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Catching the Torch: Jake Evans building upon breakout season

Posted on by Dan Kramer

Each week we will take an in-depth look at one young member of the organization, while providing an overview on performances over the last seven days of players below the NHL level. This includes players at the junior (CHL, USHL, etc.) and collegiate (NCAA) levels, as well as professional (AHL, ECHL) ranks.

Prospect Spotlight: Jake Evans, RW, University of Notre Dame (NCAA)

When thinking of the Montreal Canadiens’ top prospects, Jake Evans is not a name that comes to mind, except among the team’s most devout followers. A seventh-round selection in 2014, the Toronto native has played NCAA hockey for the last two seasons at the University of Notre Dame, away from the spotlight that those in Canada shine on the CHL.

After an unremarkable rookie season where the 6’0” forward managed only 17 points in 41 games, Evans broke out last season, nearly doubling his production (to 33 points, finishing second among Notre Dame skaters) in only 37 contests, and being named the team’s most improved player at the end-of-season banquet.

This year, after a quiet first few games, Evans has picked his productivity right back up. He scored a goal and an assist in a 3-3 tie with Penn State Friday night, with his first goal of the season coming short-handed. Evans was named the game’s third star.

He added another assist on Saturday, helping force overtime by going to work behind the net on the power play and spotting Joe Wegworth (Florida Panthers fourth-rounder in 2014) on the doorstep for the equalizer. Despite the heroics, the highly ranked Fighting Irish ended up being upset 3-2 in overtime by the Nittany Lions.

This weekend’s production puts Evans at a point-per-game pace through six games, though only good enough for sixth on the University’s potent roster. Evans, who won’t turn 21 until June, is still young with plenty of time to develop, as the Canadiens can retain his rights even if he returns for a senior year of college in 2017-18. That is exactly what he plans to do, or at least it was his plan as of this summer’s Canadiens development camp.

“It’s always been my goal to graduate. I won’t make any guarantees, but I really want to graduate. Once hockey’s over, you need something to fall back on. Hockey is my priority and I want to make a career of it, but I always need a Plan B,” Evans told RDS in July.

Since moving to the centre position full-time a year ago, Evans has become a prototypical play-making pivot. He is relied upon in all game situations, but his coach is hoping his vision, stickhandling ability, and hard wrist shot can translate to bigger numbers in the goals column, needed with the departure of seniors Steven Fogarty and Thomas DiPauli.

“Jake Evans has got to score more this year for us,” Irish coach Jeff Jackson told the Notre Dame Observer. To see him do so, Jackson points to consistency as what is lacking from Evans’ game.

“You see [his] instincts for the game. The biggest thing for him is just learning how to do it, use it, consistently in his game, because he was a different player from Friday to Saturday,” he explained in an interview with Irish Illustrated. “He needs to learn how to be able to bring it every night.”

Performances from October 17-23, 2016

CHL

Noah Juulsen put up the first two-goal game of his WHL career on Saturday, continuing his strong start offensively. Juulsen opened the scoring in the first period against Victoria, taking a feed back from Dominic Zwerger and taking his time to load up a hard shot from the right point. He then added a short-handed empty-netter in the game’s final minute of a 3-1 victory, one in which his Silvertips were outshot 38-13 by the Royals. In addition to his two markers, the game was a special one for Juulsen: his 200th in an Everett uniform.

In his other games this week, Juulsen was held off the scoreboard in a 2-1 loss to Spokane (finishing a -1) and assisted on a power-play tally in a 4-3 overtime defeat at the hands of the Kelowna Rockets.

Juulsen’s 10 points in nine games have him well ahead of last season’s pace, and also earned him a spot on Team WHL’s entry in this year’s Canada-Russia Super Series coming up on November 7 and 8.

Victor Mete also had a big night this week, taking home first-star honours with a goal and two assists in a 5-4 London win over Kitchener on Thursday. The Knights had trailed the game 3-0 early but stormed back, only to find themselves behind by a goal with fewer than eight minutes to play.

It was then that Mete collected a secondary assist on a great individual effort by Robert Thomas that drew the game even, setting the stage for dramatics in the final minute. Thomas, from behind the net, tried to find Cliff Pu in front, but the puck hopped over his stick, with Mete able to save it at the blue line. The offensive rearguard stepped up and fired a wrister that got through, and ultimately won the game for London with 40 seconds remaining on the clock.

Mete continued the week with two helpers in a 5-1 thumping of Saginaw, and then scored his fifth of the season on Sunday — a powerplay marker that staked London a 4-0 lead — putting him just three off of his goal total for all of last season in 57 fewer games played.

Sticking with blue-line prospects, Simon Bourque kept his season above the point-per-game mark with assists in a pair of 5-4 victories over Blainville-Boisbriand and Victoriaville. Bourque’s 13 points in 12 games on the high-scoring Rimouski Oceanic are six more than the next best defenceman on his squad.

Matt Bradley was another Hab prospect to be named first star in a game this week, scoring a goal and adding three helpers in a 10-3 blowout win over Kootenay on Wednesday. After assisting on Medicine Hat’s third and fifth tallies, his goal early in the third gave the Tigers an 8-0 lead. He finished his night with another assist with just over five minutes remaining.

Bradley had another goal two days later, this one into an empty net to ice the game 4-1 over Kootenay, but was a -2 in an 8-5 loss to Regina on Saturday.

Jeremiah Addison and the Windsor Spitfires hit their first rough patch this season as their high-powered offence sputtered. The club started with a 2-0 win despite no goal contribution from the three forwards of their dominant scoring line (newly acquired New York Rangers draft pick Sean Day scored in his debut for the team), but dropped their Saturday night matchup with Flint by a 4-1 score.

Addison collected an assist in the loss, setting up linemate Gabriel Vilardi on the power play to open the game’s scoring in the first, but it was the only time the team would beat goaltender Garrett Forrest on 24 shots.

Will Bitten’s Hamilton Bulldogs didn’t have a great week either, managing only four goals over three games and finishing with an 0-2-1 record. Bitten’s one point came in the first period against North Bay on Saturday, setting up a goal by Marian Studenic to tie the game at 1, just 36 seconds after the Battalion had opened the score. The ‘Dogs would go on to drop that one in overtime, but the one point collected helped them maintain a cushion over Oshawa and Peterborough atop the OHL’s East Division.

Michael Pezzetta scored his fourth of the season in a 6-2 win on Wednesday, a goal which gave Sudbury a 4-1 lead at the time, putting him just six back of his last season’s total. It was his teammate, Dmitry Sokolov, who stole the show with a hat trick in that game, and the Minnesota Wild seventh-rounder now has nine markers in as many contests. Pezzetta failed to add to his point total in either weekend game for the Wolves, both losses.

NCAA

Nikolas Koberstein’s Alaska Fairbanks were slaughtered 7-1 at the hands of Minnesota State on Friday, with Koberstein finishing -2. He was not in the lineup for the rematch on Saturday.

Casey Staum picked up an assist in two games played, his point coming Saturday in the third period against Youngstown. With his side up 2-1 early in the third, Staum banked the puck hard off the glass and right out in front to teammate Austin Rueschhoff who beat the Phantoms netminder, providing insurance to the two-game Dubuque sweep.

Colin Sullivan continues to rotate in and out of the Miami of Ohio lineup, sitting during a 3-3 tie with Maine on Friday, but playing (and picking up two minor penalties) in a 5-0 win the next night. His infractions for holding and hooking aside, Sullivan finished a +1, on the ice for the game’s opening goal.

AHL/ECHL

Charles Hudon paces the IceCaps offensively, scoring four goals in a productive 2-0-1 weekend, despite a lack of consistent linemates. Contributions from he, veteran Chris Terry, and fellow NHL/AHL ‘tweener Sven Andrighetto, combined with much improved goaltending, helped overcome what looked like a poorly coached and defensively soft mess on opening weekend.

Hudon’s first goal ended up being the game-winner Friday in St. John’s’ first win of the season, an even-strength tally that put his side up 2-0 in the second period. Two more of Hudon’s goals, both on the power play, came in the team’s only loss: a 5-4 overtime decision, despite the IceCaps having held 3-1 and 4-2 leads in the third period.

Sven Andrighetto got right back up to his old AHL tricks after clearing waivers, producing six points over the three games. He is a huge addition for St. John’s, and it is surprising that no NHL team was willing to offer the 23-year-old a look, but it is a plus for the Canadiens to retain him within the organization.

With Daniel Carr now seemingly relegated to pressbox duties in Montreal, it is possible that an injury in the top nine would mean Andrighetto getting another shot to prove himself.

Mike McCarron missed the weekend’s first two games due to his suspension for delivering a headbutt versus the Providence Bruins, but he notched two assists on Sunday while playing mostly on the top line with Andrighetto and Terry (though one came on a Jeremy Grégoire power-play goal in the game’s final minute).

For more on the IceCaps play this weekend, check out the EOTP AHL Hub.

Goaltenders

Charlie Lindgren made his AHL debut, sensationally leading the St. John’s IceCaps to their first win of the season with 50 saves on 51 shots Friday night and claiming first-star honours. He didn’t need to be as sharp on Sunday, turning aside 23 of 25 shots in a 5-2 victory over the Hartford Wolf Pack. The Canadiens look solid in goal with Carey Price and Al Montoya this season, but Lindgren looks poised to wrest away the backup role for next year.

Michael McNiven wasn’t up to his usual standards, allowing three goals in each contest of a back-to-back with Erie. On Friday, his 22 saves on 25 shots were enough for Owen Sound to score a comeback 4-3 overtime victory, but on Saturday, giving up three on 23 shots saw Owen Sound come up short, with the Otters adding two empty netters for a 5-2 win.

With the return of Lindgren and the signing of Yann Danis, Zachary Fucale was relegated to third-stringer duty with the IceCaps. It wouldn’t be surprising for him to join the Brampton Beast of the ECHL in the near future to get into some game action.

Hayden Hawkey’s numbers this week were eerily similar to McNiven’s, allowing three goals in each of his two starts. On Friday, Providence settled for a 3-3 tie with Clarkson despite double them up in shots, 46-23, as Hawkey was outduelled by undrafted 20-year-old Jake Kielly. The Friars picked up a 6-3 win the next night, however, despite Hawkey making only 17 stops on 20 shots.

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