Month: November 2020

Of prospect-related note in Europe today:

In the Finnish Liiga, Eemil Viro finished at +1 with 4 shots in 17:33 played as TPS Turku beat KooKoo 4-1. Victor Brattstrom stopped 24 of 28 shots for KooKoo;

In the Swedish Allsvenskan, Malte Setkov finished at +1 with 4 shots in a massive 29:04 played as AIK Stockholm won 4-1 over Vasteras IK. Gustav Berglund didn’t dress for Vasteras;

Filip Larsson returned to Almtuna IS’s lineup on Wednesday, but he didn’t have a great outing, stopping 27 of 31 shots as Almtuna IS lost 4-2 to Kristianstads IK. Gustav Lindstrom also played 15:59, finishing at -1 [edit: and registering an assist].

William Wallinder finished at +1 with 2 shots, playing 10:34 as MODO Hockey won 7-2 over Vasby IK;

In the ICE Hockey League, Filip Larsson Jesper Eliasson was out of the back-up rotation as the Red Bulls Salzburg lost 1-0 in a shootout to VSV;

Update: Via Red Wings Prospects on Twitter, in the Belarusian hockey league, Kirill Tyutyayev scored a goal on two shots, finishing at +1 as Yunost Minsk won 5-4 over Metallurg-Slobin:

#Belarus
– Tyutyayev 1+0, +1, 2 SOG, 2 PIM in a 5-4 win
#LGRWhttps://t.co/5ciE4WlXes

— Red Wings Prospects (@DRWProspects) November 25, 2020

Red Wings director of player development Shawn Horcoff appears on the latest episode of “The Red & White Authority” podcast with Art Regner, speaking about the impact of the coronavirus on player development:

Detroit’s Dir. of Player Development, Shawn Horcoff, discusses the impact COVID-19 has had on player development & gives an update on #RedWings prospects playing in Europe.

Listen/Subscribe: https://t.co/nYPEULvseS
Apple Podcasts: https://t.co/Nul2WkCzSi pic.twitter.com/D4beQeSzB3— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) November 25, 2020

Red Wings prospect Jack Adams spoke with the Union Daily Gazette’s Mike MacAdam regarding his decision to transfer from Union College to Providence College after Union chose to not play hockey during the 2020-2021 season:

“Once I get there, it’s going to be all business,” Adams said on Wednesday morning. “I’m definitely an emotional player. I think everyone knows that by now. I’m just going to go out there and try to help the team win. I know everyone’s going to be asking those kinds of questions, about how emotional it’ll be, but when the pads come on, I’m going to be really focused on the game plan and what I’m asked to do.”

Adams, 23, was supposed to be the Dutchmen’s top goal scorer this season. But Union canceled the 2020-21 season last week because of COVID-19 concerns, and he chose to transfer after having missed all of last season while recovering from a knee injury.

Adams had the option to defer two trimesters and return to play for Union next season, but that would’ve put him out of hockey for two years at a time when he’s still developing his game and has pro hockey aspirations, as a sixth-round draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings in 2017.

He said that once he put his name in the NCAA transfer portal, two dozen schools contacted him. Most of the Division I is playing college hockey this season, except for ECAC Hockey, which saw Union, RPI and its six Ivy League schools cancel.

“It was absurd,” Adams said, of the wide range of schools that contacted him. “It was hard on my family and my advisor and myself, but in my heart, I always wanted to be a Friar. I’m going to a really good hockey team, a team with a chance that’s going to contend for a pretty good opportunity. I’ve got a lot to pick up, and I’ve got to earn my spot and gain the trust of my teammates and coaches.”

Continued

I’m not gonna bullshit you: I’m still fundraising to help pay my November bills, and as a blog without commercial advertisements or sponsorships (“yet” on the latter), I’m always going to have to make pledge drives part of the daily grind so that I’m able to grind out content…

But the holidays are a rough time of year for so many people during our difficult pandemic timeline, and if you’re able to make a donation today, please consider someplace like Gleaners’ Food Bank, the Salvation Army of Michigan, or even my local food bank, Active Faith of South Lyon, which has helped Aunt Annie and me get through a year in which we lost both my mother and the income she brought into the household.

If you don’t want to donate to those organizations, do some online homework and find an organization that jibes best with your priorities and theirs…But I’m asking you today to consider giving to our over-stressed-by-COVID charities and food banks…

Continue reading On fundraising of a different kind

Via DetroitRedWings.com’s Daniella Bruce on Twitter, the Red Wings have a new YouTube page set up for videos taken from The Word on Woodward, and this morning, they’ve posted Art Regner’s interview with long-time NHL executive and broadcaster Brian Burke:

Former Red Wings GM Ken Holland (who now runs the Edmonton Oilers) and Edmonton Oilers executive Kevin Lowe were supposed to be part of the 2020 class of Hockey Hall of Fame inductees. Instead of holding a remote induction, the NHL chose to delay full, public inductions to 2021, and.

In the interim, Holland told the Edmonton Sun’s Terry Jones that the he’s been able to catch-up on his thank-yous, and the HHOF managed to make sure that the inductees of the now-delayed class of 2021 feel special:

Continue reading Ken Holland willing to wait for a full Hockey Hall of Fame induction

Per Aftonbladet’s Mattias Karlsson, the SHL has postponed Orebro Hockey’s next four games due to conronavirus concerns. Orebro was supposed to play on the 26th and 28th of this month, then December 1st and 3rd, and the SHL’s website reports that all four games have been postponed “to a later date.”

This means that Red Wings prospect Matias Brome, who hasn’t been listed among the team’s ill players, won’t be playing again until December 5th.

Red Wings prospect Jack Adams entered the NCAA’s transfer portal when the Union College Dutchmen chose to suspend operations for the 2020-2021 campaign, and it appears that Adams will be suiting up for the Providence College Friars, his brother “Roo’s” school:

Let’s do this again @FriarsHockey ! Can’t wait to meet my new teammates and get to work. #RA4 #FriarTown pic.twitter.com/IAlLSekLf2— Jack Adams (@J_Danglefest2) November 25, 2020

Jack Adams tells me he is continuing his education and #CawlidgeHawkey play at @ProvidenceCol lege, transferring from Union College. The @DetroitRedWings draft pick plans to wear his late brother’s #4. Mark was on 2015 National Championship Friar team.. pic.twitter.com/WrAYIZy0nB— Bucci Mane (@Buccigross) November 24, 2020

Of prospect-related note on a relatively light Tuesday’s worth of game action:

In the Czech Extraliga, the match-up between Filip Hronek’s Mountfield HK and Filip Zadina’s HC Ocelari Trinec didn’t live up to expectations, at least from a Red Wings standpoint.

Trinec shut out Mountfield 3-0, with Zadina finishing with 4 shots and an “even” plus-minus rating in 14:56 played; Hronek played a now-usual 24:16, taking 2 shots and finishing at -1;

Elsewhere in the Czech Extraliga, everything that could go wrong did go wrong for HC Energie Karlovy Vary. Wings prospect Jan Bednar got the start and stopped 16 of a staggering 21 first-period shots, giving up 5 goals en route to an 11-4 loss to BK Mlada Boleslav.

In the SHL, Albin Grewe took 1 shot and finished even in 9:44 played as Djurgardens IF won 4-1 over Brynas.

And later tonight, in NCAA Division I Hockey, Sam Stange and the University of Wisconsin will battle Penn State at 6 PM EDT on the Big Ten Network.

Update: Stange scored a goal on 2 shots, finishing even in the University of Wisconsin Badgers’ 7-3 win over Penn State.

Given that Hockey Canada’s already holding its World Junior Selection Camp, which has been beset by a couple of positive coronavirus cases, this news about the Swedish World Junior selection process ahead of this year’s World Junior Championship in Edmonton is a bit surprising:

Russia is having world junior selection camp Nov. 29 in Moscow. Swedes picking their team from players already playing in SHL and Allsvenskan. No camp.— Jim Matheson (@jimmathesonnhl) November 24, 2020

The World Junior Championship will begin in Edmonton on December 25th, and Lucas Raymond, William Wallinder, Theodor Niederbach and Elmer Soderblom are among the possible Wings prospects who may play for Sweden at the WJC.