Zachary Senyshyn Photo credit: Aaron Bell/OHL Images

Zach Senyshyn couldn’t catch a break. Now, nobody seems to be able to cause him to break stride, as he tallied all three Soo Greyhounds goals in a major 3-2 OT home win against the OHL powerhouse London Knights for his fifth three-goal game (one of those was a 4-goal “Texas hat trick” because everything is bigger in the Lone Star State, you know) of the season.

Back in July, Senyshyn wasn’t able to participate in Bruins development camp because he was recovering from a bout with mononucleosis. Then, before the start of rookie camp in September, the team announced that he had undergone an emergency appendectomy and was going to miss the second annual futures mini-tourney in Buffalo.

To top it off, the 15^th overall pick in 2015 struggled to score out of the gate, not surprising for someone recovering from an appendectomy, who had also had his offseason conditioning work interrupted by mono. After a mundane October and November, Senyshyn got himself firmly on terra firma in December and hasn’t looked back since, now sitting with 27 goals in 34 games with the Greyhounds. For perspective, in his draft year, he had 26 in 66 contests as a fourth-liner. And that, folks, is what we in these here parts call…progress.

What’s more, this latest three-goal game featured the 19-year-old scoring all of them in different ways- he’s not a one-trick pony. He can blow the puck past a goalie with a wicked shot from the outside, or he can drive the net and put away the garbage. He’s got a nifty backhand that he can use to good effect and Senyshyn has demonstrated repeatedly that he handles the puck well in tight when he doesn’t have a lot of space to operate in. If you aren’t encouraged by the numbers and the breakdown, then you might want to consider renting a room from Mr. Grinch.

(Editor’s note- you can watch highlights of the latest hatty here courtesy of Soo Greyhounds): http://soogreyhounds.com/video/watch-jan-1517-ldn-2-ssm-3-ot

But, but…he didn’t make Team Canada at the World Jrs! Sputter those with agendas to see the young man fail. We don’t know about you, but while watching that tremendous gold medal match between the USA and Canada, we couldn’t help but think that the Canadians sure could have used a 6-3, 200-pound winger who can flat-out fly down the wing and score goals…especially in that 20-minute up-and-down overtime period. We’ll never know, but one has to believe that Hockey Canada can only rue the decision to leave him home. Regardless, anyone who tries to argue that because Canada made a bad choice means the Bruins did too (by drafting Senyshyn ahead of several players who couldn’t get it done at the WJC), only looks more and more foolish as time goes on.

He sits just one marker away from netting 100 goals in his OHL career. In fact, since the B’s drafted him to great fanfare (tongue firmly planted in cheek there), Senyshyn has 72 goals in 100 games with the Greyhounds. If that sounds like pretty good numbers to you, that’s because they are. Tyler Seguin had 69 goals in 124 career OHL games before Boston made him the second overall pick in 2010. Now, we’re not saying that Senyshyn is going to be the star scorer in the NHL that Seguin is, but if you do believe that there is a correlation between two players coming out of the same developmental junior league, then there is reason to believe that Senyshyn will find a way to put the puck in the net at the NHL level.

This is not to say that he’s ready for primetime and will be an immediate impact player at the highest level. It’s too early to be projecting whether Senyshyn will be able to break camp with the Big Bruins next fall. What we do know is that he’ll have to finish his season in the OHL before he does anything else. With the Soo Greyhounds sitting near the top of the league standings, they’re expected to go far in their quest for the 2017 Memorial Cup, which is bad news for B’s fans hoping to see him in Providence at the end of the AHL regular season. Barring an upset, the soonest we can expect to see him either in Boston or on the top farm club is next fall, but for now- enjoy the fireworks.

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2016 fifth-rounder Cameron Clarke scored his 1st NCAA goal for the Ferris State Bulldogs in 2017. The NAHL’s top defenseman a year ago with the Lone Star Brahmas (in Fort Worth, TX), Clarke is a late-bloomer (he’ll turn 21 and was taken in his final window of draft eligibility) from Michigan who has good height, vision and hands to move pucks effectively. He’s a project pick and will take a while to get there (if he ever does), but thus far, is doing all right in his first taste of NCAA hockey.

Statistics as of 1/16/17

Amateur (junior/NCAA) prospects

Pro and European Prospects

# Czarnik, Blidh, McIntyre recalled to Boston

*Injured

Tyler Randell, Tommy Cross, Alex Grant > age 25- not liste