BSH prospect report: A nice little run

The news of the week

It’s another light news week, folks, and the piece of news we do have to deliver is not great. Egor Zamula underwent shoulder surgery a few weeks back, and that’s explained his absence with the Phantoms. He’ll be out for the next few months, but he’s expected to make a full recovery in time for training camp. Still a tough blow though.

What’s up with the Phantoms?

The other bit of news for the week (and which we’ll be talking about in more detail in the next few days), is that, just as quickly as they were in them, the Phantoms are now out of the playoffs. It was a tough series, and while the Phantoms did take Game 1 with a win, and did show flashes in Game 2, it never really felt like they had a commanding hold on the series, and they ended up dropping this one in three games.

The Phantoms were shut out in their final game of the series, but in their first two games, they did get some nice production out of a handful of the Flyers’ prospects.

Leading the scoring charge was Olle Lycksell, who put up two goals and two assists, and perhaps even more impressively, didn’t seem to lose any steam during or after the Phantoms had to play just shy of 100 minutes of hockey in Game 2.

Tyson Foerster was also buzzing in this series, and picked up two goals of his own and an additional assist in his three games played.

Eliott Desnoyers rounded out the prospect scoring for the series with the game tying goal in Game 2.

And while there were no goals for Bobby Brink to speak of here, he did get some nice looks, and came out of this one with an assist, to get on the scoresheet for the series.

And then, of course, there was Sam Ersson. His numbers for this series don’t come away looking stellar (he made 28 saves on 30 shots in Game 1, 45 saves on 50 shots in Game 2, and then 11 saves on 15 shots in Game 3 before being pulled). If you’re keeping track at home, that amounts to an .875 save percentage for the playoffs. And it’s easy to come away from this one feeling a little down on him based on that number and the pulling in Game 3, but it’s worth remembering that Ersson was in a tough spot here. He was already played a whole lot down the stretch for the Phantoms, where he saw a whole lot of shots, and was coming into a matchup against a Charlotte team that was a high shot generator throughout the regular season. He played well in Game 1, and again in Game 2, bailing out his team and keeping them alive almost all of the way through double overtime, while they bled 50 shots on goal. Asking him to start again the very next day for Game 3 was, well, a difficult ask, and it’s not a surprise that he just ran out of gas. It was a tough end to what’s been, overall, a very successful season.

The prospect world tour

As we said, the playoffs are underway for the Royals, and some of the prospects are off to a solid start there. In their first two games played (both wins for the Royals), Zayde Wisdom put up a goal and an assist, while Mason Millman pitched in an assist of his own.

Up North, that’s right, it’s more playoffs! Alexis Gendron had himself a quiet week, with a paltry one goal and two assists in two games played. (Is this joke getting old? Is it mean? To be sincere for a moment: he’s playing very well, even when he’s not racking up hat tricks upon hat tricks).

Over in the OHL, both J.R. Avon and Brian Zanetti are starting to heat up for Peterborough. In their last three games, Zanetti picked up a goal (his first of the playoffs) and an assist, while Avon contributed in three assists.

And to round out our tour west through Canada, it’s a quick stop in Prince George, where Ethan Samson chipped in one assist on the week.

Back down in the States, it’s a quick playoff reprieve as the USHL just wrapped up their regular season. Alex Bump closed things out on a high note, putting up a goal and six shots on goal in Tri-City’s last game of the season. Now, they’ll be off to the playoffs this week.

And finally, Kettera is still doing well in the Mestis post-season, and the offense is continuing to come well for Samu Tuomaala. It was a relatively quiet week for him — he had two assists in his last three games played — but that’s still a nice little bit of production for a player that’s being leaned on heavily by his team. Not too bad at all.