I’m back again, Jackets fans, for the first time this season with the Springfield Falcons and the Jackets’ five NCAA prospects getting underway.
Starting off in Springfield, the Falcons began their defense of their Northeast Division Championship facing the Manchester Monarchs who they also faced in the opening round of the 2013 playoffs. The Falcons went down 1-0 when Jordan Weal deposited a rebound past Jeremy Smith who was too far out of his net and couldn’t get back in position. An unexpected source would score the Falcons first goal when one time Jacket Daryl Boyce went five hole on Martin Jones to tie the game.
In the second period, Cody Goloubef would try to clear it out but Tanner Pearson would get the puck sending it out to 2012-13 rookie of the year Tyler Toffoli to make it 2-1. A minute later Michael Chaput would assist on his own goal when he dumped the puck in and Monarchs defenseman Andrew Bodnarchuk would send it up finding Chaput in the slot who snapped it past Jones. The game would go to a shootout lasting five rounds. In the fourth, Broc Little, making his North American pro debut, skated in and did his Artem Anisimov impression snapping a backhand past Jones. Andy Andreoff would fire a weak shot with Smith barely having to make a stop to seal the victory. Smith would make 22 saves in the 3-2 shootout win.
Oscar Dansk-Erie Otter(OHL)
Season Stats 5GP 3-1-1 2.81GAA .907Sv%
Oscar and the Otters had a light week playing their home opener in the freshly renovated Erie Insurance Arena on Saturday. In the 8-4 Otters win Oscar made 16 saves picking up his third win of the season.
Josh Anderson-London Knights(OHL)
Season Stats 6GP 4-4-8 +5 11PIM
Josh and the Knights would go 3-0 with Josh being a big part of that success picking up six points. Starting off against Owen Sound, with the Knights leading 2-0, Josh would lead the rush sending a cross rink pass to Miles Liberati. Mike got some help from Chris Tierney who lifted an Attack players stick and London would win the game 4-2.
Friday night the Knights would welcome Kerby Rychel and the Windsor Spitfires. The Spits would get off to 4-2 lead before the Knights would turn on the afterburners in the third period. Josh started the comeback by picking up an assist on Chris Tierney’s third goal of the season. Two minutes later Bo Horvat and Tierney would win a board battle with Horvat taking a shot/centering pass that Spitfires goalie and CBJ Traverse City invite Jordan DeKort would get a piece of sending it right to Josh for his third goal of the season. The Knights would complete the comeback winning it 5-4, and Josh would wear an A in the victory.
Saturday night, Josh had another big night picking up three points in a 7-2 win over Guelph. Josh would pick up assists on Bo Horvat’s two first period goals with the second assist being a cross rink pass to Bo Horvat who was driving to the net. In the third period with the Knights up 4-2, Josh would score his fourth of the season from a scrum in front and a teammate sitting on top of the Storm’s goalie to make it 5-2. Josh would be named second star in the 7-2 Knights victory.
Gianluca Curcuruto-Plymouth Whalers (OHL)
Season Stats 8GP 0-3-3 -7 4PIM
It was sort of a rough week for Gianluca as the Whalers would go 1-2 with all three games being against potential CBJ teammates. Starting off against Windsor, Gianluca would be -5 and was held scoreless in a 5-1 loss. Next game in a 5-2 loss to Saginaw, Gianluca would be -1 but would wear an A in the 5-2 loss. Gianluca did pick up an assist on Ryan Hartman’s overtime game winner.
Nick Moutrey-Saginaw Spirit (OHL)
Season Stats 8GP 3-3-6 -1 4PIM
Nick and the Spirit opened the week facing Sarnia with Nick picking up a goal and an assist and being named third star in a 6-3 Spirit victory. Nick would be held scoreless in a 5-2 win over Plymouth. In the rematch, Nick scored an unassisted goal in 4-3 overtime loss.
Kerby Rychel-Windsor Spitfires(OHL)
Season Stats 6GP 6-4-12 +2 2PIM
Kerby and the Spitfires opened the week against the Plymouth Whalers. Kerby picked up an assist on the second of Ben Johnson’s three goals when he won a board battle against Gianluca Curcuruto. He then got the puck to Slater Koekkoek whose shot was deflected by Johnson. The Spits would win 5-1.
Kerby would be held scoreless in the Spitfires 5-4 loss to London in which they led 4-2 at one point.
Much like last week, Kerby finished the week with a big performance picking up a goal and three assists in a 7-4 Spitfires win. Kerby’s big game would start with the Spitfires trailing 1-0 when he picked up an assist on Eric Diodati’s second goal of the season. Six minutes later, Kerby connected with his partner in crime Josh Ho-Sang and helped Remy Giftopoulos score his second of the season. Early in the second period Kerby, Ho-Sang and the third Caballero (господа maybe) Nikita Yazkov teamed up to make it 4-2 on Ho-Sang’s fourth of the season. After the Spits would allow the IceDogs 2 goals to tie at four, it would be all Spitfires the rest of the way. Kerby picked up the game winner late in the second period. Kerby was named first star in the 7-4 victory.
Kerby is off to an amazing start with 12 points through six games after having only two points at this point last year.
Oliver Bjorkstrand-Portland Winterhawks (WHL)
Season Stats 7GP 9-6-15 +2 0PIM
Oliver continued his season opening point streak with two goals in a 6-4 victory over Spokane. Oliver would make it 4-1 off a pretty passing play with Nic Petan and Josh Hanson when Oliver snapped it over the Chief’s goalie left shoulder. Oliver would strike again when. with the Hawks leading 4-2, Oliver took a pass from Nic Petan and fired a laser again over the Chiefs’ goalies shoulder. Ultimately, the Hawks would win the game 6-4.
Oliver rode a five game point streak that netted him 14 points with eight goals and six assists, although the streak was ultimately ended in a 6-2 loss to Kelowna. Oliver would find his way back to the scoresheet however during the rematch with Kelowna when he fired a shot from the faceoff dot to make it 1-0 Winterhawks. Ultimately, the point was not enough as Portland would end up losing the game 6-3.
Dillon Heatherington-Swift Current Broncos (WHL)
Season Stats 7GP 1-4-5 +5 4PIM
Dillon has helped the Broncos be the top team in the Eastern Conference this season as the team went 3-0 last week. In the team’s first two wins Dillon would be held scoreless. In the team’s third win Dillon would pick up his first multi-point game of the season picking up two assists. In the third period with the Broncos leading 2-1, Dillon would pass it over to Glenn Gawdin who passed to Colby Cave who’d deke through two defenders scoring to make it 3-1. A few minutes later, Dillon would pick up another assist, this time off a blast from the point and all Jay Merkley had to do was tap it in to make it 4-1 in a 5-2 Broncos win.
Alexander Wennberg-Frolunda Indians (SHL)
Season Stats 9GP 3-0-3 -4 0PIM
Alexander and the Indians would go 1-1-0-1 last week with Alexander being held scoreless in the first two games – both losses. Alexander would give the Indians a 1-0 lead when he’d deposit a rebound for his third of the season. This goal marked Alex’s first point since September 17th which was a span of six games. The Indians would win the game by a score of 3-2 in a shootout.
Anton Forsberg-MODO (SHL)
Season Stats 5GP 2-2-1 2.10GAA .921Sv%
It appears MODO head coach Anders Forsberg (no relation) is alternating every two games with Anton and back up Linus Ullmark. Linus played in MODOs first game last week losing 5-3 to HV71. Anton lost his next start – a 4-3 shootout loss – making 32 saves in regulation and overtime but only stopping one of three in the shootout. Anton did bounce back – making 15 saves in a 3-2 overtime win over Orebro Hockey.
Markus Soberg-Frolunda Indians(J20 SuperElit Sodra)
Season Stats 10GP 8-4-12 +6 12PIM
The Baby Indians and Markus continued their hot start by winning their eighth straight on Wednesday with Markus scoring his seventh of the season in a 5-3 win over Farjestads. The Indians would have their winning streak snapped by HV71 in a track meet with the Indians falling by an 8-4 score. Markus picked up a goal and an assist in the match. His eight goals currently lead the league.
Joonas Korpisalo returned to the Kiekko_Vantaa crease after his injury( even if I never got 100% confirmation on what happened to him) in a big way making 22 saves in a 1-0 Mighty Fishes overtime win.
In the NCAA world, Minnesota took on the Lethbridge University Pronghorns with neither Jackets prospect picking up a point in the 5-1 Gophers win. It sounded like coach Don Lucia is still unsettled on his lines but on the sheet for the game Seth Ambroz was listed on the fourth line playing with Tom Serratore and AJ Michaelson while Mike Reilly played on the second pair with freshman Michael Brodzinski.
Peter Quenneville made his NCAA debut as the Quinnipiac Bobcats faced St. Mary’s Huskies with the Bobcats picking up a 7-2 win with Peter scoring a goal and an assist. I’ll let the QU game recap explain Peter’s goal “Quenneville put the Bobcats on the board with less than three minutes to play in the first period. Samuels-Thomas took control of the puck, skated behind the Saint Mary’s goal and, on the wrap-around, left the puck in the crease where Quenneville one-timed off the post.” Peter’s assist would come when he’d feed junior Jordan Samuels-Thomas at the blueline who then split the defenders firing a backhand to make it 4-0 Cats. The team would win the game 7-2.
Martin Ouellette and the Black Bears would face off against Jody Shelley’s alma mater Dalhousie University picking up a 5-1 victory with Martin making 17 saves.
TJ Tynan and the Irish would face off against the Guelph University Gryphons (no really, that’s how its spelled) featuring Blue Jackets 2009 draft pick/goon Kyle Neuber who earned, to the non-shock of this prospect writer, a game misconduct for a check from behind. As for the game, TJ Tynan would have a goal and an assist on the Irish’s second (assisted on) and fourth (scored) goals.
There you have it folks, another week in the world of the Blue Jackets prospects with the NCAA players playing their opening series. Stay tuned for more updates and sound off in the comments if there are players you want to hear more about!
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
