Chris Pelosi was named the USHL forward of the week for the week ending October 22, 2023. The Bruins 3rd round pick at the 2023 NHL Entry Draft appeared in 4 games and scored 3 times with 17 shots on goal. Two of his three goals were game winners including the OT winner on Saturday October 21 against Omaha.
In the SHL, Linkoping continued in their win-one-lose-one mode by defeating Rogle 3-2 and moving into 7th spot in the SHL standings. Now, Jonathan Myrenberg was solid defensively, probably the best I’ve seen since the Bruins acquired his rights from the Vancouver Canucks. He did not figure in the offence in 18:09 TOI but, that’s okay. I’d rather he work on his defensive game against pros and let the offence come later.
On Wednesday, the Bruins announced they have signed Jackson Edward to a three-year Entry Level Contract. The deal is worth $775,000 in salary with $85,000 in signing bonuses each year and will slide for this season. Drafted in the 7th round, 200th overall. Edward became the second skater from the 2022 7th round draft class to sign an ELC.
On the ice, Reid Dyck did Reid Dyck again as his squad was outshot 33-24. He stopped 31 of those shots as Swift Current defeated Prince Albert 3-2 in WHL action. His teammates were badly outplayed through two periods, yet found themselves even at two. If not for Dyck, this game would have been over early but, as I always say, he gives his team a chance to win. He was robbed of the game’s first star honors but was named second star.
If you were reading this site two years ago, then it’s no secret to you that I was a huge fan of Oskar Jellvik when he was playing for Djurgardens in the J20 Nationell in Sweden. If you were reading here last season, then you are aware I had no concerns and felt his transition to North America was going smoothly. On Thursday, he recorded his 4th and 5th goals of the season – the second was shorthanded – and helping Boston College to a 6-4 victory over Michigan State. It was just his 5th game of the young season. Jellvik has shown that he can score in multiple ways. He’s playing in all situations and with a lot of confidence, and he’s doing it all on the third line. Things are looking very bright for Jellvik early on and others are finally jumping on the bandwagon.
Friday saw every prospect in action except the Swedes.
In the WHL, Dyck stopped 30 of 34 shots to help Swift Current to a 6-4 victory over Seattle who came into this game with a 7-2-0 record. Swift Current improved to 7-6-1. Dyck won his third in a row and is 5-2-0 on the season. His .919 save-percentage is 5th in the WHL among goaltenders with a minimum 8 games played. His best save on the night came with just under 7 minutes remaining and Swift Current leading 6-4 when he stopped a 2-on-0 breakaway.
In the OHL, Edward had an assist on the goal that put London up 2-1 in their 3-2 overtime victory. Edward had the puck at the left point and rather than wind up with a slapper, he sent a wrister through with a purpose that his teammate was able to get a stick on and tip it past the goaltender.
In the USHL, Beckett Hendrickson scored his first goal since opening night back on September 20. It came on a 5-3 powerplay. The Stampede moved the puck well and it ended up on the stick of Chris Pelosi at the right side of the net who fed it across to Hendrickson on the other side and tapped in in before being flattened to the ice. It wasn’t enough though as Sioux Falls dropped the game 4-3 to Youngstown.
In the NCAA, Cornell was playing their first game and defeated Minnesota-Duluth 4-1. It was a great NCAA debut for Ryan Walsh who had the adrenaline pumping, kept his feet moving and had a lot of energy. He was rewarded with his first NCAA goal and first NCAA assist. On the losing side, Olson and Spicer assisted on M-D’s lone goal extending their personal point streaks to 5 and 6 games respectively.
Boston College defeated Michigan State 5-1 in a non-conference matchup. Jellvik remained red hot setting up the GWG. While it wasn’t the primary assist, the whole play developed because of his work at both ends. He would add a second helper with 52 seconds remaining on an ENG. Gasseau added an assist of his own halfway through the third period.
Boston University defeated Massachusetts 5-2 and winning consecutive games for the first time this season. Things are not going well for Ty Gallagher, who showed some promise a season ago. He’s dressing as the 7th defenceman and finding it difficult to get any traction. On the losing side, Dans Locmelis was playing his second game of the season and finished a minus-2 in this one. Like Jellvik before him, I’m not worried about offence from Locmelis this season. Let him get acclimated to North America.
Providence College defeated Vermont 4-1 to improve to 5-1-0 on the season. Philip Svedeback stopped 13 of 14 shots he faced to win his 4th in a row. After a hot start to the season, Riley Duran was held off the scoresheet in this one for the second consecutive game. It’s not like the opportunities aren’t there for him and his overall game is trending perfectly.
Dartmouth and Harvard battled to a 1-1 score. There were no points by Mason Langenbrunner, but the interesting thing in this game is it went 18 rounds in a shootout before someone finally scored. Now, don’t expect Langenbrunner to be a go-to-guy in the penalty shot show. He was the 16th shooter when there weren’t many options left. Both goaltenders faced 26 shots in the game and 18 more in the shootout.
On Saturday, Frolunda defeated Malmo 6-1 and yet, neither Casper Nassen or Kristian Kostadinski were able to hit the scoresheet in J20 Nationell action. Nassen in particular has been disappointing to me and it appears the coaching staff agree dropping Nassen to the third line. With just 4 goals and 11 points in 19 games, that’s a huge disappointment. He should be a point-per-game player at this level. Kostadinski is at least showing life as “someone who can’t skate”. His willingness to engage physically, his strong defensive play and the fact he’s added a few points are all pluses.
In the SHL, Linkoping defeated Timra 4-3 in overtime and improve to 5-3-6-1 (3-2-1-point system) and 9th place in the SHL. Myrenberg did not hit the scoresheet but I like how his game is trending. The fact that he’s only one of two defenceman who is a plus is telling. Now, I don’t just bring you good news here, I bring the bad as well and there is some bad news to tell. Myrenberg, along with his goaltending brother Jesper, signed identical two-year contract extensions with Linkoping that will take them through to the end of the 2025-2026 season. The Bruins must sign Myrenberg by June 1, 2025 or he becomes a UFA.
In the NCAA, Locmelis scored his first career goal on a great individual effort as U-Mass tied BU 3-3. As a BU defender was attempting to exit his zone, Locmelis stripped him of the puck, turned and fired a wrister to beat the goaltender 5-hole. Get use to seeing it. Locmelis is good on both sides of the puck.
Cornell defeated Minnesota-Duluth for the second game in two nights by a score of 3-0. Zeroes were on the board for Walsh in this one, and the adrenaline that he displayed the night before wore off a little bit, but no worries, Walsh is going to get his points. Unfortunatley for Olson and Spicer, the shutout means their point streaks came to an end.
North Dakota battled Minnesota State to a 2-2 game. Schmaltz was held pointless for the 5th consecutive game. He did manage to get 4 SOG and missed on another he might have been able to sneak passed the goaltender.
Providence and Vermont battled to a 2-2 draw that went to a shootout. Duran did not make a mark on the scoresheet. Forgive me if I sound like a broken record but, Duran will be a fan favorite in Boston. I do not see him returning to college for a 4th season next year. Svedeback stopped 33 of 35 shots he faced with a couple of dandies and stopped 2 of the 3 shootout attempts he faced.
In Sunday’s only game, Frolunda lost 6-2 to Rogle. Nassen ended his drought with an assist late in this one. With 1:49 remaining, several fights broke out and there were multiple ejections. I was looking forward to a Kostadinski fight, but he was already sitting in the box for a previous roughing call. With just 7 games remaining in divisional play, Frolunda is on the outside looking in in 5th place and missing out in the league’s top-10 play. Frolunda just isn’t getting enough offence and Nassen is part of that issue.
Here’s a look at the Providence Bruins leaders:
Coming up this week:
| PLAYER | M-30 | T-31 | W-1 | T-2 | F-3 | S-4 | S-5 |
| NASSEN/KOSTADINSKI | Vs SSK | Vs VIK | |||||
| MYRENBERG | At OSK | Vs SKE | |||||
| BYCHKOV | Vs DIN | Vs DYN | At AMU | ||||
| JELLVIK/GASSEAU | Vs M-L | At M-L | |||||
| LOCMELIS | Vs N E | ||||||
| WALSH | At YAL | At BRN | |||||
| LANGENBRUNNER | Vs PRN | Vs QUI | |||||
| SPICER/OLSON | At MIN | Vs MIN | |||||
| SCHMALTZ | At B U | At B U | |||||
| DURAN/SVEDEBACK | At N H | Vs N H | |||||
| GALLAGHER | Vs N D | Vs N D | |||||
| EDWARD | At BFD | Vs O S | Vs KIT | ||||
| HENDRICKSON/PELOSI | Vs LIN | Vs FAR | |||||
| DYCK | Vs POR | Vs EVT |
If there is one matchup I will try and convince you to watch it is Thursday night’s London Knights and Brantford Bulldogs rematch. It may showcase heavyweights Jackson Edward and Florian Xhekaj finally dropping the mitts. It was close last week, they got nose-to-nose but the officials stepped in right away before the gloves came off.
Finally, Matias Mantykivi who the Bruins decided not to sign this summer has picked up where he left off in last season’s Liiga playoffs in Finland. Known for his notoriously slow starts, Mantykivi has 7 goals and 7 assists through 18 games this season and will certainly surpass his career high of 12 goals and 21 assists from a season ago in 60 games. I’m not suggesting the Bruins should have signed him, just wondering why they chose not too.
AROUND THE GLOBE
WHO’S HOT:
Oskar Jellvik is white hot right now on a 5-game point streak with 5 goals and 2 assists. He’s only been held without a point on opening night back on October 7.
WHO’S WARM:
Jackson Edward has a goal and 3 assists in 3 of his last 4 games.
Quinn Olson had his 6-game point streak come to an end with a goal and 7 assists.
Cole Spicer had his 5-game point streak come to an end with 3 goals and 3 assists. He has already matched last season’s output.
Andre Gasseau ended a 2-game point draught with his 3rd assist of the season to go along with 2 goals. Gasseau is trending well and meeting my expectations this season.
Reid Dyck is doing what he is supposed to be doing. Stopping pucks and giving the Swift Current Broncos a chance to win every night. He has won 5 of his last 6 starts and is the biggest reason for the Broncos new found success.
WHO’S COLD:
Ty Gallagher is pointless through his first 5 games of the season.
Jake Schmaltz is pointless in his last 5 games after opening the season with two assists. It’s early in the season but if Schmaltz is going to show last season’s drop was due to injury/illness, he needs to step up.
Jonathan Myrenberg is pointless in 6 games and signed a two-year contract extension with Linkoping (SHL).
Casper Nassen with no goals and 1 assist in his last 4 games and 12 points in 20 games, should be a point-per-game player.
Dom - Hockey 