Postseasons are ramping up or close to ramping up all over the place, and the Flyers have a whole bunch of prospects getting rolling with their most meaningful games of the season, to date.
The News of the Week
We have quite a few seasons winding down around here, but there’s been no shortage of news happenings unfolding. The first item of business is that the Flyers have made another signing, getting Alex Ciernik signed to a three-year entry level deal, which kicks in next season. He’s expected to join the Phantoms on a more full-time basis at that point, but there’s no word yet as to whether we’ll see him with the team at the end of this year on a tryout contract, which he did last year, but time will tell.
On top of that, it’s been reported for a hot second, but the Flyers made the official announcement today that they’ve signed NCAA free agent Riley Thompson to an ELC, and he’s confirmed to be another player joining the Phantoms for the rest of their season.
This week will also see the NCAA tournament kicking off, as we work through the regionals to whittle the pool down to the final teams heading to the Frozen Four. Porter Martone and Shane Vansaghi will be the only players representing the Flyers in this year’s tournament, and as we write this, they’re already off for their opening matchup against UConn. Should they get past them, they’ll face whoever comes out of this evening’s matchup between Dartmouth and Wisconsin on Saturday.
And finally, Jett Luchanko is set to return from injury on Friday for the first game of the OHL playoffs after about a month sidelined with an upper-body injury, which is great news for an already loaded Brantford team.
Three Stars
Jack Nesbitt
Nesbitt has certainly been picking up steam at just the right point in the season, as Windsor presses on towards the postseason, but this week saw him hit another level entirely. His goal scoring has really kicked into overdrive, of late, and this week saw him chip in a goal in their loss to London on Friday, and then things really broke open for him in their next game, and he put up a hat trick in their win over Sault Ste. Marie.
Despite the fact that the season’s been a bit uneven on the whole, he’s averaging out to a level of production that we’ll surely be pleased with — 25 goals and 58 points in 55 games played, up to this point — as he’s continuing to work on his game, in anticipation of the next step up, whenever and to wherever that may be.
Max Westergard
We’re going to get into increasingly more about playoff performances around here, and Max Westergard is certainly already having a big one. He kicked off the postseason down at the U20 level well, putting up a tidy goal and two assists over Frolunda’s first couple games against Vaxjo, but his production has really exploded over his most recent three games. Westergard put up a hat trick in last Wednesday’s game, and then chipped in another goal in each of the next two games to close out the series. This brings him up to nine goals and a whopping 30 points through 20 games played at that level, which is impressive to say the least, and also certainly sets him up with some real momentum to carry into their next series against Farjestad.
Owen McLaughlin
Fresh off signing his AHL contract, Owen McLaughlin made his debut with the Royals over the weekend, and he got off to a solid start. It was a busy weekend for him, with a three-in-three on deck, but he held up reasonably well and even picked up a few points along the way — after getting his feet wet in Friday’s game, he was able to chip in a pair of assists on Saturday, though he was held off the board again in their third game to close out the weekend.
And while the jump up in terms of level of competition might not be quite as steep as going from the Hockey East straight to the AHL, it’s still a very different game in the ECHL, and it’s going to take some time for him to adjust and really get his legs under him. It’s all a process, but it’s been nice to see him at least get some production in right off the bat, so that’s one less thing weighing on him.
Honorable Mentions
This past weekend was a rough one for the Phantoms, as they looked to capitalize on the momentum built from a huge run over the previous week — in which they collected three wins in four games against three of the top teams in the East — but ended up falling flat in their two games on the road in Charlotte. Production took a pretty major downswing — though each of Tucker Robertson and Karsen Dorwart picked up goals, and Max Guenette and Phil Tomasino contributed an assist apiece — and the team backslid again into making some pretty costly mistakes. They’ve shown quite definitively how dominant they can look when they’re playing a focused game, but it’s going to take some real work to get things back on track as they head into another couple of critical matchups on the weekend.
Speaking of challenging situations, this season’s getting even more frustrating to watch unfold, from the outside at least, for Yegor Zavragin, as he’s been dropped down another level, and is playing down in the MHL at the moment. It seems that he’s making the most of it, and he put up a decent showing in his debut, making stops on 32 of 35 shots he faced on the way to a shootout loss, and that’s not nothing, but it’s a bit of a disappointing development in a season that — for reasons completely outside of his control — is really not going the way that he would have imagined or hoped.
But on a lighter note, Jack Berglund’s gotten rolling in the SHL playoffs, and he’s kicked things off on a reasonably high note, picking up and assist in Farjestad’s tight 2-1 win over Rogle in Tuesday’s game, which put them up 1-0 in the series. They’ll be back in action today, looking to keep that momentum rolling and really take control of this series.
