Prospect Report: Tuch & Gilmour Continue Strong Play, Belanger Leads the Q, Duke Adjusting
Olivier Archambault
The forward on contract with the Iowa Wild and currently playing with the Alaska Aces of the ECHL leads the team through the first six games with two goals and two assists. The team has struggled, winning just one of six games after being last season’s Kelly Cup Champions. All four of his points came over the weekend.
Archambault does not currently have a NHL contract, but spent time with the team during development camp, the Traverse City Prospects Tournament, and NHL training camp.
Alexandre Belanger
Belanger leads the QMJHL with a goals against average of 2.12, a good step ahead of Marvin Cüpper in second place with a 2.37 GAA. Overall he’s 5-2 with a .911 save percentage. A solid start to the year for the young netminder, who the Wild selected in the seventh round of the 2013 draft.
Christoph Bertschy
The Wild’s sixth round pick in the 2012 draft has had a strong start to his season with SC Bern, notching three goals and seven assists through 17 games.
John Draeger
Though the news on Draeger’s recovery from off-season surgery has largely been positive, he’s now missed the first two weekends of game action for the Michigan State University Spartans.
Reid Duke
Duke had a slow start after being traded to the Brandon Wheat Kings from the Lethbridge Hurricanes, but he’s finding his groove now. Brandon won two of three games over the last week and Duke recorded at least one point in each game.
That includes a goal in Wednesday’s win over Prince George, two goals in Friday’s win over Kamloops (one empty-netter), and an assist in Sunday’s loss to Kelowna.
The Wheat Kings currently sit atop the East Division of the Eastern Conference.
Adam Gilmour
Gilmour and fellow Wild prospect Alex Tuch had a great weekend for Boston College. Gilmour started the weekend recording a pair of assists and a plus-3 rating in a win over Colorado College. Then on Saturday he took home #1 star of the game honors after posting two goals, an assist, and six shots in a win over Massachusetts.
Pavel Jenys
Not much news on Jenys specifically, though he does lead the Sudbury Wolves in scoring through the first 13 games of the season with three goals and seven assists. He’s been a physical force with offensive upside, the exact kind of player the Wild seem to be after in their prospect pool right now. Jenys had a strong week, adding a goal on Wednesday against the Soo Greyhounds and three assists in a loss to the Peterborough Petes on Friday.
While there isn’t much news on Jenys, the terrible Sudbury Wolves have continued to lose game after game, most recently to Connor McDavid and the Eerie Otters, going down 8-1. Their struggles have put the team in the news again, this time because head coach Paul Fixter exploded at a reporter during a post-game press conference. It wasn’t all that bad, but it was bad enough that Fixter offered a public apology.
Chase Lang
Chase Lang had a big weekend, notching a goal and four assists through three games. He’s played 13 of the Calgary Hitmen’s 14 games and leads the team in points with eight goals and nine assists.
Mario Lucia
Lucia had another great weekend for Notre Dame, as the team won both of its games against Niagara University. On Friday he had an assist in a 6-3 win. He followed that up with a goal, an assist, and three shots in a win on Saturday.
Lucia has had a hot start to the season, recording six goals and two assists through the season’s first six games. He’s averaging 2.83 shots per game.
Louis Nanne
Nanne scored a pair of goals for the RPI Engineers against Bentley University, though RPI wound up losing the game 5-2. RPI lost the next night as well, with Bentley scoring four unanswered goals against the Engineers.
Pontus Sjalin
Going to be honest here. My Swedish language skills don’t exist and I’m not well versed in the ins and outs of the Swedish system. However, my co-host on the Hockey Writers Podcast, Sebastian Noren, is from Sweden and was able to give me a brief schooling on things I don’t understand.
Sjalin had been playing for Leksand J20 in the SuperElit and was loaned to Östersunds IK in Division 1 this week. That’s third tier in Sweden (SHL, Allsvenskan, D1), which is good news for the 18-year-old Sjalin, as he’ll be stepping up a level and playing with adults for a bit instead of kids in his age range. That ought to be good for his development.
Alex Tuch
Tuch continued a great start to his freshman year at Boston College this weekend, recording two assists, two shots, and a plus-3 rating on Friday as BC beat Colorado College.
On Saturday, he added a goal, an assist, three shots, and a plus-2 rating in a win over Massachusetts. The Wild’s 2014 first round draft pick has been a force on a very good BC team, notching his first collegiate goal last weekend and keept the ball rolling this weekend.