With players returning from the World Juniors shutdown and collegiate and junior hockey resuming play, there’s plenty of Anaheim Ducks prospects news this week.
Bowen Commits to D1 Hockey Next Season
Ethan Bowen is one of the Ducks’ lesser-known prospects, but he has the chance to become more well-known next season after committing to play collegiate hockey at the University of Vermont.
Drafted in the seventh round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, Bowen is currently playing for––and an alternate captain on––the Chilliwack Chiefs in the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL). He will be playing in the Hockey East Division next season with Vermont. He recently extended his point streak to five games last Saturday and is currently third on the team in both goals and total points.
McTavish Heading to the Olympics?
To say the last five months have been surreal for Mason McTavish would be an understatement. He was drafted third overall in July and made his NHL debut—and scored his first NHL goal—in October.
He then looked primed to be one of the best players at this year’s World Juniors tournament for Team Canada before it was shut down due to COVID protocols. Now, McTavish may have the opportunity to don the maple leaf yet again, this time in Beijing.
With the NHL announcing that their players would not be attending the 2022 Olympic Games, the opportunity for players like McTavish to join their respective national teams has arisen. Because he is currently playing in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) and not on an NHL roster, he would be eligible to play for Team Canada in the Olympics.
Having played in the NHL, CHL, American Hockey League (AHL) and at World Juniors in the span of less than a year, it seems that McTavish would be on the road to a monumental season if he ended up being on the roster that will make its way to China.
The Ducks had another player come close to accomplishing a similar feat: Troy Terry.
The Ducks’ current leading scorer this season began 2017 at World Juniors with Team USA before returning to Denver University. One year later, Terry would be a part of the American team that competed in PyeongChang at the 2018 Winter Olympics. He concluded his collegiate hockey career that spring and joined up with the Ducks. The latter part of 2018 was spent in the AHL.
While it’s not nearly as great as McTavish’s feat would be, it’s still an impressive list of accomplishments in such a short period of time.
Gulls Pipeline Working Overtime
On Dec. 18, the San Diego Gulls lost 4-1 to the Bakersfield Condors. The Gulls haven’t played since. A slew of postponements due to COVID protocols have left the Gulls on the sidelines, on the outside looking in. Their most recent postponement came on Wednesday when their game against the Henderson Silver Knights was given the no-go.
With the Ducks dealing with absent players due to COVID protocols of their own, a large number of Gulls players have seen time either on the Ducks’ taxi squad or even in the lineup.
Bryce Kindopp was the latest Gull to get his feet wet, making his NHL debut on Tuesday against the Philadelphia Flyers. Bo Groulx, who made his NHL debut earlier this season, was also in the lineup, as was Danny O’Regan, who made his Ducks debut.
With a set of back-to-backs slated for today and tomorrow, the Gulls may finally be able to step on the ice once again. However, as we saw yesterday with the Ducks, the game could be postponed mere hours before puck drop.
Quick Hits
- Olen Zellweger had an assist in his return to the Everett Silvertips lineup last Saturday.
- Goaltender Gage Alexander stopped 27 of 28 shots in the Winnipeg ICE’s 6-1 win over the Medicine Hat Tigers.
- Kyle Kukkonen was placed in COVID protocol prior to the Madison Capitols’ game on Sunday.
- Trevor Janicke scored twice in a 4-0 Notre Dame win over Niagara University on Sunday.
- In their return to the Harvard University lineup, Henry Thrun finished with an assist while Ian Moore was a plus-1.
- Tyson Hinds was traded from Rimouski Océanic to the Sherbrooke Phoenix on Monday.
- Artyom Galimov had three points in as many games this week. He’s also collected points in five of his last eight games.
- Joshua Lopina returned to the University of Massachusetts-Amherst lineup on Monday after being out due to injury. He finished scoreless with six shots.
- Blake McLaughlin, Jack Perbix and Jackson LaCombe combined for three points in two exhibition games for the University of Minnesota this week.
Related: Ducks News & Rumors: Zegras, COVID & More
Like the NHL, many games have been postponed this week due to COVID protocols and numerous Ducks prospects have been affected. The hope will be that players can continue to work on their game and that these postponements won’t affect their development too much.
