This season Bolt Prospects introduced our Prospect of the Week award, an honor (virtually) given to one Tampa Bay Lightning prospect for their on-ice contributions. There are no trophies or plaques, but the player has now joined a brotherhood of BP Prospect of the Week winners that will bind these find individuals together for life. A secret hand sign similar to Seinfeld’s Van Buren Boys is in the works.
We wanted to highlight prospects throughout the year to help fans get better acquainted with the next round of Lightning stars while recognizing the prospect’s achievement on the ice.
This week’s BP Prospect of the Week award goes to … Matthew Peca [6], Forward, Quinnipiac Bobcats (NCAA).
This week Peca was named Prospect of the Week for the second time this year as the Quinnipiac freshman also won the award in late October.
His Quinnipiac Bobcats scored six goals last weekend and Peca assisted on every one of them.
On Friday, he notched a career-high four apples in a 4-1 win over the Brown Bears. Peca, a seventh round pick of the Bolts last summer out of Pembroke of the Central Canada Hockey League (Junior A), was named second star for his efforts.
A game later he had assists on both Quinnipiac goals in a 2-2 tie against Yale. He was third star on Saturday and was named ECAC Rookie of the Week by the conference.
The Bobcats earned the five-seed for the ECAC tournament starting this week. They will play last place Brown in a best-of-three series. Peca will be relied upon to bring offense in the playoffs. His last playoff endeavor he lifted the CCHL trophy as captain of Pembroke. Ironically, the Lumber Kings represented the Yzerman Division in the CCHL, named after Steve Yzerman, who drafted Peca for the Lightning.
An undersized forward with skill and grit, Peca is 14th in ECAC scoring with seven goals and 30 points in 33 games – a great accomplishment for a freshman. He is tied for second on his team in points. He is the fifth freshman in program history to reach 30 points in his first year.
(Quinnipiac University photo)
Previous BP Prospects of the Week:
Pat Nagle [7], Florida (ECHL) - February 21, 2012 [8]
Alex Hutchings [9], Florida (ECHL) - February 14, 2012 [10]
Alex Killorn [11], Harvard (NCAA) - February 6, 2012 [12]
Adam Wilcox [13], Tri-City (USHL) and Alex Killorn, Harvard (NCAA) - January 30, 2012 [14]
Nikita Kucherov [15], CSKA Jr. (Russia) - January 24, 2012 [16]
Riku Helenius [17], JYP (Finland) - January 16, 2012 [18]
Brett Connolly [19], Canada (U20 WJC) - January 10, 2012 [20]
*Due to the Christmas break when few games below the NHL level were played, no POTW award was given.
Mark Barberio [21], Norfolk Admirals (AHL) - December 19, 2011 [22]
Vladislav Namestnikov [23], London Knights (OHL) - December 12, 2011 [24]
Tyler Johnson [25], Norfolk Admirals (AHL) - December 5, 2011 [26]
Alex Killorn, Harvard (NCAA) - November 28, 2011 [27]
Nikita Kucherov, Team Russia/CSKA Jr. (MHL) - November 21, 2011 [28]
Vladislav Namestnikov, London Knights (OHL) - November 14, 2011 [29]
Dustin Tokarski [30], Norfolk Admirals (AHL) - November 6, 2011 [31]
Riku Helenius, JYP (Finland) - October 30, 2011 [32]
Matthew Peca, Quinnipiac Bobcats - October 23, 2011 [33]
Radko Gudas [34], Norfolk Admirals - October 16, 2011 [33]
Carter Ashton [35], Norfolk Admirals - October 9, 2011 [36]
Brett Connolly, Tampa Bay Lightning - October 2, 2011 [37]
Mattias Ritola [38], Tampa Bay Lightning - September 25, 2011 [39]