This Week in Avalanche Prospects

And we are back...my apologies for the brief hiatus. Sometimes real life gets into the way. Now on to the prospects news! The Monsters make do without their starting goaltender. Calvin Pickard and Duncan Siemens received some bad news. A recent draft pick is having a solid season in the Ontario Hockey League. Bitter rivals faced off in Boston. Kent Patterson keeps on rolling.

Skating into tonight's game against the Charlotte Checkers, the Lake Erie Monsters have a 10-11-1-1 record after 23 games. The club currently sits in third place of the North Division and has won six of their last 10 games. The last handful of contests have featured Trevor Cann as the starting netminder. Cedrick Desjardins is currently sidelined with a lower body injury.

The Monsters power play has seen a slight uptick. Despite still being ranked in the bottom third of the league (23rd), they now sit at 14.3 percent. On the penalty kill side of things, the club is ranked 15th at an 82.1 percent clip.

David Van der Gulik continues to lead the club offensively and is the only Monster to be averaging more than a point per game (19 points in 18 contests). While the team overall is playing better than they were at the beginning of the season; some occasional inconsistencies pop up and Hurricane Quinny, that's head coach David Quinn, has had to put his foot down. After concluding their brief two game set with the Charlotte Checkers, the Monsters will pay a visit to the Abbotsford Heat this weekend.

Last Monday, Hockey Canada announced their list of 41 players invited to attend Canada's National Junior Team Selection Camp on Dec. 10-14. Missing from the list of invitees were Avs 2011 first round pick Duncan Siemens and Colorado 2010 second round pick Calvin Pickard. Both players were surprising omissions. Tyson Barrie participated for the Canadian team that finished with a disappointing silver medal when they were stunned by the Russians this past January. This year, an Avalanche prospect will not be suiting up for Team Canada for the upcoming World Junior Championships.

In fact, the Avs will likely have only one representative in the tourney and that is goaltender Sami Aittokallio of Finland. This year's tournament will be hosted by Calgary and Edmonton and will begin December 26.

Garrett Meurs likely wont win any scoring titles this year, but he has been a solid contributor to the Plymouth Whalers this season. He is fifth in team scoring with 13 goals and 14 assists in 29 games. Most recently, he had two goals and an assist in an overtime win over Sault Ste. Marie. Plymouth currently leads the West Division of the OHL with a 19-8-2-1 record.

In college hockey, Boston College and Boston University renewed their bitter rivalry this past weekend. On Friday night, Kieran Millan shined with a 42 save performance and earned a 5-3 win over the Eagles. On Saturday, Millan wasn't as fortunate. He was chased from the game after the second period when he allowed five goals on 22 shots. BC would go on to win the game 6-1. Paul Carey recorded his fourth goal of the season in the rout.

In Minnesota, Kent Patterson leads the nation in wins (13) and shut outs (6). His six shut outs are a school record. Patterson and his Gopher team mates are coming off a sweep this past weekend over Minnesota State.

That's your weekly prospects recap ladies and gentlemen. Next week a look back at the Monsters two game set with the Abbotsford Heat. Michigan Tech will pay visit to Minnesota. Michigan and Michigan State will renew their rivalry. Also, check-ins on prospects in the OHL and WHL. Happy Holidays!