Minnesota Wild Prospect Update: Duke Settles In, Michalek Gets a Pair of Wins
Nolan De Jong
It looked as though De Jong had his first career goal in Friday’s Michigan vs. AIC game, but it wasn’t to be. He was officially credited with an assist on what was Michigan’s fifth goal in a 5-2 win. He’s still looking for his first NCAA goal after getting scratched from Saturday’s game, which Michigan also won over AIC, 6-3.
Reid Duke
Duke continues to settle in with the Brandon Wheat Kings, posting great numbers again this week. Brandon went 1-1 over the weekend, losing to the Seattle Thunderbirds on Friday and eeking out a shootout win over the Medicine Hat Tigers on Saturday.
Saturday’s shootout went eight rounds with the Wheat Kings’ Jordan Papirny stopping all eight shots he faced and Braylon Shmyr sneaking one past the Tigers’ Marek Langhamer in the eighth round to win the game. Brandon had Duke shoot in the seventh round.
Duke had an assist and two penalty minutes Friday, then topped off the weekend with a goal, an assist, a plus-4 rating, and four penalty minutes on Saturday. Duke had a bit of a slow start after being traded from the Lethbridge Hurricanes, but is starting to show the upside that the Wild drafted him for.
Tanner Faith
Faith is still out “indefinitely.” For more on that, check out the November 10 prospect update.
Pavel Jenys
The Sudbury Wolves continue a rough run this season by dropping two games over the last week, both by a score of 5-2. Jenys had an assist and five for fighting against the Mississauga Steelheads and was kept without any notable stats against the Sarnia Sting in the week’s second match.
The Wolves currently have the worst record in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) at 3-17-0-0 for six total points. That puts them six points behind the next worst team in the league, the Niagara IceDogs.
Dylan Labbé
Labbé and Shawinigan split their weekend series beating Rouyn-Noranda 5-4 on Friday and losing to Val-d’Or 7-4 on Saturday. Labbé was a plus-3 against Rouyn-Noranda and grabbed an assist and a plus-2 rating in the loss to Val-d’Or.
Chase Lang
Lang continues to have a strong season with the Calgary Hitmen tallying another goal in a win over the Kootenay Ice on Friday. He currently has nine goals and nine assists through the first 18 games of the season.
Steve Michalek
Harvard had a busy three-game week starting with a Tuesday night match against Boston College. Harvard coach Ted Donato gave Michalek the net in all three games.
Harvard opened with a 6-3 win over the Wild’s 2014 first round draft pick Alex Tuch and the Boston College Eagles with Michalek stopping 23 of 26 shots.
Michalek grabbed another win on Friday when Harvard took on Brown, earning a 6-2 win. Michalek stopped 33 of 35 on the night.
With two wins behind them, Harvard finished the weekend with a loss to Yale. Michalek stopped 33 of 34 shots with Yale adding empty net goal to take the 2-1 win.
Louis Nanne
Nanne and RPI took a game over Princeton on Friday and dropped one to Quinnipiac on Saturday. Nanne had the lone goal against Quinnipiac and registered three shots in each game.
Alex Tech
As mentioned earlier, Boston College took on Harvard on Tuesday and dropped a 6-3 decision with Tuch scoring a third period goal against potential future teammate and Harvard netminder Steve Michalek.
Following that mid-week game, BC just had one weekend game, playing Michigan State on Friday. The BC Eagles won that one 3-2, with Tuch adding an assist on a Zach Sanford goal.
Tuch’s teammate and Wild prospect Adam Gilmour was held without a point on the weekend.