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Flames prospect roundup: Jacob Battaglia plays his final games for the Frontenacs
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Photo credit: Steven Ellis/Daily Faceoff
Ryley Delaney
Jan 6, 2026, 18:30 ESTUpdated: Jan 6, 2026, 17:43 EST
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A familiar face has returned to junior hockey.
This is the Dec. 30- Jan. 6 edition of the Flames prospect round-up, where we look at how Calgary 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.
Editors’ note: This week will feature a new format, let me know which one you prefer in the comments.

College

Of the 20 players covered in the Flames Prospect Roundup, nearly half of them play in college. Four of them play in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference: Cullen Potter (Arizona), Eric Jamieson (Denver), Cade Littler (North Dakota) and Cole Reschny (North Dakota).
Starting with North Dakota, they were in action against Mercyhurst for two games this past weekend, winning 2-0 and 6-1. Littler picked up an assist in their shutout win, while Reschny was busy winning the bronze medal in the 2026 World Juniors. This season, Littler has four goals and nine points in 18 games, while Reschny has two goals and 18 points in 16 games. North Dakota is back in action this week against Colorado College, playing two away games at the school.
Also in NCHC action, Potter and the Arizona Sun Devils won both games they played in, defeating Alaska Anchorage 7-2 and Air Force 5-2 to win the Desert Hockey Classic. Potter scored a hat trick in their 7-2 win (with an assist), then picked up a goal and an assist in their 5-2 victory. Potter now has 12 goals and 25 points in 22 games, surpassing his 22 points in 35 games last season. The Sun Devils play two games against Miami (Ohio) at home this weekend.
The last NCHC play in action this past week was Jamieson with Denver. They played two games against Jaden Lipinski’s Maine, falling 5-2 and 4-3 in a shootout. Jamieson was held pointless, giving him six goals and 13 points in 21 games this season. Denver hosts Western Michigan for two games in NCHC action this weekend.
Maine won both games they played against Denver, but Lipinski was held pointless. The 21-year-old right-shot centre has three goals and eight points in 19 games this season. This week, they’ll play two in-conference match-ups, both against Providence in Hockey East action.
The other Flames’ prospect in Hockey East is Trevor Hoskin, who plays for Merrimack. They beat Brown to extend their winning streak to four games, as Hoskin picked up an assist to give him four goals and 19 points in 18 games this season. Merrimack plays one game this week, a matchup against Holy Cross on Saturday.
There are two Flames’ prospects in ECAC Hockey, Quinnipiac’s Ethan Wyttenbach and Harvard’s Aidan Lane. Starting with the former, Quinnipiac defeated Harvard 9-1, then beat Dartmouth. Wyttenbach scored twice in their win over Harvard, giving him 11 goals and 27 points in 20 games this season. Quinnipiac faces Union on Friday and RPI on Saturday, both are in-conference games.
As for Lane, he was held pointless in Harvard’s 9-1 loss to Quinnipiac, as well as their 5-3 loss against Princeton. Through 13 games this season, the Flames’ sixth-rounder in 2025 has five goals and an assist. This week, Harvard played Dartmouth on Friday and Boston University on Monday.
Lastly, there are two Flames prospects in the Big East Conference, but Michigan’s Henry Mews is out for the season. That leaves Penn State’s Luke Misa, who fell 1-0 to RIT, but won the second game against them by a score of 7-3. Misa was held pointless in both games, giving him two goals and four points in 18 games this season.
So how do the standings shake up? North Dakota sits first in the NCHC with 25 points, while Denver isn’t far behind with 24 points. Arizona State ranks fifth with 13 points. Eight of the nine teams in the conference make it to the playoffs in a 1-8 format.
In Hockey East, Hoskin’s Merrimack sits eighth in the conference with 13 games played in 11 games, while Maine is fourth with 16 points in 11 games played. The three teams between Merrimack and Maine have eight or nine games played. All 11 teams in the conference make the playoffs, with the first through fifth teams earning a bye.
Quinnipiac currency sits fourth in the ECHC standings, but it’s a log jam at the top of the standings as Princeton, the leaders, have just 19 points. Harvard is two points behind Quinnipiac for fifth in the conference. All 12 teams make the end-of-season tournament, with teams one through four earning a bye in the first round.
Michigan sits second in the Big 10 conference, but Mews is out for the season. Penn State currently sits fifth in the conference with 13 points, just two behind Michigan State for third. All seven teams play in the end-of-season tournament, with the first-placed team getting a bye.

Junior

There are two big news stories relating to Flames prospects playing in junior hockey. First off, Jacob Battaglia was traded from the middling Kingston Frontenacs to the Flint Firebirds, one of the best teams in the Ontario Hockey League.
The other piece of notable news is that Andrew Basha was sent down from the American Hockey League, re-joining the Western Hockey League’s Medicine Hat Tigers as they look to win their second consecutive Ed Chynoweth Cup.
Starting with Battaglia, the Frontenacs played three games with the Frontenacs, it doesn’t really matter how they did. Battaglia scored twice and picked up two assists in the three games. The Firebirds were 2-1 this week without Battaglia, and will take on the Sarnia Sting on Wednesday, the Saginaw Spirit on Friday, and the Frontenacs on Saturday, you can’t make this up. Battaglia has 14 goals and 27 points in 36 games this season.
Basha’s Tigers played three games this week, smashing the Red Deer Rebels 8-0, before defeating the Medicine Hat Tigers 6-3 and 5-1. Basha played in the latter two games, scoring a goal in the 6-3 win and picking up an assist in their 5-1 win. The Tigers host the Seattle Thunderbirds on Friday and the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Saturday.
The two other junior players in the Western Hockey League are Calgary Hitmen’s Axel Hurtig and Saskatoon Blades’ Hunter Laing. Starting with the Hitmen, they fell 4-3 to the Victoria Royals in a shootout, but defeated the Prince George Cougars 4-2. Hurtig was held pointless and was a -2 in their win, giving him three goals and eight points in 32 games. The Hitmen also host the Thunderbirds (Saturday) and the Hurricanes (Sunday).
Laing and the Blades won both games they played against the Brandon Wheat Kings, winning the away game 3-2 and the home game 5-1. Laing scored in their 3-2 win, and then scored twice and picked up an assist in their 5-1 win to give him 17 goals and 35 points in 35 games this season.
In United States Hockey League action, the Green Bay Gamblers’ extended their winning streak to 14 games with a 5-4 win over the Madison Capitols, but were finally beaten by the Des Moines Buccaneers on Jan. 3. They got their win back the following day, beating them 2-1. Flames’ prospect Mace’o Phillips was held pointless in two of those games, giving him a goal and three points in 21 games this season. The Gamblers play two games this week, both against the Fargo Force over the weekend. Phillips won’t take part, though, as he’s serving a three game suspension related to a late fight in the Jan. 3 game with Des Moines.
As for the standings in junior, the Firebirds currently sit third in the OHL’s Western Conference. They have the same number of points as the Windsor Spitfires, but with an additional game played. The second-placed team, the Kitchener Rangers, have 50 points, but are the leaders in their division. Teams 1-8 in each conference make the post-season.
The 1-8 format is the same for the WHL. All three Flames’ prospects in the WHL play in the Eastern Conference. Basha joins a Tigers team who sit first in the conference with a 27-6-5 record, one of three teams in the conference who have a realistic chance of finishing first.
That doesn’t mean that the Hitmen or the Blades are slouches either, as the Blades have 45 points and the Hitmen have 44 points (with three fewer games played). They’re in a battle for fourth place, which would give them home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
As for the USHL, the Green Bay Gamblers sit first in the Eastern Conference with 49 points, two ahead of the Youngstown Phantoms. Six of the eight teams in the conference earn a playoff berth, with the top two teams earning a bye.

Overseas

Finally, we have overseas action, which includes Sweden (Theo Stöckselius, Jakob Leander) and Russia (Yan Matveiko, Kirill Zarubin, Yegor Yegorov). Both Stöckselius and Matveiko are out with injuries, Stöckselius for a while and Mateviko since Dec. 6. 
Additionally, Leander’s HV71 U20 doesn’t return to action until Jan. 10 against Rögle BK U20. They play the Malmö Redhawks U20 the following day. That leaves the two Russian netminders, Zarubin and Yegorov, who both played on Jan. 6.
Starting with Zarubin, he allowed three goals on 10 shots in Mikhailov Academy’s 6-3 loss to SKA-1946. This season, he has a .931 save percentage and 2.02 goals against average in 27 games. Mikhailov Academy play SKA-1946 again on Thursday, as well as JHC Dynamo SPB.
Yegorov played Jan. 6’s game for JHC Spartak-MAX, falling 4-3 to AKM-Yunior. He stopped 31 of 35 shots for an .886 save percentage and 4.04 goals against average, giving him a .921 save percentage and 2.97 goals against average this season. They’ll play Krasnaya Armiya on Friday, which happens to be Matveiko’s team.
So do the playoffs work overseas? Starting with Sweden, the top 10 teams from the two conferences make it to the winners’ stage, while the other 10 play in the losers’ stage. Of the 10 teams in the losers’ stage, six make the playoffs and are seeded 11-16. Djurgårdens IF U20, the team Stöckselius plays for, is fourth in their conference and have a two-point lead over the sixth-placed team, while Leander’s HV71 U20 sit second last in their division.
Russia’s standings system is arguably more confusing. There are two divisions in two conferences, the Gold Division and the Silver Division. The top five teams in the Gold Division get a bye, while the sixth, seventh, and eighth-placed teams face the top three teams of the Silver Division. As it stands, Matveiko’s Krasnaya Armiya sit third in the Gold Division, Zarubin’s Mikhailov Academy sit sixth, and Yegorov’s JHC Sparktak-MAX sit fourth in the Silver Division, all in the Eastern Conference.
Fun, right?
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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