Photo: Caroline O’Connor/Hershey Bears/Great Save Productions

Welcome to the week 19 Washington Capitals prospect report. The following includes a summary of game action and news for Capitals prospects that occurred between January 20th and January 26th, 2020. (Reminder: you can always access all of our prospect news and analysis in the top menu under the “Prospects” tab. You can also follow the latest Capitals prospect news on Twitter under the #CapsProspect hashtag.

PREVIOUS WEEKLY REPORTS

• • Week 18 Report (1/13 – 1/19)
  • Week 17 Report (1/6 – 1/12)
  • Week 16 Report (12/30 – 1/5)
  • Week 15 Report (12/23 – 12/29)
  • Week 14 Report (12/6 – 12/22)
  • Week 13 Report (12/9 – 12/15)
  • Week 12 Report (12/2 – 12/8)
  • Week 11 Report (11/25 – 12/1)
  • Week 10 Report (11/18 – 11/24)
  • Week 9 Report (11/11 – 11/17)
  • Week 8 Report (11/4 – 11/10)
  • Week 7 Report (10/28 – 11/3)
  • Week 6 Report (10/21 – 10/27)
  • Week 5 Report (10/14 – 10/20)
  • Week 4 Report (10/7 – 10/13)
  • Week 3 Report (9/30 – 10/6)
  • Week 2 Report (9/23 – 9/29)
  • Week 1 Report (9/16 – 9/22)

MONTHLY PROSPECT REPORTS

• • December
  • November
  • October

AHL/HERSHEY BEARS

The Bears opened a four-game road trip with a 5-2 loss to the Thunderbirds in Springfield Wednesday night. The Bears rebounded Friday night with a 5-2 win over the Thunderbirds. On Saturday the Bears beat the Providence Bruins 3-2 in the shootout. The win improved the Bears record to 27-14-2-3 (59 points) on the season. The Bears remain tied with the Hartford Wolf Pack for first place in the Atlantic Division, but Hartford has two games in hand.

Vitek Vanecek – stopped 22 of 26 for a game save percentage of .846 Wednesday night against the Thunderbirds. For the season Vanecek is 13-8-1-1 with a 2.45 GAA and a .907 save percentage.

Pheonix Copley – continued with his strong play as of late as he stopped 25 of 27 shots he faced for a .926 game save percentage Friday night against the Thunderbirds. Both goals allowed were not Copley’s fault. Copley also got the start on Saturday night, stopping 29 of 31 for a game save percentage of .935%. For the season Copley is 13-6-4-1 with a 2.47 GAA and a .906 save percentage.

Brian Pinho – continued his scorching-hot play of late with a short-handed goal Friday night against the Thunderbirds.

Brian Pinho does it again! Second shorty of the season. Bears lead 3-2. #Pins pic.twitter.com/e9IxgSozzM

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) January 25, 2020

For the season, Pinho has 13 goals and 13 assists in 46 games played. He’s recorded 97 shots for a 13.4% shooting percentage. He’s second overall on the Bears in goals (Sgarbossa 15), and 4th overall on the Bears in points.  He’s done an excellent job on the top line in Sgarbossa’s absense.

Garrett Pilon – continued his hot streak as well with a power play goal against the Thunderbirds Friday night in Springfield.

Power play goal from #CapsProspect Garrettt Pilon (12) ties the game 2-2. #Peels pic.twitter.com/PqYajnyEq6

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) January 25, 2020

Pilon has 12 goals and 13 assists for the season. He’s recorded 108 shots for a shooting percentage of 11.1%. He’s third on the Bears in goals and 5th in points.

Alex Alexeyev – scored the second goal of his AHL career Wednesday night in Springfield. The goal came at 6-on-5.

#CapsProspect Alex Alexeyev makes it 4-1 on a 6-on-5 shot from the top of the slot. It’s Alexyev’s 2nd goal of the season. First goal since opening night. pic.twitter.com/iYfon3tRH4

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) January 23, 2020

Following the game Alexeyev would dedicate the goal to his mother, who died two years ago. For the season, Alexeyev has two goals and 14 assists in 43 games played. He is 4th on the Bears in rookie points and second among rookies in assists.

Shane Gersich – continued to warm up scoring his 6th goal of the season Friday night against the Thunderbirds.

#CapsProspect Shane Gersich with his 6th goal of the season, ties the game 1-1. pic.twitter.com/lxuigJe9Zq

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) January 25, 2020

For the season, Gersich has six goals and five assists. He’s recorded 58 shots for a shooting percentage of 10.1%.

OHL/WHL

Connor McMichael – prior to McMichael’s first game of the week against the Windsor Spitfires on Thursday, the Spitfires broadcast ran a brief piece on McMichael’s season to this point. McMichael had an assist in the game.

Michael recorded a goal and an assist Friday night versus the Hamilton Bulldogs. His goal would come on his patented quick wrister, directly off of a faceoff.

#CapsProspect @con91mcmichael had a goal and an assist on 7 shots Friday night versus Hamilton. He has 34g, 40a in 34 games played. pic.twitter.com/4OUivkDThY

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) January 25, 2020

On Sunday, McMichael had two assists in the Knights 4-2 win over the Guelph Storm. For the season McMichael has 34 goals, 42 assists in 35 games.

Aliaksei Protas – had mother relatively quiet week. He recorded two assists in three games played. For the season, Protas has 22 goals and 35 assists in 41 games played so far this season. Since returning from the World Junior Championships, he has four goals and 11 assists in 14 games played.

Martin Hugo Has – was injured in Sunday’s game against the London Knights. He left the game late in the third period, holding his left elbow/arm.

#CapsProspect Martin Has injured in middle of 3rd period. Left ice holding left arm/shoulder. pic.twitter.com/4StJ5TI2nR

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) January 26, 2020

Has has three assists in seven games played since joining the Guelph Storm in early January. He is a -7.

Alex Kannok-Leipert – returned to the top pairing with Bowen Byram Thursday night against the Everett Silvertips.

Line Combos:

J. Shepard – Nielsen – Preziuso
C. Shepard – Roman – Florchuk
Kvasnica – Katzalay – Sourdif
Lies – Ostapchuk – Kohle

Byram – Kannok Leipert
Bafaro – Horning
Brown – Gendron

Tendeck
Miner

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) January 24, 2020

He would score the games first goal

THE CAPTAIN! pic.twitter.com/gRoiJxOTMN

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) January 24, 2020

EUROPE

Damien Riat – had a goal and two assists in three games played this week. He now has six goals and 11 assists in 27 games played so far this season. On January 21, In the first period, Riat was given a match penalty for a cross check on a Leventin player.

NCAA

Michell Gibson – stopped 39 of 42 for .928 game save percentage, including this beauty Friday night against Colgate.

This is #SCtop10 worthy by Gibby – wow! #GoCrimson pic.twitter.com/T6OKvsrcVN

— Harvard Men’s Hockey (@HarvardMHockey) January 25, 2020

For the season, Gibson is 6-4-3 with a 2.31 GAA and a .929 save percentage.