A tiny change of format as I will be waiting until the end of the current playoff series to write about the CHL playoffs. The all Jackets prospect OHL Western Conference Final between the London Knights and Plymouth Whalers is currently tied at 1. So that means this week will be part season review and part playoff preview for the Springfield Falcons. So without further adieu here we go.
The Falcons were busy last week playing four games, going 3-1. They finished the year second in the Eastern Conference and the entire AHL. Starting off on Sunday the Falcons would play their home finale with the team handing out its team awards with Curtis McElhinney being named MVP and Nick Holden being the only two award winner. The whole list of award winners is here. As for the game, Andrew Joudrey would open the scoring when Blake Parlett would start the rush by getting the puck to Ryan Russell who’d chip the puck cross rink, with Joudrey snapping the puck past Jason Missiaen for his ninth of the season. The Whale would score two goals and Jonathan Audy-Marcessault would get in a fight (wait what?) to close out the first period. In the second period after Spencer Machacek would win a board battle getting the puck to Dalton Smith, who would bang away at the puck before it would come out to Michael Chaput who’d bury it for his 12th of the season. The Whale would score to go up 3-2. Late in the second period Audy-Marchessault would disrupt a Whale pass behind the net passing the puck to Matthew Ford for his eighth of the season to tie the game. In the final seconds the Falcons would create pressure down low where Machacek would get the puck out to David Savard who’d fire a slapshot that would bounce to Boone Jenner who’d collect the rebound for his first pro game winning goal. Allen York made 16 saves in the 4-3 win.
Wednesday the Falcons would travel to Worchester for a game against the Sharks. Pretty much all the game’s offense would happen in the first period as the teams would swap goals, with the game being tied at three going into the first intermission. Sorry folks no highlights, but Boone Jenner would push in a Nick Drazenovic shot for his second game in a row. Spencer Machacek and Michael Chaput would combine for a two on one, with Machacek finishing it. Jake Hansen would score his third goal of the season when he’d take a Trent Vogelhuber pass. The Falcons would clinch the win when Machacek would get a few whacks at it before the loose puck would come out to Chaput, who’d tap in the rebound for his first pro game winning goal. McElhinney would make 29 saves in the 4-3 victory. Thursday the Falcons would announce that Jackets prospect Lukas Sedlak had been signed to an ATO.
Friday night would be a big one as the Falcons and Providence Bruins would play with the birds having a chance to tie the Bruins for top spot in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins would take a 2-0 lead before Matthew Ford would redirect a Will Weber point shot. Weber would pick up another assist on Jonathan Audy-Marchessault’s 21st goal of the season (a Will Weber multi point game? what kind of Bizarro World is this?). Blake Parlett would score his second with the Falcons when he’d fire a slapshot from the point, beating AHL top goaltender award winner Niklas Svedberg. It was a battle of the AHL’s All Star goalies, with McElhinney making 29 saves in the 5-3 loss. To close out the season on Sunday the Falcons would to travel to Glen Falls to take on the Phantoms. Boone would open the scoring 1:29 into the first when he’d finish a two on one with Sean Collins. In the second period, after Mark Alt would score his first pro goal for the Phantoms, Spencer Machacek would take a drop pass from Nick Drazenovic and slide it past netminder Brian Boucher. Drazenovic would create the Falcon’s third goal when he’d find Jake Hansen in the slot for Jake’s first pro game winning goal (the third of those last week). The Phantoms would score one more time to make the final score 3-2. Allen York would make 20 saves for his 13th win of the season. It would be a five way tie for the weekly scoring lead, with Michael Chaput, Boone Jenner, JAM, Spencer Machacek, Matthew Ford all picking up four points with Boone leading the way with three goals and an assist. Nick Drazenovic and Sean Collins would each have three assists.
Springfield would win its first division title since the 1997-98 season and make the playoffs for the first time since the 2002-03 season. They are also the first Blue Jackets affiliate to make the playoffs since 2007-08 season. Jonathan Audy-Marchessault, signed to an ELC after dominating the Falcons last year with the Whale, would lead the Falcons in scoring with 67 points in 74 games which was tied for fourth in the league. JAM scored 64 points in 76 games last season. Nick Holden would lead the Falcons defensemen in scoring, setting a career high with 39 points in 74 games which was sixth in the AHL. Nick would also set a new franchise record, being a +24 breaking John Stevens and Danny Briere’s record. Curtis McElhinney would break Springfield’s all time shutout record and become the franchise’s leader in shutouts with him having nine this season, also leading the AHL in shutouts. Sticking with goalies for a second, Allen York was one of three AHL goalies to be perfect in shootouts and was the only one to appear in multiple shootouts. Michael Chaput led Falcons rookies in scoring picking up 32 points in 73 games, while Dalton Smith was second among AHL rookies in penalty minutes and fighting majors. The Falcons took over the AHL’s Northeast Division lead after four games and never looked back in clinching its third division title ever. The Falcons were almost perfect when leading after two periods going 35-1-0-0 leading the league in that category. The Falcons were perfect when scoring four goals going 14-0-0-0, and going 27-0-1-0 when scoring four or more goals. Here’s the Falcons final weekly notes for the regular season with a bunch of other season stats and information.
As the Northeast Division Champs the Falcons win the F.G. “Teddy” Oke Trophy and will be the second seed in the Eastern Conference facing the seventh seeded Manchester Monarchs (Los Angeles’ affiliate). The Monarchs were third in the Atlantic Division going 37-32-3-4 (W-L-OTL-SOL). The Monarchs boast a player that tied JAM in scoring, in leading scorer Linden Vey who picked up 67 in 74 games (22-45-67). Manchester also boasts the AHL rookie of the year in Tyler Toffoli who leads the Monarchs in goal scoring with 28. In the season series The Falcons dominated, going 4-1-0-1 with one win coming in a shootout. Ryan Craig and Nick Drazenovic led the Falcons in scoring in the season series with six points, Craig with two goals and four assists and Drazenovic with six assists. Jonathan Audy-Marchessault had four goals and an assist with David Savard (0-5-5), Michael Chaput (2-3-5), Nick Holden (1-4-5) also scoring five points. Three of JAM’s four goals were in a 7-5 Falcons victory, the Birds first hat trick in almost two years. Curtis McElhinney played in four of the six games going 3-0-0-1 with a 2.16GAA and .927 save percentage with a shutout. Allen York won his only appearance against the Monarchs stopping 22 of 27 in a 7-5 win, while Paul Dainton would take the Falcons only regulation loss stopping 27 of 29. Leading the Monarchs in scoring was Linden Vey with a goal and four assists, with 2012 first round pick Tanner Pearson, Tyler Toffolo and Brandon Kozun all having four points. The Monarchs would use two goalies with one more playing because Peter Mannino was pulled. Martin Jones was the Monarchs top goalie this season going 27-25-4 with 5 shutouts and a 2.53GAA and .919 save percentage In the season series Martin went 0-3 with a 2.97GAA and .900 save percentage. Peter Mannino was the only Monarchs goalie to pick up a victory against the Falcons.
SERIES PREDICTION: Falcons in 3 (1st round series is best of 5)
There you have it folks a recap of a very successful season down on the farm. Also for you purists Saturday morning bust out the razor then put it away…unless you plan on doing it for the CBJ (crosses fingers).
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
