Edmonton Oilers prospect Dylan Holloway and Montreal Canadiens prospect Cole Caufield earned Stars of the Week honors in the Big Ten. Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard recorded his first goal of the 2020-21 NHL season and Nashville Predators prospect Philip Tomasino scored the first two goals of his professional career in the Chicago Wolves’ 5-2 victory over Rockford yesterday.
2 Badgers in Big Ten Stars of the Week
Wisconsin University has been one of the hottest teams in the NCAA of late and most of that has to do with the play of Oilers prospect Dylan Holloway and Canadiens prospect Cole Caufield. The pair earned Big Ten Stars of the Week honors, with Holloway named first star and Caufield third star. Wisconsin swept their two games against the University of Minnesota by a combined score of 12-2.
Holloway recorded two goals and five assists against Minnesota and a career-best five-point night with a goal and four assists in Saturday’s 8-1 win. He has seven goals and 16 assists in 12 games this season. He’s ranked seventh in NCAA scoring but leads the Big Ten in points per game average with a 1.92. Holloway is riding an eight-game point streak, as well as a seven-game multi-point game streak. During his freshman season in 2019-20, he amassed eight goals and nine assists in 35 games played, so the Calgary native has had a significant improvement in production.
Caufield earned the third star of the week after registering three goals and a pair of assists. He’s continued his dominant start to his sophomore campaign and leads the NCAA in scoring with 17 goals and 16 assists in 20 games played. He also extended his point streak to 12 games in which he’s tallied 13 goals and 25 points. Along with Holloway, this dynamic duo will continue to terrorize the NCAA, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see them ranked first and second in scoring at the end of the season.
Bouchard Grabs First Goal of the Season
Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard grabbed his first goal of the season in Edmonton’s 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night. It was the 21-year-old’s fourth game of the season and he now has one goal and one assist. It’s his first taste of NHL action since the 2018-19 season when he played seven games and registered one goal. Bouchard spent the entire 2019-20 season in the American Hockey League with the Bakersfield Condors amassing seven goals and 36 points in 54 games played.
He spent the beginning of the season on loan in Sweden’s HockeyAllsvenskan with Södertälje SK, where he amassed six goals and 11 assists in 23 games played. Ethan Bear and Oskar Klefbom are now injured, so a lot will be expected of Bouchard to step up and make a difference in their absence. He’s averaging just over 15 minutes of ice time, but that could increase if he continues to improve over the next few games.
Tomasino Scores First Professional Goal
Predators prospect Philip Tomasino recorded his first professional goal in the only AHL action on Tuesday. He finished the game with two goals and an assist en route to Chicago’s 5-2 victory over the Rockford IceHogs. Tomasino is one of several Canadian Hockey League players benefitting from their eligibility to play in the AHL due to the pandemic. Through his first three games of pro hockey, Tomasino has two goals and five points.
He represented Canada at the 2021 World Junior Championship, winning a silver medal and recording four goals and two assists in seven games played. During the 2019-20 season, he recorded an impressive 100 points in 62 games played in the Ontario Hockey League, splitting time between the Niagara IceDogs and Oshawa Generals. Originally drafted 24th overall in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft it’s starting to look like his time in junior is over. The Predators are desperate for scoring this year, so we might see Tomasino make his NHL debut sooner than we think.
