Colorado Avalanche prospect report: Cale Makar hits 50 career NCAA points

I’m really trying to make these more interesting every week, but it’s really hard when Cale Makar is the only one who did anything worth mentioning. At least Shane Bowers was able to provide a little excitement, and he’s still an Avalanche prospect...for now.

Ah well, on with the show!

Ontario Hockey League

#17 - Brandon Saigeon (C)
Oshawa Generals (28-18-2)

Three games in three nights saw Oshawa drop all three to fall to fourth in the Eastern Conference. Saigeon went goalless (he only recorded a single assist) and went -4. He sits one goal shy of 30, and his 41 assists give him 70 points on the year, good enough for 8th in OHL scoring.

Western Hockey League

#21 - Nick Henry (RW)
Lethbridge Hurricanes (25-15-8)

The Hurricanes went 1-2 this week, also on a three-games-in-three-nights swing. Henry also only managed an assist, bringing his point total to 66 on the seasons (7th overall in WHL scoring). Lethbridge has fallen out of the top three in the division down to the first wildcard.

NCAA

#16 - Cale Makar (D)
UMass Minutemen (19-5-0)

Thank god for Makar, honestly, or these reports would be extremely repetitive. Makar scored once this week (into an empty net, which is why there’s no video) as UMass split a two-game series against Maine. They remain first in the Hockey East conference. Makar has 29 points in 24 games this season (1.20 points per game), and hit 50 career NCAA points with his goal this past weekend:

Plus, his head coach doesn’t think Makar will have too much trouble once he leaves the NCAA:

#15 - Shane Bowers (C)
Boston University Terriers (10-10-3)

BU played three games this week. They handed Merrimack a decisive 7-2 loss before splitting a two-game series with Arizona State. Bowers had a goal and an assist against Merrimack, and recorded an assist in their win over Arizona State (the Terriers were shut out in the loss).

Now, I couldn’t find footage of Bowers’ goal (which was his fourth in three games), but he had a pretty good secondary assist on a goal against Merrimack. He’s the player who drives around the net before passing to the point here:

Bowers’ goal-scoring streak ended against the Sun Devils. Boston has a big conference matchup against Makar’s Minutemen on Friday, with the annual Beanpot tournament looming large.

#26 - Cam Morrison (LW)
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (14-8-3)

So, uh, remember when Morrison didn’t play last week? Well, it turns out he was injured:

That’s my bad. However, he still didn’t play this past weekend, so he appears to still be week-to-week. Also, that’s a pretty rough few injuries for Notre Dame. Also, the Big Ten has had some unfortunate injury news lately.

#4 - Nick Leivermann (D)
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (14-8-3)

As for UND players who did dress this past weekend, the Fighting Irish went 1-0-1 against Michigan State. Leivermann had one shot on goal.

#2 - Nate Clurman (D)
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (14-8-3)

Hey, Clurman also had one shot on goal! Notre Dame, ranked 2nd in the Big Ten, will play a two-game series against the top-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes this weekend.

This part of the recap is always very sparse. Sorry.

#58 - Sampo Ranta (RW)
Minnesota Golden Gophers (10-11-4)

Minnesota went split two games against Wisconsin. Ranta didn’t play in the first game, and was minus-2 in what was a 4-3 loss for the 3rd ranked Golden Gophers. He still has 11 points in 23 games this season.

#25 - Denis Smirnov (RW)
Penn State Nittany Lions (14-10-2)

6th ranked Penn State also split two games this weekend, this time against the Michigan Wolverines. Smirnov recorded one assist and seven shots on goal in two games.

#40 - Tyler Weiss (LW)
Nebraska Omaha Mavericks (7-15-2)

After Weiss scored his first NCAA goal last week, the Mavericks followed that up with winless weekend. Weiss recorded an assist, and Omaha still sits dead last in the NCHC.

Europe

#51 - Nikolai Kovalenko (RW)
KHL - Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (36-15-3)

Lokomotiv had a very good week — three wins in as many games. Kovalenko scored, too! Unfortunately, the market for KHL goal videos is very small — and practically non-existent for depth players, so I couldn’t find one of the goal.

But here’s proof he did score — if you can read Russian. Sorry, I really tried.

#2 - Danila Zhuravlyov (D)
VHL - Bars Kazan (21-18-6)

Bars played once, and Zhuravlyov registered an assist in a 5-1 win. Unfortunately, his team still sits 19th overall in the VHL — two teams out of a playoff spot.

#19 - Gustav Olhaver (RW)
Allsvenskan (SWE) - Tingsryds AIF (15-19-6)

Tingsryds played two games, going 1-1. They sit 12th out of 14 teams in Allsvenskan. Olhaver went pointless. Kind of wish these ended on a high note more often.