Dans Locmelis
Locmelis signed his entry level contract beginning next season and is with Providence on an ATO for the remainder of this season.
Mason Langenbrunner
Harvard announced on Thursday that Mason Langenbrunner has been named captain of the squad for the 2025-2026 season. Well, co-captain. What makes this announcement intriguing is that until the calendar flipped to 2025, Langenbrunner was either the sixth or seventh defenseman playing less than 15:00 minutes a night. Something changed on January 11th and from then on, he averaged over 20 minutes per game and playing in all situations, including the powerplay. Good for him for putting his head down and busting his butt off.
Langenbrunner will be a senior next season and will have to show the Bruins he is worthy of some kind of pro contract when his season is over.
Jonathan Myrenberg
Myrenberg has left the Providence Bruins and is no longer practicing with the club. He is not under contract or an ATO and was not eligible to participate in games. It’s been a rough road back from injury for Myrenberg who played in just 18 of 52 regular season games for Linkoping HC in the SHL.
Loke Johansson
It took overtime once again but Moncton got past Quebec 4-3 on Tuesday to take a commanding 3-0 lead in their best of seven QMJHL series. Loke Johansson did not register a point and was a minus-1 on the night. He had 6 SOG to lead all skaters and finished with one hit on the night.
Moncton completed the sweep of Quebec with a 4-3 victory on Wednesday. Johansson set up the game’s opening goal, his second helper of the playoffs and Moncton were on their way. Later in the opening frame, Johansson had a brutal giveaway but his goaltender bailed him out to keep it 1-0. Less than 10 minutes into the game, Johansson had his second helper of the night to put the Wildcats up 2-0. Johansson finished with 2 assists, no SOG and no hits.
Moncton will open the second round of the playoffs at home on April 10 and 11.
Kristian Kostadinski, Jonathan Morello, Cole Spicer
Dubuque dropped a 4-2 decision to Sioux City Muskateers on Friday. It was another short night for Kristian Kostadinski as he was nailed with a 5-minute major and a game misconduct just over a minute into the game. Just 5 games ago on March 15, he was ejected for a hit to the head. Jonathan Morello did not register a point, had 1 SOG and was an even plus/minus. Cole Spicer did not play in this game. In case you missed it, Spicer has entered the NCAA transfer portal in attempt to return to the NCAA next season.
Saturday saw Dubuque defeat Omaha 5-1. Kostadinski, who did not receive any supplemental discipline had an assist and was a plus-1. Morello was pointless with 4 SOG and finished a plus-2. Cole Spicer did not play once again.
Will Zellers
Zellers increased his point streak to 8 games (7 goals, 5 assists) with an assist in the second period in Green Bay’s 4-2 win over the Sioux Falls Stampede. Zellers leads the USHL in goals handily (44) and is tied for most points (70) despite playing in 9 fewer games as of Friday night. He also leads the USHL in game-winning-goals (7), shots on goal (211) and is third in shooting percentage (20.9%) among players with 113 or more shots on goal.
It was a blow out in the rematch on Saturday as Sioux Falls won 9-2. The only good news for Green Bay is Zellers increased his point streak to 9 games.
Providence Bruins
On Monday, the Providence Bruins announced that they have loaned Jackson Edward to the Maine Mariners of the ECHL. This was long overdue as Edward had only appeared in one game for Providence since February 23 and it was not doing him any good just sitting around watching. Edward appeared in 31 games for Providence and has a goal and 6 assists.
Friday night saw recently signed NCAA graduates Dans Locmelis and Dalton Bancroft make their professional debuts with Providence, joining Ty Gallagher and Jake Schmaltz who turned pro in late March. Locmelis wasted no time in showing why I have been higher on him than most for a couple of years when, on his first shift, he took the puck around the Charlotte Checkers net and fed a pass to Riley Duran at the top of the crease for a chip in goal. Tyler Pitlick made it 2-0 as he carried in over the blueline and fired a shot far side from the right circle. Pitlick and Ty Gallagher had the helpers. Riley Tufte increased the lead as he gathered a rebound in front of the net and flipped it home for the 3-0 lead. John Farinacci and Trevor Kuntar assisted. Georgii Merkulov closed out the scoring as he took the shot himself on a 2-on-1 and wristed it near side. Matthew Poitras and Chris Ortiz had the assists. Brandon Bussi stopped all 23 shots he faced for his fifth shutout of the season. As for Bancroft, he didn’t look out of place whoever, there were a couple of moments that looked like he will need some time to adjust to the pace of the AHL. But he had some chances.
Saturday was the second of 3 games in 3 days and Nolan Maier, called up from Maine of the ECHL would get the start with the injury to Michael DiPietro. They would also sign Joe Sharib to am ATO to back up Maier. But things didn’t go to well as the P-Bruins fell 6-4 to the Utica Comets. Joey Abate scored the opening goal with Brett Harrison and Gallagher assisting. Utica would score the next 5 to take a commanding lead. Abate would score his second of the game set up once again by Harrison. Schmaltz would score his first professional goal to close the gap to 5-2 assisted by Frederic Brunet and Gallagher with his second of the game. Utica would pop an empty net goal before Dalton Bancroft would score his first pro goal. Maier would stop 19 of 24 shots in the loss.
Sunday got off to a good start. Bussi returned and stopped 20 shots through the first two periods and it looked like he would be unbeatable on this afternoon. Riley Tufte scored his 20th of the season from Pitlick and Brunet to put the P-Bruins up 1-0 in the second period. At 4:56 of the second, Harrison scored his 6th of the year from Farinacci and Jeffrey Viel to give them a 2-goal cushion. But 5 minutes later, Charlotte would pull within 1 and then 3 minutes later even the score. With 2:11 gone in overtime, Charlotte would complete the comeback.
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:
Dom - Hockey 