Hello all! We are slowly getting to where every prospect is playing, with only two prospects waiting to play their first game (one next week, one at the end of the month. Darn Ivy League).
Starting off in Lake Erie (that’s gonna take some used to), the Monsters helped the Rochester Americans open their 60th season. The Monsters would allow the Amerks to take a 2-0 lead before Ryan Craig scored his first of the season, deflecting a Mike Paliotta point shot to make it 2-1. After another Americans goal, the Monsters would strike again when Alex Broadhurst stole the puck and found Markus Hannikainen, who fired a shot just above the circles to make it 3-2. Later in the second another North American rookie scored his first goal. Out of a scramble in front, Kerby Rychel’s shot would come out to Broadhurst, who found Dean Kukan from almost the same spot as Hannikainen’s earlier goal. The Monsters would allow three third period goals including two by Matt Ellis to complete his hat trick. Anton Forsberg stopped 18 of 23 in the 6-3 loss. The Monsters are off until their home opener, part of a back to back with Iowa on Friday and Saturday. I will be reporting live from Cleveland for the game Saturday night.
Peter Quenneville was assigned to the Cincinnati Cyclones this week instead of the CBJ’s ECHL Affiliate the Kalamazoo Wings (not sure when this happened that you can assign players to any ECHL team). Peter would pick up an assist in each of the Cyclones two preseason wins over Wheeling.
Kole Sherwood-London Knights (OHL)
Season Stats 6GP 3-5-8 +2 8PIM
Kole and the Knights opened the week with a game against Sudbury. After a scoreless first Kole, helped CBJ Traverse City invite Brandon Crawley score his first of two in this game. Kole started the sequence getting the puck to the point, where it came loose with Kole gathering it and tapping it to Crawley who skated, in shooting from the redline to make it 1-0. Later in the game after the Knights goalie scored to make it 3-0 (delayed penalty) and a goal by Mitchell Marner, Kole would complete a five goal second period. Sam Miletec and Kole broke into the zone, skating into the slot and snapping a shot to make it 5-0 in a 6-2 Knights win. Up next it was off to Owen Sound, and in the 2-1 loss Kole would pick up an assist on the Knight’s only goal.
Olivier LeBlanc-Cape Breton Screaming Eagle (QMJHL)
Season Stats 8GP 0-7-7 +4 24PIM
Olivier and the Eagles had three games this week with Olivier picking up an assist in each game. First up against Victoriaville, Olivier would pick up an assist on Maxim Lazarev’s goal to make it 2-1 in a 4-3 overtime loss. Up next against Baie-Comeau, Olivier would pick up an assist in the 3-2 Eagles loss. Olivier would close out the week picking up an assist in a 4-1 loss to Chicoutimi.
Julien Pelletier-Sherbrooke Phoenix (QMJHL)
Season Stats 7GP 7-1-8 -5 4PIM
Julien and the Phoenix opened the week with a 5-2 loss to Val-d’Or, with Julien scoring two goals for the second straight game. This gave him five on the season in just four games after only scoring 10 in 53 games last year. In the next game against one of his old teams, the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, Julien had a goal and an assist for his third straight multi point game. Next against Acadie-Bathurst, Julien would score a goal in the fourth straight game, tying a career high. With the Phoenix leading 2-0, Julien skated in on a three on two with Julien taking the pass in the slot snapping a shot to make it 3-0 in a 4-1 Sherbrooke win. Julien had his four game point streak broken in a 4-3 loss to Val-d’Or. During the streak Julien scored six goals and an assist for seven points.
Paul Bittner-Portland Winterhawks (WHL)
Season Stats 5GP 2-1-3 -3 11PIM
Paul and the Hawks opened the week against division rival Spokane. Paul would open the scoring with Alex Schoenborn, who passed to Rodrigo Abols, who then dropped a pass to Paul, firing a shot to make it 1-0. Later in the game with the Hawks leading 3-0, Blake Heinrich drove in, passed to Schoenborn, who then got the puck to Paul, who then hit a crashing Abols to make it 4-0 in a 5-0 Winterhawks win.
Keegan Kolesar-Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL)
Season Stats 5GP 2-5-7 E 0PIM
Keegan and the T-Birds faced off against the Prince Albert Raiders, with Keegan being the star. With the Birds leading 2-0, Ethan Bear fired a shot that would be stopped, with the puck going into the air and Keegan grabbing it out of the air and getting it to Mathew Barzal who fired a blast to make it 2-1. The trio would combine again later in the game when Bear would pass to Barzal, who passed to Keegan down low, who drove the net, sliding the puck through the five hole to tie it. Keegan would score in the shootout, and despite Keegan’s quote, it looks like Keegan used Ryan Johansen’s “dirty downshift” move. Here are some postgame quotes from Keegan and T-Birds coach Steve Konowalchuk
Kevin Stenlund-HV71 (Sweden)
J20 Stats 4GP 1-6-7 +5 27PIM
Quickly an update on Kevin Stenlund. Kevin has been seeing fourth line/extra forward duty with the Chainsaws in the SHL (including a whopping 31 seconds of icetime on Saturday against Lulea). However, when he plays a game with the J20 team, he’s a star. This includes a four assist game this week against the HK Karlskrona, which ended with a 9-0 win.
Gabriel Carlsson-Linkoping HC (Sweden)
J20 Stats 5GP 0-3-3 E 6PIM
Like Stenlund Gabriel spent some time this week with the J20, team picking up an assist in a 4-3 shootout win over Rogle BK. He would then go pointless in a win over Malmo.
Oscar Dansk-Rogle BK(Sweden)
Season Stats 7GP 3-3-1 1.99GAA .933SV% 1SO
Oscar opened the week picking up his third win of the season, making 34 saves in a 4-2 win over HV71. To close out the week, Oscar would take the L in a 3-1 loss, stopping 22 of 24.
Markus Nutivaara-Oulu Karpat (Finland)
CHL Stats 6GP 1-0-1 +2 0PIM
Markus Nutivaara and Karpat took part in game two of the round of 32 in the Champions Hockey League, facing off against German club Dusseldorfer EG. Game one was a 2-0 Karpat victory, and game two would be more of the same. In the first, with Karpat leading 2-0 and on a five minute power play due to a Norman Milley elbowing call, Markus gathered a loose puck at his own blueline, caught DEG on a line change, skated in and snapped a shot for his first point of the tournament. Markus and the Stoats are off to the next round, facing off against Czech club Sparta Prague, featuring one time Jacket Tomas Popperle.
Veeti Vainio-KeuPa HT (Finland)
Season Stats 2GP 0-1-1 +1 14PIM
Veeti finally got to play this season, as he was assigned to KeuPa HT in Mestis (Finland’s minor league) for three weeks. In his debut against Hermes, Veeti had an assist in a 4-3 shootout win, in which Veeti missed in the shootout. Veeti and all his teammates would go pointless in a 4-0 loss to SaPKo.
I’ll be back next week with Zach Werenski playing his first games that count in his time as a CBJ prospect, along with a live report on Saturday’s Monsters’ game.
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