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Flames prospect roundup: College playoffs begin as Flames add a couple of prospects
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Photo credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
Ryley Delaney
Mar 11, 2026, 16:00 EDTUpdated: Mar 11, 2026, 11:49 EDT
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It’s been a busy week in the Calgary Flames’ prospect world, as a couple of prospects were acquired and the college post-season has begun.
This is the Mar. 4-10 edition of the Calgary Flames prospect round-up, where we look at how Flames prospects have done every week. Specifically, we’ll look at players playing overseas, in junior hockey, or at the college level, as the American Hockey League prospects will have an article of their own in the Wranglers Recaps.
We’ll take a look at the games which were played last week, what’s next for all the players, and look at the standings.

College

With Friday being the National Hockey League’s trade deadline, the Flames have added two players who’ll be covered in this series, while subtracting one. Welcome to the Flames prospect roundup, Jonathan Castagna. Acquired in the MacKenzie Weegar trade with the Utah Mammoth, he plays for ECAC’s Cornell.
Last week saw the first round of the NCHC and ECAC Hockey’s end-of-season tournament, while Hockey East and Big Ten wrapped up their regular season. Let’s take a look at how the Flames’ prospects did in college action last week.

NCHC

The first-seeded North Dakota took on Omaha in the quarterfinals, winning the best of three in two games. Friday saw them win 5-3, while Saturday’s game ended in a 5-1 victory. Cade Littler scored a goal and an assist in the 5-3 victory, Cole Reschny picked up an assist in that game, and Abram Wiebe was held pointless. In the 5-1 win, Wiebe and Reschny each picked up an assist, while Littler was held pointless.
This season, Wiebe has five goals and 27 points in 36 games, Reschny has five goals and 33 points in 32 games, and Littler has five goals and 13 points in 32 games, up from the seven goals and nine points last season.
Eric Jamieson’s Denver finished second in the NCHC regular season, meaning they had a showdown with the seventh-seeded Miami (OH). They pretty handily defeated them, winning Game 1 by a score of 3-0, then won Game 2 by a score of 6-2. Jamieson picked up his first goal in a while in the shutout win (an empty netter), giving the left-shot defenceman seven goals and 16 points in 37 games this season.
It looks like North Dakota and Denver are on a collision course for the finals, but first, North Dakota must beat Minnesota Duluth in the semifinals, while Denver takes on the reigning national champions, Western Michigan. Both games are a single-elimination game and are on Saturday evening.

ECAC Hockey

Ethan Wyttenbach’s Quinnipiac weren’t in action this week, as they earned a bye for the opening round. So was Castagna’s Cornell, meaning Aidan Lane’s Harvard were the only ECAC Hockey team in action with a Flames prospect.
Thankfully, their season remains alive as they defeated St. Lawrence 4-3 in overtime in the single-game elimination game, with Lane picking up a power play goal in the first period. The Flames’ sixth-rounder in 2025 now has six goals and 13 points in 31 games.
Unfortunately, at least one Flames’ prospect will be eliminated this weekend from the end-of-season tournament, as Lane’s Harvard takes on Castagna’s Cornell in the ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals. It’s a best-of-three that takes place over the weekend. Quinnipiac takes on the eight-seeded Clarkson, with that also being a best-of-three over the weekend.

Hockey East

Unlike the NCHC and ECAC Hockey, both Hockey East and Big Ten still had regular season games this past week. Trevor Hoskin’s Merrimack took on UMass Lowell, winning 5-3 as Hoskin finished with two assists. Hoskin now has 10 goals and 31 points in 29 games this season.
Jaden Lipinski’s Maine had the same score in their matchup against Vermont, but it was a losing effort. The Flames’ fourth-rounder in 2023 had an assist in the game, giving him three goals and 12 points in 30 games this season.
Thankfully, both Merrimack and Maine have made the end-of-season tournament. Maine takes on Boston College on the road this Friday in a single elimination game. Merrimack hosts their single-game elimination game, hosting UMass Lowell for the second time in as many games. That game is on Wednesday.

Big Ten

And in Big Ten action, Penn State played a pair of games against Wisconsin, falling 7-3 and 5-2. Luke Misa was held pointless in both games, giving him eight goals and 18 points in 34 games. Wednesday’s the beginning of the Big Ten tournament, with Penn State hosting Minnesota on Wednesday. If they win that, the semifinals will be on Saturday, with an unknown opponent.
Henry Mews is still out of action and will be for the remainder of the season, but his Michigan Wolverines take on Notre Dame on Wednesday in the Big Ten tournament opener. If they win, Michigan plays on Saturday.

Junior

The Flames added a college prospect at the trade deadline, but in junior, they subtracted a player (and a league) with the Jacob Battaglia trade. They also added Max Curran in the Nazem Kadri trade, but he’ll miss the rest of the Edmonton Oil Kings’ season due to shoulder surgery.
Let’s take a look at what happened in the Western Hockey League and United States Hockey League this past week.

WHL

Andrew Basha’s Medicine Hat Tigers played four games this past week, defeating the Brandon Wheat Kings 6-3, the Red Deer Rebels 8-4, and the Regina Pats 6-0, but falling 6-1 to the Edmonton Oil Kings. Basha was held pointless in the loss and the 6-0 victory, but scored in the 6-3 win and scored a goal plus two apples in the 8-4 victory. This season, he has 14 goals and 41 points in 28 games.
Axel Hurtig and the Calgary Hitmen played three games this past week, defeating the Swift Current Broncos 3-2 and the Regina Pats 4-3 in overtime, but falling 3-1 to the Prince Albert Raiders. The left-shot defenceman was held pointless in all three games, but finished as a +1. This season, the Flames’ seventh-rounder in 2023 has six goals and 17 points in 59 games.
The Blades only played two games this past week, defeating the Rebels 3-2 and the Moose Jaw Warriors 5-2. Laing was held pointless in the 3-2 win, but picked up an assist in the 5-2 win, giving him 23 goals and 50 points in 57 games this season.
This week, the Tigers play a home-and-home against the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Friday and Saturday. The Hitmen host the Wheat Kings on Wednesday, face the Rebels on the road on Saturday, then return home to host the Oil Kings on Sunday. As for the Blades, they play a home-and-home against the Broncos, hosting them on Friday, then making the three hour drive down to Swift Current for Saturday’s game.
As what was noted in last week’s article, both the Hitmen and the Blades basically know who they’re playing with only a couple of weeks left in the standings. The sixth-seeded Blades are five points behind the Wheat Kings for fifth, meaning that they’ll likely play the Oil Kings in the first round. The Hitmen will likely play the Wheat Kings, but they’re still battling for home-ice advantage. As for the Tigers, they’re tied with the Raiders for first in the WHL’s Eastern Conference, with potential matchups against the Pats, Rebels, or Warriors.

USHL

It was a rough week for Mace’o Phillips and the Green Bay Gamblers. Playing the USA u18 Development team, they fell 8-1 and 3-2 to the last placed team. Phillips returned to action for these two games and was held pointless, giving the left-shot defenceman a goal and nine points in 36 games this season, with 142 penalty minutes.
The Gamblers are back in action on Friday, as they take on the Cedar Rapids Roughriders on both Friday and Saturday. Thankfully, the Gamblers still sit in second place in the United States Hockey League’s Eastern Conference, but have a two-point lead over the Dubuque Fighting Saints.

Overseas

As always, the last section will look at the five players playing overseas.

Sweden

It’s always fun to figure out where Flames’ 2025 second-rounder Theo Stockselius played the previous week. This time, he played three games with Djurgårdens IF’s senior team, picking up his first career Swedish Hockey League point, an assist in their 4-1 victory over Luleå HF. Djurgårdens IF also fell 4-1 to Örebro HK, and defeated Växjö Lakers 6-4.
Jakob Lenader and HV71 U20 played their final two games of the season, defeating Västerås IK U20 5-3 and falling 4-3 in a shootout to Södertälje SK U20. Leander had a good week, picking up two assists in the win and one assist in the loss. He finished his regular season with two goals and 12 points in 36 games, up from his goal and six points in 39 games last season.
Djurgårdens IF has two more games left in the regular season, a matchup on the road against Frölunda HC on Wednesday, as well a matchup with Skellefteå AIK on Friday. Finishing seventh in the SHL is still possible, but it would require Färjestad BK and the Malmö Redhawks to lose their last two remaining games, while Djurgårdens IF win their last two games. In that case, they’d host the 10th-placed team in the opening round. However, seventh-placed is the most likely, meaning a matchup against one of Färjestad BK or Malmö Redhawks.
As for Leander and HV71 U20, they’ll eventually play a playoff game to remain in the top flight of Sweden’s junior hockey league, as they finished with the second-fewest points this season. That matchup is yet to be determined.

Russia

Kirill Zarubin’s Mikhailov Academy didn’t have a great week, falling 5-2 to Almaz, as well as 4-3 to Loko. Their most recent game was 2-1 overtime victory against Loko for a 1-2-0 week. Zarubin appeared in all three games, stopping 13 of 14 shots in the 5-2 loss, 46 of 50 shots in the 4-3 loss, and  40 of 41 shots in the 2-1 win. His season save percentage now sits at .933 over 45 games.
Yegor Yegorov’s JHC Spartak MAX played two games this past week, falling 6-3 to SKA Academy, before getting their revenge with a 4-3 victory. Yegorov didn’t play in the loss, but stopped 33 of 36 shots in the victory to give him a .918 save percentage over 34 games this season.
Red Army played three games this past week, but Flames’ 2025 seventh-rounder Yan Matveiko only featured in two of them.  They defeated JHC Dynamo SPB 2-1 in overtime, then beat them again the following day by a score of 4-2. Red Army capped off the week with a 6-2 win over SKA Academy, but Matveiko didn’t feature in this game. Matveiko scored the overtime winner, his lone point this past week, to give him 15 goals and 34 points in 46 games this season.
This week, Zarubin’s Mikhailov Academy plays two games against Dinamo-Shinnik, one on Thursday and the other on the following day. Yegorov’s JHC Spartak MAX plays three games this coming week, one against SKA-1946 on Wednesday, another against Matveiko (if he’s in the lineup) and Red Army on Saturday, and a matchup against JHC Spartak on Tuesday. Red Army takes on JHC Dynamo-Kareliya on Thursday and JHC Spartak MAX on Saturday.
As for the standings, Red Army needs just one more point to book their ticket to the playoffs. They currently sit fourth in the Western Conference’s Gold Division, meaning a bye in the first round. Mikhailov Academy sits on the outside looking in, as their 74 points have them sixth in the Gold Division. If the season were to end today, they’d take on SKA Academy, the third-placed team in the Western Conference’s Silver Division.
JHC Spartak MAX sits fourth, just outside a playoff spot. They’re just three points behind SKA Academy with a game in hand, and five games left to go.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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