HOW SWEDE IT IS CANUCKS:
Vancouver prospect Elias Pettersson snaps 42-year-old Swedish scoring record
It’s the latest edition of the weekly tracker, where we tally up the efforts of the Canucks’ highest-profile prospects: Elias Pettersson
Take a bow, Elias. You’ve outdone them all.
Pettersson broke a 42-year-old Swedish Hockey League U20 scoring record with a four-point effort on Thursday, passing the likes of Peter Forsberg (48 points in 1992-93) and Kent Nilsson (53 points in 1975-76) in the process.
He’s getting heaps of praise for the feat from Vaxjo Lakers head coach Sam Hallam.
“We have not taught Elias anything about the game of hockey, he is teaching us,” said Hallam.
To top it off, Pettersson would score a goal in Vaxjo’s regular season finale, winning him the SHL scoring title with 56 points (24 goals, 32 assists) in 44 games.
Pettersson’s Lakers begin their playoff quest on Sunday, March 18, against a yet-to-be-determined opponent in a best-of-seven series.
Adam Gaudette
The Northeastern Huskies brushed aside the University of Massachusetts 2-0 in a best-of-three playoff series this past weekend and Gaudette was instrumental in both wins, scoring a goal and adding an assist.
The goal was his 30th of the season, making him the seventh NCAA player to reach that feat since the 2012-2013 season.
Northeastern will now face Providence in the Hockey East semifinals on Friday, March 16.
Jonathan Dahlen
Dahlen finished second in Allsvenskan scoring this season and the Canucks prospect continues to light it up in the playoffs for Timra.
Dahlen notched four points (one goal, three assists) in a 4-3 overtime win over Leksand to open the bestof-five series on Friday, then scored a goal in Sunday’s 2-1 win. And what a goal it was, with Dalhen stripping a defenceman and wrapping around the net to tuck the puck in.
Olli Juolevi
Juolevi’s season with TPS wasn’t being judged by his overall points total.
But now that it’s over, his numbers were good for the second-highest
points total by a U20 defender in the SM-Liiga.
The focus on Juolevi’s season had been on his ice time, in particular. After dipping in the middle of the season, Juolevi’s TOI increased dramatically near the end of the year, and this past week was no exception.
Juolevi logged over 21 minutes and was a +2 on Tuesday against Sport. And on Thursday, Juolevi was on the ice for almost 23 minutes and had an assist in a regular-season ending 3-2 loss to HIFK.
The playoffs begin on Tuesday, March 20, for TPS.
Kole Lind
Lind has been the best player on his Kelowna Rockets team this season
and it’s because of his consistency.
Lind continues to put up points each and every game, notching four points in three games this past week for the leaders of the B.C. Division.
Lind now sits in 11th place in the WHL’s scoring race, amassing 91 points in 56 games (38 goals, 53 assists).
Jonah Gadjovich
Not a hugely productive week for the power forward, but there were some highlights.
Gadjovich assisted on a goal in Owen Sound’s 5-0 win over the Saginaw Spirit on Saturday. It was a pretty feed from behind the opposition’s net to a wide-open teammate
in front.
On Sunday, Gadjovich would add a goal to help the Attack defeat the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, the best team in the OHL.
Gadjovich now has 42 points (24 goals, 18 assists) in 39 games this season.
Thatcher Demko
Demko played in only one game this past week for the Utica Comets, a 3-2 win over the Springfield Thunderbirds in which Demko finished with 25 saves to improve his record to 20-10-6.
As Ben Kuzma writes in an article on Sunday, Demko may be called up by the Canucks in the final few games of this season as it’s becoming
more and more apparent the Canucks’ next goalie-of-the-future should compete for the crease come next season.
Mike DiPietro
The Windsor Spitfires netminder continued his solid play this past week, winning two out of three games and being named the second star in a 3-2 win over the OHL-leading Greyhounds.
DiPietro could be the key reason why the Spitfires will soon be in the OHL playoffs, with the third-best goals-against average (2.76) in the league and top spot in shutouts with seven.