Welcome to Hockey’s Headwaters, your place to keep track of Pittsburgh born and trained hockey players skating out of town. Here is Hockey’s Headwaters for week ending Dec. 4.
HEADWATERS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Greensburg native Dalton Hunter won his third North American Hockey League East Division player of the week award of the season on Monday. The former Penguins Elite and Greater Latrobe standout scored six goals and four assists over a period of four games.
Hunter and the Tomahawks are sitting in third place in the East Division, seven points behind the Aston Rebels.
Here’s whats going on in the rest of the hockey world:
Columbus Blue Jackets forward and Pittsburgh Hornets star Brandon Saad has helped jump the team to the top half of the Metropolitan Division. Over his past eight games, the Pine-Richland alum registered three goals and five assists. His tally on Nov. 25 was the game winner in Tampa Bay. … New York Rangers center J.T. Miller scored on Nov. 20 against the Penguins.
When Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford underwent appendectomy surgery, it set of a chain reaction that resulted in Butler native Jake Hildebrand getting the call up to the next level with the American Hockey League’s Rockford Ice Hogs. He made his AHL debut in a relief effort on Dec. 3, stopping 19 of 21 shots over two periods against Grand Rapids.
Elsewhere, Matt Bartkowski (Providence Bruins) and Henrik Samuelsson (Tucson Roadrunners) each added a goal for their respective squads.
Greensburg native Dylan Margonari scored his first professional goal for the South Carolina Stingrays on Dec. 12. The first-year forward added an additional goal at the end of the series with Greenville.
Ty Loney (Adirondack) scored two goals and added an assist. … Scott Jacklin (Brampton) scored a power play goal and a short handed goal against Elmira on Dec. 4. … McKees Rocks native Matt Skoff made his season debut for the Florida Everblades, stopping 12 of 14 in just over 31 minutes of relief. … Shaler graduate and Robert Morris career points leader Zac Lynch had a solid Manchester Monarchs debut, earning five points in his first nine games played. … Cody Wydo has stayed hot for the Wheeling Nailers, registering three goals and an assist.
HC Balzano (EBEL) center Jesse Root scored a goal and added three assists. … Cody Cartier had a goal and an assist for Manchester Storm (EIHL). … Andrew Blazek also added a goal and an assist for Aalborg (Denmark). … 2016 Robert Morris Graduate Matt Cope signed with HK Nitra of the Extraliga.
Mercyhurst freshman goaltender Colin DeAugustine stopped 39 of 40 shots (including 32 over the last 40 minutes) in a 5-1 win over Canisius. The performance earned the Burgettstown native the Atlantic Hockey Goaltender of the week honors for the week. … Luke Stork, an Upper St. Clair graduate, had two assists for the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Recently acquired defenseman Logan Stork, younger brother of Luke, scored three goals in his first four games for the Johnstown Tomahawks. … Kenai River Brown Bears saw production from locally trained defenseman Matts Thielmann (Esmark Stars), who scored three points, a goal and two assists. … Brendan Walkom (Moon) had two goals and two assists for the Amarillo Bulls. Paul Maust had two goals and two assists over three games for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights.
