Flyers Prospects Weekend Review: October 18th-20th

Another late report, but lets get into.

The Phantoms had a bad weekend and are off to a slow start but luckily for them and the Flyers a bunch of their top prospects are performing well.

Nick Cousins had the best weekend on the team. He picked up his first two goals of the season and added another assist to his point total, giving him five points (2 G, 3 A) in 6 games. There are a lot of great junior players that struggle in their rookie season in the OHL, but Cousins' scoring pace is making it look like he could be ready for NHL action at some point this season.

Jason Akeson and Petr Straka each picked up an assist over the weekend giving them both a total 5 points (all assists). Akeson had a rough outing Friday going a -4 in a 6-3 lost, but he is still tied for the team lead in points with Straka, Cousins, and AHL regulars Ben Holmstrom, Rob Bordson, and Flyers cast off Bruno Gervais.

Marcel Noebels picked up his first assist of the season. I wouldn't be surprised if he saw more points come his way after Tye McGinn got called up.

Brandon Aldeson picked up an assist on one of Cousins goals. He was skating with Cousins and Straka at the time.

Scott Laughton is keeping up his incredibly hot start. He picked up a hat trick Friday night (scoring his second short handed game winner of the season) and picked up another pair of goals Sunday (another one being short handed). Laughton has 17 points (10 G, 7 A) in only 8 games. Provided Sean Monahan or Nathan MacKinnon don't get sent back to junior, Laughton is probably the favorite to be the 1st line center on the Canadian Junior team.

Anthony Stolarz had a weekend to forget. After getting benched Friday night against Laughton and the Oshawa Generals he gave up 4 goals on 19 shots and got pulled after 45 minutes in his game Saturday. He dropped to 5th in GAA in the OHL, though he is still tied for 3rd in the OHL in Save %. We know that a terrible game doesn't mean the end of the world, it is probably just an example of a young goalie getting roughed up a bit. I'm confident we will see the Anthony Stolarz earlier in the season next weekend.

Sam Morin had another 2 point weekend, picking up both his points in the middle game of a three game weekend. He has 5 points in 8 games and is a -2 so far on the season. My big question with Sam Morin is why his team doesn't play as well when he's in the line up. His Rimouski Oceanic were projected to be one of the best teams in the CHL this season and have been consistently ranked in the top 10 of Canadian junior teams. Without Morin Rimouski has a record of 6-1; with Morin they are 2-4-2. Their two wins came against Sherbrooke who is second to last in the QMJHL and Shawinigan who are not only last in the Q but probably the worst team in the whole CHL (they actually lost to Shawinigan in OT on Friday, giving them their only win so far this season).

Taylor Leier had his best weekend since the first of the season. He picked up 4 points (1 G, 3 A) including a his first 3 point game of the season. After hitting a cold stretch Leier is back into the offensive form we've become accustomed to so far this season. Leier has 14 points (5 G, 9 A) in 11 games. Portland plays again Tuesday.

Tyrell Goulbourne picked up his first goal of the season last Wednesday and scored again this weekend. Goulbourne scored 14 goals last season. Goulbourne picked up another fight Wednesday, but he still only has two fights on the season. He is playing a more expanded role and has 6 points (2 G, 4 A) in 10 games. Kelowna plays again Tuesday night.

Shayne Gostisbehere had an impressive weekend even though Union got swept in back to back games by Lake Superior State. Ghost scored a game tying goal in 4 of 4 play late in their game Friday night. Gostisbehere didn't get on the score sheet Saturday but it's not for a lack of trying, Ghost did his best Spinal Tap impression and turned it up to 11 Saturday night, putting a total of 11 shots on net. He has 1 goal, 3 assists, and 25 shots in four games. Nobody on the Flyers has that many shots, the highest shooting defenseman is Mark Streit who has 12 shots, in twice as many games.

Michael Parks picked up a a goal and three assists over the weekend, finally getting back to the level he was on at the end of his Freshaman season. He now has 4 points in 4 games after this weekend.

Nick Luukko's Vermont Catamonts were off this weekend. Reece Willcox's Cornell Big Red and Petr Placek's Harvard Crimson were in pre-season action but they I can't find the stats anywhere so I don't know how they did. Cornell and Harvard start regular season play this upcoming weekend.

Robert Hagg picked up an assist in his game Saturday, skating just 10:27. Hagg played again earlier today with Modo's Junior team picking up an assist on their first goal. Don't look at this as Hagg being sent down he's just getting some extra ice time. Modo is in a bit of a lull period and Hagg has been seeing the ice less than the organization probably wants. Expect him to be in the line up Thursday for Modo's next game. Bill Meltzer is speculating that Hagg could see some more ice time with Modo losing one of their top 4 defensemen. Hagg has 4 points (all assists) in 14 games in the SHL.

Valeri Vasiliev skated just under 15 minutes Saturday and just over 13 minutes Monday in a close game. Vasiliev has moved down the depth chart a little bit to the 5th defenseman role, but he is still playing a role and usually gets a shift or two in OT. He has an assist and is +1 in 14 games. He is averaging 14:38 of ice time not including the game he left early due to injury. Vasiliev will likely be named to the Subway Super Series team later this week.

Jakub Kovar and Avtomobilist Yekaterinberg went 0-1-1 over the weekend including a game Monday, but Kovar stopped 65 of 70 shots over the two games. Over his last three starts Kovar has a .944 Save percentage and a 1.89 GAA, though Avtomobilist hasn't one any of those three games in regulation.

David Drake was back in the line up, he picked up his first assist of the season on Friday and was a +1 Saturday. Terrance Amorosa was a +1 over two games for the Souix City Muskateers. Fredric Larsson picked up an assist on the Youngstown Phantoms only goal in their game Saturday. Merrick Madsen was on the bench for both of the Minot Minotaros games this weekend.