Sign in Subscribe
Front Page

Ottawa Senators Prospect Update - November 6, 2018

Surprise, surprise, we might as well start calling this the Josh Norris section.

Drake Batherson and Rudolfs Balcers might have been October’s standouts, but the last couple of weeks have been dominated by Josh Norris. The standout sophomore is featured again, along with a recent first-round pick and a college free agent signing who’s finally healthy enough to make an impact in Belleville.

Stats Sheet

(Click to enlarge)

Biggest Standouts

Josh Norris

Up to 12 points in 7 games, Norris ranks sixth in the nation and continues to lead Michigan on a nightly basis. Also encouraging: his 3.71 shots per game, which is only beat by four players in the top-100 scorers — including Jake Slaker, his linemate.

It helps having Quinn Hughes transition the puck on the back-end, but Norris has been showcasing a decent shot to beat goalies clean when he has the chance, such as in the goal below:

Jacob Bernard-Docker

It’s taken some time for him to settle into UND, but JBD had a big weekend, scoring twice, to help the Fighting Hawks pick up a couple of key points.

Known to be the more-defensive other half of Jonny Tychonick, I was impressed watching Bernard-Docker’s poise on both goals, including the presence of mind to drag his wrist shot before placing it accurately in the top corner.

His second goal was near identical, but came in overtime:

Andrew Sturtz

He might not have been Belleville’s most high-profile injury, but Sturtz made his return known with a dynamite first game against Syracuse. The ex-Penn State player has a strong centre of gravity coupled with great acceleration, making him hard to contain once he gets going.

Silver Linings

  • Highlighted by Colin in our prospect update last week, Jakov Novak was named Atlantic Hockey’s Rookie of the Week.
  • In his first week as Belleville’s bonafide number one goaltender, Filip Gustavsson stole the game against Laval (check out these saves), before getting pulled in back-to-back starts against Syracuse. Mike Condon has cleared waivers and is assigned to Belleville to rehabilitate his game, so it’ll be interesting to see what Troy Mann does with this goalie kerfuffle.
  • Some more first goals! Congrats, Jonny Gruden!
  • Much of the discussion has been focused on Alex Formenton, who scored his first NHL goal but was sent back to London. He scored his first OHL goal of the season, an empty netter, and will be joined by Evan Bouchard in the annual Canada-Russia series.
  • Sens prospect Parker Kelly will be representing Team WHL, and is hoping to garner attention for Team Canada’s camp in December. He scored two shorthanded goals this past week.
  • Injury update? In addition to the aforementioned return of Sturtz, Filip Chlapik is back, too. Logan Brown should return around Dec. 1 (his knee is currently in a brace), and Luke Loheit is back playing for Penticton after his bout of mononucleosis. /

Read next


Not everyone can afford to pay for sports coverage right now, and that is why we will keep as much of the site's content free for as long as we can.


But if you are able to, please consider subscribing to help keep our articles free (and get a few extra perks).

Erik Condra
  • Ability to comment and participate in our community
  • Twice monthly newsletter available only to subscribers
  • Ad-free reading
  • Our undying love and appreciation
CA$6.5/month CA$65/year
Brady Tkachuk
  • Everything from the Erik Condra tier
  • 10% discount on all merch
  • Access to any future paywalled content
  • A personal thank-you from the Silver Seven staff
CA$13/month CA$130/year
Daniel Alfredsson
  • Everything from the Brady Tkachuk tier
  • Inner peace knowing you are supporting quality, independent coverage of your favourite sports team
CA$26/month CA$260/year