We’re winding down around here, folks! We’re just about wrapping up our regular seasons in the AHL and USHL, and continuing to break down the postseason action up in the Canadian junior ranks. Let’s get into it.
The News of the Week
Despite the end of the season nearing, the news items just keep on rolling in. This week saw the Flyers make two new signings, as they’ve added both Devin Kaplan and Alex Bump on their entry level deals. Kaplan’s kicked in this season, allowing him to make his NHL debut last night in Buffalo, while Bump’s will begin next season, opening him up to sign an ATO and join the Phantoms for the rest of their season. We’ll likely see him debut this weekend. And speaking of the Phantoms, they’ve also gotten another addition coming their way, as goaltender Carson Bjarnason was also finally loaned to them this week.
Three Stars
Denver Barkey
This week’s stars section might as well be renamed to the CHL report, because we’ve got a very Canadian juniors-focused lean this time around. No surprises here, but Denver Barkey — rolling to a frankly insane degree — is continuing to put up huge numbers for London in their postseason run. Over his last four games played, he’s put up four goals and four assists (most of which were stacked between the first two games, as Erie did something truly remarkable on Tuesday, holding him off the board entirely, though he got back on the board with an assist in yesterday’s game). As is stands, London just wrapped up their series — across which, to again give him his honorable mention nod early, Oliver Bonk had a goal and two assists — completing the sweep in four games, and getting a bit of rest in while they await news of their next opponent.
Noah Powell
Sticking in the OHL for a little while longer, things are going well for Noah Powell on an individual level, but not as well for his Generals team in the big picture. They went into last night’s game down 2-1 in their series against Brantford, and while they managed to tie things up with a big win, they haven’t been off to as commanding of a start as they might have hoped. For his part though, Powell has been stepping up to drive a good portion of the success the team has found. He has two goals and two assists over his four games played, and has been a notable bright spot for the team, after having a quieter first round series. Now, the hope is that he can keep this rolling over these next few games and factor into the team’s push to get things on track again.
Carter Sotheran
And then finally, out in the WHL, things are going in a similar way for Carter Sotheran. Portland also managed to pull themselves back even in their series with Everett after falling down 2-0 early — still close, but still a little suboptimal — but Sotheran has been doing well (as he always seems to) to find another gear to kick up into for the playoffs. He’s also up to two goals and two assists over the first four games of that series, and has stepped up as a big presence for them. We’ll see where things go from here, through the rest of the series, but if Portland isn’t able to regain their footing, it certainly isn’t going to be for lack of effort on Sotheran’s part.
Honorable Mentions
Back with the Phantoms, it’s been a relatively quiet week — in large part because they’ve been struggling to string together wins again, but also because, with their playoff spot already clinched, they’ve been resting a good number of their big guns — but not one without any activity altogether. Notably, the Phantoms were getting a lot of offense from their back end, as Hunter McDonald chipped in a goal and an assist over his pair of games played, while both of Helge Grans and Ethan Samson both had one apiece. Beyond that, all of Jacob Gaucher, Elliot Desnoyers, and Alex Ciernik (in just one game) got themselves on the board with an assist each.
Last weekend, of course, also saw the Frozen Four taking place, wrapping up the college season for Kaplan and Bump, and they both had themselves good games. Kaplan got himself involved nicely in the scoring for BU, and picked up an assist in their win over Penn State, and then another in the championship loss to Western Michigan. Bump, on the other hand, found his offense shut down through this tournament, but it certainly wasn’t for lack of trying. He came away from the weekend with no points, but put up a total of 12 shots on goal across his two games played, and was consistently one of the most noticeable players on the ice for the Broncos.
And finally, Heikki Ruohonen saw his scoring streak brought to an end this week, as he was held off the board against Madison, but he rebounded nicely in his next game against Cedar Rapids, putting up a goal and an assist. Things are still clicking well for him on the whole, and he’s putting together a very solid end to his regular season, setting himself up well to keep rolling in a big way in the playoffs.
