Prospects Of The Week
Hayes Comes Up With Big Game To Help Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Beat Hershey
Two weeks after signing with the Pittsburgh Penguins after two years on a minor league contract, Avery Hayes continued a strong season with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, scoring two goals, including the overtime winner, sandwiched between a fighting major, in 4-3 triumph over the Hartford Wolf Pack on Wednesday. The undrafted forward went without a point in a 5-3 win over the Charlotte Checkers on Saturday and a 5-2 loss to the Checkers on Sunday, but recorded nine points in 14 games in March and tied for the team lead with 21 goals in 52 games.
Tristan Broz Records Two Assists In Back-To-Back Games Last Week
Tristan Broz recorded two assists in back-to-back games for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins last week, getting secondary assists on the first and third goals of a 4-3 overtime win over the Hartford Wolf Pack on Wednesday and two primary assists in a 5-3 win over the Charlotte Checkers on Saturday. Broz missed a 5-2 loss to Charlotte on Sunday, serving a one-game suspension issued by the AHL after a scrum near the end of the Saturday game. The 2021 second round pick ranks sixth on the team with 17 goals and ninth with 32 points in 51 games.
Harrison Brunicke Joins Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Records First Professional Point
Joining the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins after the end of the WHL season, Harrison Brunicke recorded a point for the first time at the professional level with a primary assist to give the Penguins a 3-2 lead in a 5-3 win over the Charlotte Checkers on Saturday. The 2024 second round pick went without a point in a 5-2 loss to Charlotte the next night. Prior to joining Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Brunicke led blueliners on the Kamloops Blazers with 30 points despite only playing 41 games.
Down On The Farm
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Gets Two Of Three Wins Last Week
Avery Hayes scored twice, including the overtime winner, in a 4-3 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack on Wednesday to help the Wikes-Barre/Scranton Penguins clinch a playoff spot with 10 games remaining in the regular season. Valtteri Puustinen and Ville Koivunen scored the other Wilkes-Barre/Scranton goals. Tristan Broz recorded a pair of assists, and Nate Clurman, Samuel Poulin, Sebastian Aho, and Vasily Ponomarev added helpers. Sergei Murashov stopped 35 shots, including six in overtime.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton won the first of a weekend series against the Charlotte Checkers 5-3. Poulin, Puustinen, Ponomarev, Matt Nieto, and Joona Koppanen scored. Broz recored a pair of assists, Harrison Brunicke recorded a point for the first time professionally in a debut at the AHL level with a primary assist on the power play, and Atley Calvert added a helper. Filip Larsson stopped 25 shots in the win.
With a lineup depleted by call ups, injury, and suspensions, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins battled but fell 5-2 to the Checkers on Sunday afternoon. Calvert and Puustinen scores, and Aho, Ponomarev, Owen Pickering, and Mac Hollowell recorded assists. Sergei Murashov allowed three goals on 35 shots while Charlotte scored twice with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton net empty.
Wheeling Nailers Clinch Playoff Berth With Three Wins Last Week
Taylor Gauthier turned away 18 shots in 2-0 shutout win over the Cincinnati Cyclones on Friday night. Philip Waugh and Jack Beck scored, and David Jankowski, Logan Pietila, Cole Tymkin, and Eli Lieffers recorded assists.
Logan Pietila scored and recorded a helper, and Isaac Belliveau, Gabe Klassen, and Matthew Quercia added goals in a 4-1 win over the Cyclones the next night. Mathieu De St. Phalle recorded two assists, and Mats Lindgren and Beck added helpers. Gauthier stopped 24 shots in the win.
The Wheeling Nailers clinched a playoff berth on Sunday afternoon with a 3-2 win over the Bloomington Bison. Jordan Martel, Lindgren, and De St. Phalle scored. Beck recorded two helpers, and Belliveau, Chase Pietila, Logan Pietila, and Quercia finished with assists. Thomas Gale, recently added to the team after four NCAA seasons with the College of the Holy Cross, made 32 saves in the win.