriors in a single elimination opening round game. Martin made 29 saves for his eighth career shutout in a 2-0 win. Up next for the Bears is a series with Providence. In an odd turn of events every quarterfinal match-up is a rematch of the team’s final regular season games. In their series two weeks ago, the Friars swept the Black Bears and Martin was pulled halfway through the Saturday game.
Mike Reilly-Minnesota Golden Gophers (Big Ten)
Season Stats 34GP 8-20-28 +23 14PIM
Mike, Seth and the rest of the Gophers were in Columbus this week for a series against the Buckeyes and I was in attendance. Mike was the only prospect to pick up a point but Seth started both games and played quite physically in all situations. Mike was the star of the weekend – he picked up four points including a career high on Friday. Mike picked up an assist 2:03 into the game on Justin Kloos’ goal and he picked up another 14 minutes later when his point shot was stopped but Kyle Rau gathered the rebound for his ninth. Mike’s third point came (again) on the power play with Taylor Cammaratta finishing it. The Gophers won the game 5-1.
In the rematch on Saturday Mike again picked up an early assist on Rau’s game opening goal on a play that was almost a carbon copy of his second assist Friday. The Gophers fell on Saturday in a shootout but it went into the record books as a tie. Mike is as advertised – an amazing offensive talent with his defense needing a little work but he was very impressive moving the puck and shooting -including three in a row at the end of warm-ups when he skated to a puck and snapped shots one right after another.
TJ Tynan-Notre Dame Fighting Irish (Hockey East)-Playoffs
Season Stats 35GP 8-25-33 +9 22PIM
TJ and the Irish took on the Boston University Terriers in a single elimination game with TJ picking up two assists. Early in the first, Sam Herr stole the puck and passed it to TJ who faked a shot then passed to Bryan Rust who scored to make it 1-0. Midway through the second period TJ picked up his second assist but you can’t see it in the highlights. The Irish won the game 3-2 and will move on to face Boston College next weekend.
Alexander Wennberg-Frolunda (SHL)
Final Regular Season Stats 50GP 16-5-21 -5 8PIM
Alexander and the Indians completed their regular season last week with three games in which Alexander was held scoreless.
Quickly, Markus Soberg made his SHL debut in the Indian’s season finale playing 2:05 and dressing as the 13th forward.
Alexander’s rookie season in the SHL was a successful one – he finished second among rookies in scoring while leading SHL rookies in goal scoring and power play goals. He also tied for the team lead in power play goals. Wennberg and the Indians finished second in the SHL with a record of 29-15-11 in the playoffs and they’ll play one of the winners of one of the two play in series – either the winner of MODO and Linkopings or Leksands-HV71.
Anton Forsberg-MODO (SHL)
Final Regular Season Stats 22GP 11-7-1-3 2.44GAA .919Sv% 1SO
Anton wouldn’t play in any of MODO’s last three games last week – he has sat for their last four games. After dominating in the lower Allsvenskan last season, he has played sparingly in the second half. I don’t expect Anton to play much in the playoffs since Ullmark is in the top 10 in GAA and they lead the league in save percentage. Up next for MODO is a three game series against Linkopings for one of the two undecided playoff spots.
Daniel Zaar-Rogle BK (Allsvenskan)
Final Regular Season Stats 52GP 16-20-36 -5 28PIM
PlayOff-Serien 2GP 1-2-3 +2 0PIM
Daniel and Rogle finished the regular season with a 5-0 loss to Djurgardens. Daniel finished second on Rogle in scoring and led the team in power play goals – finishing second on the team in goals. Up next was the PlayOff-Serien in which teams in fourth through seventh play each other home and away with the top team being the fourth team to play for a chance to move up into the SHL next season. First up was a game against BIK Karlskoga who Daniel was loaned to late last season. With Rogle trailing 2-1, Daniel skated into the corner, passed back and forth with a pointman before getting the puck back and firing a laser to tie the game 2-2. Rogle would win it in a shootout. Up next was a game against Karlskrona. With Rogle leading 2-0, Daniel skated in with speed around the net before finding Kelsey Tessier in front to make it 3-0. Late in the game Daniel would do most of the work on an empty net goal in which he had a player all over him before snapping a shot that would bounce off the post right to Tessier to make it 4-2.
Marko Dano-Slovan Bratislava (KHL)
Final Regular Season Stats 41GP 3-2-5 -11 41PIM
Marko and the EaglePenguins played their season finale this week with Marko playing his final KHL game for a while, but more on that later. In the 3-2 loss to Medvescak Zagreb, Marko scored his third goal of the season and first since December 8th when Peter Olvecky was hauled down but got the puck to Marko in front to make it 1-0. Unfortunately, Slovan lost the game 3-2 (fast forward to 3:35).
On Thursday Marko tweeted that he had signed his entry level contract with the Blue Jackets meaning he could come over and play in Springfield. At first I found this odd since Slovan was going to play in the Nadezhda Cup (for teams that didn’t make the playoffs) but according to Marko’s social manager (his what?) Marko wasn’t going to take part in these games. Meaning that when Slovan is done (down 1-0 in its two game series, they play both no matter what) they will terminate his contract meaning he can sign with the Jackets and join the Falcons whenever he gets his paperwork finished. Here is a translated interview with Marko talking about his season and playing in the AHL.
There you have it folks – another week in the world of Blue Jackets prospects. As for next we will have the final regular season games of the North American prospects.
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