Prospect Update: Lucia Hat Trick, Duke Has 4-Point Night, Tuch’s 1st Goal
Louie Belpedio
Louie Belpedio continued a promising start to his NCAA career with the #11 University of Miami Ohio Redhawks by scoring another goal and an assist this weekend, helping the Redhawks to a pair of wins over #17 Ohio State.
Belpedio now has two goals and an assist through the first four games of his NCAA career.
Reid Duke
Reid Duke, as you remember, got the trade he (probably) wanted, taking him away from the cellar-dwelling Lethbridge Hurricanes of the Western Hockey League (WHL) to the Brandon Wheat Kings, who, after two huge wins this weekend lead the East Division with a record of 8-2-1-0.
I said huge because on Friday Brandon dominated the Swift Current Broncos 8-3 and then finished off the Portland Winterhawks (former home of Wild defenseman Matt Dumba) 10-3.
Duke has struggled this season and hasn’t produced much since arriving in Brandon. Those struggles continued on Friday when he didn’t post a single point while 14 different players got at least one point for the Wheat Kings. He jumped into the action Saturday, tallying a goal and three assists, along with a plus-5 rating against Portland. That four-point explosion Saturday puts his season totals at one goal and five assists through eight games.
The win over Portland featured a lot of sloppy play from Portland, but it was nice to see that most of Duke’s points didn’t feature Winterhawks players tipping the puck into their own net, but some nice finesse play from Duke including a nice tip on his goal, a heads up cross-ice feed on an early tally, and an absolutely gorgeous break where Duke dives to save a bad pass from getting away from him, then drops it to a teammate.
Watch highlights from Duke’s four-point game here.
Pavel Jenys
Jenys added two assists to his season totals this weekend as his Sudbury Wolves dropped two more decisions to fall to 1-9-0-0 on the year. Those loses find them falling to dead last in the conference.
The Wolves have been in the news for other reasons this week as well. Largely because of the retirement of Connor Burgess, who played all 95 games of his Ontario Hockey League (OHL) career with the Wolves. It’s notable because he’s retiring with zero points. It’s made additionally notable because he was the son of the owner and by all accounts never measured up to the pace and physicality of the OHL.
If you’ve spent any time around junior hockey, these kind of things don’t seem that surprising. They aren’t the norm necessarily, but stranger things have happened. Ken Campbell has an interesting piece on the situation at The Hockey News, which states:
"Connor Burgess is, by almost all accounts, a really good kid who was placed in an untenable situation. Despite the fact most teams didn’t even see him as a prospect in the spring of 2012, the team traded a second- and fourth-round pick to obtain a third-round pick to take him. The Wolves then signed Burgess, and gave him the full post-season education package before playing him in 28 games as a 16-year-old.It was clear from the start that Burgess was in far over his head. But even as the years progressed, it became clear to the scouting community and those who watch the team regularly that Burgess simply did not have the tools to be an OHL player. Last season as a second year player, he played on the fourth line and things had simmered down somewhat in terms of criticism. But this season, Burgess had been elevated to the third line and had seen some power play and penalty killing time. In a recent 8-2 loss to the Owen Sound Attack, Burgess was on the ice for four goals against, including two where he was killing penalties and collided twice with teammates."
Chase Lang
Chase Lang has been on fire all season for the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL, but cooled down a bit this weekend. Through three games Lang posted a single assist as the Hitmen won two of three. On the season he still leads the Hitmen in points with seven goals and five assists through ten games.
Mario Lucia
Mario Lucia and the University of Notre Dame registered their first two wins of the season after dropping the first weekend’s games in the Icebreaker tournament against Rensselaer and the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Lucia ended the Icebreaker Tournament with one goal against the Duluth.
He kept the momentum going this weekend, grabbing a goal on one of his four shots in Friday’s win over Lake Superior State. Then he carried the team to another victory nabbing a hat trick, the first of his NCAA career, in Saturday’s game, the second of the weekend against Lake Superior State. All three of big Mario Lucia’s goals were skill tallies, digging in front of the net, grabbing rebounds, and picking corners, he looked very good this weekend.
Watch Lucia’s hat trick below:
Carson Soucy
The University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs split their weekend series with Minnesota State Mankato, but Wild defensive prospect Carson Soucy broke free for three points (2-1-3). That puts Soucy at two goals and three assists through the season’s opening four games.
Alex Tuch
Boston College only played one game this weekend, but they used that game to make a statement over R.I.T. in a 6-2 win. Alex Tuch registered his first NCAA goal in just his second game with Boston College, after having an impressive preseason. (And all Wild fans know that the preseason is not a good indicator of what’s going to work, right? See: Wild’s power play this year, Dany Heatley last year.)