Bridgeport/Islanders Prospect Roundup, Jan. 15th

Wow, what a difference a month can make.

The Sound Tigers went with just 2 wins during the month of December. Now halfway through January they have yet to lose a game, going 6-0. They were helped by Kevin Poulin's return to form, Rhett Rakhshani's return to the lineup, Matt Donovan's sudden offensive explosion and Casey Cizikas flat out being dominating. Anders Nilsson did a fine job filling in for Poulin this week, allowing 4 goals on 51 shots in 2 games.

Rakhshani had 10 points in his first 16 games this season, already has 10 points just 6 games into this month. Donovan meanwhile had 12 points through his first 32 games this season, now has 8 points and a +5 this month. Cizikas ,who has been strong all season, has 6 points this month and his +6 doubles his +/- for the season. His +12 leads the team, followed by Rakhshani at +9. Among rookies, Cizikas is 10 in the AHL in points and Donovan is tied for 22nd. Donovan is 14th in points among defenseman.

Sunday Jan 9th Vs Providence (Bruins)

Poulin's shutout streak came to an end 3 minutes into the second on a goal by Calle Ridderwall. No one held the lead for long in this game as Ridderwall's goal came less then a minute after Tony Romano (Sean Backman, Scott Howes) put BP on the board. Cizikas (Rakhshani, Donovan) scored to make it 2-1 in the 3rd, but Ridderwall answered again a few minutes later. BP won the shootout 4-1, Cizikas was named 2nd star, Romano 3rd star. [Highlights]

Friday Jan 13th Vs Manchester (Kings)

The first period ended with Manchester up 1-0 despite shots being even 8-8. That was as good as it got for them, as BP buried Jeff Zatkoff with 30 shots over the next two periods while holding Manchester to just 10. Rakshani (Aaron Ness, Donovan) and David Ullstrom (Jon Landry, Scott Howes) scored in the 2nd. In the 3rd Tyler McNeely (Rakhshani, Donovan) scored and Rakhshani (Trevor Frischmon, Cizikas) got the empty netter insurance goal. Rakhshani was named 1st star of the night, McNeely 2nd star of the night. Highlights

Saturday Jan 14th Vs Providence (Bruins)

Bridgeport put up 31 shots, scoring a goal in each period. Donovan (Rakhshani, McNeely) scored in the first to tie things up at 1. In the 2nd David Ullstrom (Kael Mouillierat, Scott Howes) scored in the 2nd to give BP a 2-1 lead. In the 3rd Trevor Frischmon (Brett Gentile, Tomas Marcinko) got the insurance goal. Important because Calle Ridderwall scored just 20 seconds later to make it a 3-2 game. Frischmon was named 1st star, Ullstrom was named 2nd star.

Videos

Trevor Gillies in a pink jumpsuit
Kevin Poulin Interview from 1/6
Calvin De Haan All Star Interview

Natural Born Kirills

Kirill Petrov had no points this week; he has 11 goals, 9 assists for 20 points in 39 games.

Kirill Kabanov had a goal and 3 assists in 4 games this week. Highlights from the Jan 12th game in which he had an assist.

CHL

Ryan Strome had a goal and 3 assists in 3 games this week. Niagra won all 3 games and are now tied for the Eastern Conference lead. Mitchell Therot did not play this week. Strome interview

John Persson had 2 goals in 4 games this week for the Red Deer Rebels.

Brenden Kichton had a goal and 7 assists this week in 4 games for the Spokane Chiefs. He was also named 1st star of the night and 2nd star of the night during the week.

Andrey Pedan had no points in 2 games but did rack up 8 PIM.

Hit the Books*: NCAA

*Nabby 300 is popular

Notre Dame was swept this weekend by Western Michigan, the first time they dropped a weekend series since 09/10. Robbie Russo and Anders Lee were both held pointless over the weekend.

Brock Nelson scored the game winner against Minnesota on Friday night, his lone point of the weekend.

Jason Clark did not play this weekend for Wisconsin.

Scott Mayfield had an assist in both games this weekend for Denver, but was tossed early from the Saturday game with a misconduct. [Mayfield Interview]

Finnish Loans & Trust

Mikko Koskinen played 3 game this week, in 14 games he's got a 1.74 GAA and .937 SV% and is 8-3-2. Here's an interview and some highlights.

Jesse Joensuu has 10 goals and 11 assists in 33 games.

Johan Sundstrom played one game this week and this season he has 3 goals and 2 assists in 31 games. [Interview]