Greetings, all! Time for the usual week in review.
Starting off in the AHL, the Monsters continued their road trip with a school day game in Milwaukee and it wasn’t too pretty for the Monsters. The Admirals roared out to a 4-0 lead before the second period when Alex Broadhurst who has played quite strongly as of late, stole the puck and found Michael Chaput who skated in and scored his team leading fifth goal of the season. Just over a minute later, the Monsters struck again when, on the power play, Markus Hannikainen tried to pass but the puck went off an Ads dman and into the net to make it 4-2. Late in the third, Sonny Milano complete the scoring for the day with his second of the season to make it 6-3. Anton Forsberg started the game but was pulled after the first when he stopped only eight of 11. Joonas Korpisalo took the loss after stopping 22 of 25. The game was a fight filled affair with Justin Falk, Brett Gallant and Oleg Yevenko getting into fights. Admirals player Kevin Fiala earned a two game suspension for taking a run at Korpisalo (this is what led to Gallant’s fight – at least according to the commentators.)
Next up was a back-to-back series at home against Grand Rapids. Starting on Friday, Dillon Heatherington opened the scoring with his first career goal late in the first period. Just under two minutes into the second, Josh Anderson drove to the net and was stopped but Broadhurst picked up the rebound to make it 2-0. The Monsters allowed the Griffins to tie the game and it ended up going a shootout. In the skills competition, Milano and TJ Tynan were stopped before Kerby Rychel would get his chance. Kerby skated in with speed before slowing down and going forehand backhand to put it past the Griffins netminder for the win. In the victory, Forsberg had 21 saves and stopped all three in the shootout.
As an aside, Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen attended Friday’s game and when he returned to Columbus, he brought Rychel with him as an emergency recall for the injured Brandon Dubinsky.
To close out the weekend, I made the trek up to Cleveland to watch the second game against the Griffins and this might be the first week in review with a big celebrity guest as 50 Cent dropped the puck at the Monsters game. The Monsters got off to a great start when just five minutes in Milano tipped an Andrew Bodnarchuk point shot to make it 1-0. Later, just after a Monsters penalty kill, Tynan was off on a two on one with Anderson who finished for his second of the season. Later, in the first, after another penalty, Broadhurst won a board battle and found Ryan Craig in front to give the Monsters a 3-0 lead going into the break. In the second, Tynan and Anderson hooked up again when TJ stole the puck, skated in and fired off a shot the Griffins goalie would stop it but the puck got to Anderson who shot and scored for his first career two goal game. Late in the second, and I mean very very very late, after a Korpisalo save, Michael Paliotta got the puck to Daniel Zaar who skated the length of the ice before firing a shot at the circle for his third of the season with one second left. The Monsters did allow a goal in the third ending the shutout but Korpisalo had a career high 37 saves in the win.
Kole Sherwood-London Knights (OHL)
Season Stats 18GP 8-12-20 +12 12PIM
A light week for Kole and the Knights as they only had two games but Kole had a big night in one of them. In a game against Guelph, with the Knights leading 2-0, Kole took a pass from Owen MacDonald before getting the puck to Aaron Berisha who scored to make it 3-0. Later, with the Knights leading 6-2, Kole started and finished a sequence when his shot started a scramble in front that somehow Kole collected and got into the net. Later in the game, with the Knights leading 9-4, Kole took a pass in the slot, fired and then picked up his own rebound to make it 10-4 Knights. Kole’s three points sets a new high for him, he’s previously had four two point games. Kole was held pointless in a 3-1 loss to Erie – a game that featured the OHL’s top six scorers.
Blake Siebenaler-Niagara IceDogs (OHL)
Season Stats 19GP 2-6-8 +8 4PIM
Blake and the Dogs had a pair of games against OHL teams this week. Starting off against Ottawa, in the second with the Dogs trailing 3-2, Blake sent a pass that Jordan Maletta tipped to Mikkel Aagaard who made it 4-3 in a 6-3 Dogs loss. Up next against Oshawa, Blake kept putting up points when, in the third, he fired a shot that Johnny Corneil would tip to make it 2-2 in a 4-2 Dogs win.
Markus Soberg-Windsor Spitfires (OHL)
Season Stats 8GP 2-2-4 +1 4PIM
Markus and the Spits opened the week against Mississauga and Markus scored his second of the season. In the third, with the Spits leading 5-4, Markus skated in on a two-on-one and waited out a diving Steelhead dman before firing to make it 6-4 in a 7-4 win. Markus was held pointless in a 3-2 overtime win over Sault Ste Marie.
Julien Pelletier-Sherbrooke Phoenix (QMJHL)
Season Stats 19GP 11-7-18 -4 15PIM
Julien opened a big week pointswise by picking up an assist in a win over Gatineau. Des Oiseaux game against Shawinigan ended as a career night for Julien when he was part of every goal the Phoenix scored in a 4-1 win, Julien’s previous high was a three point night back in 2013. Julien had two assists and two goals – both of which were almost exactly the same, coming via an accurate wrist shot, (the second knocked the goalie’s water bottle off the net.)
Paul Bittner-Portland Winterhawks (WHL)
Season Stats 19GP 4-9-13 -1 21PIM
Paul picked up his only point of the week in a 6-2 win over Tri-City when, in the first, Paul received a pass and delivered the puck to Jack Dougherty. Dougherty passed to Rihards Bukarts who fired off a shot to make it 1-0 Hawks. Paul was held pointless in games against Swift Current and Vancouver.
Keegan Kolesar-Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL)
Season Stats 19GP 14-13-27 +8 27PIM
Keegan and the TBirds loaded up the bus onto the ferry and it was off to Victoria for a pair against the Royals. In the third with Seattle trailing 2-0, Keegan took the puck out of the corner and backhanded a shot to make it 2-1 in a 4-2 Tbirds comeback win. Keegan was named third star in the win.
In the rematch, about three minutes after the Royals made it 1-0 Keegan received a pass from Mathew Barzal at just about the goalline and fired a shot to tie it. Five minutes into the second, Keegan won a board battle and got the puck out to Turner Ottenbreit of the Long Island Ottenbreits. That shot was blocked but Ottenbreit got the puck back and found Barzal who made it 2-1 in a 3-1 TBirds win. Keegan was named second star.
Zach Werenski-Michigan (Big 10)
Season Stats 7GP 2-5-7 E 0PIM
Zach and the Wolverines welcomed the Purple Eagles of Niagara to Yost and the game went as you would expect it to with these two teams on the ice. Zach picked up his two points when the game was already out of hand. In the third, with the Wolverines leading 5-2, Zach took the puck off a faceoff win and wound up a shot that was stopped but two Wolverines were in front to put the puck past the Eagles goalie. Five minutes later, again off a faceoff, Zach got the puck from his D partner and hammered a shot to make it 7-2 in a 7-3 Wolverines win.
Markus Nutivaara-Oulu Karpat (CHL/Liiga)
CHL Stats 8GP 2-2-4 +6 0PIM
Liiga Stats 20GP 4-5-9 +3 8PIM
Markus and the Stoats opened last week playing in the Champions Hockey League where they trail 4-2 in aggregate scoring. In the third period with Karpat leading 2-1, Markus fired a shot that Sebastian Aho tipped past the Sparta goalie. Markus added another assist on a late goal that gave Karpat a 6-5 aggregate series win. In the next round, Markus will face off against Veeti Vainio and Blues. Returning to Liiga action, Markus opened with a two point game against HPK. In the first, Markus’ point shot was tipped by Ivan Huml to make it 1-0. Markus added another assist five minutes later on Miro Aaltonen’s goal to make it 2-0 in a 5-3 Karpat win.
Elvis Merzlikins-HC Lugano (National League A)
Season Stats 19GP 9-6-2-1 2.62GAA .927Sv% 1SO
Elvis continues to be the Panthers workhorse in net. He played in all three games this week and went 2-1. First up against Lausanne, Elvis had 38 saves in a 6-2 victory. After three days off, The team returned to the ice to face Kloten and Elvis stopped 22 of 24 in a 3-2 victory before losing to the top team in the league, Fribourg-Gottéron, 3-1 in a game where Elvis made 39 saves.
There you have it, folks – another week in the world of the CBJ prospects. We’ll be back next week when the Monsters are out on the road again for a pair against Iowa (games five and six already this season) and a game against Rockford in another three in three. We’ll also have updates fromround two of the I5 rivalry when Paul Bittner and the Winterhawks travel to Seattle to face the Thunderbirds.
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