Jets Prospect Update – March 30th

Moose goaltending leads them to another successful week, Kyle Connor’s historic freshman season comes to a close, and CHL playoffs get under way. Check in on all this and more in this weeks Jets prospect update.

The Moose put together a strong week sweeping a two game series against Stockton before falling to Charlotte on Saturday. 

Once again goaltending was at the forefront as Connor Hellebuyck picked up his forth shutout of the season in the first win and stopped 19 of 21 shots faced in the second. Hellebuyck also came on in relief of Eric Comrie in the third game of the week and stopped 15 of 17 after Comrie had a rough start allowing 3 goals on 9 shots. Comrie may have had a bit of an excuse however as since then he has been taken out of the lineup with an injury and Jussi Olkinoura was recalled to back up Hellebuyck.

Leading the way offensively for the Moose youth was Brendan Kichton (2G, 1A), while Scott Kosmachuk (1G) and Jimmy Lodge (1A) also chipped in some offense in another low scoring week for Moose team currently devoid of several of their offensive players.

Jansen Harkins has gotten his playoffs off to a hot start and has contributed on each goal Prince George has scored up to this point. Unfortunately for them they’ve only been able to muster three goals in the first two games of their series and currently find themselves down two games to none against Seattle.

Brendan Lemieux couldn’t even make it through the first period of his first playoff game before he was ejected after getting tied up with a Kitchener player along the boards and called for a slew foot as they both went down. The OHL followed the automatic ejection up with a two game suspension that seemed somewhat questionable given the play, but with his suspension history in the league this may have been a bit of a reputation call. The most unfortunate part for Lemieux is that in his absence Windsor has fallen down 0-3 to Kitchener and will be in tough to come back and win the series with or without him in the lineup.

Red Deer vs Calgary in the opening round of the WHL playoffs mean the Jets remaining CHL players are facing off against each other. Red Deer, being the hosts this year, will play for the memorial cup regardless but given the talent they brought in at the deadline they should be looked at as the favorite in this series. Calgary, however, did win the season series between the two teams and didn’t finish that far back of them in the standings. Through three games Spacek and Nogier have an assist each while Gennaro has been held scoreless. Red Deer Currently leads the series two games to one.

With a Michigan loss in the MidWest Regional tournament finals, Kyle Connor’s exceptional freshman season has come to an end. Connor put up an assist in each game on the weekend to extend his point streak to 28 games, and finish the season with 71 points. All eyes will now be focused on whether he’ll sign a contract prior to the end of the NHL season or maybe get some AHL games in on an ATO as several other Michigan players already have.

Tucker Poolman and North Dakota won both their games on the weekend to qualify for the Frozen Four. Poolman had one goal and one assist during the tournament and his strong play was rewarded with a spot on the all-tournament team. 

Erik Foley’s season ended likely a little sooner than expected as Providence was upset by Minnesota-Duluth in double overtime in the Northeast Regional Semi-Final. Foley had no points in the game.

CSKA swept SKA in their series to move on to the Gagarin Cup finals for KHL champion. Telegin had one goal and two assists in the series.