This is the Mar. 20-23 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 since the last prospect roundup, and set up the National Tournament and playoffs.

College

Since the last prospect roundup, three Calgary Flame prospects in college were in action. Two of them won their conference championship, while Jonathan Castagna’s Cornell fell in a disappointing performance.

Hockey East

The eighth-seeded Merrimack won their first ever Hockey East title, earning a berth to their fourth National Tournament. It wasn’t an easy pathway either, as they needed a 5-3 win over UMass Lowell on Mar. 11, followed by a 3-2 overtime victory over Providence on Mar. 14 (with Flame prospect Trevor Hoskin scoring the winner).

This past week was the semifinals, with a chance to play in their third Hockey East Championship. Taking on UMass on Friday, the two teams couldn’t find the back of the net for the first 43 minutes of the game. That changed with a goal from Ryan O’Connell. Merrimack held on, and even scored an empty netter to make their third Hockey East championship game.

Since joining the Hockey East conference for the 1989-90 season, Merrimack had been to two championship games. In 2010-11, they fell 5-3 to Boston College, earning a berth to the Natty where they fell 4-3 to Notre Dame in overtime. The other time was in 2022-23, when they fell 3-2 in overtime to Boston University, then 5-0 to Quinnipiac in the Natty.

There was no such loss this year. Just like the game the night before, O’Connell opened the scoring early into the period, with Hoskin getting an assist on it. UConn scored to tie the game with just over two and a half minutes left in the second period, but Caelan Fitzpatrick scored just 26 seconds into the third.

That turned out to be the game-winner, as Merrimack held on thanks to strong defensive play and netminder Max Lundgren balling out, stopping all but one of the 50 shots he faced. Hoskin enters the Natty with 13 goals and 35 points over 33 games this season for Merrimack.

NCHC

On Mar. 14, Eric Jamieson and Denver defeated the reigning National Tournament winning Western Michigan to head to the NCHC Championship. That matchup was against Minnesota Duluth, who had beaten a trio of Flame prospects earlier in the tournament.

Regardless of the outcome, both teams were already National Tournament bound, but winning the conference championship is still important. Denver got off to a great start, with Rieger Lorenz scoring just over three and a half minutes into the game. They doubled their lead thanks to Clarke Caswell, then tripled their lead thanks to Boston Buckberger.

With just a minute and 20 seconds left in the first, Hobey Baker finalist Max Plante scored, with his brother picking up an assist. Two power play goals from Minnesota Duluth tied the game at three, and there was no scoring in the third period to set up sudden death.

Another 20 minutes went by with no scoring, bringing the two teams to double overtime. But just under two minutes into the second overtime period, Kristian Epperson gave Denver their fourth NCHC championship.

Jamieson was held pointless in this game, and finished the NCHC season with seven goals and 16 points in 39 games, with at least one more game to be played this season.

ECAC Hockey

Unfortunately, Jonathan Castagna and Cornell didn’t have the same success as Merrimack and Denver, falling to Princeton in the ECAC Hockey semifinals. Just two and a half minutes into the game, they jumped out to a 1-0 lead, but Princeton responded with two goals in the first seven minutes of the second period.

With under three minutes left in the second, Cornell tied it on a power play goal from Ryan Walsh, but Princeton’s Joshua Karnish scored the game-winning goal with a little under eight minutes left in the game, with Princeton holding on.

Still, Cornell did enough to earn an at-large bid, so they’ll play in the National Tournament. Castagna enters the Natty with 15 goals and 34 points in 33 games this season. But who’ll play in the National Tournament?

National Tournament

Along with Jamieson (Denver), Hoskin (Merrimack), and Castagna (Cornell, there are five other Flame prospects who’ll participate in the National Tournament: Ethan Wyttenbach (Quinnipiac), Luke Misa (Penn State), and Abram Wiebe, Cole Reschny, and Cade Littler (North Dakota).

The Natty begins on Thursday, Mar. 26, with the regional semifinals. In Sioux Falls, Quinnipiac plays Providence and North Dakota plays Merrimack, meaning at least one Flame prospect will move to the regional semifinals.

The winner of that regional super final will take on one of the four teams in Worcester: Michigan State, UConn, Dartmouth, and Wisconsin, none of which feature a Flames prospect. That game is on Mar. 28. Two other Flame prospects battle it out in the regional semifinal, as Castagna’s Cornell plays Jamieson’s Denver on Mar. 27. The winner of that game will take on Western Michigan or Minnesota State on Mar. 29.

Lastly, Penn State will face Minnesota Duluth on Mar. 27, with the winner of that game facing either Henry Mews’ Michigan or Bentley. Mews started skating recently, but won’t return to game action until next season.

Junior

The Western Hockey League regular season came to an end this past weekend, while there’s only a handful of United States Hockey League regular season games remaining. Let’s look at the first round matchups of the three Flames’ prospects in the WHL, as well as where Mace’o Phillips’ Green Bay Gamblers sit.

WHL

The Medicine Hat Tigers defeated the Red Deer Rebels in both games they played over the weekend, defeating them 9-3 and 8-3. Flames’ prospect Andrew Basha scored a goal and two assists in the 9-3 win, then two goals and an assist in the 8-3 win for 18 goals and 50 points in 32 games this season.

They were looking to finish first in the WHL’s Eastern Conference, but Hunter Laing and the Saskatoon Blades didn’t do them any favours, losing 4-0 to the Prince Albert Raiders in the home-and-home they played. Laing finished the season with 24 goals and 55 points in 62 games this season, which was around the 25 goals and 48 points he scored last season.

Axel Hurtig and the Calgary Hitmen split their last two games, defeating the Lethbridge Hurricanes 8-5, as Hurtig picked up an assist and was a +4. Unfortunately, their other game saw them fall 7-1 to the Edmonton Oil Kings, with Hurtig missing that game. He finished his season with six goals and 19 points in 64 games.

With that, the playoff bracket is set. The Tigers finished second in the conference and will have a showdown with the Regina Pats. Further north, the Hitmen earned home-ice advantage in the first round, taking on the Brandon Wheat Kings. And for the first time since the 1970s, the Blades will take on the Oil Kings in a playoff series, with the Oil Kings getting home ice advantage.

The Tigers host the Pats on Friday and Saturday, with both Games 1 and 2 starting at 7:00 p.m. MT. Hurtig and the Hitmen begin their post-season on Friday and also play on Sunday, with both start times coming at 7:00 p.m. MT. Up Highway 2, the Blades begin their playoffs in Edmonton on Friday at 7:00 p.m. MT. Game 2, on Sunday, has a start time of 2:00 p.m. MT.

USHL

It was a tough week for Mace’o Phillips and the Green Bay Gamblers, as they dropped ever-so-important points to the Dubuque Fighting Saints. On Mar. 20, they fell 4-3 in overtime, followed by a 4-2 loss on Saturday to the Saints. Thankfully, they rebounded with an 8-5 win against the Chicago Steel on Sunday to snap a six-game losing streak. Phillips played two games, picking up an assist in the victory as he now has a goal and 10 points in 40 games, with 181 penalty minutes.

There are just four more games remaining on the Gamblers’ schedule, with the team playing the Tri-City Storm twice over the weekend. As it stands, they’re third in the USHL standings having clinched a spot. However, they are two points behind the Saints, who have a game in hand, for an automatic bye to the second round. The furthest the Gamblers can drop is to fifth in the USHL’s Eastern Conference, so these next four games are important.

Overseas

Moving to the Flames’ prospects overseas, a prospect was eliminated with the men’s senior team, while another prospect fights to remain in the top flight of Swedish hockey. In Russia, two Flame prospects are playoff bound.

Sweden

Unfortunately, Theo Stockselius’ season with Djurgårdens IF’s senior team has come to an end, as they fell 3-1 to the Malmö Redhawks in the winner-take-all Game 3. The Flames’ second-rounder in 2025 was held pointless, playing just over seven minutes. Stockselius returned to Djurgårdens IF U20, scoring four goals including the overtime winner to win the series 3-2. Djurgårdens IF U20 is back in action with a new series against Brynäs IF U20 on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday in the quarterfinals.

Jakob Leander’s HV71 U20 isn’t in the playoffs, as they’re currently fighting to remain in the top flight of Sweden’s junior league. They’ve won all four games this season, defeating Karlkoga U20 on Monday by a score of 3-2. Leander picked up an assist, and their next match-up against Grums U20 on Saturday.

Russia

Kirill Zarubin’s Mikhailov Academy was in action twice since the last edition, losing both games to JHC Dynamo by a score of 6-2 and 7-2. Zarubin didn’t perform well in either game, stopping 29 of 33 shots in the 6-2 loss and 27 of 32 shots in the 7-2 loss. He finished the regular season with a .930 save percentage and 2.17 goals against average.

Yegor Yegorov’s final game was on Mar. 20 against AKM-Yunior, with the Russian netminder stopping 36 of 42 shots for an .857 save percentage. With JHC Spartak MHA missing the playoffs, Yegorov finished his season with a .918 save percentage and 2.97 goals against average.

Yan Matveiko’s Red Army played JHC Spartak, falling 4-1. As has been the case for most of the games in the second half of the season, Matveiko was held off the scoresheet and was a -1. He finished his season with 15 goals and 37 points in 50 games.

With the pair of losses, Mikhailov Academy will play in the play-in, with their first game coming on Wednesday against SKA Academy. Game 2 will be on Saturday, with a possible Game 3 not being scheduled yet. Red Army’s first round opponent is yet to be determined.

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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