Prospects Thread 2012-13

[Benjo]

Saturday March 9
Jensen played his first AHL game this season - I didn't watch, does anybody have a report of how he did?

Just checked out the Wolves beat writer's game tweets and post game write up and there was no mention of Jensen. He had zeroes across the stat sheet as well as a shootout no goal. There was concerns about jet lag before hand and that he might not even play Saturday so I guess an off game was to be expected.

[Southern_Canuck]

Sunday March 10

AHL

Rockford 2 Chicago 3
Cannata 36 saves on 38 shots (selected 1st star)

Davies, (11) (DiDiomete, Hunt)
Davies, (12) (Archibald, Matheson)
Connauton, (4) (Pinizzotto, Kattelus)

ECHL

Florida 1 Kalamazoo 2 (SO)
Anthony 0 points, even
Grenier 1 assist, +1 (scored on his shootout attempt)
Mallet 0 points, even (scored on his shootout attempt)
Myron did not play
Rai did not play
Sauve 0 points, +1

QMJHL

Saint John 2 Cape Breton 3
Honzik was the backup (Bureau 26 saves on 28 shots)

OHL

Sault Ste. Marie 5 Kitchener 3
McEneny 0 points, even
Corrado 0 points, -1

S_C

[Southern_Canuck]

Monday March 11

OHL

Belleville 4 Kingston 2
Gaunce 1 assist, even

S_C

[Southern_Canuck]

Looking ahead to the OHL Playoffs

Eastern Conference
1. Belleville Bulls: 90 PTS (41-16-5-3) with 3 games remaining (OSH, at MISS, SBY) - Bulls can finish as high as first place, or as low as third place in the Eastern Conference, need one point to clinch East Division title, five points to clinch first overall in the Conference.

Western Conference
4. Kitchener Rangers: 83 PTS (37-19-1-8) with 3 games remaining (at GUE, at SAG, at SSM) - Rangers can finish as high as third place, but can still finish as low as fifth place.

McEneny GP 62 G 6 A 26 P 32 PIM 40 +2
Corrado GP 66 G 7 A 35 P 42 PIM 85 +14
Gaunce GP 57 G 28 A 27 P 55 PIM 42 +8

S_C

[Aaronp18]

I'm going to preempt S_C's game recap with the highlights of tonight's Wolves game that Chicago lost in OT.

Schroeder scored in his first game back down there and Jensen scored his first late in the third on the PP to tie it and send the game into OT.

Wolves @ Griffins

The kid has a quick release that's for sure.

[Southern_Canuck]

^^^Promising!

Wednesday March 13

AHL

Chicago 2 Grand Rapids 3 (OT)
Climie 21 saves on 24 shots

Schroeder, (10) (Joslin, Andersson)
Jensen, (1) (Schroeder, Gordon) (PP)

QMJHL

Halifax 6 Cape Breton 2
Honzik 8 saves on 13 shots (pulled at 5:02 of the 2nd) (Bureau 12 saves on 13 shots)

OHL

Kitchener 3 Guelph 2
McEneny 0 points, +1
Corrado 2 assists, +3

Oshawa 2 Belleville 5
Gaunce 3 goals (29th, 30th, 31st), even (selected 1st star)

S_C

[Benjo]

From all accounts on HF boards Schroeder played a dominant game in all 3 zones and the AHL seems to have slowed down for him, somewhat like the last time Hansen was sent down.

Also Belleville has clinched first place!

[sagebrush]

Video showing Gaunce's hat trick against Oshawa on March 13th.

A couple more goals in tight, & one on the break away. For a guy that was working on his skating, he moves pretty good.

[dbr]

I don't recall off-hand if you do SEL games S_C, if so my apologies for the duplication or any perceived stepped on toes.

Anyway, 2011 4th round pick Ludwig Blomstrand (6'2, 218 lbs, reportedly a good skater) has moved to Almtuna in the Allsvenskan and has put up 11 goals in 19 games on one of the worst teams in that league. Just 3 assists for 14 points but still.

Apparently only Patrick Berglund has scored goals at a greater pace in that league this year, meanwhile other high end prospects Filip Forsberg (8 G, 9 A in 43 GP) and 2012 2nd rounder Pontus Aberg who like Blomstrand was born in 1993 (8 G, 7A in 47 GP) have been scoring at a lower rate.

RE: Ludwig Blomstrand

I have seen all his games with Djurgarden this season (warming the bench for most of them) and just a couple with Almtuna.

With Djurgarden, in the games where he played more than 5 minutes, I thought he was noticable for good and bad reasons. The good was that it was immediately visible his size on the ice compared to the other Djurgarden youngins like Aberg, Sorensen, and Wennberg. Blomstrand looks big on the ice. He skates fairly well for a big man, decent acceleration. With Djurgarden he was used on the 4th line mainly, and was put in more of a energy player kind of role. I thought he did decent there, he was above average defensively, didn't make many mistakes and created offense/sustained pressure in the off zone during his sparse time on the ice, which is generally what you'd want for a 4th line player. One other positive thing is his willingness to drive the net with the puck. Also, i'd categorize him as a shoot first kind of a player. Don't remember any pass that stands out in my mind. The bad was he took some bad penalties, and put his team shorthanded 3 times in one game. Needs to make better decisions sometimes.

With Almtuna, he is put in a different role, put on the 1st line and 1st PP. He was used in front of the net on the PP. Didn't love him there, but if I guess he is the biggest guy to screen the goalie and he doesn't shy away from the battle. In one of the games, he came out with 2 hits in the 1st 5 minutes, but did not really throw any more hits after that. I found he was less aggressive than he was with Djurgarden, needs to be move his feet more in the defensive zone. That said, he didn't look out of place on the top line either. His size/speed helps him get open and transitions well on the rush and his willingness to shoot gives them two goal scoring threats on that line.

I think we agreed, I don't see a puck hound like Hansen, does not play a consistent physical game. That's why I'd like for him to come over next season to the AHL. I think his game might be better suited on smaller ice, he would be able to get around quickly, would be able to play a more aggressive game that the AHL forces you to learn. He is physically ready for the AHL, much more so than the typical swedes.

http://hfboards.hockeysfuture.com/showt ... st57846049

Guy seems to watch more wolves/OHL/european games than I do Canucks games..

They are saying over on the HF Boards that the Canucks offered Blomstrand a contract yesterday and he signed it, he is on his way to Vancouver tomorrow.

A couple of other translated tidbits offered up from the Aftonbladet article - Blomstrand expects he'll play in the AHL this year, and he has no idea of the financial terms of the deal he signed.. he just put pen to paper because it's a lifelong dream to make the NHL.

[sagebrush]

Brendan Gaunce was voted the OHL E. conf. best defensive forward, edging out Oshawa General Scott Laughton by three votes. Gaunce has split time between centre and the wing this season.

Laughton was drafted 20th in 2012 by Phili.
Gaunce was drafted 26th in 2012 by Van.

[Southern_Canuck]

Thursday March 14

NCAA

Maine 2 Mass-Lowell 4
Hutton 0 points, -1

Friday March 15

AHL

Chicago 3 Rockford 4
Cannata 25 saves on 29 shots

Jensen, (2) (Sweatt, Hunt) (PP)
Gordon, (16) (Haydar, Vandermeer)
Archibald, (10) (Schroeder, Connauton) (PP)

ECHL

Fort Wayne 2 Kalamazoo 3
Anthony 0 points, even
Friesen 1 assist, +1
Grenier 1 goal (5th), even (selected 2nd star)
Mallet 1 assist, even
Myron 0 points, even
Rai did not play
Sauve 1 assist, +2

NCA

Maine 1 Mass-Lowell 2 (OT)
Hutton 0 points, even

Maine is eliminated from the tournament, and Hutton's freshman year is over.
GP 34 G 4 A 11 P 15 PIM 18

St. Lawrence 1 Yale 6
Beattie did not play

Minnesota-Duluth 1 Wisconsin 3
Labate 0 points, even

QMJHL

Cape Breton 5 Acadie-Bathurst 7
Honzik was the backup (Bureau 44 saves on 50 shots)

OHL

Kitchener 7 Saginaw 1
McEneny 2 assists, +3
Corrado 1 assist, +1

Belleville 3 Mississauga 0
Gaunce 1 goal (32nd), even

S_C

[Southern_Canuck]

Saturday March 16

ECHL

Kalamazoo 2 Evansville 4
Anthony did not play
Friesen 0 points, -3
Grenier 1 goal (6th), -1
Mallet 0 points, -2
Myron 0 points, -1
Rai did not play
Sauve 0 points, -1

NCAA

St. Lawrence 0 Yale 3
Beattie did not play

Yale makes the ECAC Conference Championship

Minnesota-Duluth 1 Wisconsin 4
Labate 1 assist, +1

With the win, Wisonsin is in the WCHA Final 5

OHL

Kitchener 4 Sault Ste Marie 6
McEneny 0 points, +1
Corrado 0 points, even

Sudbury 2 Belleville 5
Gaunce 1 goal (33rd), +2

S_C

[RoyalDude]

Gaunce is really closing out the season with a bang! Has Gillis finally made a good draft pick for this organization?

[Southern_Canuck]

^^^Come on...! What's a good pick, anyway? One that looks good 4-5 years later, or one that looks good right away? A player that makes the AHL or NHL... or both? Or one that plays at least 200 NHL games?

Sunday March 18

AHL

Rockford 2 Chicago 1
Climie 28 saves on 30 shots

Connauton, (5) (Price, Schroeder)

Wow, what happened with 4 seconds left? Polasek was tossed for leaving the bench (which is funny, because the "bench clearing brawl" was actually in the benches), and there were about a billion roughing penalties handed out...

Puck Daddy: Wild Brawl in the AHL

excerpt:
"The incident was sparked by Guillaume Desbiens of the Wolves running Ben Smith of Rockford into the players’ bench doorway. From the Rockford bench, Jeremy Morin threw punches at Desbiens, who then attacked Rob Flick on the Hogs’ bench, appearing to believe it was Flick that hit him.

Meanwhile, Jim Vandermeer went after Wade Brookbank, eventually entering the Rockford bench to trade punches."

ECHL

Greenville 9 Kalamazoo 2
Anthony did not play
Friesen 0 points, -3
Grenier 0 points, -1
Mallet 1 goal (10th), -1
Myron 0 points, -2
Rai did not play
Sauve 1 assist, -2

QMJHL

Cape Breton 2 Halifax 5
Honzik was the back-up (Bureau 29 saves on 34 shots)

The CHL season is over, Cape Breton did not make the playoffs. In the OHL it will be:

Mississauga at Belleville (begins March 21)
Guelph at Kitchener (begins March 22)

S_C

[Southern_Canuck]

New Prospect Kellan Lain

Introducing Kellan Lain

excerpt:
At 6-foot-6 and 222-pounds, Lain is an intimidating presence on the ice and instantly becomes the largest Canucks prospect in height and weight after a signing a three-year entry level contract with the team on Saturday. Lain will report to the Canucks American Hockey League affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, in the next few days.

“Kellan is a big, strong center with pretty decent skills that skates good,” said Jim Roque, who coached Lain for the last three seasons at Lake Superior State University in the NCAA.

“Obviously his role on my team will be different than what is asked of him at the pro level; on my team he was asked to score a little more and be an offensive guy, I think he has those traits, but I think he is more of a third line checking center, faceoff guy.

“He is competitive, competes hard and has an edge to him”

Canucks director of player development Dave Gagner agrees.

“Kellan is a big, strong, detailed player; wins face-offs, finishes checks, plays with an edge, is hard on his opponents and skates well too.”

Lain, a native of Oakville, Ontario, spent the last three seasons with the LSSU Lakers, where he accumulated 39 points (21-18-39) and 210 penalty-minutes in 108 games, including 111 penalty minutes in 32 games this past season.

“He hits hard, he is physical, that’s his game,” added Rogue. “He has to play with an edge, play physical and stick his nose in there to be effective.”


S_C