Some teams recognized individual awards to pass along to begin this week’s addition. The Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League awarded goaltender Reid Dyck the Charlotte Letkemman Memorial Award for Desire and Leadership.
Matthew Poitras took home 3 awards awarded from the Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League. He received the Top Scorer Awards. The Owen’s Corning Tony Camilleri Playmaker Award and the Paul Fendley Memorial Scholastic Player of the Year Award.
Mason Lohrei was named to the All-Big Ten Second Team and is a finalist for the Defensive Player of the Year Award.
And there was some player movement (or not). Quinn Olson, who just completed his fourth season with Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs will be returning for a fifth season in college. The Bruins will now retain his rights until August 15, 2024. Trevor Kuntar signed a two-year contract last week that begins with the 2023-2024 season. He has signed an Amateur Try Out Agreement with the Providence Bruins to finish out this season. His contract carries a base salary of $775,000 with a signing bonus each season of $92,500. Lohrei signed an amateur try out agreement with the Providence Bruins which will allow him to play for the Providence Bruins for the remainder of the season and playoffs. Expect his ELC contract to be in place in the offseason.
Here’s a look at the players through last weeks playoff games:
In the Finnish Liiga Matias Mantykivi and Ilves opened up their second round series against the Pelicans on Friday in an exciting opener that went into overtime. It was a back-and-forth game tied at 2-2 at the end of regulation. Mantykivi would set up the winner 2:10 into the extra frame and Ilves would take a 1-0 series lead. The two teams would meet again on Saturday, this time the Pelicans took the game 3-2 to even the series up 1-1. Mantykivi would be kept off the scoresheet on this one and his frustration showed after the final buzzer taking a crosschecking penalty. That’s not his game. He has 2 goals and 6 assists in 7 playoff games, far ahead of his regular season pace. Ilves got the split on the road and the next three games will be at home.
Over in the HockeyAllsvenskan, Jonathan Myrenberg and Mora IK took on Sodertalje in game 6 of their series leading 3-2 on Tuesday. Mora needed overtime and took the game 3-2 and the series 4-2 to move onto the second round. The second round began on Saturday against Modo and Mora would drop the opener 4-2 and fall behind in the series 1-0. Myrenberg would be kept off the scoresheet in both games.
In the J20 Nationell Dans Locmelis and Lulea HF lost their second-round opener to Timra IK by a score of 5-3. The game started off well for Lulea with Locmelis setting up the opening goal. By the 5-minute mark of the second period they had built a 2-0 lead. But in a span of 4:51 in the middle frame the teams 4 goals, 3 of them by Timra. Game two took place Saturday and it was all Timra taking the game 5-2 and the series. Locmelis did score in this one with 44 seconds remaining. I’m guessing Locmelis will now represent Latvia at the World Hockey Championships. Their first game is scheduled for May 12 against Canada. And it’s off to the NCAA for next season!
In the QMJHL Frederic Brunet and the Victoriaville Tigres opened up their first round series against the Drummondville Voltigeurs on Friday. After scoring a goal in the first two minutes, Drummondville struck back with 3 unanswered. Victoriaville would even the game at three 12 seconds into the third only to fall behind 6 minutes later. They would get the equalizer with 2:26 remaining and force overtime. Victoriaville would win it in the second overtime to take a 1-0 series lead. On Saturday, Brunet assisted on the opening goal in the first period but Drummondville would score twice in the second and never look back. Victoriaville would dominate the third period but could not get the equalizer and popped an empty net goal with 56 seconds remaining to seal the win and even the series 1-1.
In the OHL Brett Harrison and the Windsor Spitfires opened up their best of seven series against the Kitchener Rangers on Thursday. The Rangers would take the opener 5-3 in an upset. Harrison had a goal and an assist in a losing cause. This series should be a cake walk for the Spitfires but you just never know which Rangers team is going to show up. Game two went on Saturday in Windsor and Kitchener dominated with a 4-0 win and scoring two shorthanded goals and will head home now with a 2-0 series lead.
Jackson Edward and the London Knights opened their best of seven series against the Owen Sound Attack on Friday and took care of business rather easily with a 7-0 shellacking. Edward has an assist in this one in the third period when the game was already decided. Game two took place Sunday and it took 2 goals by Owen Sound 32 seconds apart in the final 1:25 to force overtime. The Knights would prevail in the extra period and take a 2-0 series lead to Owen Sound.
The finals series puts Poitras and the Guelph Storm against Ryan Mast and the Sarnia Sting. Game one took place on Friday with Sarnia taking it 5-0. It’s obvious that the Storm offence runs through Poitras and even more obvious that the Sting are trying to shut him down. Game two took place on Sunday and it took a goal by Sarnia with 1:58 remaining to send the game into overtime where they would complete the come back to take a 2-0 series lead. Mast was given the task of trying to shut down Poitras for the most part and the two had to be separated by the linesmen during a shoving match. Poitras had 2 helpers with a third one missed by the scoring officials on a brilliant defensive play by him.
If you’re interested in my OHL playoff previews and predictions, you can find them here.
Ty Gallagher and Boston University will meet Minnesota in the NCAA frozen four on Thursday at 5:00 pm eastern in Tampa Bay Florida. If they win, they will meet the winner of Quinnipiac and Michigan (also on Thursday, 8:30 pm eastern) for the National Championship on Saturday. All three games will be on ESPN2 in the States and Stream on TSN in Canada.
In the American Hockey League, Georgii Merkulov leads Providence with 23 goals and points with 52. Those 52 points are tied for tops among AHL Rookies. He has 11 powerplay goals on the season which is fifth most in the AHL and second among rookies. I think it’s fair to say Merkulov’s development curve has arced higher than one could have expected this early. It’s also difficult to say whether Merkulov or Brandon Bussi has been the prize NCAA free agent signing of a year ago.
Bussi was expected to play with the Maine Mariners of the ECHL until injuries forced his callup to Providence and all he’s done from then on is steal the show. His 20 wins (20-5-4 in 30 games) ranks 7th in the AHL (3rd among rookies), his 2.42 goals-against-average also ranks 7th (2nd among rookies) and his .923 save-percentage ranks 2nd (1st among rookies). All ranks are among goalies with a minimum 1200 minutes played.
Here’s a look at the Providence Bruins leaders:
Coming up this week:
| PLAYER | MON 3 | TUE 4 | WED 5 | THU 6 | FRI 7 | SAT 8 | SUN 9 |
| MANTYKIVI | Vs PEL | Vs PEL | |||||
| MYRENBERG | Vs MOD | At MOD | At MOD | *Vs MOD | |||
| GALLAGHER | Vs MIN | TBD | |||||
| POITRAS | |||||||
| HARRISON | At KIT | At KIT | *Vs KIT | *At KIT | |||
| MAST | |||||||
| EDWARD | At OS | At O S | *Vs O S | *At O S | |||
| BRUNET | At DRU | At DRU | Vs DRU | *AT DRU |
* If necessary
Follow me on Twitter @dominictiano
Dom - Hockey 
Enjoyed reading this, very good stuff, thanks.
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