We’re settling in to the month of December, and the prospect happenings just keep on ramping up. Let’s check in and see how things have gone after another reasonably busy week, shall we?
The news of the week
Even with all of that said and everything else going on, we’re still in a bit of a calm before the storm period somehow. That is, World Junior selection camps are just about to get rolling, and while there will soon be a lot to take and unpack from them, we’re not quite there yet. We’re gearing up for it, though.
Elsewhere, Jack Berglund’s travels continue — after getting stints in both the SHL and J20 Nationell this season, he’s been loaned to BIK Karlskoga of the Allsvenskan for the remainder of the season (presumably). And this is probably the best possible situation for him, as he’s proven he’s too good for the J20 Nationell, but not quite ready to graduate to the SHL on a full-time basis. This step is something of the middle ground, and hopefully he’ll be able to settle in with his new team in short order.
And we’ve got some late breaking news! The Flyers announced this afternoon that they’ve signed forward Jacob Gaucher to an Entry Level Contract, adding one more prospect to the mix down with the Phantoms.
Three stars
Helge Grans
The Phantoms are on a bit of a losing streak at the moment, but even in the face of the suboptimal team results, they’re getting some really good showings from the Flyers prospect group on the team. This week, one of their biggest performers was Helge Grans, who put up a cool point per game (to the tune of two goals and two assists) over his last four games played.
And this is good news on all fronts. Those four games were his first back with the team after being sent back down from the Flyers, and he’s picked right back up where he left off, with how well he was playing before the recall. This is good for Grans and good for the team, who will be needing to throw him some more minutes, with Louie Belpedio going down with an injury over the weekend. He’ll be leaned on heavily over this next little bit, and the hope is that he can continue to carry his momentum through that.
JR Avon
The Phantoms also got a similar — same, indeed — output from JR Avon over that same four-game span. That first goal, coming on Sunday in Hershey was a big one for him, as it was his first goal of the season arriving at long last.
Indeed, it’s been a long time coming — Avon’s created some really good scoring chances for himself over these first two months of the season, but he’s been snakebitten to an almost unbelievable degree. But now that the proverbial dam has been broken, he’s looking like he’s off to the races. He looked like he could have had one or two more goals in Sunday’s game, he was buzzing so much, and then he tacked on another goal in his next game on Tuesday in Toronto. Reaching a level of sustainability is going to be his next big challenge, but it’s looking like he’s finally found his scoring again, which is excellent news.
Jett Luchanko
There’s a wild amount of continuity happening in this section this week, and you’re not going to believe the numbers Luchanko put up this week — that’s right, it’s two goals and two assists, but he did it in three games on the week.
And this was about as positive of a close as he could have brought to this stint with Guelph, before he headed off to that aforementioned selection camp. There’s a reasonable volume of returnees eyeballing spots on Canada’s roster, but everyone seems to be treating the race for spots as pretty wide open, which is good news for Luchanko. He’s coming in with momentum, and will make a strong case for earning one of those spots.
Honorable mentions
Speaking of hopefuls for a spot on the Canadian World Junior roster, Denver Barkey put together quite a solid last week of action with London before he left for camp. It was a quieter week for him in terms of volume of games, with just two on the schedule, but he showed up big for them, putting up a goal and two assists between them. He’ll need to keep that same jump rolling into camp if he wants to earn a spot on the roster, but between his past resume and the momentum he’s also bringing in, his case is looking very good.
And then back on the Phantoms, the production didn’t end with just Grans and Avon, certainly not. Olle Lycksell, who’s been something of a perennial star for the team this season, despite not having any goals to his name this week, still managed to chip in a tidy three assists over his last four games played. He’s finding a really nice bit of consistency again this season, as even when the scoring isn’t red hot, he’s still finding ways to contribute nicely.
Zayde Wisdom also got on the board for the Phantoms this week, putting up a goal and an assist. This goal was a nice milestone for him as well — he picked up his first of the season on Sunday in Hershey along with Avon, and has been building nicely on the strong performances he’s been stringing together over these last couple weeks.
It was a quiet week over in the NCAA, but Alex Bump and his Western Michigan teammates were in action with a series against Denver, and he came up nicely for them. Though he was held off the board in the first game (which ended in a win for the Broncos), he chipped in a goal in the second game when his team was struggling a bit more.
And then finally, back in the Allsvenskan, Alex Ciernik had himself a solid week, breaking a little bit of a slow slump — across his last two games played, he has a goal and an assist, and while this isn’t a world beating total, it’s respectable, and a nice little step in the right direction.
