The Anaheim Ducks’ prospect pool continues to show why they’re one of the best in the league. More recently, it’s been the college prospects grabbing the headlines thanks to big performances in the college playoffs.
Janicke Helps Lead Notre Dame to B1G Semifinals
Lately, Trevor Janicke seems to have a knack for being in the right place at the right time for the University of Notre Dame. He scored the go-ahead goal two weeks ago, which set up a 2-1 victory over the University of Michigan on Senior Night.
The junior replicated his late-game heroics once again this past weekend, scoring the go-ahead goal with 20 seconds remaining to beat the University of Wisconsin 3-2 and force a decisive third game in the best-of-3 quarterfinals.
Janicke also made his impact felt in the third game — he had a goal and an assist — and Notre Dame came out on top 4-2. They face Michigan tonight in a single-elimination semifinal game tonight at 6:30 PM EST.
Harvard Boys Keep Humming
Janicke wasn’t the only Ducks prospect whose team had some late-game heroics. Harvard University scored three unanswered goals against Rensselaer Polytechnic University (RPI) in the final four minutes of the third period to tie the game at three apiece before securing the win in overtime.
Defenseman Henry Thrun, who was recently named to the ECAC second team, had two assists in the comeback win. Thrun has been one of Harvard’s top performers this season and has been a dependable figure on the blue line. Fellow Ducks prospect and defenseman Ian Moore was named to the ECAC All-Rookie Team after a solid regular season as a freshman.
This was the first game of a best-of-3 round and the win gives Harvard the upper hand going into tonight’s game at 4:00 PM EST. If Harvard is unable to close out RPI tonight, the third game will take place on Sunday, March 13 at 4:00 PM EST.
Pastujov on Dime-Dropping Spree
Typically, Sasha Pastujov is most well-known for his goalscoring exploits. However, he was dishing the puck for teammates to put into the net this week as the 2021 third-round draft pick tallied four assists this week for the Guelph Storm.
Pastujov has been one of the Ducks’ premier performers from their 2021 Draft class and looks to be every bit of a steal as he initially did when the Ducks selected him 66th overall.
The concerns have never been about whether Pastujov is capable of scoring or not. His skating ability was the major eyesore that kept teams from picking him as high as the first round, but those issues seem to be moot for the time being.
Quick Hits
- Josh Lopina had an assist for the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in a 4-3 loss to Boston College on March 5.
- Tyson Hinds had an assist for the Sherbrooke Phoenix in a 3-1 win over the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada on March 5.
- Kyle Kukkonen had a goal and an assist for the Madison Capitols this week.
- Gage Alexander stopped 36 of 39 shots for the Winnipeg ICE in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Prince Albert Raiders on March 5.
- For the San Diego Gulls in the American Hockey League (AHL), Alex Limoges scored a goal and assisted on two others while Greg Printz, Lucas Elvenes and Axel Andersson all added one assist apiece.
- Benoît-Olivier Groulx scored two goals while Jacob Perreault had two assists and Lukáš Dostál stopped 94 of 102 shots in three games (all starts), going 1-2-0. His lone win was a 22-save shutout.
- Olen Zellweger scored a goal and assisted on two others this week for the Everett Silvertips
- Ethan Bowen scored two goals and assisted on one other for the Chilliwack Chiefs this week.
- Artyom Galimov scored a goal for Ak Bars Kazan in a 4-3 overtime win over Avangard Omsk on Thursday.
- Mason McTavish scored a goal and assisted on another for the Hamilton Bulldogs in his return from injury.
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With the college hockey season in full playoff mode, we may see some of the Ducks’ collegiate prospects join the pro ranks in a couple of weeks. Don’t rule out any undrafted free agent signings either as the Ducks haven’t been afraid to dip into that pool either in the past.