Another week, another full docket of exciting happenings to dig into for Flyers prospects near and far. Let’s get right into it.
The News of the Week
Not much doing in the news department this week, but the one big piece of news is that Ethan Samson has been medically cleared and assigned to the Phantoms, as he’s ready to get back in action for the first time since taking an injury during training camp. It’s not certain yet whether he’ll be good to get in immediately this weekend, but it shouldn’t be long before we see him back in the mix.
Three Stars
Jack Nesbitt
When we spoke last week, we made mention of Nesbitt finding a nice bit of production in his time back in the OHL, but not having popped off in the really major way that someone like Jett Luchanko had in his first week back. It turns out, then, that we may have spoken too soon, because that kind of effort was exactly what his next week of play brought. Nesbitt got in for two games on the week, and he kicked things off nicely with a goal in Windsor’s game against Kingston on Thursday, but he really exploded for the Saturday game against Brampton, tacking on another goal on top of that and a whopping four assists to go along with it, as his game really seemed to wake up for that one.
And, don’t look now, but with that burst of production, he’s managed to vault himself up over that point per game pace on the season, as he’s up to 16 points over his first 14 games. Not too shabby.
Yegor Zavragin
After a bit of a layoff, Zavragin got back to action with a bit more work in two starts this week, and they were largely quite good ones. He kicked things off with a slightly less busy outing, and came away with 23 saves on 25 shots faced in that first game and a nice win to go along with it, and then improved to 28 saves on 30 shots in his next game, and completing his sweep with a second win to close out his week. And while his usage has still been a little bit inconsistent, he’s delivering quite solid results on the whole when he is being called upon — through his first 11 starts of the season, he has a GAA well below three (2.46) and a very solid .924 save percentage, even if the wins weren’t there for him earlier in the season (his record now is up to 5-6-0), so for his part at least, he’s continuing to deliver.
Porter Martone
And finally, it was another solid week for Porter Martone, as he continues to find a good deal of success in this first half of his college freshman season. This past weekend saw the Spartans pull off a huge sweep of Penn State — a series which certainly had a lot of eyes turned to it, given the high profile names on each side — and Martone was nicely involved across both of those games. He stepped up with a nice bit of production, with a goal and an assist on the weekend, but he also brought a level of physical engagement that was perhaps towing the line of legality a bit, but was no less deeply Flyers in its overall feel. He’s building up his level of play nicely week over week, and he’s certainly doing his part to make these Michigan State games appointment viewing.
Honorable Mentions
Elsewhere in the NCAA, Heikki Ruohonen is still plugging away nicely, now that his season’s finally gotten started. He picked up an assist on Harvard’s only goal in their loss to Cornell on Friday, though he was held off the board in their win over Colgate on Saturday. Meanwhile, Cole Knuble managed to snap a two game points drought — not the longest nor an overly concerning one, but notable considering how consistent he was last season — with an assist in Notre Dame’s second loss of the weekend to Minnesota, as their losing streak hit four games, and they continue to struggle on the team success level.
Back in the Hockey East, Boston University picked up a much-needed sweep of Merrimack over the weekend, getting them back on track in the midst of a tough start to the season, and after a particularly tough sweep by Maine the weekend before last. Jack Murtagh got rolling nicely on the weekend, picking up a goal in Friday’s overtime win, while Owen McLaughlin took his turn to step up in the Saturday win with a goal and an assist. We should mention, in all of this, we’re still waiting for the first point of the season from Carter Amico, but that will come sooner or later.
Up in the QMJHL, Nathan Quinn is also continuing his nice run of productive play to start this season. He picked up an assist in both of this week’s games (both tidy wins for Quebec over Val-d’Or), stretching his points streak to four games, and keeping him in line to continue cruising along at that point per game pace, which he’s hovered around all season.
And finally, though it was a quieter week on the schedule for the Phantoms with just one game on the weekend — don’t worry, things pick up significantly this weekend with their first three-in-three of the season — but it was still a largely productive one for the prospect group. In that gutsy 3-2 win over the Marlies, Devin Kaplan and Alexis Gendron both stepped up with some noticeable extra jump and came away with a goal apiece, while Alex Bump and Ty Murchison had an assist apiece, and Christian Kyrou had two of his own, and then on the other end, Aleksei Kolosov brought a nicely settled showing in his first since being reassigned to the team earlier in the week, stopping 22 of 24 shots he faced on the way to the win.
