Greetings all! Time again for the prospect week in review and we’re starting off in Springfield. Seems the Falcons had some extra goals lying around and decided to use them all. First up, the St John’s Ice Caps travelled down to the states for two with the Falcons. Starting off on Wednesday, Kerby Rychel opened the scoring when he picked up the rebound of a Dana Tyrell shot just 1:20 into the game. Five minutes later with the birds on the power play, off a faceoff the puck got to Thomas Larkin who fired a shot to make it 2-0. After a late first period goal by St John’s, the Falcons struck again when Ryan Craig scored his sixth of the season. Craig deposited the rebound of an Austin Madaisky point shot. After two more Caps goals, Lukas Sedlak scored his first of the season when he took a pass from Josh Anderson and knocked one home on the breakaway. In the third, Madaisky finished the scoring when he stepped into a Lukas Sedlak pass to make it 5-3 Falcons. Oscar Dansk made 16 saves in the win.
Friday night in the rematch it was more of the same as Sean Collins started things off by scored just 1:27 into the game. After a Caps goal late in the first, Tyrell skated in and stickhandled to make it 2-1. In the second Jerry D’Amigo fired a shot from the circle for his third of the season. 10 minutes later St John’s would score shorthanded before Tyrell struck again off a deflection. In the third period Trent Vogelhuber found Madaisky who fired a shot top corner making it 5-2. After two goals by St John’s, Sedlak scored an empty netter to make it 6-4 with Oscar Dansk making 32 saves in the win.
To close out the week it was off to Manchvegas for a game with the Monarchs. in the 2-1 loss, Sean Collins scored the Falcons’ only goal late in the third when he tipped a Larkin shot from the sideboard. Scott Munroe made 27 saves in the loss.
Blake Siebenaler-Niagara IceDogs (OHL)
Season Stats 18GP 4-6-10 -4 13PIM
Blake and the Dogs opened the week with a game against Connor McDavid and the Dogs did something no one had been able to do all season – shut him down. The Dogs ended McDavid’s 14 game season opening scoring streak. In the 5-2 win, Blake set a career high with three points. In the first period trailing 1-0, Blake unleashed a bomb from the point to tie the game at one. Late in the second leading 3-2, Blake skated down low and threw the puck into the slot with Hayden McCool corralling it and shooting as he was knocked down. To close it out, off a faceoff Blake would get the puck to McCool who sent a pass Graham Knott who skated in and scored. Blake was held pointless against Mississauga before being a hero against Sarnia. In the first, with the Dogs on a five on three, Blake fired a blast after a tic tac toe passing play to make it 1-0 in a 2-0 IceDogs win.
Sonny Milano-Plymouth Whalers (OHL)
Season Stats 7GP 1-10-11 -8 2PIM
Sonny was held pointless against the Soo Greyhounds before picking up back to back two assist nights. In a 3-2 shootout win against Owen Sound, both of Sonny’s assists came on the power play with Sonny also scoring in the shootout. Up next against Kitchener, Sonny assisted on Plymouth’s first two goals in a 4-3 overtime win.
Nick Moutrey-Saginaw Spirit (OHL)
Season Stats 17GP 7-13-20 +3 19PIM
Nick and the Spirit were road warriors this week travelling to Canada, down to Pennsylvania, then back to Canada. Starting off against Guelph, Nick was the star in a 3-1 win over the defending OHL Champs. Very early in the third period trailing 1-0, Nick went into the corner and got the puck to Dylan Sadowy who shot and Nick picked up the rebound at the side for his fourth of the season. Halfway through the period Nick would again take a pass from Sadowy at the redline behind the Guelph defense. He then skated in and scored his fifth. Nick was named first star in the 3-1 win.
In a 8-1 loss to Erie, Nick picked up an assist on the Spirit’s only goal. To close out the week in Kitchener, Nick was again the star of the team’s overtime win. In the second tied at two, Nick took a pass from the point, skated to the faceoff circle and snapped a shot over the Rangers’ goalie shoulder. Nick picked up an assist on the team’s next goal but you don’t see it in the highlights. After two Rangers goals in the third, Nick scored the game winner when he deflected a Keaton Middleton point shot. Nick was named first star in the 5-4 overtime win.
Markus Soberg-Windsor Spitfires
Season Stats 17GP 2-5-7 -7 6PIM
After being held pointless in a 4-2 win over Owen Sound, Markus scored a pretty one against London. In the first trailing 1-0, Markus got the puck at the redline, skated through the Knights D and, with the goalie already down, scored his second of the season. The Spits would lose the game 5-3. Markus (and the rest of the team for that matter) was held pointless in a 3-0 loss to Owen Sound.
Olivier LeBlanc-Saint John Sea Dogs (QMJHL)
Season Stats 17GP 3-11-14 +19 42PIM
Olivier and the Dogs were off to Acadie-Bathurst to open their two game road trip this week with Olivier picking up an assist on Daniel Del Paggio’s third of the season in a 4-2 Sea Dogs win. In another 4-2 victory, this time over Halifax, Olivier picked up an assist on Justice Dundas’ second of the game during the second period.
Peter Quenneville-Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)
Season Stats 20GP 4-17-21 +4 6PIM
Peter and the Wheat Kings played their first home game since October 18th when Peter scored his fourth goal of the season. That goal also made him the first CBJ prospect to hit 20 points this year. Five minutes after little brother John had scored, Peter took a drop pass from Rihards Bukarts, fired a shot and picked up his own rebound to make it 3-0 in a 6-2 victory. Up next against Calgary, Peter picked up an assist on Bukarts goal. In what ended as a 2-1 shootout win it looks like Peter got a piece of a point shot going to Bukarts who had a wide open net to shoot into.
Oliver Bjorkstrand-Portland Winterhawks (WHL)
Season Stats 16GP 11-9-20 +8 10PIM
Oliver was held pointless for only the fourth time this season before having a big game against Kamloops. In that 4-3 overtime win, Oliver picked up three points. With only 22 seconds left in the first Oliver drove in and passed the puck to Nic Petan who passed into the slot. A teammate missed the puck and it went out to Layne Viveiros who fired a bomb to make it 2-2. Oliver scored his 11th of the season when, working off a cycle with Petan on the power play, Petan found Bjorkstrand wide open near the circle. Oliver fired a laser top shelf and well, look at the flex of Oliver’s stick on this folks. On the game winner, ok I’m biased, but Oliver did all the work driving the net with Nic Petan being Johnny on the spot when he picked up a rebound to give the Hawks a 4-3 victory. The three points gave Oliver 192 career points in 150 games which according (later corrected this) to Hawks color man Andy Kemper is now the Winterhawks all-time leading scorer among imports. Oliver also now has 100 career assists.
Dillon Heatherington-Swift Current Broncos (WHL)
Season Stats 19GP 1-5-6 -8 11PIM
Dillon opened the week pointless in a 2-1 in a loss to Medicine Hat before snapping a four game streak off the scoresheet in a game against Lethbridge. In the third period with the Broncos trailing 3-0, Dillon picked up an assist on Tyler Steenbergen’s third of the season. The Broncos won the game 4-3 in overtime. Dillon was again held pointless in a shootout loss to Kootenay but he got into his first fight of the season taking on Austin Vetterl in the second period. Next week Dillon will play in two games with Team WHL in the Subway Super Series against Russia.
Mike Reilly-Minnesota Golden Gophers (Big 10)
Season Stats 8GP 2-9-11
Mike and the Gophers welcomed the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to town for a Friday-Sunday matchup due to a Gophers home football game. Starting out on Friday night the Gophers led 2-0 before Mike struck 1:49 into the third. He took a pass from Jack Glover below the faceoff circle and fired a shot top shelf to make it 3-0 in a 5-0 win. Mike would be named 3rd star in the victory. On Sunday, Mike put on a show despite having an assist taken away. In the first, leading 1-0, Mike passed the puck to Taylor Cammarata who sent a cross crease pass to Hudson Fasching to make it 2-0 on his fifth of the season. Later in the first, Mike scored his second of the season/weekend when he snapped a shot that was deflected by a Notre Dame player giving Mike credit. Mike was named 1st star in the 4-2 victory. Here are Mike’s post game comments about the game.
Daniel Zaar-Lulea
Champions Hockey League Stats 7GP 4-6-10 +6 0PIM
During the International break, Daniel and Lulea got back into CHL action with a home and home against Red Bull Salzburg (Austria). In the quarter-finals, the winner is decided by goals scored in regulation unless tied after game 2. In the second period of game one, trailing 3-0, Daniel got the puck to Marcus Fagerudd at the point whose shot was deflected by Lucas Wallmark. Late in the third period, Daniel perfectly deflected a Wallmark shot to make it 4-2. Lulea and Salzburg will play game two on the 11th. To advance, Lulea must win by at least three goals.
Quickly in the Euro Ice Hockey Challenge, Elvis Merzlikins struggled in the tournament serving as the backup in a win over Denmark. His next game had him starting against Norway and he made 30 saves in a 4-1 loss, including a goal by ex-Jacket Ole Kristian Tollefsen. In the team’s last game against France, Elvis started as Ervins Mustukovs’ backup. Mustukovs stopped all 14 shots he faced before Elvis took over (why I don’t know). In 28:46 of action Elvis stopped 17 of 20.
That’s all for this week! In addition to these recaps, I’ve brought back the “Prospect of the Week” feature – you can see this week’s choice over on my Facebook page.
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