This Week in Avalanche Prospects

Greetings MHH readers! In this week's edition, a review of the latest happenings with the Lake Erie Monsters. While the Avs will not have any representation for Canada or the US in the upcoming World Junior Championships, there is a certain goalie you should keep your eye on. Also, Plymouth soars, while Saskatoon sinks and the Boston University hockey team is dealt a double dose of bad news. All this and more in this pre-Christmas edition of TWIAP!

The Monsters have seen more defections than additions in the last few weeks with the likes of Stefan Elliott, Brad Malone, David Van der Gulik and Evan Brophey being recalled to the big club. Thus is life for a minor league affiliate. The Monsters are coming off a stretch in which they lost two tough games in Abbotsford, fended off Hamilton and split with rival Grand Rapids.

Despite missing some time recently due to injury, Cedrick Desjardins has been spectacular for the Monsters. He has been credited for seven of the Monsters 13 wins, while posting a goals against average of 1.49 and save percentage of 0.952. The team currently sits in third place of the North Division with 28 points, six behind division leading Toronto.

While Joey Hishon and Mark Olver continue to miss time with concussion like symptoms, forward Patrick Rissmiller has recently returned from injury and has contributed a goal in his first two games with the club. With fellow draftee Stefan Elliott up with the Avalanche, Tyson Barrie has turned up his production in recent games. The defenseman now has 17 points in 29 contests. The Monsters will face Rochester on Wednesday before their holiday break.

The shock and disappointment of Duncan Siemens and Calvin Pickard not being named to the Team Canada selection camp for the World Junior Championships has worn off a bit. Yet, there is a certain prospect Avs fans should keep an eye on and that is 2010 draft pick Sami Aittokallio. Aittokallio is expected to start in net for Finland. They'll get a tough challenge right out of the gate; facing Canada on Boxing Day.

Entering the holiday break, the Plymouth Whalers find themselves winners of seven of their last 10 games. They currently lead the West Division by four points over Sarnia. Garrett Meurs has 15 goals on the season, including five tallies in six games during the month of December. With 31 points in 33 games, he is well on his way to surpassing his 41 points from the previous season.

Things are not going as well for Duncan Siemens and the Saskatoon Blades. The club finds themselves mired in a slump, in which the team has lost eight of their last 10 games. Saskatoon has dropped to third place in the East Division. Siemens is finding it difficult in helping to replace the offensive production lost by the departure of Stefan Elliott. He has only two assists in seven games thus far during the month of December.

Perhaps no team had a more devastating week than the Boston University Terriers. BU most recently played on December 10th against Maine, in which they came away with a 5-1 victory. And that's where the good news ended, just a few days later, it was reported that Corey Trivino was booted from the team after being arrested (for allegedly assaulting a female student). At the time of his departure, Trivino was the leading scorer for the Terriers with 17 points in 15 games. The senior's draft rights belong to the New York Islanders.

The bad news didn't end with Trivino. Just a few days later, it was revealed that forward Charlie Coyle left the school to sign with the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). Coyle, whose rights belong to the Minnesota Wild, will join a club that has the second best record in the QMJHL. All this means is that there is increased pressure on goaltender Kieran Millan to help overcome the losses of two of the club's top five scorers.

That's all for this week. Most prospects are off this week due to holiday breaks. However, there will still be some prospects news fit to print. A recap of the Monsters lone game in Rochester. How will Sami Aittokallio fare against the Canadians in the opening game of the World Junior Championships? Find out next week! Happy Holidays!