Ottawa Senators Prospect Update: May 25th

Well folks, with the Belleville Senators’ season now in the books officially, we’ve really, really entered the driest part of the minor/junior hockey season. Looking back at the prospects’ season, most fans can agree that the play of the young guns stood out as the most exciting part of the year in Ottawa, while we had some intriguing new players break out in the AHL, and we saw the usual strong performances from the NoDak Sens. Outside of the AHL action, we only have a couple other notable Senators to keep tabs on, so let’s check it out:

• As Spencer recapped last week, the Belleville Senators split their final series of the season in a two-game set against Toronto. Mads Søgaard kept his undefeated streak alive with his seventh win in as many games despite a mediocre performance to end his season while Kevin Mandolese wrapped up a forgettable season with a loss. We’ll see how Kevin rebounds next year under what we hope seem like more usual circumstances. As Spencer noted, Egor Sokolov and Angus Crookshank kept up their solid paces right until the end. Belleville “veteran” Jean-Christophe Beaudin went on a nice little run to end what had started off as an underwhelming season. Parker Kelly maintained the momentum he established in Ottawa and will likely vie for a spot with the parent club in the fall. All told, thanks in no small part to Søgaard, Sokolov, and Crookshank, Belleville ends their season with a respectable record of 18-16-1 after this abridged season.
• In the QMJHL, Max Guénette and les Foreurs de Val d’Or have advanced to the finals after sweeping Chicoutimi in the semis. For those of you keeping track at home, Val d’Or has now swept all three of their post-season series for a sterling 9-0 record. Tonight they wait and watch to see if they’ll play Victoriaville or Charlottetown in the finals. Even if Guénette’s counting stats don’t blow you away, it seems good that the team with him on the first defensive pairing is undefeated in the playoffs.
• So yeah Canada sucks and has an 0-3 record at the World’s despite the best efforts of one Jacob Bernard-Docker who has no points or shots on goal through three games—but who’s counting? Canada plays their next game tomorrow against Norway who unlike Canada have actually won a game. Must be nice. For those of you invested in what really matters, Artem Zub has one assist and a solid +4 rating en route to two wins in his first three games for the Russians. Zub and team Russia face off against Denmark tomorrow, and would you look at that, Denmark has also won a game—sucks to suck, Canada./

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