Prospect Info: Syracuse Crunch, Orlando Solar Bears & Prospects

[TheDaysOf 04]

Crunch blow a 2 goal lead with a little more than 2 minutes left in the game to lose 5-4 in OT

- 1 goal (#8) and 2 assists for Duke
- 2 assists for Huuhtanen
- Szturc scores his 1st and 2nd AHL goal

The 3 rookies Huuhtanen (16pts), Duke (15pts) and Szturc (11pts) are the top 3 scoring forwards on the Crunch

Huuhtanen is also a +10, Szturc a +9, and Duke a +8.





Assist for Veinbergs



Goal #3 for Steen

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Goal for Flinton



Assist to Kurth in back to back shutouts for Minnesota

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Howard with an assist and the Ice Man with the game winning goal





Crunch can't hold onto another 3rd period lead, but get the win in a 6 round shootout

- The Duke show continues with 1 goal + 1 assist
- Huuhtanen continues his 4 game point streak with an assist
- Szturc, with the monkey now off his back, scores his 3rd
- Groshev with the winner in the shootout



Goal #10 for Pitre

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

1 goal + 2 assists for Gauthier



Gauthier will now travel to Ottawa for Hockey Canada's selection camp which begins tomorrow, December 10th

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

The tournament kicks off December 9th in Bled, Slovenia -- where Golicic played in his mid-teens -- with the gold medal game taking place on the 15th.

Slovenia won gold last year in the 1B group to get promoted to 1A which also features Austria, Denmark, France, Hungary, and Norway who was relegated from the top division of the World Juniors. Norway has 2 former first rounders in Michael Brandsegg-Nygard and Stian Solberg. Brandsegg-Nygard also skated on Norway's mens team with Lilleberg and Noah Steen back in August in Olympic qualifying matches

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Golicic in the middle



Slovenia vs Austria full game



Meanwhile Gauthier scored a goal playing in an exhibition against the U SPORTS all-stars

#22 Ethan Gauthier, RW (Tampa Bay Lightning): Gauthier scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period to give Canada their first advantage of the game. But it was one of many good plays we saw today – he was physical, defensively responsible and did well in 1-on-1 situations. I thought he was one of Canada’s more dangerous wingers, especially in the second half.

From his early years with the Phoenix de Sherbrooke to his conquest of the Gilles-Courteau Trophy with the Voltigeurs de Drummondville, last season, he always responded when the stakes were high. He does not know how to explain it.

“This is something I have done in the past,” he attempted on Wednesday on the sidelines of Team Canada Junior. "Sometimes it's easy to say you're going to accept this or that role, but I've done it for the real. It's something I have in me, to get up when it counts. ”

“The key (from its success in the great moments) is the constancy in its level of competition,” explained Deputy Sylvain Favreau, who has led it for two years in Drummondville. "He's a guy who wants so much. When he is involved and engaged, he is able to have offensive and defensive success.”

“I have demonstrated that I am able to perform in this environment,” he argued. One of the first things they tell us when we get there is that they want guys who can perform on demand. This is something I have always been able to do in these events.

"I think it's one thing that might be an advantage of, the fact that they know I'm able to get up in the big moments. I want to keep proving it.”

 

[LordStanlersCup]

Gauthier has made team Canada for the 2025 U20 WJC. I guess its safe to say that they don't regret the pick choosing him over Cristall and Heidt for a second time now. I am not sure I would make the same choice but at least they have conviction.

 

[These Are The Days]

Gauthier has made team Canada for the 2025 U20 WJC. I guess its safe to say that they don't regret the pick choosing him over Cristall and Heidt for a second time now. I am not sure I would make the same choice but at least they have conviction.

Gauthier and Howard both could have gone at like 20 and no one would have said a word. We had great luck fall into our laps those days

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Scott Wheeler on Gauthier

I thought Ethan Gauthier really cemented his role with his competitiveness and his work ethic this week as well. Hockey Canada brass have talked a lot about how they were disappointed in last year’s team’s jam, competitiveness and ability to get to the inside. Gauthier leads by example with his play and looks now like he’ll be an important bottom-six guy for this year’s team after not being invited to the World Junior Summer Showcase in August. Denver Barkey, Mathieu Cataford, Tanner Howe and Luca Pinelli also showed similar elements and all played well, though it wasn’t enough for Barkey, who was one of the final cuts for a second year in a row.

*he was invited to Canada's WJSS camp

Obviously Gauthier had a few things working for him. His head coach at Drummondville, Sylvain Favreau, is part of Dave Cameron's staff, and Al Murray is back as Hockey Canada's U-20 head scout.

6 goals in 5 games at the Hlinka for Canada helps. 2nd in goals and points among all players in the Q playoffs only to Justin Poirier of Baie-Comeau is good. 4 goals, 1 assist in a 4 game sweep of Baie-Comeau in the QMJHL Finals, including an OT winner in game 2 is even better. So the resume is there as well in games that matter. I think the biggest thing though is Gauthier is versatile and can play any role. In the words of Al Murray who drafted him, he has "the whole package." It's hard to make Team Canada as just a top goal scorer. Everybody at that selection camp can score, but Canada's not taking an all-star team of the 12 best goal scorers. So, what else can you bring? I think you look back at other Bolt prospects who have made this team like Mathieu Joseph, Mitchell Stephens, and Anthony Cirelli, who were not heralded 1st round picks, but could kill penalties, win faceoffs, play a checking line role, just tough to play against, and that makes them much more valuable in a tournament than another skill guy who is one dimensional.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

2 assists for Harvey in an exhibition match against the US NTDP





Kurth and Howard both tally an assist against one another

 

[LordStanlersCup]

Gauthier and Howard both could have gone at like 20 and no one would have said a word. We had great luck fall into our laps those days

20 would have been a bit early for Gauthier, both Cristall and Heidt were projected to go before him. Gauthier was not a bad pick but a lot of people had Cristall really high on their boards and he has done really well in his D1 and D2 years so far.

 

[These Are The Days]

20 would have been a bit early for Gauthier, both Cristall and Heidt were projected to go before him. Gauthier was not a bad pick but a lot of people had Cristall really high on their boards and he has done really well in his D1 and D2 years so far.

Ehhhh once you get mid way through the 1st round it can be a crapshoot for the rest of the draft. I am not saying there's not a talent disparity between mid to late 1st round players and early to mid 2nd round players. It's just more like by that point your selection has something they are very good at (maybe even elite) but may have as many as 3 things they need to improve on and it held them back from being chosen higher. Or they're the beginning of the lot of players who are good at everything but not elite in any of it.

Gauthier is good at a lot but not elite. Howard has a damn near Stamkosian release on his wrist shot but hasn't learned to kill with it. Sounds like a ton of dudes taken at 20 to me

 

[LordStanlersCup]

Ehhhh once you get mid way through the 1st round it can be a crapshoot for the rest of the draft. I am not saying there's not a talent disparity between mid to late 1st round players and early to mid 2nd round players. It's just more like by that point your selection has something they are very good at (maybe even elite) but has many as 3 things they need to improve on and it held them back from being chosen higher. Or they're the beginning of the lot of players who are good at everything but not elite in any of it.

Gauthier is good at a lot but not elite. Howard has a damn near Stamkosian release on his wrist shot but hasn't learned to kill with it. Sounds like a ton of dudes taken at 20 to me

I would agree with that. I typically prefer the high upside picks, the risk/reward makes more sense to me. Also I have a lot of faith in our player development

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Joona Saarelainen makes Finland’s group that will travel to Canada this week. They just need to cut one last player to finalize their team

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Assist for Gagne



2 goals for Howard in a win over Kurth and Minnesota

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Assist for Burrows on the game winner against Veinbergs and Colorado College



Goal #11 for Pitre. That's a new career high for Pitre who had 10 goals last year in 35 games



Crunch win 1-0 with Sheary scoring the only goal and Halverson with the shutout

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Lightning NCAA prospect stats at the holiday break

Connor Kurth (Jr.)	20 gp	9g + 12a = 21pts	Minnesota
Isaac Howard (Jr.)	16 gp	9g + 11a = 20pts	Michigan State
Jayson Shaugabay (Fr.)	15 gp	5g + 7a = 12pts	Minnesota Duluth
Cooper Flinton (Jr.)	11 gp	3g + 6a = 9pts	Dartmouth
Klavs Veinbergs (So.)	15 gp	5g + 4a = 9pts	Colorado College
Jack Harvey (So.)	16 gp	3g + 6a = 9pts	Boston U.
Eamon Powell (Sr.)	15 gp	1g + 6a = 7pts	Boston College
Alex Gagne (Sr.)	14 gp	2g + 3a = 5pts	U. of New Hampshire
Joe Connor (Fr.)	15 gp	2g + 2a = 4pts	Northeastern
Hagen Burrows (Fr.)	16 gp	0g + 4a = 4pts	Denver
Warren Clark (So.)	8 gp	1g + 1a = 2pts	St. Cloud

.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Gauthier starting out practice on Canada's 3rd line next to Utah 1st rounder Cole Beaudoin and former Pens/current Jets 1st rounder Brayden Yager who was on the team last year



Slovenia finishes 4th in the 1A group with 2 wins and 3 losses

Golicic ties for the 4th most points in the tournament with 6 points (1g, 5a) in 5 games

 

[These Are The Days]

Gauthier starting out practice on Canada's 3rd line next to Utah 1st rounder Cole Beaudoin and former Pens/current Jets 1st rounder Brayden Yager who was on the team last year

Oh my God. Another Ritchie?

 

[aylib]

What's going on with Crozier? He looked promising last season and now he has 1 point in 14 AHL games

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Crunch win 5-2 over the Amerks

- Jack Finley collected an assist in his return to the lineup. This was his first game since April 28th. The Crunch now have everyone back (Dumont, Walcott, Fortier, and Finley) who missed out on training camp back in October
- Duke scored 2 goals (#10 & #11)
- Logan Brown scored a goal and was awarded 1st star of the game, his first game back in the lineup since Nov 23rd, this only his 7th game of the season



1 goal + 1 assist for Pitre

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Crunch lose 3-1 to Rochester

- Carlile scores 1 week after scoring one with the big club in Seattle.



Ethan Hay isn't having the kind of production you'd like to see from a player in his 4th season in the OHL, but he was 20/24 (83%) in faceoffs tonight for Saginaw

For the season he has the 10th most draws won in the OHL, and out of those 9 players above him, he has the 2nd best winning percentage (57%)

 

[Felonious Python]

The Bears are having another season. It's like we're back to Carkner year 1 again, but with good goaltending.

As soon I hear that Berehowsky/Carkner want to simplify the game, and take more point shots, the offense evaporates.

OSB completely overhauled the defensive corp, and they still aren't scoring. Maybe it's not the players? Small chance?

We got D Kris Myllari. He scored 11 goals with Allen last season. So far with us, 1 assist in 8 games. Mostly invisible.

I see point shots as a way of getting the puck into a dangerous area. We know that shooting from 60 feet from the net doesn't result in goals all that often (bounces and deflections are unpredictable).

It's like they want to play Plinko, and consider it predictable. The idea is to win the prize, not to just play Plinko. It's trying to get rich off lottery tickets, and it seems like it's the only solution the team has to any issue.


Now, under Berehowsky, the team would actually get too cute. Try to razzle-dazzle. Getting back to 'their game' from that made sense. There's minimal cuteness to OSB's current game.

I'm not going for EA Sports highlights. I don't care about SportsCenter. I'm saying to play like Savannah. Or Florida. Or South Carolina. Hunter mentality. Aggressive, often simple plays that result in high danger chances. It doesn't take 6 passes to create a one-timer. It only takes one. That way of playing I guess is too complex. Only NHL contracted players can grasp the Escher-like logic.

The current Bears group hasn't been around that long, but I'm telling you, the highest scorers are usually ECHL contracted players (or guys who are on an AHL deal due to their ECHL play). I've seen it year over year. Toledo and Florida rely on it.

I don't know who the top scoring NHL contracted player in the ECHL is, but they couldn't have more than 10 goals on the season so far. (edit: Sasha Pastujov, from Bradenton, FL. 9 goals for Tulsa. There are 3 NHL contracts in the top ~100 ECHL goalscorers this season)

It seems to be only Orlando that makes an argument that they need to be the exception, but it doesn't matter if the guy is in an AHL press box, or ECHL ice. They're scoring the same number of goals.

 

[Felonious Python]

This is Ara Nazarian. He plays on the Bears top line, but hasn't scored a goal in 20+ games.

He seems to generally score close to the net. Many are individual plays, but there's a fair amount of one-timers (impossible in the ECHL, or on Orlando ice), and in the case of the greasy goals the Bears want, the initial shot is coming from more like the top of the circles. That matches my understanding of the analytics.


Imagine how many goals he'd have scored if he'd only have simplified instead. It's one of the great 'what-ifs' in history.

 

[Felonious Python]

Bears win 5-0 today.

Not really. I take no credit, but it's good to see a solid offensive game out of them. Not that many 2% chances from the blueline. I save that for my cereal. Simplifying is okay if it's used with a specific player. If the 3rd pair defensive defenceman starts trying to play like Cale Makar, maybe they need to simplify their game a bit.

Point Shots Suck

Yes, they really are terrible

hockeysarsenal.substack.com

That was not the first time I've been radicalized from a lack of scoring.