Another week has passed, another Minnesota Wild prospects update has arrived.
Alexandre Belanger, G, 2013 7th round
Belanger got starts in back-to-back games this week for the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. On Friday night he allowed six goals on 35 shots as Cape Breton lost to Saint John. Despite that shaky showing, they went back to him on Saturday and he didn’t disappoint. He stopped 30 of 31 Moncton shots en route to a 7-1 Screaming Eagles win.
Reid Duke, C, 2014 6th round
Duke and the Brandon Wheat Kings just had a pair of games this week, but Duke posted some serious offense, collecting three goals, an assist, and a plus-5 rating in the pair of wins.
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Duke brings his season totals to 15 goals and 27 assists through 45 total games this season. (He played one game with Lethbridge at the start of the season.) That’s the sixth best point total on a stacked roster in Brandon. Also, 15 goals matches his career best in the CHL and hitting 42 points on the season this week helped him surpass his previous career-high of 40. Both his career-high goal and point totals were achieved last season playing for Lethbridge.
Those four standings points help Brandon remain the top team in the WHL’s Eastern Conference. At this point in the season that should ensure that Duke sees some playoff action, which he missed while playing with the lowly Lethbridge Hurricanes, who currently sit in last place in the Eastern Conference.
Bonus fact: Duke will turn 19 on Wednesday.
Tanner Faith, D, 2014 5th round
The below update on Faith's shoulder injury makes it look like Tanner Faith is going to miss the rest of the season for the Kootenay Ice of the WHL. This will be the second straight year where an injury derailed Faith's season.
Tanner Faith now listed as out 4-6 months @WHLKootenayICE
— Jeff Hollick (@JeffHollick) January 19, 2015
Adam Gilmour, W, 2012 4th round
Gilmour scored a goal in one of Boston College’s two games over the weekend. Gilmour leads the team in points with seven goals and 12 assists through 25 games.
Dylan Labbe, D, 2013 4th round
In two games over the last week, the QMJHL All-Star added an assist to his impressive season totals. He’s at 11 goals and 22 assists through 43 games.
Chase Lang, C, 2014 6th round
Lang and the Calgary Hitmen played three games this week. On Friday Lang had a goal and seven shots in a 7-0 Calgary landslide over the Swift Current Broncos. In the game Calgary spread the production around evenly with seven different Hitmen tallying and only three players came away a multi-point game.
On Saturday, Lang added an assist in a 5-2 Calgary win over the Edmonton Oil Kings.
On Sunday Calgary dismantled the Vancouver Giants, despite the Giants going shot for shot with the Hitmen. The final score was 8-0, while shots were 33-33. Lang scored the eighth goal of the game off a feed from 16-year-old defenseman Jake Bean, who put up four assists in the game. That was Lang’s team-leading seventh shot of the game. Arizona Coyotes draft pick Brendan Burke, a recent acquisition from the Portland Winterhawks, posted the shutout for the Hitmen.
Lang brings his season totals to 20 goals and 24 assists in 44 games. He’s third on the team in points and goals.
Mario Lucia, W, 2011 2nd round
Notre Dame lost both games against Northeastern over the weekend, but Lucia managed to pot one goal, adding to his team-leading total of 16 through the first 26 games of the season. He’s also got six assists on the year.
Steve Michalek, G, 2011 6th round
Michalek got both starts over the weekend for Harvard. He stopped 25 of 28 in a 3-2 loss to Cornell on Friday, but followed that up with an impressive performance on Saturday when the team faced Colgate. Michaelek stopped 30 of 31 en route to a 6-1 Harvard victory. Michalek also recorded an assist on Jimmy Vesey’s game-winning goal. (One of two goals scored by the Nashville Predators draft pick.)
Alex Tuch, RW, 2014 1st round
Tuch was held without a point as Boston College beat both Merrimack and UConn over the weekend.
Hunter Warner, D, free agent signing
I missed this in a previous update, but Moose Jaw-based sports writer Matthew Gourlie noted in a game at the beginning of the month, between Warner’s Prince Albert Raiders and Moose Jaw, that Warner is out for the season.
Prince Albert scratches Tomas Andrlik, Sawyer Lange and Hunter Warner from the blue line. Hunter is out for the year.
— Matthew Gourlie (@MattGourlie) January 4, 2015
In other Prince Albert Raider news, the team named defenseman Sawyer Lange captain and added recent acquisition Jesse Lees as an alternate captain. Lees is an interesting player. He’s a defenseman who could sign a pro contract as a free agent when the season finishes. He was acquired by Prince Albert from the Kelowna Rockets, who are currently atop the WHL at large, in December.
Lees was averaging nearly a point per game with six goals and 16 assists through 29 games, though he was playing on a rather dynamic team. Since coming to Prince Albert he’s stayed close to that pace, with a goal and eight assists in 13 games. He’s 19 and has decent size at six-feet tall 196 pounds.