Mangiapane leads Flames prospects in February
By Ryan Pike
8 years agoIt feels like we’re writing variations of the same prospect report each month, because we keep talking about how great Barrie Colts forward Andrew Mangiapane and defender Rasmus Andersson have been playing. Because they keep putting up a ton of points, and they’ve been doing so for basically the entire season.
Here’s how February shook out for the prospects.
COLLEGE KIDS
The two drafted Flames picks on Providence College had a good month; notably 2012 first round selection Mark Jankowski. Jankowski had 11 points in eight games. He scored three goals, two of them game-winners, and he had a plus-nine rating. Teammate John Gilmour missed some time with some minor injuries, but he was a point-per-game with five points in five games. When you bear in mind that he’s a blueliner, that’s pretty good. However, a word of caution: Gilmour had three fewer shots than Jankowski, and played three fewer games.
Elsewhere, forgotten late round pick Tim “Who?” Harrison had seven points in seven games for Colgate. He’s been really quiet this year, but perhaps it’s a sign that he’s growing his game a bit. Or maybe he just had a hot month.
JUNIOR JUMBLE
Mangiapane had a monster month. He played 11 games. He had 14 goals and 22 points. He had 46 shots (more than four per game)), and three game-winning goals. The kid has offensive skill. Andersson had just seven points in 11 games. He had 41 shots, but a lot of them were from appreciably further away than Mangiapane’s.
Nick Schneider of the Medicine Hat Tigers was busy in February, starting eight games and going 3-5-0. Granted, his win-loss record ain’t great, but he had a .914 save percentage. And 30+ saves in seven of his eight starts and 40+ saves in three of his eight starts. He was busy and he saw (and stopped) a lot of rubber.
For comparison’s sake, Mason McDonald was 5-3-0 with a .893 save percentage for Charlottetown.
MINOR LEAGUERS
Kenny Agostino was the top Stockton Heat scorer in February, with 14 points in 10 games. Freddie Hamilton had 11 points in 10 games, including three game-winning goals. Former 2013 first round picks Morgan Klimchuk and Emile Poirier had iffy months; Klimchuk had zero points while Poirier had a whopping two.
In goal, with Joni Ortio up in Calgary Kevin Poulin got the vast majority of time in net. He went 4-4-0 with a .913 save percentage.
PLAYOFFS?
Who’s qualified for the post-season among Flames prospects?
- College: Everyone has qualified, as is tradition in college hockey. Colgate (Harrison) is facing Dartmouth in the first round of the ECAC playoffs this weekend. Providence College (Jankowski, Gilmour) have a bye in the Hockey East playoffs, but Boston University (Brandon Hickey) faced Massachusetts in the opening round this weekend (and beat them). Michigan State (Matt DeBlouw) doesn’t start their playoffs for a couple of weeks.
- Major Junior: The Hitmen (Keegan Kanzig, Pavel Karnaukhov) have qualified. The Oil Kings (Brett Pollock) are in the final wild-card spot in the WHL’s Eastern Conference, but are being pursued by Medicine Hat (Schneider), who are just six points back. Barrie (Mangiapane, Andersson) have qualified. North Bay (Riley Bruce) have qualified. Charlottetown (McDonald) have qualified.
- Minors: It’s too early to tell, but the Heat are fairly far down in their divisional standings and have an uphill battle to claw into the playoffs.
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