Overall Record: 27-11-4-3, 1st Central Division, Current Streak: 2 Loss 

LAST WEEK'S RESULTS

Friday, February 13 at Cincinnati (3-2 W) 

Saturday, February 14 vs. Cincinnati (4-3 L) 

Sunday, February 15 vs. Fort Wayne (4-3 OTL) 

THIS WEEK’S GAMES (All Times Eastern)

Friday, February 20 at Trois-Rivières (7 p.m., Fox Sports Radio 1230, FloSports) 

Saturday, February 21 at Trois-Rivières (3 p.m., Fox Sports Radio 1230, FloSports) 

Sunday, February 22 at Trois-Rivières (3 p.m., Fox Sports Radio 1230, FloSports) 

Walleye Notes

Close All Around: The Toledo Walleye finished the weekend 1-1-1, all three games being decided by one goal. They defeated the Cincinnati Cyclones on Friday with three power-play goals. Denis Smirnov was responsible for two of them, and Riley McCourt had three assists on the power play. Cincinnati responded by defeating the Walleye at the Huntington Center on Valentine’s Day by a score of 4-3, breaking the 3-3 coming into the third period with a goal with four minutes to go in regulation. The Walleye came away with a point on Sunday against Fort Wayne, as Mitch Lewandowski scored a goal late in the third to send the game into overtime, which Fort Wayne would eventually win on the power play. Fort Wayne and Toledo currently stand tied for the Central Division lead with 61 points each, but Toledo has two games in hand.  

Love for the Power Play: Toledo’s success this season has had a lot to do with their power play, which has consistently been one of the league’s best units. That has held especially true in the month of February as the Walleye stand 10-for-22 (45.5%) on the man-advantage. Riley McCourt has been a major part of that as the quarterback for the team’s first unit, collecting 7 assists on the power play (including four this past weekend) in the month of February to extend his league lead in power-play points (25). Brandon Hawkins is right behind him, collecting a goal and an assist in Friday’s game at Cincinnati to place second in the league’s power-play points leaderboard with twenty-three. Toledo’s power play against Cincinnati is 7-for-14 in their last four games against them, and 3-for-8 against Fort Wayne in their last two matchups.  

New Kids on the Block: New Walleye forward Johnny Waldron has immediately made his impact felt on the score sheet, scoring four goals and two assists since his debut with the Walleye on February 6th. In addition to having the first multi-goal game in a Walleye debut since Patrick Curry (3/12/2022 vs Idaho), Waldron has led ECHL rookies in goals since his debut. He is tied with Mitch Lewandowski for the team’s lead in scoring since February 6th with 6 points each (Lewandowski has 1 G, 5 A in that time frame) and leads the team in goals with four. Rookie forward Ryland Mosley was also assigned to Toledo by Cleveland (AHL) this weekend, scoring a power-play goal in Sunday’s overtime loss.  

The Chase Goes On: As the season goes along, Brandon Hawkins continues his chase for the Walleye franchise all-time scoring record. Hawkins needs 10 more points to tie current Walleye leader Shane Berschbach and 11 more points to pass. His next target will be to pass Toledo Storm legend Rick Judson’s Toledo ECHL record of 441 career points, needing only 58 more points to tie that record. Hawkins is currently second in the ECHL in points with 56 (24 goals, 32 assists), trailing Kansas City defenseman Marcus Crawford (58 pts). In Hawkins’ career with Toledo, he has more points in the first month of the year than any other, recording 77 points (34 goals, 43 assists) in the month of January in his career. 

Avenging Last Season’s Ending: The Walleye are set to head off to Trois-Rivières this upcoming weekend to take on the Lions at the Colisée Vidéotron, the same building that the Walleye watched the Lions hoist the Kelly Cup last season. Heading into Sunday’s matchups, the Lions stand in 6th place in the North Division standings and 9 points out of a playoff spot. Three games are scheduled, the first on Friday night at 7 p.m., and the Saturday and Sunday games set for 3 p.m.  

Walleye Player of the Week:

Johnny Waldron (2 G (1 PPG), 1 A) 

Walleye Goaltender of the Week:

Carter Gylander (1-0-1-0, 49 SV, 2.90 GAA)