In the Pipeline: 12/18/2017

With Quinnipiac fully fledged into winter break, there are still future commits playing in junior hockey, prep hockey or midget hockey. Most of these leagues will be taking a Christmas break so "In the Pipeline" will not be running next week with basically no games being played for the next week plus so Happy Holidays to all in BobcatNation.

Ethan de Jong, right with his gold medal (photo by Prince George Citizen)

BCHL Commits
Ethan de Jong had a strong 2017 World Junior A Challenge helping to lead Canada West to a gold medal. In 5 games played, de Jong had 4 points (1 goal, 3 assists). In the preliminary exhibition game he potted a goal and an assist. He will now head back to the Prince George Spruce Kings after the holiday break. Congrats to Ethan on this tremendous accomplishment.

Michael Lombardi had a strong week with 4 points in 2 games highlighted by his goal and two assist performance on Sunday against Powell River. On the season, Lombardi, a Rhode Island native has 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists) in 34 games.

USHL commits

Wyatt Bongiovanni had a 3 point night for the Muskegon Lumberjacks on Saturday night in a 4-2 win over the Chicago Steel. Bongiovanni now has 18 points (10 goals, 8 assists) in 22 games after only having 2 points in his first 9 games of the season.

William Fällström picked up a goal over the weekend for the Fargo Force in a weekend split with the Waterloo Blackhawks. On the season Fällström has 16 points (5 goals, 11 assists) in 23 games played.

Zach Metsa picked up one assist in two games played over the weekend for the Youngstown Phantoms in a split of two games against the Cedar Rapids Roughriders. On the season Metsa has 11 points (1 goal, 10 assists) from the blue line in 22 games played.

Justin Robbins gave up 3 goals on 14 shots for the Chicago Steel in a 4-2 loss to the Muskegon Lumberjacks. On the season Robbins is 1-3 with a 4.76 goals against average and a .859 save percentage.

NCDC Commits

Guus van Nes picked up another 3 point week with a goal and 2 assists in 3 games played for the Junior Bruins. He continues to lead the NCDC in scoring with 40 points (13 goals, 27 assists) in 30 games played. He is one point ahead of former Quinnipiac commit John DeRoche who has 39 points.

Daniel Winslow had a strong week for the New Jersey Hitmen with 5 points (2 goals, 3 assists) in 3 games played. The Connecticut native has 24 points (9 goals, 15 assists) in 25 games played this season.

Victor Czerneckianair (photo by Tim Brule)

Prep Schools

This past weekend I scouted Peter Diliberatore for Future Considerations and while he did not get on the score sheet he was one of the most impressive players I saw play in a 3-2 win for Salisbury over Deerfield at the Flood-Marr Tournament at Nobles & Greenough School on Saturday. He is quick puck moving defenseman who is sound in his own end and has the speed to join the rush and contribute on offense along with having the recovery speed to get back. He had at least a half dozen shots from the blue line and had a fantastic chance at the net which he did not convert and shouted his emotions about it on the bench. I'd expect the 2000 born defenseman if his play continues like this to be an NHL draft pick in June of 2018.

Matt Fawcett had 4 points in 2 games (2 goals, 2 assists) but there are two games from the St. Sebastian's Holiday tournament where the box scores have not been posted yet. In the games we do have statistics on, Fawcett has 11 points (5 goals, 6 assists).

AJHL Commits

Matt Cassidy had a 3 point game (1 goal, 2 assists) in a 7-2 Brook Bandits win over the Fort McMurray Oil Barons Saturday night. In 27 games played this season, Cassidy has 24 points (10 goals, 14 assists).

US Developmental Program Commits

Dom Fensore had one assist in three wins for the U-17 US National team in the 4 nations tournament in Russia. The US scored 21 goals in 3 wins over Slovakia, Switzerland and Russia.

Midget Commits

Ethan Phillips picked up a goal and an assist in a 4-1 win for the Selects Academy at South Kent U-16 team in a 4-1 win over the Jersey Shore Whalers in USPHL U-16 play.

Victor Czerneckianair had a strong weekend for the South Kent U-15 team with 6 points (2 goals, 4 assists). On the season he has 47 points (21 goals, 26 assists) which puts him third on the team overall in scoring.

Jacob Quillan had a 2 point weekend (1 goal, 1 assist) for the Steele Subaru Major Midgets. On the season, Quillan leads the team in scoring with 31 points (11 goals, 20 assists) in 27 games played. He is expected to come to the United States next to play prep hockey in the New England region.

Austin Spiridakis had a goal and an assist in a 3-2 win on Sunday for the St. Albert Tire Warehouse Raiders AAA team. In 23 games played, Spiridakis has 12 points (6 goals, 6 assists).

You can follow the BobcatsHockeyBlog on Twitter @QHockeyBlog.