Gaudette delivers at Boston Beanpot
Northeastern University centre continues to show he’s deserving of Hobey Baker Award
It’s the latest edition of the weekly tracker, where we tally up the efforts of the Canucks’ highest-profile prospects:
Adam Gaudette
What a week for Gaudette, who extended his lead atop the NCAA scoring charts with two standout performances.
The Northeastern University centre dominated last Monday’s 3-0 win over Boston College, scoring a goal and setting up two more. The win sends Northeastern to the final of the Boston-area’s annual Beanpot tournament, where they’ll face Boston University.
On Friday, Gaudette continued to produce, getting a goal and an assist in a 4-2 loss to UConn.
Gaudette now has 44 points in 29 games this season, four more than Colorado College’s Nick Halloran. He also leads the voting for the Hobey Baker Award.
Elias Pettersson
A quiet week for Elias Pettersson, by the standards he’s been setting.
Pettersson’s league-leading Vaxjo Lakers played two games this week, but the Canucks’ top prospect didn’t find the scoresheet in either.
Pettersson now needs 10 points in his team’s remaining seven games to break the Swedish Hockey League’s all-time U20 scoring record. He’s being increasingly used at the centre position, which is where the Canucks expected him to play and develop when they drafted him last year.
His lone victory this week? Being touted as the top prospect not playing in the NHL right now, according to TSN’s Craig Button.
Olli Juolevi
No news could be good news for defensive prospect Juolevi, who had been recently scratched for fatigue reasons.
This week, Juolevi’s TPS side in Finland’s Sm-Liiga played Aces (yes, that’s a team name) twice, splitting the games.
And while Juolevi didn’t factor into the scoring, he was on the ice for 18 minutes and 15 minutes, respectively — finishing at evens in the +/- department — and had six shots on net in the second game.
Kole Lind
The WHL’s ninth-leading scorer continues to light the lamp, getting a goal and an assist as the Kelowna Rockets thumped the Vancouver Giants 4-1 on Wednesday.
Lind didn’t factor into the scoring in a 6-1 loss in Victoria on Friday, but scored on a one-timer from a sharp angle in a 4-3 overtime loss to the same Royals on Saturday.
Lind now has 29 goals and 46 assists in 45 games this season.
Jonathan Dahlen
Dahlen notched an assist in one of Timra’s two wins this week.
He now sits in fifth place in Allsvenskan Hockey scoring, while his Timra side continues to sit atop the standings.
Thatcher Demko
The Utica Comets are streaking and Demko has been a big factor in a franchise-record points streak for the team.
The Comets have won six games in a row and have points in 12 straight.
Demko played in one of two wins for the Comets this week, a 4-3 win over the Belleville Senators in which he made 24 saves, improving his record to 18-7-5 this AHL season.
Jonah Gadjovich
It was a week to forget for the Canucks’ second-round selection in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.
Gadjovich had no points for the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack in their first two games this week, a 6-5 win over Peterborough and a 4-3 win over Kingston.
On Sunday, Gadjovich didn’t play against the Ottawa 67’s because of a reported flu bug that hit the team. Gadjovich may also be nursing a knock after crashing heavily into the boards last week.
Mike DiPietro
Something had to give for DiPietro’s Windsor (Ont.) Spitfires, who started the week losing their seventh-straight game.
But DiPietro led the way in a 3-2 overtime win over Saginaw on Saturday, stopping 19 of 21 shots to put an end to the losing streak.
And on Sunday, DiPietro added another shutout to his season, stopping all 24 shots in a 2-0 win over Niagara. DiPietro now has five shutouts this season, best in the OHL — and that’s with a sputtering Spitfires team.