A little late this week. I wanted to wait until after the Flyers prospect games on Columbus Day and than things just got away from me, but here we go:
The two most notable prospects this week were Tye McGinn and Michael Raffl who were both called up by the Flyers in time for Saturday's game. McGinn was easily the more impressive of the two with the Flyers. I don't want to go into too much because I'm doing a big McGinn post later. Raffl has played well and has created opportunities for the team. He picked up a goal and an assist with Adirondack Friday night before getting called up.
The Phantoms had a heart breaking weekend. After taking a lead early in their home and home with the Hartford Wolf Pack they ended up losing both games. They fell behind early in their Columbus Day matinee and didn't even get on the board until the middle of the third period. Though the Phantoms struggled, many prospects played well.
Petr Straka picked up three assist over the weekend giving him a total of 4 points in 4 games. He's tied for the team lead in points with Jason Akeson who also picked up two assists over the weekend (one Friday, one Saturday). Mark Alt picked up a power play goal Saturday, Nick Cousins got an assist on the play. Oliver Lauridsen picked up his first point of the season on Monday and he leads the team in plus/minus. Ben Holmstrom, Phantoms Captain and NHL long shot, has had a good start. He's picked up a goal and an assist over the weekend and he has 3 points on the season. Brandon Alderson sat out Monday's game after not picking up a point over the weekend. This opened the door for Kyle Flanagan to play his first game of the season. Marcel Noebels hasn't gotten on the score sheet yet (that may change with Tye McGinn out of the line up) but he does lead forwards in +/- with a +2. Derek Mathers, who the Flyers' drafted to fight, dropped the gloves with 2010 10th Overall pick Dylan McIllrath twice over the weekend. You can check out the fights over at hockeyfights.com but it looks like they drew the first fight with Mathers taking the second. Mathers has 3 fights in 4 games this season. If Jay Rosehill continues to struggle (which he will, let's face it) and continues to not fight he may see Mathers sooner rather than later.
Scott Laughton had another strong weekend. He picked up the game winning short handed goal on Friday and scored a goal and an assist; picking up points on both of Oshawa's only goals that game. He went pointless for the first time this season Monday in a 2-1 shoot out loss. He has 5 goals and 7 assists in 6 games so far this season.
Anthony Stolarz stopped 21 of 22 shots in a win on Thursday and reigned as the top statistical goalie in the OHL until late in his game Monday. Kitchner scored in the final three minutes of the game to tie and 15 seconds into the OT period to take the game, handing Stolarz his first loss of the season (even though he still hasn't lost in regulation). Stolarz stopped 36 of 39 and he played well during the game. The worst news for Stolarz over the weekend was how well Jon Gillies, Stolarz toughest competition for the starting job on the US world junior team, stopped 63 of 64 shots over two games in his season debut.
Laughton's Oshawa Generals battle Stolarz and the London Knights Thursday.
Sam Morin returned from injury for Rimouski's game on Saturday. He picked up a goal and an assist picking up his first points of the season. And though he didn't score in Rimouski's game Sunday he did pick up his first win with the team of the season. All around good return to the line up for Morin. Rimouski plays Wednesday.
Tyrell Goulbourne picked up his first fight of the season and a separate 10 minute misconduct in his only game of the weekend. Goulbourne was drafted as a fighter and a bit of a best, so I consider this a solid weekend. Kelowna plays Wednesday.
Taylor Leier scored an assist (that wasn't awarded to him until after the game) in a 7-4 victory for his Winterhawks. He finished a -1 and is a -2 on the season a far cry from his +41 last season. He does have 10 points (4 goals, 6 assists) in 8 games.
Shayne Gostisbehere and the Dutchmen of Union College opened there season with a pair of games against Bowling Green. Ghost didn't pick up a point in the season opener (but he was a +1 with 5 shots) but he nabbed 3 assists in the second game of the weekend. A good target for Ghost, PPG-wise, is .76 points per game. That's what Kevin Shattenkirk's PPG average was in his third year in the NCAA.
Nick Luukko didn't have a big impact with Vermont in their first game and then was out for their second game, unknown if this was because of injury or whether he was a healthy scratch. Michael Parks didn't factor in scoring and was even (+1/-1) on the weekend. Reece Willcox and Cornell don't play until Friday October 25th, Petr Placek and Harvard don't start their regular season until Saturday October 26th.
Robert Hagg had his lowest impact game last Thursday, skating for less than 10 minutes. He did register two hits in the game. Saturday he was back skating over 15 minutes and was a +1 for the game. Hagg has 3 points in 12 games and plays again Thursday.
Valeri Vasiliev played just over 12 minutes on Friday and then skated over 15 minutes in his game Sunday. He took a penalty in overtime which meant he only played 39 seconds in the over time period. He is floating between the 4th and 5th defenseman spot.
Jakub Kovar had a rough start to the weekend giving up 4 goals for only the second time this season. He stopped 28 of 32 against the reigning champs Dynamo Moscow. He bounced back later in the weekend stopping 37 of 38 in a shut out victory. He has a .909 Sv% and a 2.72 GAA for the season but if you remove that catastrophic game against Barys he would have a 2.36 GAA and a .920 Sv%. Kovar plays again Thursday.
Jakub's younger brother Jan is currently 3rd in the KHL in points with 21 and 1st in the league in assists with 15. He's behind his line mates Danis Zaripov and KHL legend Sergei Mozyakin who each have 23. If the Flyers want to bring over Jakub they may want to give a look to his stand out 23 year old brother.
Fredric Larsson had easily his best weekend to date in the USHL. He picked up an assist on the power play on Friday and scored his first goal of the season on Saturday. Larsson could be getting a more expanded role so we could be seeing a little more point production out of him soon. Larsson has 3 points (1 G, 2 A) in 8 games.
Terrance Amorosa picked up an assist in his only game of the weekend. Amorosa, who missed the early part of the season because of an injury, has 2 assists in 3 games. A strong offensive season would be great and would put the Providence College commit firmly in the minds of the Flyers front office.
David Drake had no impact in his first game of the weekend and didn't play in his team's second game of the weekend. It is unknown whether this is because of injury or not, but most players on the team have been sat for at least one game so it was probably just Drake's turn to sit.
Merrick Madsen stopped 18 of 21 shots in a 3-0 loss in his only start of the weekend. The Harvard commit has an .890 Sv% and a 2.68 GAA.
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