Prospects: Week of 11.17.08

Rochester had two games this week, hosting the Toronto Marlies on Wednesday and on Friday, the Manchester Monarchs.

Chris Beckford-Tseu has remained the Amerks' go-to guy thus far. Sometimes, I really wonder why they signed him to a two-year deal. But regardless, Tyler Plante hadn't been good enough to take the top spot away from him, and David Shantz hasn't really had a great opportunity, yet. Though it may be coming very soon.

Wednesday, Rochester buried themselves with two poor, early penalties that put them down two men and the Marlies quickly capitalized, jumping to a 1-0 lead. A goal later and the Marlies took the game into the first intermission on top, 2-0.

2 and-a-half minutes into the second, Stefan Meyer scored his fourth (Keaton Ellerby and Jordan Henry with assists) and put the Amerks to within one, but the momentum quickly died as Toronto scored two goals within 100 seconds -- only two minutes after Meyer had put the team to within a goal.

Rory Fitzpatrick scored a power play goal in the third -- his first goal of the year -- with Jason Garrison and Michal Repik getting assists, but Toronto had already added a fifth, and this one went final at 5-2 Marlies.

Friday night was the same. Early two-man advantage for the visiting team, early 1-0 deficit. Beckford-Tseu faced eighteen shots in the first fourteen minutes of the game and even made some good stops, but he allowed the Monarchs to jump out to a 2-0 lead on a weak shot from the blue line. Head coach Benoit Groulx pulled CBT and put David Shantz into the game before the team could be any more discouraged on this particular evening.

Dan Collins scored a pair of goals a little over two minutes apart in the second period to tie the game, although at the time, the first goal was credited to David Brine -- eventually, he was taken off the scoresheet for the tally and Jacob Micflikier and Franklin MacDonald ended up getting the assists. Brine did assist on the game tying goal, though.

Shantz faced two shots in his limited time in the first and six in the second, stopping the eight total, but he was beat when Manchester went on -- yes, another 5-on-3 power play. Manchester carried the 3-2 lead through the period until scoring a short-handed empty-net goal at the end to put the icing on the cake; 4-2 Monarchs.

David stopped 18 of 19, although through two games, he's allowed five goals. His goals-against-average is at 2.93 and his save percentage is at .906%.

One other note about Rochester is that they sent Jacob Micflikier back down to the Florida Everblades. Micflikier isn't Panthers' property, though. Still, I thought I'd sahre this: in his first game in Estero, Micflikier had two goals and four assists, while the 'Blades won, 12-0. There were 11 player ejections and a ton of fights and penalties, two line brawls, I believe.

ECHL

Dayton played four games, winning two and losing two. Tyler Plante played in two of those games, first on Friday against Gwinnett. Plante stopped 33 of 37, but the Bombers lost, 4-2. On Sunday, however, Tyler Plante was able to finally pick up his first win of the season. Still with limited offensive support, Plante managed to turn aside all but one of the 29 shots he faced. In the process, helping Dayton past Augusta, 2-1.

Plante is now 1-2 with a 2.69 GAA and a .914%.

Juniors

Adam Comrie scored a goal in the first of three Saginaw games this week -- the second Spirit goal in a 3-2 victory against Owen Sound -- and was a +1 in each of the three Saginaw wins. With the 3-0 weekend, the Spirit are now 15-7-0-1, yet they're thirteen points behind division leading Windsor (22-2-0-0). . . James DeLory, the Panthers' potential future tough-guy got in to his first fight since being returned to the OHL on Friday with Kyle Neuber. Despite the size advantage for DeLory, Neuber is one of the OHL's toughest (remember that Hockey's Future Q&A with James? He mentions Neuber there). And Neuber shows us why he's got that reputation in the fight, while DeLory looks to have held his own well. But DeLory did more than just fight this weekend -- he scored his second goal of the season on Sunday, going +2 in a 4-3 loss. Meanwhile, DeLory's teammate, potential #1 draft pick John Tavares, may be headed to the already talented Windsor Spitfires. . . The Plymouth Whalers were scheduled to play two games this week, but conditions for travel were hampered by the weather, so the Friday game against Owen Sound was postponed, but they did play on Saturday, and A.J. Jenks added two assists (5) and even a fight in the second period. But despite Jenks' two points, he was a -2 in what proved to be a 5-4 overtime loss to Sault Ste. Marie. . . Corey Syvret was unable to help Guelph put anything past Barrie's Michael Hutchinson, who stopped all 36 shots, on Friday. The game was the only one the Storm played this week. The result, 1-0 Barrie. . . Brady Calla is back with the Kamloops Blazers of the WHL and in his return Wednesday, Calla picked up two assists as the Blazers skated to a 4-2 win against Prince George. He was kept off the board in Friday's 6-4 loss to Vancouver, and then on Saturday, scored the Blazers' only goal in a second straight loss to Vancouver, this time by a 6-1 score. . . Colby Robak injured his shoulder last week and didn't play in any of Brandon's three games. Fortunately, the defenseman is only day-to-day. . .

CCHA

Matt Rust spent the weekend on the third line as #9 Michigan took on #7 Miami (Ohio). The Redhawks beat Michigan in both games (0-2, 1-2) and kept Rust off the board, although he's been playing on the Wolverines' penalty kill and they've been doing a great job. But Rust was assessed a five-minute major for checking from behind in the first period of Saturday's game, and with it, a game misconduct. . . This week, Ohio State was on the road to play Northern Michigan. Defenseman Matt Bartkowski was on the top pairing for the OSU Buckeyes for both games, firing five shots on goal over the weekend. None made it through, but Ohio State split the weekend series, losing 3-1 on Friday and winning 2-0 on Saturday. . . Ryan Watson and Western Michigan were off this week. . .

WCHA

Derrick LaPoint played on the top pairing for North Dakota as the Sioux visited Minnesota-Duluth for two games. North Dakota played to a 2-2 tie on Friday and on Saturday, lost 3-1. The Sioux are now 4-7-1. . . Denver, ranked 10th in the nation, hosted #1 Minnesota for a two-game series and in the first game, the Pioneers were easily handed a 5-2 loss. Freshman defender John Lee was a -2, while goaltender Marc Cheverie gave up the five goals on twenty-two shots and was replaced in net in the third period. But Saturday was a MUCH different story. While John Lee added his second assist since moving to college, Marc Cheverie was absolutely unbeatable. Not only did he help carry Denver past the top team in the nation, he completely shut them down, making 34 saves on 34 shots for the first shutout of his career. So it was only fitting that the Chevy was the first star in Denver's 4-0 upset of Minnesota on Saturday night. . .

Hockey East

Maine hosted Merrimack, while Matt Duffy played on the middle pairing Friday and the top pairing on Saturday. The Black Bears won 2-1 on Friday night and on Saturday, skated to a 1-1 tie. . . Brian Foster returned for the New Hampshire Wildcats and in his first game since the injury, turned aside 33 of 36 Northeastern shots, including a 17 shot second period in which he stopped them all. Still, the Wildcats lost the penalty-loaded game (12 penalties for each team, over 60 minutes in all) 3-2. On Saturday, Foster was back in the win column as he stopped 32 of 35 from Northeastern and helped snap UNH's 4-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory. . .

Sweden

Everybody's favourite Swedish goalie played in all three games for Brynäs this week, and he's playing very well once again. On Tuesday, Jacob Markström stopped 29 of 31 as Brynäs upended Djurgårdens, 4-2. Thursday, he stopped 24 of 26 in a 2-2 draw against Färjestad, and on Saturday, 25 of 28 in another deadlock, this time against Luleå, 3-3. That all adds up to a save percentage a little under 92% and just over 2 goals against per game over the last three outings.

Czech Republic

Martin Lojek has two goals (two points) with Havířovská hokejová společnost (HC Havirov) in fourteen games. . . Václav Nedorost played in two games this week and added one assist (11). . .

2008 ADT Canada-Russia Challenge

Sergey Gayduchenko has been in net for the Russian Selects during the 2008 ADT Canada-Russia Challenge, which began on Monday last week. Gayduchenko stopped 16 shots but allowed four goals in game one against Team QMJHL, while a fifth goal came with an empty-net in the third.

Game two, also against the QMJHL, was played on Wednesday. Gayduchenko faced 33 shots, stopping 30 as the Russians won the second game by a score of 4-3.

Thursday, the games moved to Ontario but Gayduchenko didn't play. The game was tied through two periods, but three unanswered goals for the OHL's best put the score at 6-3, and that's where it would end.

Game four is today, and then the focus shifts to the WHL for two games on Wednesday and Thursday. There are no Panthers' prospects playing on the Canadian side in the tournament.