Prospects Of The Week
Foster Scores Hat Trick, Off To Solid Start with 67s
Cooper Foster scored a hat trick for the Ottawa 67s in a 6-3 win over the North Bay Battalion on Saturday evening in the first win of the season for Ottawa. The 2023 sixth round pick scored once on the power play, once at even strength, and finally shorthanded into the empty North Bay net. After finishing third on the team with 52 points in 59 games last season, Foster ranks second on the team early on with six points in four games.
Pieniniemi Scores First OHL Goal, Quickly Adjusts to Major Junior
Emil Pieniniemi scored for the first time in the OHL, kicking off the scoring for the Kingston Frontenacs in a 9-0 thumping of the North Bay Battalion on Friday night. Pieniniemi added a secondary assist on the eight goal of the game, and added another secondary assist on the power play in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Ottawa 67s on Sunday afternoon. Joining the Frontenacs after playing in the Liiga–the top league in Finland last season–the 2023 third round pick leads blueliners on the team and ranks fourth overall with six point in five games.
Laatsch Ties Game Late for Wisconsin Setting Up Overtime Win
Daniel Laatsch kicked off the 2024-25 NCAA season with a late tying goal for the Wisconsin Badgers in a 3-2 overtime win over Nebraska-Omaha on Saturday night. Laatsch boasts only four goals through three NCAA seasons with Wisconsin headed into a senior season as the 6’5”, 2021 seventh round pick looks to emerge as a legitimate NHL prospect with the Badgers.
Down On The Farm
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Finish AHL Preseason with Three Wins, Overtime Loss
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins cruised through the 2024-25 preseason with a 3-0-1 record, beating the Lehigh Valley Phantoms twice and splitting two games against the defending Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears.
Several players likely headed for Wheeling by the start of the regular season led the way for the first three games. In a 6-1 win over the Phantoms last Tuesday, defenseman Justin Lee scored twice, and Matthew Quercia, Jordan Martel, Logan Pietila, and Matt Koopman added goals. Pietila added two assists, and Isaac Belliveau managed two helpers. David Jankowski, Keeghan Howdeshell, Scooter Brickey, Martel, and Sam Houde all recorded assists, and Sergei Murashov turned away 12 of 13 shots.
On Thursday, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton fell behind 2-0 early in the first period before Martel scored to cut the lead in half headed into the second period. Quercia and Mats Lindgren sandwiched goals between another Hershey tally in the second and after a scoreless third period and overtime, only Pietila scored in a shootout to give Wilkes-Barre/Scranton the win. Pietila, Jared Westcott, Belliveau, Filip Forsmark, and Quercia added assists, and Murashov made 17 saves in regulation and overtime and stopped three shooters in the shootout.
The next night, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period off goals from Gabe Klassen and Atley Calvert, but Hershey scored three power play goals in the second period while Houde added a third goal for the Penguins. The third period went without a goal again before the Bears managed a goal in overtime. Jack Beck, Pietila, Jimmy Huntington, and Dan Renouf recorded assists, and Murashov made 24 saves.
In the preseason finale on Sunday afternoon with a roster boosted by players joining from the NHL camp, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton beat Lehigh Valley again 5-1. Tristan Broz, Joona Koppanen, Ville Koivunen, Raivis Ansons, and Emil Bemstrom scored. Avery Hayes recorded three assists, Brickey helped on two, and Jonathan Gruden, Broz, Bemstrom, and Mac Hollowell recorded assists. Flip Larsson made 27 saves in the win.