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IceCaps Weekly Report: Scherbak Shining at Centre

Posted on by Scott Matla

IceCaps Player of the Week: Nikita Scherbak

After dealing with a multitude of injuries, and adjusting to the pro level of hockey, it seems that Nikita Scherbak has found his dominant offensive game that made him a first-round pick in 2014. Since being moved to centre from the wing, the rookie forward has become one of the biggest threats in the IceCaps lineup, and with four points in two games, he’s making a strong case to be the last call-up to the NHL this year.

During a 3-1 win that was filled with over 100 penalty minutes and several game misconducts, Scherbak managed to grab an assist on Charles Hudon’s 19th goal of the season. He was also the victim of a hit from behind into the stanchion at the end of the bench, but would thankfully be good to go for the third period of the game. The following night in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Devils, Scherbak recorded a three-point night, scoring his sixth goal of the season and adding a pair of assists.

Weekly Stats

Player GP G A PTS +/- PIM SOG
Bud Holloway 2 1 2 3 +1 0 6
Michael McCarron 0 0 0 0 +0 0 0
Charles Hudon 2 1 0 1 -1 2 6
Mark Barberio 0 0 0 0 +0 0 0
Daniel Carr 0 0 0 0 +0 0 0
Gabriel Dumont 2 0 1 1 -1 2 9
Morgan Ellis 0 0 0 0 +0 0 0
Sven Andrighetto 0 0 0 0 +0 0 0
Lucas Lessio 0 0 0 0 +0 0 0
Darren Dietz 2 0 0 0 -1 19 3
Joel Hanley 2 1 0 1 +2 0 6
Mark MacMillan 2 0 1 1 +1 15 0
Jeremy Gregoire 2 0 0 0 +0 0 1
Brett Lernout 2 0 0 0 +1 7 3
Jacob de la Rose 0 0 0 0 +0 0 0
Nikita Scherbak 2 1 3 4 +0 2 3
Mac Bennett 1 0 0 0 +0 2 2
Michael Bournival 0 0 0 0 +0 0 0
Max Friberg 2 0 1 1 -1 0 1
Ryan Johnston 2 0 1 1 +0 0 2
Victor Bartley 0 0 0 0 +0 0 0
Tim Bozon 2 0 1 1 +1 2 1
John Scott 2 0 0 0 +0 27 1
Connor Crisp 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Player W L OTL SO GAA SV%
Eddie Pasquale 1 0 0 0 1.00 .963%
Zachary Fucale 0 0 1 0 4.67 .839%

Charles Hudon: It was a relatively quiet week for the IceCaps leading goalscorer, who tallied his 19th goal of the season in a 3-1 win over the Albany Devils.

Bud Holloway:The veteran forward collected three points against Albany. Holloway sits in a tie for sixth place in the AHL scoring race with 49 points, just one point away from cracking the top five.

Michael McCarron: Still playing with the injury riddled Canadiens, he recorded his first NHL fight against Kevin Bieksa in a 3-2 overtime loss to Anaheim.

Sven Andrighetto: Also still with the Canadiens, he failed to record a point in any of the three games he played.

Daniel Carr: Still the shelf for up to three months with a major knee injury sustained on January 26.

Morgan Ellis: After a tumultuous road to get there, Ellis made his NHL debut against the Ducks. While he didn’t look out of place, he didn’t register any points, and was sent back to St. John’s on Sunday.

Mark Barberio: The Montreal native continues to be a steady presence in the midst of a depleted defensive corps in the NHL, recording one assist in a 4-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets.

Mac Bennett: Bennett finally made his way back into the IceCaps lineup, albeit for one game where he failed to register any points.

Lucas Lessio: The speedy winger hasn’t been in the lineup since February 16th for the Canadiens, and is a healthy scratch.

Gabriel Dumont: Despite the IceCaps offensive outburst against Albany, the team captain only managed a single assist in two games played.

Jacob de la Rose: A tough season continues for the defensively oriented Swede, although he is playing brutally tough minutes every night for Michel Therrien.

Joel Hanley: Make that back-to-back weeks with Hanley cracking the score sheet for the IceCaps, this time with his fifth goal of the year.

Victor Bartley: Due to Morgan Ellis getting his shot, Bartley had to watch from the press box for a little while.

Brett Lernout: There wasn’t much to note for the rookie defenseman, outside of accumulating another fighting major against Albany.

Connor Crisp: Crisp is still out with an injury, having only seen action in 10 games so far in 2015-16.

Darren Dietz: While he failed to register any points, Dietz still made the score sheet with 17 penalty minutes while sticking up for a teammate who had been boarded by a Devils player in a 3-1 win.

Jeremy Grégoire: The rookie forward is back in his usual spot on the IceCaps fourth line, but went scoreless in two games of action.

Mark MacMillan: He recorded an assist on Alexandre Ranger’s second goal of the year before receiving a game misconduct for a secondary altercation with Ryan Kujawinski.

Tim Bozon: After struggling to find his game early on, Bozon has points in back to back weeks, this time grabbing a secondary assist in the 3-1 win over the Devils.

Michaël Bournival: The veteran forward is on the shelf with an undisclosed injury, but it is rumored to be yet another concussion.

Max Friberg: The small Swedish forward continues to be a quiet, yet effective member of the IceCaps lineup. He recorded the primary assist on Joel Hanley’s fifth goal of the year.

Ryan Johnston: The puck moving specialist continues to drive production on the power play for St. John’s. He notched his seventh assist of the year in the 5-4 overtime loss to Albany.

John Scott: The long time enforcer performed his role to the letter this week. After the Devils took liberties, Scott stepped onto the ice and fed Ben Thomson fists before slamming him to the ice. Scott received a game misconduct following the fight, but effectively ended the chippy play that had broken out during the game.

Zach Fucale: His only start was the overtime loss to the devils, which was a tough one for him as he gave up five goals against.

Year to Date Stats

Player GP G A PTS +/- PIM SOG
Bud Holloway 53 17 32 49 -7 12 143
Charles Hudon 54 19 22 41 -4 67 142
Gabriel Dumont 54 15 23 38 -11 62 136
Michael McCarron 54 15 19 34 -9 82 115
Morgan Ellis 56 12 19 31 +8 45 124
Max Friberg 50 8 20 28 -5 6 94
Sven Andrighetto 26 10 13 23 +6 22 74
Daniel Carr 24 10 11 21 +7 10 66
Lucas Lessio 42 10 11 21 -16 41 102
Mark Barberio 26 2 18 20 +0 25 51
Darren Dietz 56 4 12 16 -6 59 99
Nikita Scherbak 31 6 9 15 -18 14 58
Joel Hanley 55 5 8 13 -5 21 61
Jacob de la Rose 30 4 7 11 -8 16 44
Mark MacMillan 45 6 5 11 -7 35 40
Michael Bournival 20 1 7 8 -7 12 55
Brett Lernout 58 1 6 7 -9 57 48
Ryan Johnston 21 0 7 7 -12 12 23
Jeremy Gregoire 45 3 3 6 -4 42 50
Tim Bozon 24 2 3 5 -2 8 36
Victor Bartley 2 1 3 4 -11 16 39
Mac Bennett 30 1 2 3 -8 30 21
John Scott 14 1 0 1 -2 44 5
Connor Crisp 10 0 0 0 -6 25 8

Player W L OTL SO GAA SV%
Eddie Pasquale 8 6 3 0 2.65 .918%
Zach Fucale 14 14 4 0 3.04 .904%

Weekly Record

GP W L OTL PTS
2 1 0 1 3

In desperate need of points the IceCaps collected three out of a possible four points during their series against the Devils.

Record to Date

GP W L OTL PTS Conference Divsion
59 25 23 11 61 11th 5th

The IceCaps have some big games coming up this week, starting with a back-to-back against the Binghamton Senators tonight and tomorrow night. They’ll get a few short days off before a second back-to-back against the Hershey Bears on Saturday and Sunday.

It goes without saying that they need to come out of these games with a winning record if they want to stay in the hunt for the playoffs.

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