There are only 4 games remaining in the J20 Nationell Norra (North) Division regular season for Dans Locmelis and his Lulea HF squad. From there, the top 5 teams in the Norra Division will join the top 5 teams in the Sodra (South) Division to form the J20 Top-10. The bottom 5 teams from each division will play in the continuation group.
Lulea finds themselves solidly in second place with a shot at top spot. As for Locmelis, he finds himself third in scoring with 11 goals and 18 assists in 23 games. He’s only 3 points out of the league lead and if not for a slow start for him…. well.
The Bruins have to be pretty satisfied with Locmelis’ development so far and you can rest assured PJ Axelsson has been keeping close tabs on him throughout the season. Don’t be surprised if you hear at some point that it was an early season conversation with PJ that lit a fire under Locmelis.
Now things get tougher for Locmelis. We saw this with Oskar Jellvik a year ago when he skated with Djurgardens IF. Locmelis won’t just be skating against any competition, he will only be going up against the best 9 teams in Sweden the rest of the way.
A year ago, Jellvik’s production actually increased when he went up against the top competition. I’m not expecting the same results with Locmelis, but if he can remain relatively close to the same production but bring his competitiveness up a notch then I would be satisfied with that. I mean, who doesn’t want to try harder when it’s best on best right?
The Top-10 will see Lulea play the other 9 teams twice for a total of 18 games. The teams will be seeded in order of points with the top six teams joining them for the playoffs. The first round is a best of three series. Every matchup following is a one-game elimination matchup.
I have a prediction of sorts I suppose. I don’t know that Lulea can win the whole thing, but I think they will be in the final four. As for Locmelis, I don’t think we will see the same increase in production we saw from Jellvik a year ago, but he’s going to maintain his current pace.
Here’s a look at the Providence Bruins leaders:
Coming up this week:
| PLAYER | MON 28 | TUE 29 | WED 30 | THU 1 | FRI 2 | SAT 3 | SUN 4 |
| CEHLARIK | At LUG | Vs GS | |||||
| BYCHKOV | |||||||
| MANTYKIVI | At K P | Vs HAM | Vs LUK | ||||
| LOCMELIS | Vs AIK | ||||||
| MYRENBERG | Vs DJU | Vs VH | |||||
| JELLVIK/GASSEAU/KUNTAR | At BRN | Vs PRV | At PRV | ||||
| LOHREI | At PSU | At PSU | |||||
| LANGENBRUNNER | At COR | At CLG | |||||
| SPICER/OLSON | Vs CC | Vs CC | |||||
| SCHMALTZ | At STC | At STC | |||||
| DURAN/SVEDEBACK | At BC | Vs BC | |||||
| GALLAGHER | At UNH | Vs UNH | |||||
| MCFAUL | At PRN | Vs QUI | |||||
| POITRAS | At LDN | Vs ER | Vs KIT | ||||
| HARRISON | At WSR | At SAR | At HAM | ||||
| MAST | Vs OSH | At SAG | Vs BAR | ||||
| EDWARD | Vs GUE | At ER | Vs NIA | At MIS | |||
| BRUNET | Vs HAL | At GAT | At GAT | ||||
| DYCK | At WPG | At BDN |
AROUND THE GLOBE
WHO’S HOT:
Matthew Poitras continues to be hot and is now riding an 8-game point streak on 3 goals and 12 assists. The resurgence has come at the right time with his team making a push for the playoffs and are 4-0-1 since “the trade” that saw Poitras moved to the wing. Last week he was named both OHL and CHL player of the week.
Dans Locmelis is on a 6-game point streak with 3 goals and 6 assists. He has points – 7 goals and 12 assists – in 14 of his last 15 games. Locmelis is now third in J20 Nationell scoring after the weekend matchups.
Jackson Edward had a 5-game point streak come to an end Sunday. He had 5 helpers in those games. He has points in 8 of his last 11 games on 2 goals and 8 assists. Reminder: this is a defenceman. I will be honest: If you had told me before the start of the season that Edward would have 13 points in his first 21 games, I would have laughed at you.
Trevor Kuntar is on a 5-game point streak scoring 3 goals and adding 3 assists in those 5 games. With 9 points in 10 games, Kuntar is tied for second in scoring on a Boston College team that spreads the wealth with their production.
Matias Mantykivi has really picked it up after a longer than normal slow start to the season for him. He has a 5-game point streak going on 2 goals and 5 assists and has 9 points – 3 goals and 6 assists – in his last 10 games. That’s far better than the 4 points in his first 13 games.
WHO’S WARM:
Peter Cehlarik isn’t having what I would call a great season in the Swiss National League. But when it comes to helping EV Zug in Champions League play, Cehlarik has put up 5 goals and 5 assists in 7 games. After winning their group of 16 play, EV Zug will head to the Quarter Finals on December 7 against Mountfield HK.
Philip Svedeback has not lost a game since October 22 going 4-0-3 in that time. Svedeback stopped 29 of 32 shots he faced on Friday night for a victory and then came in relief on Saturday stopping all 8 shots he faced with no decision.
Brett Harrison has 3 goals and 3 assists in his last 5 games (non-consecutive) and 5 goals and 4 assists in his last 10 games. Sometimes he’s playing the wing, sometimes he’s playing in the middle, and he is finding success in both spots. The most noticeable difference over last year is the improved intensity.
WHO’S COLD:
Ryan Mast missed time with a non-covid illness, and an injury sustained in practice. He returned for 3 games before going down with an injury again and missing all three games last week. He can’t seem to buy a break, and neither can the Sarnia Sting who are devastated with injuries and illness.
Riley Duran has just one assist in his last 6 games, well below the 7 goals and 3 assists he had in his first 8 games. I don’t know if Duran is playing with a nagging injury or not and I probably shouldn’t speculate, but he looks very timid in certain situations to me when you are used to seeing him go all out.
Mason Langenbrunner is pointless in his first 9 games of his freshman year with Harvard. I like where his defensive game is heading as well as his decision making and those are the areas, he needs to work on first and foremost. It’s not like I was expecting him to be lights out offensively. But I was expecting something by now.
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Dom - Hockey 