Minnesota Wild Prospects Update: Michalek On Fire, Tanner Faith Timeline
It’s been a little while since we checked in on the Wild prospects here at GPW. To be honest, it’s just because I’m traveling and so, here we are. But I won’t ignore the time that’s passed, so here’s a somewhat beefed up Minnesota Wild Prospect Report.
Alexandré Belanger
Belanger sat on the 21st and 22nd in favor of teammate Samuel Harvey, but got back into action on the 23rd, stopping 35 of 37 in a 3-2 Rouyn-Noranda win over Victoriaville.
That win was enough to get Belanger the start again on the 26th, where things didn’t go quite as well. He allowed three goals on the first nine shots and was pulled in favor of Harvey, who stopped 12 of 13 as Rouyn-Noranda lost to Drummondville 5-3.
Louie Belpedio
Belpedio added an assist in Miami (OH)’s win over Western Michigan on Friday. Miami swept their weekend series with Western Michigan.
Reid Duke
Duke and his Brandon Wheat Kings have had four games since the last Prospect Update, over which Duke collected a goal, four assists, a minus-2 rating, and two penalty minutes.
He put up two assists in Friday’s 7-2 win over the Edmonton Oil Kings, and had a goal and two assists in a 5-4 loss to Saskatoon the following night. That game came after the Wheat Kings made a trade with Saskatoon to acquire “veteran” goaltender Alex Moodie, who did not suit up for the game.
Brandon is in first place in the Eastern Conference of the WHL and currently holds the second best overall record in the league.
Tanner Faith
As we’ve mentioned before, Faith has missed some time since going out with an upper body injury on November 1st. However, the Kootenay Ice posted this week that they expected Faith back in the lineup in one to two weeks.
That’s very good news for the defenseman who missed most of last season with an injury, suiting up for only ten games.
Adam Gilmour
Gilmour fared well in the two BC games since our last check-in. He put up an assist, three shots, a plus-1 rating in a win over UMASS and followed that up with a pair of assists and a plus-3 rating in Boston College’s win over Maine.
Pavel Jenys
The Sudbury Wolves have only played twice since we last talked, getting shutout by North Bay Battalion on Thursday and taking another loss to them on Friday. Jenys added an assist in Friday’s loss.
Sudbury still sits at the bottom of the OHL with a record of 4-19-0-0.
Chase Lang
The Calgary Hitmen have run through four games since the last post and Lang got back in the mix for the last of the three, though he failed to register a point.
He finished with one shot, an even rating, and 15 penalty minutes, all accrued in Sunday’s win over the Red Deer Rebels. Lang received a major penalty and a game misconduct for a cross check, so he really saw just over a period of play in that game.
Lang has already served a suspension for a cross check this season, so him throwing another huge cross check seems like an alarming trend.
In less cross-checky news, here’s a nice feature on Lang in the Nanaimo Daily News.
Mario Lucia
Notre Dame lost one and salvaged a tie with UMASS Lowell over the weekend. Lucia scored a goal in the tie, but was held silent in the loss.
Lucia is second on the team in points with 9 goals and 2 assists through 14 games.
Steve Michalek
Michalek and Harvard have played twice, the first ending with a shutout on 29 shots for Michalek against Dartmouth.
He followed that up with a win over Bentley on Friday, stopping 28 of 29 in a 5-1 win where Harvard only managed 27 shots. Michalek has a very good season going so far.
Alex Tuch
Gilmour’s teammate and 2014 1st round draft pick Alex Tuch posted five shots in BC’s win over UMASS and scored one in the subsequent win against Maine.