Prospect Weekly: Business Time

Conor Timmins has quietly gone about his business this season. While he hasn’t scored a goal yet he has added nine assists in eleven games due to his slick puck moving ability. Below is a clip of what looked like a goal at first from a nice shot at the point but was tipped in. That was part of a three assist night for Timmins, which is a season high for him. Sault Ste. Marie is a strong team with a group of high end forwards and the addition of import draft eligible defenseman Rasmus Sandin should only help.

The San Antonio Rampage finally had an Avalanche prospects flavored lineup over the weekend and they exploded for six goals on Saturday in a 6-2 victory over the Texas Stars in a sweep of the three games in three days weekend. While the team has had an encouraging 5-1 start, it’s been frustrating seeing so many prospects on the shelf and bench.

AJ Greer was solid in his return to the lineup, which earned him a call up to the Avs shortly thereafter. He has two slick primary assists in the two games he dressed in and was generally responsible on both and of the ice and brought his physicality. One of the beneficiaries of those plays that Greer made was none other than defenseman Mason Geertsen, who scored his first professional goal as seen below. Geertsen has been seeing regular playing time this season and has played well defensively and jumping up into the offense a bit.

Dominic Toninato also got in on the action in Saturday’s contest and scored not only his first professional goal but added a second for good measure. Sadly he was not on the ice in the empty net situation to go for the hat trick but Joe Colborne got that instead. Toninato has taken a lot of grief for not being able to finish but this shorthanded breakaway is about as good as it gets as seen below. He also had a great full weekend and got better in each game. The power he’s showing in his game is really exciting to see as he’s beginning to take over at the AHL level.

To credit his contributions, Andrei Mironov was in on the gorgeous goal by Toninato by delivering the stretch fantastic pass to him up the ice. Mironov had a good showing over the weekend as well with two points and nearly added his first goal on North American ice, a floater from the boards which seems to be a bit of a specialty for him, but alas was determined it was tipped in. It never seemed like Mironov would be in San Antonio for long and he made the most of his time there as he looked more comfortable in each game and moved the puck well. Mironov should be in line for another look at the NHL level now.

Not to be forgotten, JC Beaudin also added his first professional goal to the list. Beaudin is getting more comfortable in each game and had his best to date on Saturday with a goal and an assist, +2 and four shots, which was good for first star in the game. He is seeing a lot of ice time in all situations and is finding chemistry with linemate Michael Joly. Beaudin added another pair of assists in the 5-1 Wednesday night victory for the Eagles over Worcester.

As long as Ty Lewis keeps his scoring streak going then he’ll get a weekly mention. It looked like he might be out of luck in the contest against the Regina Pats early on in the week as Brandon was headed for a 2-0 shutout but Lewis broke through with a tally with 40 seconds remaining. He then went on to add four assists in two weekend games to bring his total to 30 points in 13 games. Below is a nifty pass Lewis made to defenseman Kale Clague in their 6-5 victory over the Vancouver Giants.

A look at how the CHL is shaping up, Brandon and Sault Ste. Marie holding ground plus an interesting team up to the third spot.

For Your Viewing Pleasure:

Notre Dame takes on Omaha on Thursday, October 26th and Friday, October 27th at 7:30 pm ET. Both games should be available on the NBC Sports ap.