Jackson Edward was in consideration for the OHL Player of the Week honors for the week ending April 14, 2024 by the OHL.
On Monday, the Sioux Falls Stampede defeated the Tri-City Storm 6-5 in overtime to win game 1 of their best-of-seven playoff series. This marked the Stampede’s first postseason victory in 5 years. Chris Pelosi tallied an assist, 2 shots on goal, and a minus-1 rating. Though he seemed less engaged than usual in regulation, Pelosi came alive in the decisive overtime period. With the potential for 3 games in 3 days, the Stampede will rely heavily on Pelosi’s offensive contributions moving forward.
The Tri-City Storm evened their best-of-three USHL playoff series against the Sioux Falls Stampede at 1-1 with a 3-2 overtime victory on Tuesday. Tri-City tied the game at 11:09 of the third period. At 11:14 of overtime, they scored the game-winning goal on a power play. Earlier in overtime, the Stampede failed to capitalize on their own power play opportunity. Pelosi did not record any points with 2 shots on goal.
After defeating the Kitchener Rangers 6-4, the London Knights took a commanding 3-0 series lead. The Knights had held a 4-1 advantage, but the Rangers rallied to tie the score. Edward took the puck from his own goal line, evaded a hit, and sent a long stretch pass to the Kitchener blue line to set up the winning goal. Having gone scoreless in the first round, Edward has now tallied 5 points over 3 games in this series, displaying his best offensive performance of the season.
After a tough loss in game two of the WHL best-of-seven playoff series between Swift Current and Moose Jaw, goalie Reid Dyck bounced back with a solid performance in game three, stopping 30 of 34 shots. However, Swift Current still fell 5-3, now trailing the series 2-1. The real heartbreaker was how they lost, with Moose Jaw scoring the game-winner with just 38 seconds left, then adding an empty-netter 8 seconds later.
After winning the first game in the best-of-three playoff series against Tri-City, the Sioux Falls Stampede lost the next two games, including Wednesday’s 8-3 defeat. This season-ending loss marks the end of Sioux Falls’ 2023-2024 campaign. Pelosi recorded an assist, 5 shots on goal and a -2 plus/minus rating in a game the Stampede never led. Down 3-0 halfway through the opening period, Sioux Falls could not rally. The loss also concludes Pelosi’s USHL career, as he will join Quinnipiac University’s NCAA team next season.
The Swift Current Broncos dropped their second game at home on Wednesday and now trail the Moose Jaw Warriors 3-1 in their best of seven WHL series. Dyck stopped 30 of 34 shots he faced in the loss, once again making the highlight reel.
In Thursday’s OHL playoff game, the London Knights took a 4-1 lead over the Kitchener Rangers, who rallied to close the gap to 4-3 but ultimately fell short of completing the comeback. With the win, London swept the best-of-7 conference semifinal series. Jackson Edward contributed to the victory, recording an assist, 1 shot on goal, and finishing +1. After being held pointless in the opening round against Flint, Edward found his scoring touch in this series, tallying 1 goal and 5 assists over the 4 games. With London advancing to the conference finals, Edward is playing his best hockey of the season at just the right time.
The Swift Current Broncos were eliminated from the WHL playoffs on Friday after losing 4-2 to the Moose Jaw Warriors, who took the series 4-1. Despite goalie Dyck’s strong performance stopping 35 of 39 shots faced, it was not enough for the Broncos. Dyck’s next steps will be signing his entry-level contract for the 2024-2025 season and likely joining Providence on an amateur tryout (ATO) for the remainder of this season. The ATO will allow Dyck to get acclimated to professional hockey life without actually playing any games.
The Dubuque Fighting Saints were defeated 2-0 by the Youngstown Phantoms in the opening game of their best-of-five USHL series on Saturday. Despite outshooting Youngstown 28-24, Dubuque struggled to get shots past the Phantoms’ goaltender, who proved to be the difference-maker. Beckett Hendrickson failed to record a shot on goal, finished minus-1, and could not spark the offense. His teammate Aiden Wright had a penalty shot opportunity to cut the deficit to one just 20 seconds after Youngstown’s second goal, but was denied by the hot goaltender.
Dubuque evened the series on Sunday with a 6-0 victory. It was a much better performance for Dubuque and Hendrickson. He had a goal and two assists with two shots n goal and finished a plus-3. The best of five series shifts to Youngstown for the next two games with game 5, if necessary, back in Dubuque.
Here’s a look at the Providence Bruins leaders. You will notice a column called “value” This is provided by our friends at Benchrates. Created by a retired hockey player, Benchrates has created and algorithm that computes values in real time. The value you see is the cap hit value they’ve earned this season to date. Give them a look and check out their site.
Coming up this week:
This and That
Ty Gallagher, who was previously with the Boston University hockey team, has entered the transfer portal and will be looking for a new school to play for next season. Gallagher spent most of this past season as the seventh defenseman for BU, despite having two strong seasons prior.
Jonathan Myrenberg, who just turned 21, participated in two exhibition games with Sweden’s National Team last week against Finland. Sweden won the first game 4-0, while Finland took the second 2-1 in overtime. Myrenberg’s inclusion on the national team exhibition roster underscores his impressive play this season. I don’t believe he makes the final roster, but this is impressive.
I received a question asking if Reid Dyck could play in the AHL for Providence now that his WHL season is finished. The answer is yes – he can play in the AHL on an amateur tryout contract (ATO) without signing his entry-level contract (ELC). While I expect he will sign his ELC before next season, an ATO would still be required for him to play in the AHL playoffs this year.
If you have a question, use the contact form to submit it and I will answer it in the next post!
Follow me on X @dominictiano.
Dom - Hockey 