Flames Prospect Update, November 5 2012

 

 

An eventful weekend saw just about every Calgary Flames prospect hit the ice for game action, as well as the onset of the winter months in the form of daylight savings. Enjoy your extra hour of daylight with this update on Flames prospects. (Note: this update will take much less than an hour to read.)

The Abbotsford Heat did battle with the Toronto Marlies, and revenge was on their minds following the Marlies eliminating them from the Calder Cup playoffs last spring.

And revenge is what they got. Abbotsford won both games. On Friday, they won 3-0, in large part to short-handed goals by Steve McCarthy and Ben Street three seconds apart. Yes, three. This set an AHL record for fastest two goals by a single team. On Saturday, the Heat were very good again, winning 4-2. By the end of the weekend, Abbotsford was leading the North Division and were just a point out of first overall in the entire league.

Four players had three points apiece on the weekend: Roman Horak had a hat trick in Saturday’s game and leads the AHL in goals, Ben Walter had three assists, and Sven Baertschi and Steve McCarthy each had a goal and two assists. Barry Brust and Leland Irving each had a win in their starts.

To the shock of many, the Flame prospects on strong junior teams played well. The Flames prospects on weaker teams? They had a tougher weekend.

Quebec Remparts blueliner Ryan Culkin had two assists and was even on the weekend. Red Deer captain Turner Elson had two goals, two assists and was plus-one. Portland’s Tyler Wotherspoon had four assists and a plus-five rating. Guess which of these guys plays with Seth Jones (Rhymes with, uh, hoover soon).

Edmonton Oil Kings goalie Laurent Brossoit had a bounce-back weekend, making 27 saves in a win over the Swift Current Broncos and looking much more like the WHL playoff MVP. Windsor Spitfires defender Patrick Sieloff had a goal and an assist, but he was also minus-two.

Brett Kulak had zero points for Vancouver, who lost quite a bit (and have entered into rebuild mode by trading away David Musil to Edmonton). Swift Current’s Coda Gordon had an assist and a minus-three weekend.

Boston College won both of their games. They are once again a very good hockey team. Of course, two future Flames are part of their roster of really good players and they both contributed this weekend. Johnny Gaudreau had the game-winning goal on Friday, an assist on Sunday and was plus-one for the weekend. Bill Arnold had a goal and two assists for the weekend, but was minus-two. Gaudreau is second in his conference in scoring, while Arnold is tied for third.

Providence College split their weekend games. Mark Jankowski had the game-winning goal on Friday night. Jon Gillies started both games and didn’t get blown up or blown out. For a team that isn’t stacked like Boston College, Providence had a respectable weekend.

Of the rest of Calgary’s college prospects, the stand-out was Michigan State pivot Matthew Deblouw. The Flames’ seventh round choice in June’s entry draft had two goals and two assists in a single game. He’s also put up very good face-off numbers as a freshman.

Karri Ramo got a night off as Avangard Omsk beat HC Yugra in their last game before the traditional November break. Avangard Omsk is off until November 14.

Joni Ortio started both of HIFK Helsinki’s games. He got a win and a loss. Markus Granlund had a goal on the weekend. HIFK is off until November 15.

Mikael Backlund isn’t a prospect per se, but he continues to light up the Allsvenskan. With four points in Vasteras’ 6-2 victory yesterday, Backlund now has eight goals and 19 points in just 10 games. His 1.9PPG pace is the higest in the league and he is currently ranked fifth in overall scoring, even though he’s played 9 less games than everybody else.