Penn State is only 13 games into its season, but Penguins defense prospect Clayton Phillips hit a new career high in goals already.
Phillips scored a power play goal for Penn State in a 5-1 win over St. Thomas on Tuesday, his fourth goal of the year:
Phillips had his first collegiate multi-goal game on Oct. 30 when he scored two goals against North Dakota:
Phillips, 22, is in his fifth NCAA season, taking advantage of the extra year of eligibility granted to winter sport athletes as a result of the COVID pandemic.
Phillips started his college career midway through the 2017-18 season, when the University of Minnesota brought him in earlier than anticipated hoping to provide a spark to their offense, and he went pointless in 11 games. As a sophomore, his first full collegiate season, he scored a goal and nine assists in 34 games.
Phillips transferred to Penn State for his junior season, and scored two goals and seven assists in 27 games with the Nittany Lions. Last season as a senior he recorded three goals and four assists in 20 games.
Phillips is a left-handed defenseman listed at 6-foot, 195 pounds. The Penguins retain his exclusive signing rights until Aug. 15.
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Here's how the Penguins' prospects in junior, college, and Europe did this week.
FORWARDS
Raivis Ansons
Position: Right wing/left wing
Size: 6-1/190
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2021, fifth round
Team: Baie-Comeau Drakkar (QMJHL)
Season totals: 17 games, 5 goals, 16 assists
Ansons had three assists in three games this week. After spending time as first-line left wing earlier in the season, he's been playing on the right side of that line for the last two weeks.
Tristan Broz
Position: Center/wing
Size: 6-0/179
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2021, second round
Team: University of Minnesota (NCAA)
Season totals: 15 games, 2 assists
Broz was scoreless in one game against North Dakota. He was a healthy scratch for Minnesota's second game of the week against North Dakota, the first time he's been a healthy scratch this season.
Judd Caulfield
Position: Right wing
Size: 6-3/207
Shoots: Right
Drafted: 2019, fifth round
Team: University of North Dakota (NCAA)
Season totals: 15 games, 3 goal, 5 assists
Caulfield was scoreless in two games on the right wing of North Dakota's top line, where he's played the majority of the season. He did a Q&A with North Dakota hockey website The Rink Live, and spoke about his role playing down low on North Dakota's power play.
"I feel pretty comfortable," he said. "That’s a spot I played in a little bit last year. I like being down low. It works to my strengths. I’m a bigger body, so I can get in front of the goalie’s eyes. (Riese) Gaber always finds his spots when he shoots, so it’s kind of nice getting to be out there on the power play."
Liam Gorman
Position: Center
Size: 6-3/199
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2018, sixth round
Team: Princeton University (NCAA)
Season totals: 9 games, 1 goal, 1 assist
Gorman picked up one assist in his in two games. The assist was a secondary assist on a power play goal against RIT. He remains Princeton's third-line left wing.
Lukas Svejkovsky
Position: Center/right wing
Size: 5-9/170
Shoots: Right
Drafted: 2020, fourth round
Team: Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL)
Season totals: 17 games, 10 goals, 14 assists
Svejkovsky scored two goals in two games centering the Tigers' top line. The first was a backhand shot at even strength after driving to the net:
His other goal came on the power play:
Svejkovsky missed the Tigers' third game this week with an illness.
Kirill Tankov
Position: Center/wing
Size: 6-2/190
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2021, seventh round
Team: SKA-Neva (VHL)
Season totals: 24 games, 6 goals, 5 assists
Tankov was scoreless in two games. He was officially named to Russia's training camp roster for the World Junior Championship.
Chase Yoder
Position: Center
Size: 5-11/185
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2020, sixth round
Team: Providence College (NCAA)
Season totals: 17 games, 2 goal, 3 assists
Yoder was scoreless in two games.
Centering Providence's third line, Yoder had a great week in the faceoff circle. He went 18-6 against Dartmouth then 16-6 against Brown. He's 52.8% on faceoffs overall this season.
DEFENSEMEN
Santeri Airola
Size: 5-9/163
Shoots: Right
Drafted: 2019, seventh round
Team: Ilves (Liiga), KOOVEE (Mestis)
Season totals: 2 games (Mestis)
Airola missed the start of the Liiga season with a lower-body injury. His team announced on Oct. 14 that Airola underwent surgery and is expected to be sidelined for 6-8 months.
Isaac Belliveau
Size: 6-2/185
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2021, fifth round
Team: Gatineau Olympiques (QMJHL)
Season totals: 22 games, 1 goal, 7 assists
Belliveau was scoreless in three games.
Daniel Laatsch
Size: 6-5/190
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2021, seventh round
Team: University of Wisconsin (NCAA)
Season totals: 16 games, 1 assist
Laatsch played two games and recorded his first collegiate point, a secondary assist on an even strength goal against Clarkson on Friday. He plays on the left side of Wisconsin's third defense pairing.
Ryan McCleary
Size: 6-2/180
Shoots: Right
Drafted: 2021, seventh round
Team: Portland Winterhawks (WHL)
Season totals: 15 games, 1 goal, 3 assists
McCleary played in two games and recorded an assist. He's played on different pairings and on either side of those pairings this season, he played his first game this week on the left side of the second pairing, and then was on the right side of the third pairing for the other game.
Clayton Phillips
Size: 6-0/195
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2017, third round
Team: Penn State University (NCAA)
Season totals: 13 games, 4 goal, 4 assists
Phillips scored a goal in two games.
GOALTENDERS
Joel Blomqvist
Size: 6-1/183
Catches: Left
Drafted: 2020, second round
Team: Karpat (Liiga), Hermes (Mestis)
Season totals: 4 games, 0.57 GAA, .973 SV% (Liiga), 3 games, 2.07 GAA, .902 SV% (Mestis)
Blomqvist didn't dress for the second week in a row after sustaining an undisclosed injury in the first game of the Four Nations junior tournament. His team hasn't announced any sort of anticipated timeline for his return.
Finland hasn't announced its camp roster yet for the World Junior tournament, but Blomqvist is expected to make the roster and compete for the starting job.
Calle Clang
Size: 6-2/176
Catches: Left
Drafted: 2020, third round
Team: Rogle (SHL)
Season totals: 7 games, 2.72 GAA, .892 SV%
Clang played in one game this week and made 25 saves on 28 shots.. As expected, he was named to Sweden's training camp roster for the World Junior Championship, where he'll be in contention for the starting job.