CHL

• Jett Woo continues to be relied upon heavily by the Hitmen in all situations. I’m hoping to catch some of his games soon to see how he’s playing as I have only seen highlights up to this point in the season. Here is his backdoor power-play assist from Friday.

• Carson Focht had a quiet week by his standards, registering a 1 goal, 1 assist game and going pointless in his other two. He remains Calgary’s point leader and tied for the lead in goals with 11.

• Ethan Keppen scored 2 goals this week. One was an empty-netter and the other was the game-winning goal on the power-play. It was off a rebound in tight and he didn’t get all of it but it found a way to beat the goalie.
• No games for Arturs Silovs this week.

NCAA

• Tyler Madden had a 3 point game this week scoring a beautiful power-play goal.

• He also had 2 power-play assists, one primary and one secondary, that set-up Aidan McDonough for his 2nd and 3rd goals of the season.

• Will Lockwood and Michigan are struggling as of late. They have lost 4 of their last 5 with the outlier being a tie. Lockwood was pointless.
• Jack Rathbone is scoring at a torrid pace to start the season with 3 goals and 3 assists in 2 games.

• Still no games for Matthew Thiessen.

Russia

• Vasili Podkolzin is taking part in the CIBC Canada Russia series. Apologies to CIBC last week for calling it the Subway series – old habits die hard? Through three games Russia went 1-and-1 against the QMJHL and have lost the first of two against the OHL. Podkolzin is without a point so far but what I’ve liked about his game so far is that he has his head up a fair bit more than when I scouted him last year. This is resulting in him using his teammates on the rush more often rather than trying to do everything himself. The staple of his game, an all-out motor, has been fun to watch.

• If you’d like to learn more about Podkolzin’s game, specifically the deficiencies in his skating, I made an in-depth scouting report on him over the summer which can be found below.

Sweden

• Nils Hoglander is up to his wizardry again, this time at the U20 4-Nations tournament in Helsinki, a primer for the World Juniors for the European teams.

• Hoglander also had a 2 goal – 1 assist performance against Russia. There’s a lot to like about the Swedish spark-plugs game. But I would hold off on calling him NHL ready next year as I’ve seen some people say. Defensively, he’s still a little raw and a year in the AHL will do him some good. His hands and physical ability are NHL quality but I think he needs more seasoning unless something changes in the new year and he cracks Rogle’s top-six. His development could be pivotal for the Canucks. He has the potential to be a fantastic addition to Vancouver’s top-nine on a cheap ELC when the team is hopefully contending for the Pacific consistently. I’d like to see him dominate against lesser competition first.

Czech

• Karel Plasek is also at the 4-Nations tournament. Here is his goal against Sweden.

Finland

• No games for Petrus Palmu this week.
• Toni Utunen is Finland’s captain and will look to defend the World Junior Gold this year. Never forget his overtime winner against Mikey DiPietro and Canada… it had to be him.

AHL

• The Comets, after dropping 4 straight, found the win column against the Binghamton Senators in overtime on Saturday. Michael DiPietro had another strong performance stopping 28-of-30 for the win. He has played in 2 straight with a combined .934 save% in the two games. He is currently 12th out of all AHL goalies in save% and 4th for rookies.
• Zack MacEwen had the overtime winner last night.

• Mitch Eliot scored his first AHL goal. Fluky bounce but I like how he can walk the line while keeping his hips open and facing the net.