Thursday Morning Coffee

I haven't had much time to get any former Sioux and/or recruit "update" posts up over the past couple of weeks, so some of this stuff may be old news to many of you, but regardless...

• Monique Lamoureux earned WCHA weekly honors for the second consecutive week after a strong weekend against Minnesota-Duluth.
• Jonathan Toews is still undecided about heading overseas as the NHL lockout threatens the 2012-13 season. Toews, who has only recently begun feeling 100% healthy after the concussion he suffered last season, was ranked as one of the top 10 players in the NHL by CBS's Eye on Hockey blog. Zach Parise, meanwhile, came in at number 30.
• The Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL) signed veteran defenseman Mike Commodore to a professional tryout contract. Commodore, who has yet to suit up for the Bulldogs, feels his NHL career would be over if he were to sit out the entire season due to the lockout.
• UND recruit Adam Tambellini has been on a hot streak lately, including picking up a rare six pack. One of the contributing factors to his streak may have been his World Junior A Challenge snub. He is currently sixth in the BCHL in scoring with 31 points (16G, 15A), trailing league-leader and fellow North Dakota recruit Wade Murphy (13G, 20A) by just two points.
• NHL Central Scouting released its preliminary rankings for the 2013 NHL Draft, and recruits Keaton Thompson (No. 5) and Luke Johnson (No. 8) are among the top-ranked USHLers on the list. Thompson is ranked no. 22 overall by International Scouting Service and he was featured by scout Craig Button in TSN's scouting report video series. Meanwhile, Tambellini and Murphy are among a group of BCHLers to receive mention from Central Scouting. Tambellini is listed as a B-skater and Murphy jumped up to a C-skater after not appearing on the preliminary watch list.
• Darcy Zajac recently took part in a Q&A as the Albany Devils (AHL) prepared to play the first of its four regular season tilts in Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall.
• Evan Trupp scored a beary big goal last weekend.
• Brock Nelson and Nino Neiderreiter have developed some nice chemistry for the AHL's Bridgeport Sound Tigers. They were both first round draft picks of the New York Islanders in 2010, and Lighthouse Hockey recently took a look at Nelson's emergence as a force in the AHL. Nelson currently has 14 points (7G, 7A) in 17 games.
• Matt Frattin has returned to the Toronto Marlies' lineup with a vengeance, scoring five goals in five games since returning from knee surgery...Michael Forney (Colorado Eagles) continues to lead the ECHL with 16 goals. He is also third in the league with 29 points (16G, 13A) in 19 games...Mario Lamoureux (Ontario Reign) is T-6th in ECHL rookie scoring with 14 points (6G, 8A) in 16 games...Aaron Dell (Allen Americans) leads the CHL in both GAA (1.89) and Save Percentage (.936)...Aaron Schneekloth (Colorado Eagles) is T-3rd among ECHL defensemen with 16 points (2G, 14A) in 19 games...Andrew Kozek (Dornbirner) leads the Austrian elite league with 18 goals...Curtis Murphy (Linz) is T-4th among Austrian elite league defensemen with 21 points (5G, 16A) in 25 games...Defenseman Travis Roche (Bern) is expected to be out until mid-December with a broken hand. He has 10 points (1G, 9A) in 10 Swiss elite league games this season...UND recruit Paul LaDue leads all USHL defensemen in points (3G, 13A) and assists (13)...