THRASHERS PROSPECTS UPDATE

Here's the latest from the "farm", college and major junior as it relates to Thrashers prospects.

The Chicago Wolves are off to a 2-1-1 start and are 4th in the American Hockey League's West Division. They lost their first two games on a swing through Texas, losing 2-1 at Houston in the season opener and 2-1 at San Antonio. Their first win was a 1-0 shutout in Quad City in which goaltender Andrej Pavlec stopped all 25 shots.

Last Saturday night, they raised the Calder Cup banner in Chicago and defeated Peoria, 3-2. I understand Joey Crabb and the Rivermen's Brad Winchester had a pretty good fight in the third period.

Colin Stuart leads the Wolves in scoring with 1-2=3 in four games. Pavlec has played in all four games and has a 2-2-0 record with a goals against average of 1.49 and a save percentage of .949.

The Gwinnett Gladiators opened their season last weekend with a 6-2 win at home against Mississippi. Defenseman Josh Engel had a goal in that game. He's a rookie out of the University of Wisconsin that I got to see alot of last season while calling the college hockey games for CBS College Sports. He should really help their blueline.

Other notables:

First round pick Daulton Leveille (pron "lev-eye-ay") is off to a quick start at Michigan State and had a couple of assists during the Icebreaker Tournament in Boston a week ago. Angelo Esposito has nine points (2-7) in eight games for Montreal in the Quebec league and was named the QMJHL Player of the Week for the period ending on October 5th. Defensman Paul Postma is playing for the Calgary Hitmen in the Western Hockey League and has 10 points (1-9) in 11 games. Finally, goaltender Alex Kangas is off to a quick start at the University of Minnesota with a 2-0 record and a goals against average of 1.50. I saw him play last season in a game at Wisconsin in which he looked a little nervous. But he enters the season as the #1 goaltender between the pipes for the Gophers now that Kellen Briggs and Jeff Frazee have graduated.