I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas and had the opportunity to spend quality time with friends and family. Hockey took a back seat to the holidays, but some of the players did return to action last week and we will take a look at those.
Dans Locmelis
In an exhibition game Saturday, U-Mass defeated Simon Fraser University 4-3. U-Mass had to score twice in the third period to overcome a 3-2 deficit over their Canadian University counterparts. Locmelis had 2 SOG and was a minus-1 in the win.
Chris Pelosi, Elliott Groenewold
Quinnipiac got back into action on Sunday with a 6-5 win over American International. Pelosi had a goal, his third of the season and a game high 6 SOG and went 9 for 11 on the faceoff dot. Pelosi skated towards the net without the puck and found a rebound come straight out to him for a Pelosi type goal. It was a tough night for Groenewold. He had 1 SOG and was a minus-3 on this night.
Ty Gallagher
Colorado College defeated the University of Nevada – Las Vegas 8-0 in an exhibition game. UNLV had defeated the defending champion University of Denver in a huge upset the night before. Gallagher had a great assist on the night where he came across the ice at his own blue line, chipped the puck outside the zone past a UNLV attacker and carried it up ice. He made the pass at the blue line and went straight at the UNLV net drawing attention and opening up ice for his teammates.
Jonathan Myrenberg
Myrenberg has still not returned to action from an injury suffered in the preseason.
Loke Johansson
The Moncton Wildcats blew past the Saint John Sea Dogs 7-2 on Saturday in QMJHL action. Johansson did not figure in on any of the Moncton goals. He was a plus-2 and led his team with 3 hits on the night.
On Sunday, Moncton went into Charlottetown and skated to a 6-3 win and improved to 26-5-2-0 and an 8-point lead over Chicoutimi for first place in the QMJHL Eastern Conference. Johansson had zeroes straight across the board on this night.
Kristian Kostadinski, Jonathan Morello, Cole Spicer
Dubuque returned to action on Friday and dropped a 6-3 decision to Cedar Rapids on home ice. The first period was scoreless but Dubuque would take their only lead of the game with 7:19 remaining in the second period. Cedar Rapids would tie it 2:52 later, the first of four consecutive goals to put the game out of reach. Cole Spicer had a goal and an assist in the final 2:11 of the game with the goaltender pulled. He finished with 2 SOG and was an even plus/minus. Kostadinski had 1 SOG and was a plus-1 and was pointless. Morello also had 1 SOG and was a minus-2 in the contest.
Things got off to a good start for Dubuque on Saturday as they went into Cedar Rapids and took a 3-0 lead by the 7-minute mark of the second period. However, the RoughRiders mounted a comeback and equaled the score 3:39 into the third. Just 54 seconds later Dubuque would notch the winner. Kostadinski finished the game with no points or SOG and was a plus-1. Morello also didn’t factor in the scoring and took two costly penalties that Cedar Rapids capitalized on. Spicer also did not register a point and was a plus-2 on the night.
Philip Svedeback
Providence College returned to action on Saturday and came out with a 3-1 win over Northeastern. Svedeback stopped 19 of 20 shots he faced to improve to 10-2-1 on the season. His best stop came in the second period while up 2-0 when he stopped a clean breakaway to maintain the 2-goal lead.
On Sunday, PC captured the Ledyard Classic by defeating Dartmouth 5-3. It was not a good start for Svedeback as he allowed 3 goals on 5 shots in the first period and PC trailed 3-2. PC locked it down the rest of the way allowing Dartmouth to just 2 shots in the second and 5 in the third to capture the weekend tournament.
The Providence Bruins skated past the Bridgeport Islanders once again Friday by a score of 4-1. Fabian Lysell had himself quite the night as did Riley Tufte. Lysell got the puck at the Islanders blueline, skated just inside the right faceoff circle and ripped a wrister just inside the far post for a 1-0 lead. Tufte and John Farinacci had the assists. Lysell then set up Tufte with a beautiful backhand pass in the slot for a 2-0 lead with Farinacci picking up the second assist. The Islanders would get one back when Tyler Pitlick scored his 8th of the season from Patrick Brown and Max Jones. Tufte would add his second of the game and 9th of the season from, you guessed it, Lysell and Farinacci. Michael DiPietro stopped 31 of 32 shots he faced to improve to 11-4-2 on the season.
On Saturday, Providence defeated the Hartford Wolf Pack 4-1 thanks in large part to Brandon Bussi. The goaltender improved to 6-7-1 on the season after stopping 36 of 37 shots by the Wolf Pack. Farinacci intercepted a pass 1:40 into the game. Moved in front of the Hartford net and tucked home a backhander. Just 55 seconds into the second period, Poitras delivered a short pass to Brett Harrison who found Merkulov coming down the right side. Merkulov dropped to one knew and wired a shot for his 7th of the season. The, 1:16 later, Farinacci won an offensive zone faceoff to Max Jones, who moved to the slot and his wrister found twine. Hartford would get one back before Poitras scored into the empty net. Poitras pressured Hartford at the blueline, Patrick Brown tipped the puck to Vinni Lettieri who took a shot at the empty net only to miss. The puck came off the back boards and Poitras was the first there to bang it into the empty net.
Here’s a look at the Providence Bruins leaders. You will notice a column called “Benchrates” This is provided by our friends at Benchrates. Created by a retired hockey player, Benchrates has created an 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:
Chris Nosek and myself will be on the Dom-Hockey Podcast discussing all the Bruins prospects live every Monday night at 6:30 PM ET (except on Bruins game nights) on X and on YouTube. If you enjoy the show, please give us a like and subscribe so you never miss an episode.
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