2018-2019 PLAYER & GOALIE OF THE WEEK #21
| EASTERN SKATER | TEAM | GP | GOALS | ASISSTS | POINTS | PM | +/- | SOG | S% |
| Kadri, Nazem | 3 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 56 | |
| EASTERN GOALIE | TEAM | GP | GOALS AGAINST | G.A. AVERAGE | SAVES | SAVE % | |||
| Vasilevskiy, Andrei | BWB | 2 | 4 | 2.02 | 69 | .945 | |||
| WESTERN SKATER | TEAM | GP | GOALS | ASSISTS | POINTS | PM | +/- | SOG | S% |
| Bergeron, Patrice | GUE | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 20% |
| WESTERN GOALIE | TEAM | GP | GOALS AGAINST | G.A. AVERAGE | SAVES | SAVE % | |||
| Andersen, Frederik | LGD | 2 | 4 | 2.03 | 54 | .931 | |||
| Yellowknife Braves | |
| Weekly Preview: | One home game. Trying to win the division |
| Bucks County Raccoons @ Yellowknife Braves | Bucks County comes to town. The Raccoons win it 5-4. Stars #1 Sheahan 1G 2pts #2 McDavid 1G 2pts #3 YEL Aho 1G 3pts |
| Weekly Summary: | The Braves choked away their division championship dreams |
| California Regulators | |
| Gilbert Sharks @ California Regulators | California wins 2-1. |
| Weekly Summary: | California wins its lone home game this week. |
| LA Great Danes | |
| Weekly Preview: | The Great Danes continue their long stretch of games within the Pacific Division – western leader California and Alamo head east to play LA.
LA has not announced their MYC signings, but Henrik Borgstrom and Filip Chytil will make their MWHL debuts this week as rumors of their signings circulate. |
| California Regulators @ LA Great Danes | Casey DeSmith gets the start in goal for LA as Andersen gets the night off after a long stretch with little rest. Mikkel Boedker opens the scoring with a PPG, and LA is up 1-0 after one. Jacob Trouba ties it for Cal early in the 2nd, followed by Alex Pietrangelo’s 18th goal of the season – 2-1 LA after 2. The Danes put the game away in the 3rd with goals from Mattias Janmark, his 19th, and Connor Brown. It’s a solid 4-1 win for LA as they play a physical game with limited resistance from California, outhitting them 29-11 for the game. |
| Alamo Defenders @ LA Great Danes | Andersen is back in net versus Alamo, and he gets an early lead to work with as Rick Nash scores his 15th of the year 2:04 in. A Mark Scheifele PPG puts LA up 2-0 after 1. After a scoreless 2nd period, Drake Caggiula pulls Alamo with a goal at 6:17 of the 3rd. But Thornton and Brodin respond for LA with goals 3 minutes apart, and the Danes coast to a 2nd 4-1 week for the week. Mark Scheifele with 1G-1A with the GWG and a 73% face-off win rate. LA looks forward to a full season from Scheifele next season as his 16 games missed this year may have been the difference between competing for a playoff spot and playing out the season. |
| Weekly Summary: | The Danes continue to finish strong, now winning 9 of their last 11. But a winning record and some player milestones are all that’s left to play for. 20 Goal seasons are in sight for Pietrangelo (18) and Janmark (19) as the season winds to a close.
Borgstrom and Chytil get very limited ice time in their respective debuts, but the experience on the bench versus the press box gave them a taste of the MWHL as the team brings them along slowly. |
| Chicago Cosa Nostra | |
| Weekly Preview: | Chicago gets one home game at the Capone Center for the week. They still have no shot at the playoffs. Looking ahead to next season seems to be a theme these days in the Windy City. |
| Yellowknife Braves @ Chicago Cosa Nostra | Division rival the Yellowstone Braves fighting for seeding in the playoffs are in town to face the home town Cosa Nostra. Chicago fans, expect the worse. But 23 shots in the 3rd period help Chicago tie it. The game is tied at the end of regulation. Another one goal game. (When isn’t it – Chicago leads the league in 1-Goal losses) & the Braves come out on top in shootout & wouldn’t you have guessed it – in overtime by 1 goal.Final Score: Yellowknife 4 – Chicago 3Labatt’s 3-Star Selection: Star #1 – Josh Morrissey – 1 Goal, 2 Points. Star #2 – Andrew Copp – 1 Goal Star #3 – Josh Bailey – 1 GoalRyan Miller had 51 Saves for Yellowknife. William Nylander 16 Faceoffs won & Jonathan Bernier 33 Saves for ChicagoGame Winning Goal: Evgeni Malkin |
| Weekly Summary: | Chicago looses another 1-Goal game & keep falling deeper into the bottom of the basement in the Central Division. |
| Thunder Bay Nor’Westers | |
| Weekly Preview: | Thunder Bay’s role at this point is only as a spoiler. We play 3 road games at New Jersey, Charlotte and Clearfield and just 1 home game hosting Cincinnatti. |
| Cincinnati Inferno @ Thunder Bay Nor’Westers | Thunder Bay gets the jump with Ryan O’Reilly(12) scores an unassisted goal. Cinci counters with a goal by Carlson(10). The Nor’Westers push back in the lead as O’Reilly scores again his 13th of the season. The Inferno tie it again when Bosser(28) scores near the end of the 1st period.
Crosby(22) takes the lead 3-2 for Cinci at the end of 40 minutes. In the 3rd period Cinci scores twice Tkachuk(24) and Karlsson(24) and Cinci wins 5-2. |
| Weekly Summary: | Even the role of spoiler does not fit our style of play. |
| Jagr Mullets | |
| Weekly Preview: | A huge matchup against Brentwood that may decide the division, and an always physical contest against Bathgate. |
| Brentwood Bandits @ Jagr Mullets | In a must-win game for both teams, the Mullets make a statement, beating down the Bandits 4-2. It was never that close; only a goal by Kessel with 29 seconds left made it look interesting.
Scoring Summary Star 1: JAG Kadri 2 G GWG: Alex Ovechkin Notables: BWB Vasilevskiy 34 saves |
| Bathgate Rangers @ Jagr Mullets | The Rangers come to town hoping to play spoiler.
The only thing that ends up spoiled is Jaroslav Halak’s Goals-Against Average, as the Mullets clip the Rangers 7-3 – with Auston Matthews in the press box with a hangnail. Scoring Summary Star 1: JAG Kadri 2 G, 3 Pts GWG: Ryan Ellis Notables: BGR None |
| Weekly Summary: | The Jagr Mullets have a dominant week at home and improve their odds of clinching the #1 overall seed. With the roster fully healthy down the stretch, they won’t have to worry about resting anyone. |
| Alamo Defenders | |
| Weekly Preview: | Long Beach travels to Alamo for the Defenders only home game. |
| Long Beach Ice Dogs @ Alamo Defenders | Mid-way through the 1st, Luke Glendening scores a short handed goal. But, the Ice Dogs are resilient and score the next 2 goals – Heinen and Ek score. The Defenders would go on to tie it on a McAvoy goal, but Long Beach scores the next 3 goals. But, the Defenders get some fireworks of their own as they score 3 in a row to tie it. Pressure is on and Gallagher scores his 22nd of the year with 13 seconds to go and Long Beach wins.
Long Beach 6 Alamo 5 1st – McAvoy – 2 goals |
| Weekly Summary: | Long Beach defeats Alamo, 6-5. |
| Bucks County Raccoons | |
| Weekly Preview: | Two on home ice this week versus division rivals Toledo and Chicago. |
| Toledo Walleye @ Bucks County Raccoons | Bucks County could not stay out of the penalty box in this one, accumulating 41 PIMS and giving Toledo 8 PP chances. Although the Walleyes only scored on 1 of those chances, the difference in puck control led Toledo to a 4-3 win. |
| Chicago Cosa Nostra @ Bucks County Raccoons | Chicago visited Bucks County for the 3rd time this year, and for the 3rd time they skated away with 2 points, in this game rushing out to a 3-0 lead and holding on for a 3-2 win. |
| Weekly Summary: | Picking up 0 points in 2 home games sends the Raccoons wishing for a quick end to the season as they continue to struggle to hold leads or score goals. |
| Cincinnati Inferno | |
| Weekly Preview: | The Cincinnati Inferno enter the stretch run for the MWHL playoffs. Time is running out and games against the two teams in front of them loom. |
| Clearfield Bison @ Cincinnati Inferno | Clearfield opened the scoring at 13:41 of the first on a power play goal by Bryan Little, his seventh of the year. The shot originated from along the goalline and found a hole. The Bisons won the shots battle, 18-11.
In the second, Cincinnati levelled the scores at 2:49, when William Karlsson re-directed an Alex Edler shot for his 24th goal of the season. Clearfield again held the shots advantage, 11-10. The final game of the game came at 6:07, as John Carlson netted his tenth goal beat the goalie clean for the decisive tally. Cincinnati won the shots battle in the third, 19-7, and also for the game, 40-36. Carter Hutton picked up the win, stopping 35 shots. Connor Hellebuyck took the loss, turning away 38 shots. Clearfield held the edge in chances, 23-11. The Bisons went one-for-three on the power play, while Cincinnati was zero-for-three with the man-advantage. The 2-1 win kept Cincinnati’s flickering chances for the playoffs alive… |
| New Jersey Grizzlies @ Cincinnati Inferno | In what might be the biggest game of the inaugural season for the Cincinnati Inferno, the New Jersey Grizzlies rolled in. New Jersey enters with a five point lead and Cincinnati has jus eight games remaining.
Following a scoreless first period that featured a total of eleven shots, New Jersey opened the scoring in the second. Viktor Arivdsson notched his 25th at 11:52. With the season on the line, Cincinnati played the last 90 seconds of the period with the goaltender pulled to try to level the scores. In the third, Sidney Crosby scored his 22nd at 5:54 and less than a minute later, Jason Zucker picked up his eighth at 6:43. Taking a deep breath for the first time in the game, the Inferno allowed the tying goal a little more than two minutes later (at 8:54)–as Jake DeBrusk buried his 22nd goal. The final goal of the game came from Grizzlies, as Victor Hedman picked up his 21st goal at 11:52, with a stick-side low shot. The Inferno played the final two minutes with the goaltender pulled, but had all foru shots turned away. Braden Holtby stopped 32 shots to collect the win and Cart Hutton stopped 19 shots in the defeat. New Jersey had the only two power plays of the game and was snuffed out on each try. |
| Weekly Summary: | A split at home is of consolation to the Cincinnati Inferno. Cincinnati now trails New Jersey by seven points (95-88) and has just seven games left in the 2018-19 season. The Grizzlies now have four games left in their season and wins in all of them will eliminate the Inferno. |
| Bathgate Rangers | |
| Weekly Preview: | Rangers 1 home game this week but it’s against Columbus. Bathgate going nowhere, but beating Columbus is always HIGH on the list of season goals. |
| Columbus Brew Jackets @ Bathgate Rangers | Well it looked like maybe OT in this one. Teams trade goals in the 1st Hickey for Columbus, Tierney for Bathgate. Then they do the swap goals in the 2nd, Noesen (PP) for the Jackets, Ferland for the Rangers. Then the 3rd period comes along. Both teams go full bore (14 SOGs each) but the Rangers were firing with far great precision as they score 4 times to 1 for Columbus. Killorn and Karlsson get goals, Miller then scores for Columbus and then Provorov and ZBad take advantage of the empty net in the last minute to ice the game, 6-3! STARS: (all CAP) 1. Ferland 1 goal, 2 assists 2. Zibanejad 1 goal, 1 assist 3. Killorn 1 goal |
| Weekly Summary: | 1 for 1 – and beating Columbus. OK! |
| Columbus Brew Jackets | |
| Weekly Preview: | Jagr comes to town for the Brew Jackets home game this week. Spoil, spoil, spoil and trouble, that’s the Brew for this week! |
| Jagr Mullets @ Columbus Brew Jackets | Hall gets Jagr up 1-0 in less than a minute. But Columbus fires back with goals form Couture and Kucherov to take a 2-1 lead late in the 1st, but Hall gets a PP goal in the final 2 minutes and the 1st ends 2-2. Jackets do the inside the 1st minute thing when Benn scores a PP goal in the 2nd period – AND that was all the 2nd period scoring, 3-2 Brew Jackets. 3rd period – Jagr does not want to say die, they heard the chant and the potion making but they shake it off and score 3 times in the first 6 minutes to GRAB a 5-3 lead. Letang, Granlund and Kadri. BUT – Kucherov gets Columbus to within one when he scores just past midway in the period. Jackets keep pressing and Miller scores with a minute and a half left and the game is tied. Regulation ends that way and each team will get a point, who gets the extra point. OT – NOTHING in spite of the 8-1 SOG advantage for Jagr, so it’s on to a shoot-out. JAG – Hall, goal! CBJ – Kucherov – stuffed JAG – Matthews, goal! CBJ – Couture – stuffed Gibson owned the shoot-out, Rinne buried his head. Jagr the 6-5 winner in a SO. STARS: 1. JAG – Hall 2 goals, 1 assist 2. CBJ – Kucherov 2 goals, 1 assist 3. CBJ – Benn 1 goal 1 assist |
| Weekly Summary: | Spoil, spoil, spoil and trouble – the Brew Columbus tried to put on Jagr – ALMOST worked. Oh well. |
| Brentwood Bandits | |
| Weekly Preview: | One game for the playoff bound Bandits! Still an outside chance to win the division on the line. |
| Lafayette Homesteaders @ Brentwood Bandits | Brentwood 5, Lafayette 1
Bandits score 5 unanswered goals through the first two periods until Lafayette gets one from Duchene (36) to make sure Vasilevskiy doesn’t get the shutout. Though he did save 35 shots. Star 1 Horvat 2G Notables |
| Weekly Summary: | One home game, 2 points… let’s see how the road games play out! |
| Guentzel Gunners | |
| Weekly Preview: | Guenzel has one big game against Yellowknife to make a bigger lead. |
| Yellowknife Braves @ Guentzel Gunners | guenzel beats Yellowknife 6-3 and puts them up 4 points. |
| Weekly Summary: | Guenzel wins a really big game and hopes to keep winning |
| New Jersey Grizzlies | |
| Thunder Bay NorWesters @ New Jersey Grizzlies | Thunder Bay was able to get the lead but New Jersey woke up and put a three spot on the board. New Jersey got solid goaltending from Keith Kinkaid. NJ wins 3-1 |
| Weekly Summary: | The Playoff push is getting serious to see if they can make an appearance. |
| Toledo Walleye | |
| Weekly Preview: | One game at home this week for the Walleye against division leading Guentzel. This game should determine if the Walleye are in the chase for the division title, or hanging on for dear life to make the playoffs. |
| Guentzel Gunners @ Toledo Walleye | Gunners 4, Walleye 2 – Toledo gets on top quickly when Backstrom nets one in the first 3 minutes. After that, the goalies take over, stopping the scoring for the rest of the first period. Smith saves 19 of 20 as Toledo unleashes a barrage of shots in the first.
2nd period sees things settle down a bit as the shots on goals evens out a bit. Both teams take advantage of penalties, with the Gunners evening the score on a powerplay goal by Haula. The Walleye take the lead back just before the end of the period when Krejci scores on a Walleye powerplay. Period ends 2-1 Walleye. 3rd period sees the Walleye go flat on defense, making a number of mistakes, watching the Gunners tie and then take the lead on goals by Kopitar, Bergeron, and Demers, all before the 10 minute mark. The Walleye crank up the offense but Smith is flawless in the period and the Gunners take a big road win. 4-2 |
| Weekly Summary: | Walleye loses a big home game and now are looking in the rear view mirror, hoping to stay ahead of LA as the team heads down the home stretch to the finish line.
Great outing for Mike Smith, saving 38 of 40 shots in the win for the Gunners. |
| Lafayette Homesteaders | |
| Weekly Preview: | Lafayette takes on Columbus trying to hold on to 3rd place |
| Columbus Brew Jackets @ Lafayette Homesteaders | Columbus 3 Lafayette 1
Bishops stops 34/35 shots to dominate game |
| Weekly Summary: | Zero points….when is Carter Hart coming |
| Charlotte Buzzards | |
| Weekly Preview: | Fittingly, the Buzzards host just one game as their season concludes quietly versus its fellow lower rung division foe from the North, Thunder Bay. |
| Thunder Bay NorWesters @ Charlotte Buzzards | The NorWesters deny the Buzzards of a win in the final minute of regulation then steal a victory in the shootout, prevailing 5-4. To quote from this writer’s favorite hall of fame announcer (Rick Jeanneret): Ryan O’Reilly goes “top shelf where Momma hides the cookies” in beating Anti Raanta with a high goal with 39 seconds in regulation to tie the score at 4-4. The even strength goal was assisted by Jeff Petry and Charlie Coyle. Later as the game progresses to the shootout, Sean Couturier and Brandon Saad convert and NorWesters goalie James Reimer denies Vincent Trocheck and Anders Lee to clinch the win. Kyle Connor garners top star honors for Thunder Bay with two goals, the first two of the game, before Charlotte came back and captured the lead briefly. Four different players scored for Charlotte including Lee who registered his 35th goal that provided the Buzzards with the short lived 4-3 edge in the third prior, to O’Reilly’s heroics sent the game to OT. |
| Weekly Summary: | The Buzzards strive to learn from first-year mistakes in concluding their inaugural season. A lineup blunder in this latest loss to Thunder Bay certainly didn’t help: Ryan Rust was listed as the fourth line right wing but was inactivated — forcing Charlotte to skate with just 11 forwards. Ah growing pains! |