Down to the wire, it’s another recap of another week of prospect related happenings. Let’s dig in!
The News of the Week
After a bit of a busy week last time around, things are settling down again. No big news this week, just one small injury update. Dedicated Phantoms lineup watchers may have noticed that Emil Andrae has missed the last two games for the team, and while the team hasn’t provided a precise timeline for his return, the word is that he’s just a little dinged up, so one can assume that we can expect him back in the lineup sooner rather than later.
Also, in a not hugely consequential development — but a nice one all the same! — Jett Luchanko has been named the captain of the Guelph Storm for the remainder of the season. Good for him!
Three Stars
Denver Barkey
Our headline tipped our hand a little bit here, but we’ll reiterate — it’s the Denver Barkey show out here, there’s no doubt about it. Barkey had himself a huge week the week before last, putting up a very impressive three goals and three assists over two games played. As such, we spent some time last week talking about how huge that was, and how encouraging it was to see him stepping up in the face of some disappointment. There might have been a question of where he went from there, and the answer, pretty resoundingly, was upwards still. Because Barkey responded to his six point week with a seven point week this time out, as he totaled three goals and four assists over his pair of games last weekend. He can’t be slowed down, folks, try as his opponents might.
Cole Knuble
Over in the NCAA, despite a bit of a slow start to the calendar year after returning from winter break, Cole Knuble has been picking up steam nicely again. He’s got a goal and three assists between his last two games played, bringing him up to 22 points over the first 18 games of his season with Notre Dame. And while his scoring pace did slow down for a bit there, he managed to hold onto the top spot in points among the Flyers’ college prospects, thanks to the cushion he built up through the early goings, and now that he’s getting back to form, he’s working towards creating a bit of separation again.
Alexis Gendron
One of the real positives for the Phantoms is that they’re getting good contributions from all over the lineup, even if it is coming on something or a rotating basis. The big stepper up of this week was Alexis Gendron, who put up a goal last weekend, and then had two assists in Wednesday’s game against Belleville. His energy’s been a big boost for the team, and while there’s no doubt about the strength of his scoring game, it’s been nice to see him stepping up as a playmaker and getting more involved with play in that way. Things are clicking nicely for him, and he’s continuing to provide some nice consistency as an offensive producer on a team that really needs it.
Honorable Mentions
Sticking with the Phantoms for a bit longer, it’s been a pretty productive week for them, on the whole, despite both some mixed process outputs and results. The got a nice bit of production from Massimo Rizzo last weekend, as he picked up a goal and an assist, and is really looking like the offense is beginning to click for him a bit more. On the flip side, Helge Grans had a huge end to the week, picking up a goal and an assist of his own, both coming in the Phantoms’ last game on Wednesday against the Senators. Beyond this, this last week saw Elliot Desnoyers getting involved offensively again, shaking off the bit of streakiness he’s dealt with this season for now, as he picked up two assists over his last three games played, and then Andrae, before he took his injury, picked up his second goal of the season.
Elsewhere, it was a pretty quiet week in the NCAA, and the big bit of production to highlight outside of what Knuble was able to do was Devin Kaplan’s goal scored against Vermont last weekend, in a pretty dominant series win for the Terriers on the whole.
Noah Powell also got his first taste of action in the OHL this week, and while he didn’t manage a huge offensive output in his debut with Oshawa, but he did manage an assist in each of his first two games, so that’s a reasonable start. Over in London, Oliver Bonk is on a reasonable run of production since his return to his team, and he has a tidy two assists over his last two games played. And finally, out West, Carter Sotheran broke a bit of a slump and had himself a very productive week, to the tune of a goal and two assists over his last three games. Consistency’s been a bit of an issue for him this season, but it’s nice to see him getting the year off to a good start.