News

Goaltender Brian Eklund has been reassigned to Johnstown of the ECHL. The decision comes after the Lightning made the decision to promote Jonathan Boutin to Springfield of the AHL. Rumors of a trade involving Eklund have apparently fallen through, necessitating the goaltender's demotion.

Defenseman Andreas Holmqvist and the Linkopings offense have been forced to step up in the absence of netminder Fredrik Norrena. They did so again today in a 4-1 victory over Sodertalje. Holmqvist assisted on a 2nd period Tony Martensson power play goal to open the game's scoring en route to the victory. Holmqvist now has 17 points in 40 games this season.

Goaltender Karri Ramo left after the first period of his club's game today against SaiPa. Ramo had helped to stake HPK to a 1-0 lead through 20 minutes making 10 saves before giving way to backup Miika Wiikman. HPK went on to lose the match 5-2. Bolt Prospects is attempting ro ascertain Ramo's condition and will post updates when they become available.

Planet USA got pummelled by the Canadian AHLers tonight 9-4. Falcons center Ryan Vesce, who played for Planet USA, assisted on Patrick O'Sullivan's game opening goal. It was all downhill from there, however. Vesce finished -2 with three shots on goal.

Morgan Cey slams the door in a critical division game.

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Morgan Cey stopped 28 of 28 shots faced for his first professional shutout. Entering the night Johnstown and Trenton were tied with 42 points for 4th in the division just one point back of 3rd place Toledo. Granted, I don't have the advanced degree in physics necessary to fully understand this year's ECHL playoff format, but as I understand it the 4th and 5th place teams in the division have to play a short play-in round, so it behooves the Chiefs to make a run and grab the #3 spot in the North. The Chiefs will face Trenton three more times in the month of February and division patsy Dayton five times, so the Chiefs are in good position to move up quickly in the standings if they can master Trenton and continue to win games against Dayton.

JB Bittner and Doug Andress each had a goal and an assist while Brett Peterson had a pair of helpers. For the Lightning prospects, John Toffey scored his 4th goal of the season.

Game sheet from ECHL.com.