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Note: The storms took out Mark's power, so our Bridgeport and Prospect round-up is a day late and a WebBard short. Here's an abbreviated look though.
AHL Brideport
The Sound Tigers went 1-0-1 over the weekend and were just a hot goalie short of going 2-0. Our own NDRE took in the Friday night 3-2 OT loss to Worcester, and Fornabaio had a blog update on the numerous scoring chances stymied by the Sharks' Finn.
Saturday's 3-2 win over Providence came after two Casey Cizikas goals -- the winner with 18 seconds left -- and Brent Thompson shortening his bench. The Cizikas-Justin DiBenedetto-Tim Wallace line accounted for the third goal as well, by DiBo. Anders Nilsson stopped 32 of 34.
Earlier in the week, Fornabaio had a focus on the improving powerplay. The Sound Tigers aren't having the scoring troubles of their parent -- although DiBenedetto is their Tavares, as it were, with eight goals in nine games. David Ullstrom has four, and a smattering of others have one or two.
Matt Donovan (-7) and Dylan Reese (-5) bring up the rear in that shady-stat department. Just something to monitor but not read too much into.
Speaking of small samples, strange to see Kevin Poulin with the ugly stat line (4.71, .853). He didn't get a start over the weekend, but in any case it's been 3.5 games for him, four for NIlsson, plus 1.5 for Mikko Koskinen. Life with three goalies.
It all makes for a 4-4-1 record which is fourth in the Northeast Division.
Plus two ECHL tryout re-enforcements providing depth, and no doubt more to come over the course of the season. If we're lucky, some of those others will be late-season additions from the NCAA. Say, speaking of which...
NCAA
Anders Lee leads the NCAA with 10 goals, picking up another, a one-timer on the powerplay in the second leg of a weekend sweep of Bowling Green. Robbie Russo also scored on a powerplay. Here's a nice WSBT write-up on Lee, from the "scorer's mentality" angle. "You have to be in that dirty zone in front of the net. He has a tendency to find his way there," says his coach Jeff Jackson. There is also more implied language about Lee sticking around to complete his degree.
Scott Mayfield continues his strong first impression at Denver. Here's an IPB interview with him.
Brock Nelson notched a powerplay goal in North Dakota's 3-1 Saturday win as they split the weekend with St. Cloud State. Nelson has 4-4-8 in 8 GP so far. He is playing wing.
Corey Trivino picked up a goal over the weekend and now has 4-3-7 in 6 GP with Boston U. It's obviously a big year for the senior Trivino (senior?! Man, time flies...), whose defensive chops are regarded by his coach.
After offseason hip surgery, Jason Clark finally made his season debut, appearing in both weekend games for Wisconsin and logging a shot and a minor penalty.
Cody Rosen: DNP.
Natural Born Kirills
Having finally found a CHL home, Kirill Kabanov is off to a strong start (1-2-3, +3) in three games with Shawinigan of the QMJHL. Prospect Park has a bit on his first three games,
Kirill Petrov picked up the winning goal in a big 3-2 win over Spartak Moscow. He's up to 9-5-14 in 19 games, logging 13:48 TOI and just over 16 shifts per game.
CHL
In addition to his highlight reel goal, Ryan Strome continues to put up points consistently, with 6-5-11 in 8 GP.
Adapting to life without Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who's staying with the Oilers, John Persson scored a goal and converted a shootout attempt in a Red Deer SOL to Everett.
Might have missed this last week: Andrej Pedan's coach on trying to keep him from trying to be all things (defend, fight, score) all the time. He was named Guelph's Player of the Week last week, and Guelph won twice on the road over the weekend, with Pedan picking up an assist each night. He's at 4-4-8 in 11 GP with 22 PIM.
SEL
With Frolunda, Johan Sundstrom added an assist and is up to 1-2-3 in 17 GP so far.
Other Islanders/Hockey Links
- Hockey's Future looks at the entire Islanders prospect depth.
- Newsday talks the Islanders powerplay, successful thus far.
- Puck Buddy on the 1993 team and parallels with the current roster. 91 || 77 ?
- Ryan Getzlaf doesn't see a place in the NHL for the Tootoos. I agree avery much.
- How useful is +/- in raw form? (Hint: Not very, unless you're looking for bargains who are maligned thanks to a flawed stat.)
- Why you fronting, puttin' on airs and such?
- Happy Halloween: Hockey Halloween: Outrageous costumes, awesome puck pumpkins - Puck Daddy