AHL
The story of the week for the IceCaps is about a lack of scoring. The IceCaps played three games and they were shutout twice. Connor Hellebuyck continued his strong play stopping 66 of the 70 shots he faced – including 42 of 45 in the IceCaps lone win – for a . 943 save percentage. This lifted his full season number to .929. Budaj started the third game.
Points (there weren't many due to the shutouts):
Will O`Neill 1A
John Albert 1G, 1A
CHL
A large chunk of last week’s update was spent talking about how impressive Nikolaj Ehlers is. Well, his this week made last week look mundane. Six points in two games is nice, but six points in a single game is nicer – especially when it comes on the heels of a five point night. Nik Ehlers put up thirteen points, five goals and eight assists in three games played. This kid is nutty.
Also in the QMJHL, Jan Kostalek keeps trucking along albeit with far less fanfare. Jan played a pair of games and nabbed himself a trio of assists. He also poured 12 shots on goal – including nine shots in his first of the two outings.
Jimmy Lodge hasn’t missed a beat after being traded. He played a trio of games this week and recorded 2G, 1A. He has four goals and two assists in his first five games as a member of the Steelheads.
In the WHL, Josh Morrissey played in three games and picked up pair of assists. Eric Comrie also played in a trio of games. He stopped 83 of 91 shots against for a .912 save percentage. Comrie currently leads the WHL with a .924. Axel Blomqvist played in three games and picked up three assists. Nelson Nogier was blanked through four games.
The Portland Winterhawks also had a busy week, playing three games. Nic Petan and Chase De Leo factored heavily into their offense as usual. Petan picked up exactly two points in each of Portland's three games, finishing with two goals and four assists. De Leo tallied one goal and four assists.
Also of note, four of the Winnipeg Jets‘ WHLers have had their World Junior camp invitations confirmed. Eric Comrie is in as one of Canada’s two goalies. Nic Petan and Josh Morrissey have also been invited to camp and they are both heavy favorites to make the roster as they are both returning players.
Elsewhere, Petan's Winterhawks teammate Chase De Leo has been invited to team USA's camp. Jan Kostalek has been invited to the Czech camp and while not yet confirmed, Nikolaj Ehlers is a lock to make team Denmark. Pavel Krasovsky and Axel Blomqvist could also be in the mix to represent their respective nations.
Petaning:
The Ehl Deal:
NCAA
Jamie Phillips got back to his winning ways, but he didn’t carry stellar numbers through his two games played. Phillips only allowed four goals, but the fact that he only faced 29 shots in those two games dragged down his numbers. Phillips still has a .943 save percentage through 14 games this season.
The Jets' other NCAA goalie, Jason Kasdorf started one game, but left early after tweaking something. He sat out their following game. Early reports suggested the injury was rather minor, but we will have to wait and see how long he is out.
CJ Franklin played a pair of games and picked up a pair of assists. He has 11 points in 14 games as a Freshman. Matt Ustaski played twice and scored 1G, 1A. Andrew Copp also picked up 1A in two games played.
Then there is Tucker Poolman, who has been playing spot duty on UND’s right wing. The team has an abundance of talented D men and they apparently want to keep them all on the ice. He reportedly played well, but has no stats to speak of. Jack Glover played in one of Minnesota’s two games.
Three Stars
1) Ehlers clearly has no interest in giving up his place in these three stars. The kid is insane and he just had an epic month. How epic? Well he just set a new Halifax Mooseheads record for points in a month. Step aside Nathan MacKinnon. Step aside Jonathan Drouin. There is a new boss in town.
Ehlers recorded 34 points in twelve games played through the month of November – including thirteen points in three games this week. Halifax scored a total of 18 goals this week. Ehlers was in on 13, that is a ridiculous 72.2% of the team's goals. To the surprise of no one, Ehlers was voted the both the QMJHL first star of the week and the CHL player of the week. He is currently riding a 13 game point streak that included ten multi-point games. Nikolaj Ehlers is very very good at hockey.
2) Nic Petan recorded six points in his three games played this week. He recorded exactly two points in each of the three games, but the streak goes beyond that. Petan has recorded two points in each of his last five. The accomplishments of Nikolaj Ehlers may make this seem minuscule, but two points a game is high end production. There is also something to be said for his consistency.
3) Chase De Leo’s weekly production was just slightly behind that of Petan. De Leo has been a rock for the Winterhawks this year to the point that production is almost a certainty. De Leo has been blanked in just four of his twenty eight games played. He currently ranks 10th in WHL point scoring and sixth in WHL goal scoring.
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