We’ve got a busy week of prospect happenings to break down, folks! Last week was a little quiet, but we’ve got a lot to highlight this time around. It all seems to balance out in the end. Anyway, we’re diving right into things. Let’s get after it.
Three Stars
Matt Strome
The move over from wing to center has served Strome well, and he’s been having a sneaky very good season on a pretty up and down Phantoms team. The Phantoms are winless in their last six and their offense has dried up a bit, but we can’t really say that’s been the case for Strome individually, that’s for sure. In his three games last week, he put up three goals (the team as a whole scored seven), and chipped in five shots on goal. The team’s been wanting for consistency, particularly of late, and by and large, Strome’s been able to provide that. He’s been a useful utility player for them, and he’s certainly taken the role he’s been given amidst all of this roster flux and run with it.
Ivan Fedotov
The KHL playoffs are underway and Fedotov is off to a red hot start. In his first three games, he’s picked up wins, which is great for starters, and his individual play therein has been little short of stellar. In those three games he’s only allowed six goals combined, and he’s cruising along with a .955 SV%. And these haven’t been easy games for him, he’s faced 36, 29, and 68 shots in them (yes, 68, I had to double check that myself, but that’s the real total).
Ronnie Attard
Attard and the Western Michigan Broncos closed out their regular season last weekend with a series against Miami, and it was a good one for both the team (they swept, outscoring Miami 8-3 over those two games, and clinched a third place finish in the conference standings) as well as Attard on an individual level. He contributed one goal to that mix and added a primary assist on another, and also put up six shots in total, so we saw his offensive game sparking again as the team looked to finish the regular season strong and build some momentum into the post-season. Attard’s been consistent in really all areas of his game, and a tremendous asset to his team, and he’s going to be leaned on heavily still as they look to make a push for a Frozen Face-off win (for starters).
Honorable Mentions
Bobby Brink
Elsewhere in the NCHC, and speaking of that first place Denver team, Brink continues on his offensive tear. We might actually call last weekend’s series against Colorado College a slow couple of games for him, as he only picked up a goal and two assists, but we’ll resist getting too deep into the jokes there. Brink’s having himself a very good season, and he’s not showing any sign of slowing down as he and the Pioneers move into the NCHC playoffs this weekend, kicking things off with a series against Miami, for those keeping track at home. We’ll see how he’s able to keep things rolling as the stakes continue to rise.
Cam York
As we said, it’s been a rough go of things for the Phantoms, but there have still been at least a couple of noteworthy individual performances for them. Strome certainly stole the show but we should also toss a nod Cam York’s way, as he’s also had himself a quietly pretty solid week. He also kicked in a bit of offense (in the form of a goal and an assist), but what we’re really keying in on is how he’s continuing to find his game again at the AHL level. There’s almost certainly some disappointment involved in being sent down and kept down after performing well at the NHL level, but York’s done well to shake that off with a bit of time and get back to being an effective contributor across all situations for the team, which is exactly what we want to be seeing from him.
Samu Tuomaala
It’s been a bit of a nightmare season for Tuomaala, there’s really no sense in sugar coating it. He’s bounced between three different teams (starting with the Phantoms before heading back over to Finland to join Sport, and then leaving them to now join Jukurit) and hasn’t really been able to get his game going fully. But, we did see him finally able to break onto the scoresheet this weekend, as he picked up an assist in Jukurit’s win on Saturday (his third point of the season).
It may be a small thing, but we’re looking for any positivity we can find as far as Tuomaala is concerned. It’s been a tough year, but if he can use this last stretch of the season to build up even a bit of momentum, that would be nice to see.
Jay O’Brien
O’Brien picked up a goal in one of BU’s two games against Maine this weekend, while also chipping in five shots on goal, so his offensive game is still plugging along nicely. On the flip side, we did see his tenacious play spilling over into “perhaps a little too much” territory, as he picked up minor penalties for roughing and crosschecking, as well as a 10-minute misconduct at the tail end of what was a very chippy game on Saturday, so there was that too.
Did we need to include this? No, but the weekend stat line of one goal, five shots on goal, and 16 PIM just looked kind of funny. Okay good talk, see you all next week.
