Three games up and three games down as the wheels continue to come off in Bridgeport. There's not much that can be done to salvage their season as they are 15 points out of the playoffs. They are also on a 9 game losing (all regulation) streak and are 1-9 in their last ten. For those worried that Dylan Reese might get a call up, don't. Reese and partner Dustin Kohn finished the week -5, and they combined for back to back -2 nights to start the week. Even old reliable Mark Wotton had a -3 night against Portland.
The Soundtigers started against the Baby Pens Friday night, losing 2-0. The bright spot was Joel Martin, who was named 3rd star for a 25 save performance. The following night against Manchester BP lost 6-2. Justin Dibenedetto [Brandon Svendson, Brett Motherwell] and Eric Castonguay [Jean Bourbeau, Tony Romano] made it 2-0 at the end of the first. The dam gates broke though in the 2nd as Joel Martin [12 saves on 16 shots] was pulled for Riley Gill who only gave up 2 goals on 21 shots to finish the game. Against Portland Riley Gill got the chance to start and proceeded to give up 2 goals on 2 shots in the first 41 seconds and be pulled for Joel Martin. BP was able to make it close with goals from Jean Bourbeau [Penalty Shot] Rob Hisey [Robin Figren, Bourbeau] and Thomas Marcinko [Jason Pitton] to make it 4-3 before losing 6-3. Bourbeau was named 3rd star of the night.
The problems for Bridgeport are pretty bad. Martin and Gill are unsurprisingly erratic. But that's to be expected from two goalies who weren't even full fledged starters in the ECHL. The defense is obviously missing Hamonic, Dustin Kohn appears to have regressed as he's -17 in 29 games, Brett Motherwell is -17 in 36 games and Wotton is -15 in 50 games. The offense is relying too much on a bunch of youngsters who haven't put up top line production at this level before. The team really could have used Jon Sim to give them a scoring punch and they are going to need to add a player of that type to the team in the offseason.
Natural Born Kirills
Kirill Petrov did not have any games this week, his season total is 8 Goals, 11 Assists for 19 points in 44 games.
Kirill Kabanov Had a good week despite Lewiston dropping two of three. He finished the week with 1 goal and 2 assists with a +1 On the season he has 8 goals and 12 assists for 20 points in 26 games.
WHL, OHL, NCAA and Europe
The Oshawa Generals clinched a playoff spot this week. Otherwise it was a quiet week for Calvin De Haan and Tony Dehart. Calvin had 2 assists on the week and Dehart had 1 as they finished even over 4 games. De Haan has 2 goals, 29 assists for 31 points in 41 games, Dehart has 2 goals, 20 assists for 22 points in 44 games.
Casey Cizikas continued his strong play with a goal and assist in 3 games this week. He was also named 2nd star of the game in Mississauga's win over Barrie. He now has 27 goals, 29 assists for 56 points in 44 games.
The Winterhawks scored 18 goals this week across 3 games despite being shutout once. Nino Niederreiter had 2 assists bringing his season total to 24 goals, 18 assists for 42 points in 40 games.
Brandon has turned it around, winning their 6th straight home game. In 2 games this week David Toews had a goal and 2 assists along with being named 3rd star of the night once. In 46 games Toews has 13 goals, 18 assists for 31 points. Brandon is actually in playoff position at 7th seed despite their long losing streak last month.
Jason Gregoire helped lead North Dakota to sweep Alaska Anchorage with back to back 1 goal, 1 assist performances including 1st star honors on the second night. Brock Nelson did not get on the scoresheet. Nelson has 5 goals and 5 assists for 10 points in 29 games. Gregoire has 14 goals and 11 assists for 25 points in 24 games.
Denver and Minnesota played this weekend, so it was Matt Donovan Vs Aaron Ness. The teams split the games, but neither Islander prospect got on the board. Ness has 1 goal, 9 assists for 10 points in 27 games, Donovan has 6 goals, 14 assists for 20 points in 30 games.
Sometimes prospects can be considered overrated if they score a lot of garbage goals. Anders Lee though continues to be absolutely clutch, scoring the game winning goal on the first night against Bowling Green and assisting on ND's only other goal in the 2-1 win. He was also named first star of the game. Lee followed that up with 2 assists the next night making his stats for the year 19 goals, 18 assists for 37 points in 32 games.
Shane Sims did not get on the board in either game this week for Ohio State University. On the season he has 2 goals and 15 assists for 17 points in 30 games.
Corey Trivino had a goal in both BU games this week. He has 7 goals and 10 assists for 17 points in 26 games.
Blake Kessel did not score and was a -2 in UNH's games this weekend. This year he has 5 goals and 16 assists for 21 points in 28 games.
Brian Day played both games this weekend for Colgate and scored a goal in the second game. Day has 9 goals, 10 assists for 19 points in 27 games.
Lulea and Anders Nilsson was off this week.
Cody Rosen almost played as Clarkson pulled their starter as they were routed by Yale. Unfortunately Rosen did not get the call.