Hello all and again Happy Holidays! It’s getting to the slow time of the year with junior and European teams either on or heading into their holiday/international tournament break so we’ll go with the updates on guys who are still playing.
Starting off in Springfield as we do, it was a two game road trip for the Falcons last week. They opened up in Binghamton – home of the baby Sens (coached by ex-Jacket Luke Richardson) in a scorefest. The Sens opened the scoring on a goal by the new guy (Daniel New that is). Minutes later Alex Grant scored before Luke Adam scored his first since being acquired from Buffalo. The Sens would score two more early in the second to end Anton Forsberg’s night. Josh Anderson helped stop the bleeding with his second in as many nights and then Dana Tyrell scored seven minutes later in his first game in almost a month. Ryan Craig notched his 10th of the season with only 40 seconds remaining to tie the game. 31 seconds into the third, OSU product Ryan Dzingel gave the Senators the lead with Trent Vogelhuber scoring just under two minutes later to tie it again. Midway through the third, Kerby Rychel hit home his third game winner of the season. Forsberg only stopped 12 of 16 earning no decision while Scott Munroe stopped 16 of 17 in relief.
After that it was off to the Land of Chocolate Hershey, Pennsylvania for a game with the Bears. In the first period with the Falcons on the power play, Austin Madaisky took a pass from TJ Tynan at the left point and skated the line before firing a shot past the Bears goalie. The Bears would score five minutes into the second to tie the game and ultimately, the game would go to overtime. Overtime went late enough that it was three on three with TJ Tynan getting sprung on a breakaway by Jamie Sifers. Tynan deked and put the puck past the Bears goalie. Forsberg made 34 saves in his rookie leading 13th win of the season.
The Falcons are now off until the day after Christmas for a three in three with two being on the road.
In Kalamazoo, Oscar Dansk again took the loss in their week opening game against Fort Wayne. Unlike every other game, however, the Wings actually gave Oscar some goal support scoring four, including one with only two seconds remaining. Oscar got the night off in a 4-1 loss to Toledo. Next week the Wings will be in Toledo on Saturday for the ECHL’s first ever outdoor game.
Blake Siebenaler-Niagara IceDogs (OHL)
Season Stats 33GP 4-12-16 -6 15PIM
The Dogs closed out the first half of the year with two games last week in which Blake picked up points in both of them. First up against Owen Sound, Blake earned an assist on Graham Knott’s goal when he passed the puck to Aaron Hayden whose point shot was tipped to make it 1-1. In the third, with the Dogs leading 5-4, Blake wound up firing a shot that would take a few bounces before Jordan Maletta got the final whack at it. Unfortunately, the Dogs lost the game in overtime by a score of 8-7.
To close out the first half, it was a game against the Erie Otters. In the 6-5 shootout loss, Blake picked up an assist on the Dogs game tying goal in the third period.
Nick Moutrey-Saginaw Spirit (OHL)
Season Stats 32GP 14-21-35 +5 38PIM
Nick and the Spirit were the busiest team last week. They played three games including two against Windsor. In the opener, Nick scored the game winner when, in the second off a bit of a scrambly play, Jesse Barwell tried a fancy move but lost the puck in the process allowing Nick to gather it and sliding it past the Spitfires goalie. The Spits would add a goal late in the second to make it 2-1. Nick was held pointless in a 4-1 loss to Sarnia before heading back to Saginaw for the rematch with Windsor. In the rematch Nick picked up his 21st assist on Jacob Ringuette’s third of the season. Saginaw would go on to win the game 7-4.
Peter Quenneville-Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)
Season Stats 35GP 7-26-33 +2 8PIM
Peter and the Wheat Kings finished up the first half with a single game against Regina. Peter helped open the scoring when, 3 seconds in, from the halfwall he found brother John in the slot who made it 1-0. Later in the second period, Peter had a two on two starting of his own shot that sent Reid Duke and Tim McGauley going to the net. McGauley finished it for his 22nd of the season. The Kings fell by a score of 6-5 in overtime.
As for international play, we start off in Asiago, Italy where Markus Soberg and Team Norway were taking part in the World Junior Championships Division 1 Group A. After last Sunday, when Soberg scored an assist in a 3-0 win over Italy, he score two goals and add two assists in a 9-5 win over Austria. Up next, Markus was the hero in a 2-1 shootout win over Slovenia. Markus shot second to make it 2-1 Polar Bears with Slovenia’s next shooter missing, securing the win for Norway. Markus was held pointless in a 5-1 loss to Belarus who won the tournament and will get to be the big boys’ chum next year. For some reason in their final game against Latvia, a 1-0 win, Markus was a scratch but I’m not sure of the reason. With six points in four games, Markus finished tied for fifth in scoring while finishing second on the Norwegians in goals.
In Kindersly, Saskatchewan, Denmark used the World Junior A Challenge as a warmup for the World Junior Championships. Last week, Oliver Bjorkstrand picked up an assist in their win over Canada West before going pointless in a 4-2 win over Russia to finish up the round robin. In the rematch Oliver scored two goals in a 5-1 victory including the game winner (highlights include an interview with Coach Olaf Eller, Oliver and Nikolaj Ehlers). In the final against the US, Oliver scored his third goal of the tournament and picked up an assist in the overtime loss to the Americans. Denmark’s goalie George Sorensen set a new tournament record with 60 saves in the loss. Denmark has one more pre-tournament against Germany on Tuesday. In the World Juniors, Oliver and Denmark will play in Group B against Sweden, Russia, Czech Republic and Switzerland. They open against Russia on Boxing Day.
At Canada’s camp, the Canadians played an exhibition against Russia and fell 2-1 in overtime. After the game Canada made their final cuts. Dillon Heatherington made the squad with a near perfect game according to Brendan Ross . Canada is bringing a big group on D with only one player under 6’0″ – Red Wings signee Joe Hicketts at 5’8″. Dillon has been shown as the seventh Dman at most practices. Dillon is the first Bronco since 2011 and the first Broncos Dman since 2003 to make the team.
Canada played another exhibition against Sweden where Dillon dressed as the seventh defenseman. In the 5-2 victory over Switzerland, Dillon was held without a point. The Canadians have one more pre tournament game on Tuesday against Switzerland before opening the tournament against Slovakia.
In Boston, Ryan Collins and Sonny Milano are taking part in Team USA’s camp. Right now, Sonny appears to be a lock while Ryan seems to be on the bubble. The team played in two exhibitions this week, one against BU and another against Germany. In a 5-2 win over BU, Sonny collected two assists while playing on a line with Portland’s Chase De Leo and Miami’s Anthony Louis. Collins was paired with Michigan’s Michael Downing and did not pick up any points. NHL writer Mike Morreale had this to say about the Milano line: “It was a fun trio to watch, fast, energetic, constant motion.”
After the BU game both Jacket prospects survived the US’s first round of cuts. Here’s friend of the blog Chris Peters’ take on the game/player notes.
Sonny sat out the game against Germany which again leads me to believe he’s a lock for the squad. You can tell USA is still trying to hammer out its D as the team dressed eight Dmen instead of a 13th forward. Collins was paired again with Downing in the US’ 5-2 victory over the Germans on Sunday and had an assist on Miami’s Anthony Louis’ third period goal. The team will play Sweden on Tuesday before opening the tournament against defending champ Finland.
There you have it folks – a light week in the world of Jackets prospects with the fun of the World Juniors starting next week. For those of you interested, NHL Network will be all over the tournament. Here‘s their broadcast schedule for your viewing / DVR’ing pleasure.
Happy Holidays, all!
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