March 2-8 CBJ Prospect Week in Review

Hello, all! Time for another CBJ prospect week in review. Quickly, Monday was the trade deadline with top prospect William Karlsson joining the franchise. I put my thoughts on him here.

Moving on to the AHL (where Karlsson was headed) it was a light week this week for the Falcons with only two games on tap. Starting off on Friday, the team was off to Providence for a game with the baby Bears. In the 4-1 loss, Michael Chaput scored his ninth of the season with TJ Tynan picking up his team leading 28th assist on the goal. Anton Forsberg was a late scratch and Scott Munroe made 33 saves in the loss. The Falcons closed out the week with a game against the Baby Pens who have the hottest goalie in the AHL leading the way. Rookie Matt Murray’s last four starts have been shutouts and he’s closing in on the AHL record. The Falcons allowed Murray to go ahead and set that record with the team waiting until 1:11 remaining in the game for their first point when Dana Tyrell scored the Falcons only goal on a shorthanded breakaway in the 4-1 loss. For the curious, the new record for Murray is now 304:11 TOI, during which he’s stopped 130 consecutive shots.

Blake Siebenaler-Niagara IceDogs (OHL)
Season Stats 62GP 12-24-36 +10 25PIM
Blake opened the week in a dog fight…what? No jokes allowed? Blake’s IceDogs played the Sudbury Wolves. In the 7-1 Ice Dogs win, Blake picked up his 23rd assist of the season. Next up, it was back to Niagara for a game with the Barrie Colts. In the second with the Dogs leading 3-2, Josh Ho-Sang was in Gretzky’s office before passing out front which lead to a full on scrum. As a result, Blake scored on his second attempt with a Barrie player falling on top of him in what ended as a 6-5 Dogs win. To close out the week, Blake picked up an assist on Carter Verhaeghe’s 32nd goal of the season. In the 8-3 victory Blake was +6. The assist matches Blake’s total from last season in six less games.

Nick Moutrey-North Bay Battalion (OHL)
Season Stats 55GP 21-36-57 +18 50PIM
Nick and the Battalion opened the week with a game against the Belleville Bulls. In the 3-2 Battalion victory, Nick scored his sixth game winning goal of the season and his first as a Battalion. 13 seconds into the second period, Nick skated in and tapped the puck through a defender’s feet before sliding the puck past the Bulls goalie. Friday morning, Battalion coach Stan Butler tweeted that he witnessed Nick sign his ELC which means Nick can join the Falcons after the Battalion’s season is over (even though North Bay is expected to go deep into the playoffs). For his first post contract game, Nick picked up an assist and a goal (of the empty net shorthanded variety) in a 5-2 Troops win.

Sonny Milano-Plymouth Whalers (OHL)
Season Stats 45GP 20-41-61 -11 24PIM
The Whalers keep rolling along and are in a three-way fight for the eighth playoff spot in the East (which likely sets them up for the honor of being swept by the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds-sorry eighth seed fans). Opening the week with a pair of games against Saginaw, Sonny had a goal in each game – the first ended in a 4-0 Whalers win, the other was a 4-1 Whalers loss. The goal in the 4-1 loss was Sonny’s 20th of the season. Sonny and all the Whalers were then held pointless in a 3-0 loss to Oshawa.

Olivier LeBlanc-Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (QMJHL)
Season Stats 56GP 6-26-32 +18 81PIM
Olivier opened up the week playing in a 3-2 loss to Charlottetown. LeBlanc was pointless in the loss but went on to pick up an assist in a 4-3 loss to Moncton which snapped a six game pointless streak. Closing out the week, Olivier LeBlanc had a career night in a 5-4 win over Halifax. In the first, Olivier scored his first goal with the Eagles to tie it at two. Olivier also picked up an assist on Stephen Anderson’s 26th goal of the year. Late in the third, Olivier scored the game winner with only 36 seconds remaining to secure the 5-4 Eagles victory. The three points are a new career high for LeBlanc and mark his first career two goal game.

Julien Pelletier-Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (QMJHL)
Season Stats 48GP 10-14-24 -21 30PIM
After a seven game pointless streak, Julien scored his first goal since February 13th in a 5-1 win over Victoriaville. To close out the week against Shawinigan, Julien was held pointless in a 7-3 loss to the Cataractes a game that saw goaltender Marvin Cupper pick up two assists (I’m not kidding).

Peter Quenneville-Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)
Season Stats 66GP 26-44-70 +21 18PIM
Peter has been on a tear lately – he’s picked up points in 13 of his last 15 games since the start of February. Starting off against Lethbridge, Peter had a career first. Early in the second, Peter took a cross rink pass from Tim McGauley (who I’m liking as a mid round, pick by the way) and found an almost empty net to shoot into. 1:25 later, Peter struck again with an almost identical goal except this time, it was Morgan Klimchuk who set him up. Later in the second, Peter earned an assist on Tim McGauley’s 38th goal of the season. 33 seconds later, Peter completed his hat trick when he picked up the rebound of an Eric Roy shot to make it 7-1. Of course, Peter was named first star in a 7-3 Kings win. The win clinched the Eastern Division title and marked the first time the team hit the 100 point plateau since 2010.

Up next against Prince Albert, the Kings got off to a slow start and allowed the Raiders to roll out to a 3-0 lead before Peter took a pass and started a three on two with Klimchuk and McGauley who finished it. After another Raiders goal, Peter struck again when, after a battle along the boards, he got the puck to McGauley who found Peter at the circle to snap a shot to make it 4-2 in a 5-2 loss.

Next it was time for a prospect matchup against Dillon Heatherington and Swift Current. Peter opened the scoring with a goal a lot like his others from the other night when he took a cross rink pass to make it 1-0. Peter picked up an assist when he stole the puck from Heatherington and found Tim McGauley in front to make it 4-1 Brandon. After two more goals, Peter struck again when he received a perfect cross rink pass and fired a laser top corner to make it 7-1 in a 9-1 victory.

Oliver Bjorkstrand-Portland Winterhawks (WHL)
Season Stats 51GP 52-45-97 +55 35PIM
It was another big week for The Great Dane. Starting off against Seattle, Oliver opened the scoring when Paul Bittner found Oliver and he was off to the races for his 49th goal of the season. The goal also helped Oliver set a new franchise record for consecutive games with goals at 12 straight. After a Chase De Leo goal, Oliver and Bittner (who, Jarmo, if you want to figure out a way to turn some of those second round picks into a mid to late first to get him that’d be super) set off on a two on one with Oliver firing a shot top corner to make it 3-0 Hawks. It was Oliver’s 50^th goal in 50 games. Oliver is the first WHL player since Eric Fehr to have back-to-back 50 goal seasons. Less than two minutes later, Oliver scored again when Keion Texeira drove in with Nic Petan gathering the puck and going behind the net to find Oliver in front who made it 4-0. Late in the third Oliver got his fourth when he drove in and scored from an impossible angle (even shocking the play by play man) to make it 7-1. Oliver was named first star.

Here’s a postgame interview with Oliver after the game.

To close out the week against Tri-City, Oliver was again part of the opening goal when he skated around to find Bittner in the slot who fired a shot to make it 1-0. Four and a half minutes later, Oliver helped set up another goal – skating in, starting a pretty passing play, and then passing to Bittner who passed to Chase De Leo who made it 2-0 in a 6-2 win. The Tri-City game ended Oliver’s goal scoring streak. During the streak he picked up 21 goals and 13 assists for 34 points.

Seth Ambroz, Ryan Collins, Mike Reilly-Minnesota Golden Gophers (Big 10)
Season Stats SA: 34GP 10-11-21 +1 30PIM
RC: 27GP 0-8-8 +4 14PIM
MR: 34GP 6-32-38 +18 42PIM
The Gopher Boys traveled to Columbus last week for a series with the Buckeyes. The first game was Friday and I was able to watch the boys play in person. The game was a very back and forth affair, especially for the first four goals. The Gophers opened the scoring with the Bucks scoring 12 seconds later. Later in the period, it happened again when the Bucks waited a whole 19 seconds before scoring after a Minnesota goal. In the third period, it was time for an all Blue Jackets goal. Mike passed the puck to Ryan Collins whose point shot was perfectly deflected by Seth Ambroz for his 10th goal of the season. Here are Seth’s postgame comments about the game.

As for thoughts on the Jackets three prospects I know you want to hear me rave about Mike Reilly (who I’m guessing is the reason why I saw Development coach Chris Clark and Assistant GM Bill Zito at the game). I’ll admit I didn’t notice Mike much even though he did have nice rushes and a really good defensive play on a breakaway. For some reason (perhaps due to not seeing him play before) I focused on 6’5” defenseman Ryan Collins. The big fella was physical and ended Buckeye senior forward Nick Oddo’s night with a check in the first period. The Gophers fell Saturday by a score of 5-2 with all three Gophers held pointless.

The Big Ten has an interesting setup for its final weekend with teams in first and second playing each other, third and fourth matched up and fifth and sixth playing. If the Gophers lose on Friday and Michigan St wins the Spartans will win the Big 10’s regular season title.

Quickly we have to wish a good offseason to Tyler Bird and the Brown Bears as they were eliminated in the first round of the ECAC Playoffs by the Harvard Crimson. The Brown were a young, but talented team and hopefully can bounce back next year as Tyler improves.

Daniel Zaar-Lulea (SHL-Sweden)
Final Regular Season Stats 55GP 9-18-27 -4 18PIM
Daniel and the Bears closed out the regular season with a game against Frolunda and Daniel picked up an assist. Late in the first, Daniel fought off a check and drive down the wing before passing to Johan Harju who made it 1-0 in a 3-0 Lulea win. In the regular season, Daniel finished fourth on the team in scoring. He was also second on the team in assists. Daniel led the team in power play goals (it only took three, Lulea’s power play was terrible) and shots on goal. Up next is a three game series against Djurgarden for a chance to play in the playoffs. Daniel was held pointless in a 1-0 win. Games two (and three if necessary) will be played Monday and Tuesday.

Joonas Korpisalo-Ilves (Liiga-Finland)
Season Stats 37GP 14-13-6 2.32GAA .919Sv% 2SO
Joonas opened the week with a 19 save victory against Kalpa, Joonas would make 30 saves in his next start but would fall by a score of 3-1 against HPK. Joonas would serve as the backup in the team’s next game a 6-2 win. The Lynxes finish out the regular season next week with two games.

In Switzerland, Elvis Merzlikins and the Panthers have come back from being down 2-0 to tie it in their first round series against Geneve.

There you have it, folks! Another week in the world of Blue Jackets prospects and we’re getting to the end of the road as the Gophers play their final regular season series this weekend. At the moment they’re in the Big Ten tournament as well but could be on the bubble – check back next week!