Time for our semi-regular look at the Hawks prospects that are not in Rockford.
As always, we start in Chestnut Hill where Kevin Hayes is the third-leading scorer in all of the NCAA. He’s at 22-29-51 in just 33 games for an Eagles side that is basically running away with Hockey East and will be a prohibitive favorite when the tournament rolls around in April. Now, there’s one huge caveat here in that Hayes skates on a line with college hockey’s leading scorer Johnny Gaudreau (it’s going to be fucking hilarious when Brian Burke trades Gaudreau for a third-line winger because he thinks Gaudreau “is too small to have sandpaper.”). So how much Hayes’s numbers are a by-product of his center and how much he’s responsible for is a debate one could have all day. Still, it’s pretty encouraging. Anyway, Captain Stairwell managed just an assist this past weekend in a double-header with UMass-Lowell. This was after he managed two goals in the Beanpot a couple weeks back.
His teammate Chris Calnan is on a bit of a streak with three points in three games, and is 4-8-12 on the year.
Elsewhere in Hockey East, we’ll swing to South Bend. Notre Dame spent the weekend curb-stomping a BU team in an obvious down year (probably still adjusting to not having Jack Parker around to let everyone sexually assault whoever they want), taking two 2-0 wins. Vincent Hinostroza didn’t score, and only has one goal in his last 13 games.
His teammate Stephen Johns, the apple of Stan’s eye, did score in the Friday night tilt. It was the first time I had an extended look at Johns this year, as the game was on NBCSN. I don’t want to make any judgements off of most of one game, but we can say for sure that Johns is huge and plays with a mean streak. These are good things. He’s definitely not a plodder at his size, though the skating might have to get better at the top level. But I will say for most of his shifts he ran the game from the back, though I’d like to see him against a top level college team. Of course, apparently he got himself ejected the next night with a questionable hit. Anyway, he’s 5-10-15 on the season.
Over in the Big 10 (which is actually six, and maybe only 5.5 if you really look hard at Penn State), Tyler Motte had two goals in two games against Penn State as the Wolverines split with the Nittany Lions. He’s at 9-5-15 in 28 games, and I think he should be watched a little closely. He’s already playing on Michigan’s top line as a freshman with Andrew Copp and while Ryan Hartman got most of the press from last draft as a local boy, I think Motte has as good of a chance at being an effective pro one day.
Let’s pop up to the junior ranks in Canada. The aforementioned Hartman has six points in his last four games for Plymouth, and is at 22-21-43 in 41 games this year. It looks a little more glittery when you realize that the Whalers are kinda garbage this season, seven games under .500.
Over in the Q, Dillon Fournier is at 13-19-32 in 36 games Dillon Fournier has been out since December with a shoulder injury and is done for the year. I’ll pay more attention I swear. Brandon Whitney continues to pretty much get shelled in Victoriaville.
In the WHL, Travis Brown has been traded from Moose Jaw to Victoria since we last checked in. In 20 games with his new team, he has 12 points and is a +9, which is a stark contrast to the -32 he was with Moose Jaw. Thus the difference in playing for one of the league’s best and worst teams.
And of course, over in Europe Teuvo Teravainen is on an absolute tear with Jokerit. He has 40 points in 42 games playing against men, so that’s pretty exciting. He’s 3-3-6 in his last four games. The Finnish season actually comes to an end in two weeks, with the playoffs to follow where Jokerit are barely clinging on to a spot. They are currently tied for sixth in SM-Liga. The top six go into the quarterfinals, while the next four playoff to join them.
Depending on how long Jokerit play, one would think the worst case scenario for Tivo Targaryn is that he’ll immediately come over to join Rockford for their playoff push and playoffs. Then again, it might not be Rockford he’s headed to when he comes across.
