The post-season has started, at least for two Calgary Flames prospects.
This is the Mar. 1-9 edition of the Calgary Flames prospect roundup, where we look at how Calgary Flames prospects did this past week, specifically those at the junior and college levels. The American Hockey League prospects have their own article in the Wranglers recaps.
Let’s take a look at the week that was!
Editor’s note: All stats are updated as of Monday morning. Next week’s roundup (Saturday) will feature games from Monday through Friday.
Zayne Parekh
Zayne Parekh and the Saginaw Spirit played four games this week. Defeating the North Bay Battalion 8-3, the Flint Firebirds 5-3, and the Barrie Colts 7-4, before falling to the Brantford Bulldogs 11-3. Parekh continues to dominate the Ontario Hockey League, picking up a goal and three assists in their 8-3 win. The right-shot defenceman had a goal and two assists in their 5-3 win, followed by a goal in their 7-4 win and an assist in the Spirit’s 11-3 loss. This season, Parekh has 32 goals and 101 points, one goal shy of his career best. He’s also the first defenceman in the OHL to reach 100 points since Ryan Ellis in 2010-11.
The Spirit have already clinched a post-season spot and it’s becoming increasingly clear they’ll play the Erie Otters in the first round. However, the question is whether or not they’ll have home-ice advantage in the first round, as they sit fourth with a seven-point lead over the Otters. The Otters have seven games remaining, and the Spirit have five.
Matvei Gridin
This past week, the Shawinigan Cataractes played four games. First up was a 4-2 win against the Sherbrooke Phœnix, followed by a 7-2 win against the Victoriaville Tigres. They lost against the conference-leading Drummondville Voltigeurs 5-4 in overtime but got back in the win column with a 5-1 victory against the Québec Remparts.
Gridin is fast. He didn’t play against the Phœnix but returned with a goal and two assists against the Tigres. He followed that up with a goal against the Voltigeurs and the Remparts, with a nice goal/celebration in the final game of the week. So far this season, Gridin has 32 goals and 71 points in 52 games. The Québec Maritimes Junior Hockey League’s playoff seeding is based on overall standings. Right now, the Cataractes sit fifth with 76 points, meaning they’d play the 12th-seeded Val-d’Or Foreurs if the playoffs started today. However, they are tied on points with the Chicoutimi Saguenées and can reach as high as third, currently occupied by the Voltigeurs who have 80 points.
Andrew Basha
Andrew Basha still hasn’t played since Dec. 28 but his Medicine Hat Tigers had a solid week. They defeated the Brandon Wheat Kings 5-0, the Kelowna Rockets 5-2, and the Red Deer Rebels 7-1.
With a 41-17-4 record, the Tigers’ 90 points have them first in the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Conference, just three points shy of the Everett Silvertips for the league-lead. The top eight teams in each conference make the post-season.
Jacob Battaglia
The Kingston Frontenacs didn’t have a great week, going 1-3-0. They started the week falling 6-3 to the Barrie Colts and 7-1 to the Windsor Spitfires. Up next was a 3-2 loss to the league-leading London Knights. The Frontenacs got back in the win column with a 4-3 overtime victory against the Niagara IceDogs on Sunday.
Jacob Battaglia on the other hand, had a great week. He scored twice in the 6-3 loss, one in their 7-1 loss, and picked up an assist in their 3-2 loss. In their 4-3 win, Battaglia scored another goal. This season, the winger has 38 goals and 83 points in 62 games.
As of Sunday evening, the Frontenacs have a 36-18-8 record with 80 points, fourth in the Ontario Hockey League. It’s looking increasingly clear the Frontenacs will finish with home-ice advantage, but where they’ll finish in the top four is unknown. They sit five points back of the Brantford Bulldogs for the division lead.
Henry Mews
It was a great turnaround for Henry Mews and the Sudbury Wolves this past week as they went 4-0. They defeated the Brampton Steelheads 3-2 in overtime, the Niagara IceDogs 3-2, and the Oshawa Generals 5-3. On Sunday, they defeated the Barrie Colts 7-2.
Mews picked up two assists against the Steelheads, one against the IceDogs, and was held pointless against the Generals and Colts. This season, Mews has 14 goals and 76 points in 62 games split between the Ottawa 67’s and the Wolves.
Through 61 games, the Wolves have a 30-26-5 record with 65 points. They are just five back of the Steelheads for fifth in the Ontario Hockey League’s Eastern Conference and have a one-point lead over the IceDogs (with a game in hand), They’ll finish anywhere between fifth and seventh.
Kirill Zarubin
It was a good week for Tula Mikhailov Academy, going a perfect 3-0 this week. They defeated Tula AKM-Yunior 3-2, the Sakhalin Sakhalinskie Akuly 4-1, and the Primorsky Krai Taifun 3-0.
Flames’ prospect Kirill Zarubin had a great week, playing in their 3-2 and 4-1 wins and posting a .951 save percentage and a .955 save percentage respectively. This season, Zarubin has a .935 save percentage and 2.26 goals against average in 19 games.
Although Mikhailov Academy had a good week, their post-season spot isn’t secured as of yet. With a 33-12-3 record, they sit third in the Western Conference’s Gold Division. They are five points clear of the sixth-placed team, with teams ranked six through eight playing the top three teams in the Silver Division.
Trevor Hoskin
It’s playoff time. Unfortunately, Trevor Hoskin and Niagara University were bounced in the best of three series against Army West Point. They lost Game 1 by a score of 3-2 in overtime, before evening up the series with a 4-3 win on Saturday. Sadly, as I was writing this, Hoskin’s season essentially came to an end, as Niagara fell 4-3 to Army in overtime.
In the first two games, Hoskin picked up an assist but was held pointless in the third game, giving him 12 goals and 39 points in 36 games (33 regular season games, three post-season games).
Luke Misa
This past week, Luke Misa and the Brampton Steelheads played three games, falling 3-2 in overtime to the Sudbury Wolves and 4-0 to the Oshawa Generals, before defeating the North Bay Battalion 2-0.
Misa was held pointless in all three games, finishing with a -2 in their 3-2 overtime loss and -1 in their 4-0 loss. However, he has 32 goals and 78 points in 61 games this season.
As for where the Steelheads sit in the standings, their 30-21-10 record gives them 70 points, firmly in fifth place in the Ontario Hockey League’s Eastern Conference. They are 10 points behind the Kingston Frontenacs and have a five-point lead over the Sudbury Wolves.
Hunter Laing
It was a busy week for the Saskatoon Blades and Hunter Laing, as they played five games, albeit Laing only played three games. They fell 6-2 to the Moose Jaw Warriors, defeated the Edmonton Oil Kings 5-3, lost 6-3 to the Swift Current Broncos, and defeated the Prince Albert Raiders 3-2 and 4-1 to go 3-2-0 this past week.
Without Laing, they went 1-1, while they were 2-1-0 with him in the lineup. Laing scored once in their 6-2 loss to the Warriors, before back-to-back two-goal games against the Raiders. This season, Laing has 23 goals and 40 points in 57 games between the Prince George Cougars and the Blades.
The Blades sit sixth in the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Conference with 73 points. They are tied with the Brandon Wheat Kings in points and are just one behind the division-leading Raiders. That’s important because the winner of the East Division will finish second in the WHL standings.
Eric Jamieson
This past week, defenceman Eric Jamieson and the Everett Silvertips went 2-1-0, defeating the Vancouver Giants 4-2 and the Tri-City Americans 6-5, before falling to the Prince George Cougars by a score of 4-3. They also lost 3-2 in a shootout to the Portland Winterhawks on Sunday. Jamieson scored another goal in their 4-2 victory and was a +2 in their 6-5 victory and a -1 in their 4-3 loss. The left-shot defenceman had an assist in their 3-2 shootout loss as well. This season, the 19-year-old left-shot defenceman has 14 goals and 35 points, surpassing his career-best totals in both categories.
The Silvertips sit first in the Western Hockey League thanks to a 43-12-8 record with 94 points. They have a six-point lead over the Spokane Chiefs in their conference and a four-point lead over the Medicine Hat Tigers for the WHL point lead. Eight teams in each conference make the post-season with the Silvertips likely facing the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Wenatchee Wild.
Étienne Morin
It was a good week for Étienne Morin and the Moncton Wildcats, as they went 4-0. They defeated Blainville Boisbriand Armada 4-3 in overtime, the Rimouski Océanic 3-2, the Sherbrooke Phœnix 4-1, and the Armada again, this time by a score of 5-2. Morin was held pointless in three of the four games but picked up a goal in the Wildcats’ 4-1 win over the Phœnix. This season, the Flames 2023 second-round pick has 13 goals and 51 points in 57 games, second for defencemen in goals and third in points in the Québec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.
The Wildcats sit comfortably in first place, 10 points ahead of the Océanic with nine games remaining for each team. Assuming they finish first, realistic opponents for the Wildcats in the QMJHL’s first round are the Halifax Mooseheads, Gatineau Olympiques, and Saint John Sea Dogs.
Aydar Suniev
Aydar Suniev and UMass had a good week, defeating UMass Lowell 5-3, and Maine 5-1, before losing 3-2 in a shootout, also against Maine. Suniev scored a goal and an assist in their 5-3 win, and an assist in both games against Maine. For the season, Suniev has 17 goals and 35 points in 31 games. More importantly, UMass finished sixth in Hockey East, which means a one-game Opening Round playoff game against 11th-seeded Vermont. That game is on Mar. 12 and UMass has home-ice advantage.
Jaden Lipinski
The Vancouver Giants clinched a post-season spot this past week. They fell 4-2 to the Everett Silvertips but got back in the win column with a 3-1 win over the Wenatchee Wild and a 5-1 victory against the Kamloops Blazers. On Sunday, they defeated the Prince George Cougars 3-1.
Lipinski picked up an assist in their 4-2 loss and 3-1 win, before potting the game-winning goal against the Blazers as well as an additional assist against the Cougars. This season, he has 15 goals and 53 points in 54 games.
Although they clinched a post-season spot, the Giants sit sixth in the Western Hockey League’s Western Conference thanks to a 31-24-8 record with 70 points. Realistically, they could finish fifth, sixth, or seventh as they trail the fifth-placed Portland Winterhawks by just two points.
Yegor Yegorov
Moscow Krylya Sovetov and Yegor Yegorov didn’t have the greatest of weeks, going 1-2-0. Their one win came against Stupino HC Kapitan, a 4-3 victory, before losing 3-2 to SKA-1945 Saint Petersburg and 5-2 to Saint Petersburg JHC Dynamo SPB. Yegorov played in two of the games, saving 29 of 32 shots for a .906 save percentage in their win. However, Yegorov was pulled after allowing three goals on 15 shots in their 3-2 loss. For the season, Yegorov has a .908 save percentage and a 2.99 goals against average.
Thankfully, Krylya Sovetov still sits in a post-season spot thanks to a 23-22-5 record with 51 points. They have a two-point lead over Russkie Vityazi for the third and final post-season spot in the Western Conference’s Silver Division. The top three teams play the sixth, seventh, and eighth-placed teams in the Gold Division in the first round.
Axel Hurtig
Axel Hurtig and the Calgary Hitmen played three games this past week, defeating the Kelowna Rockets 7-0, the Swift Current Broncos 6-2, and the Brandon Wheat Kings 4-2. Hurtig picked up an assist in their 7-0 win, a goal in their 6-2 win, and was +1 with three shots in their 4-2 victory. This season, Hurtig has five goals and 15 points in 48 games and is a +37.
With a 41-15-6 record, the Calgary Hitmen sit third in the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Conference with the second-most points. The highest spot they can finish is in first, as they are just two points behind the Medicine Hat Tigers with two games in hand.
Cade Littler
Cade Littler and the North Dakota Fighting Hawks played three games this week, defeating Western Michigan 4-3 and Omaha 3-1. Unfortunately, they fell 7-3 against Omaha. Littler only dressed for the Western Michigan game.
Finishing as the fifth seed, North Dakota will face Omaha in a best-of-three starting on Mar. 14 in the NCHC Quarterfinals.
Arsenii Sergeev
Arsenii Sergeev and Penn State are off to the semifinals. They defeated Michigan in two games, a 6-5 overtime win and a 5-2 win in regulation. In the 6-5 win, Sergeev faced 26 shots, saving 21 of them for an .808 save percentage. The Russian netminder had a much better series-clinching game, saving 31 of 33 shots for a .939 save percentage. For the season, the 22-year-old has a .915 save percentage and a 2.63 goals against average in 29 games played. They’re set for a single-elimination game against Ohio State on Sat. 15. If they win, they’ll face off against either the top-seeded Michigan State or the seventh-seeded Notre Dame. If they win both games, Penn State will be guaranteed a spot in to play in the 2025 NCAA tournament.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney. Sponsored by bet365: