CLEVELAND – In advance of a home clash vs. the Milwaukee Admirals at The Q, Cleveland’s Lake Erie Monsters announced Friday that left wing Markus Hannikainen was reassigned to Lake Erie by the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets, while goaltender Anton Forsberg was added to the Columbus roster for the second time this season on emergency recall.
An undrafted, left-handed forward, signed by Columbus as a free agent on April 20, 2015, Hannikainen supplied five goals, 11 points, six penalty minutes and a +2 rating in 17 appearances for the Monsters this season and appeared in four games for the Blue Jackets since his first career call-up on November 28th.
Selected by Columbus in the seventh round of the 2011 NHL Draft with the 188th overall pick, Forsberg is 13-7-3 with a 2.55 goals-against average (GAA) and a .906 save percentage (S%) in a team-leading 24 appearances for the Monsters so far this season. In four appearances for the Blue Jackets this year, Forsberg is 1-3-0 with a 3.03 GAA and a .907 S%.
A 22 year-old native of Helsinki, Finland, Hannikainen netted 19 goals, 46 points, 51 penalty minutes and a +22 rating in 60 Liiga appearances last season for JYP in his first full campaign in Finland’s top professional league. In 117 career Liiga appearances for Jokerit, HPK and JYP, Hannikainen has 22 goals, 53 points, 67 penalty minutes and a +26 rating to his credit.
A 23 year-old native of Harnosand, Sweden, Forsberg appeared in five games for Columbus last year, posting a record of 0-4-0 with a 4.69 GAA and a .866 S%. Forsberg also spent parts of two AHL seasons with the Springfield Falcons, appearing in 34 combined games for Springfield from 2013 to 2015, posting a 23-8-1 record for the Falcons with a combined .930 S%. The 6’2”, 176 lb. net-minder spent parts of two seasons with MODO of the SHL from 2011 to 2014 and appeared in 46 games for Swedish club Sodertalje SK during the 2012-13 campaign.
The Monsters also announced on Friday that goaltender Mark Owuya signed a 25-game Professional Tryout (PTO) contract for the second time this season. A 6’1”, 198 lb., 26 year-old native of Stockholm, Sweden, Owuya is 0-1-0 in one appearance this season for the ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies with a 3.08 GAA and a .921 S%. In 30 career AHL appearances for the Toronto Marlies spanning parts of two seasons from 2011 to 2013, Owuya posted a 15-10-2 record with two shutouts and a .912 S%. Last season, Owuya went 2-6-2 with a 2.98 GAA and a .898 S% in 13 KHL appearances for Croatian club Zagreb Medvescak.
In 33 career ECHL appearances spanning parts of three seasons from 2011 to 2016 with the Reading Royals, Las Vegas Wranglers and Utah, Owuya went 20-9-3 with two shutouts and a .926 S%. Owuya also posted a 7-6-0 record in 16 appearances for the SHL’s Lulea HF over the course of the past two seasons with three shutouts, a 1.91 GAA and a .923 S% while playing alongside current Monsters skaters Dean Kukan and Daniel Zaar. Prior to his time with Lulea HF, Owuya logged four-plus SHL seasons with Djurgardens IF Stockholm from 2007 to 2011.
Next up for the Monsters, it’s a Friday home tilt vs. Milwaukee with full coverage underway from The Q at 7:00 pm
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