The Prospect Park

Where Every Game Counts

noreply@blogger.com (Prospect Park) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:13:00 +0000

While Thursday night prospect hockey did not have the down to the last second excitement of Wednesday night; the games that were played on Thursday involving New York Ranger and New York Islander prospects were about making every single point count.

The WHL and most of the QMJHL were off on Thursday, but for the teams that were playing in the OHL and QMJHL each game mattered. In the OHL there are 20 teams in the league and of those 20 teams, 18 are very much in the hunt for a playoff spot.

Go on a two-game winning or losing streak. and you could find yourself going from having home ice advantage to not having a playoff spot. It may be the end of January, but there's a lot of people doing a lot of scoreboard watching.

We start in Niagara where the IceDogs are fighting for both the Central division title and the OHL's Eastern conference first seed. They are having to do that without New York Islander prospect Ryan Strome (2011, 1st) who's out with facial injuries as well as their defenseman Dougie Hamilton who is serving a 10 game suspension.

That's leaving the IceDogs having to count on Mitchell Theoret (NYI 2011, 7th) to step up his game in the absence of those missing. Theoret is strictly a role player who, while he tries to best he is not going make up what is missing.

The IceDogs were hosting the Belleville Bulls, who came into tonight's game on a five-game losing streak. Make it a six-game losing streak as Niagara with three goals in the first, and then three more in the third shutout the Bulls 6-0.

Theoret scored his 10th goal of the season at 1:38 of the third period, giving the IceDogs a 4-0 lead as they broke the game open. It is a new career-high in goals for Theoret as well as ending a seven-game pointless streak.

The win allowed the IceDogs to take over the lead in the OHL's Central division from the idle Brampton Battalion. Both teams have 61 points on the season but Niagara has 29 wins to Brampton's 26.

The win also pulls Niagara to within two points of Eastern conference leader Ottawa, who also had the night off.

JT Miller (NYR 2011, 1st) and his Plymouth Whalers have held a pretty healthy lead over the rest of the teams in the OHL's West division but they have been chasing OHL Western Conference leader the London Knights.

The Knights having lost on Wednesday gave the Whalers a chance on Thursday to pull within four points of first-place if they could beat the Barrie Colts. Miller set up Plymouth's first goal of the game at 5:56 of the first period as the Whalers led from wire to wire for a 4-1 win.

It was Miller's 29th assist and 44th point of the season as the Whalers won their second straight game

Peter Ceresnak (NYR 2011, 6th) broke a 12 game scoreless streak with a secondary assist on what turned out to be the game-winning goal as his Peterborough Petes had little trouble defeating the Kingston Frontenacs 5-1. It was Ceresnak first point since scoring a goal against Ottawa on December 3rd.

For Ceresnak it was his seventh assist on season bringing his overall point total to 4-7-11. Teammate Andrew Yogan (NYR 2010, 3rd) was scoreless for the third straight game, as well as a -1.

In the QMJHL, Samuel Noreau (NYR 2011, 5th) remains out an undisclosed upper body injury as his Baie-Comeau saw their four-game win streak end after a 3-1 loss to the Halifax Mooseheads. Noreau has now missed four straight games with no timetable for return.

The Drakkar are currently 10th overall in the QMJHL where 16 out of the 17 teams in the league make the playoffs.

(All images from Aaron Bell and Terry Wilson of OHL Images)

The Best Medicine

noreply@blogger.com (Prospect Park) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:30:00 +0000

One of the things I kept hearing from people was that I picked the wrong week to have my surgery. Tuesday was the only New York Ranger game on the schedule for this week because of the All-Star game and that I would have to wait until next Tuesday to see a Ranger game.

What people do not realize is that for myself these days the most entertaining hockey, the most exciting hockey that I get to see is played at the CHL and NCAA levels. It's more than just a game but rather the atmosphere as well as the entertainment that you get during breaks in the action.

Hockey is supposed to be fun and too often the NHL has forgotten that part of the game. Wednesday going coast-to-coast was actually some pretty good hockey involving teams who should be contending for their various championships. Living out west means I can start watching hockey from 3:30 PDT until 10 PDT.

The theme Wednesday evening was "you got your money's worth" as there was some really entertaining and exciting games played. Our star for the evening was Steven Fogarty (NYR 2011, 3rd) of the Penticton Vees as his team was looking for their 26th straight win.

The Vees thanks to 6 goals in the third period blew out the Merritt Centennial's 9-0 to earn win number 26. Fogarty earned the game's 2nd star behind his 1-3-4 performance in the win.

What we liked about Fogarty tonight was that he did a little of everything to help the team win.It took Fogarty all of 17 seconds to score his 21st goal and what wound up being the game winning goal when he scored to give Penticton a 1-0 lead. Still in the first period, Fogarty picked up his 2nd point of the evening when he set up Ryan Reilly for a power-play goal at 14:09 giving Penticton a 2-0 lead after one period.

In the 2nd period, Fogarty earned his 3rd point when he was credited with a secondary assist on Joey Benik's goal just 21 seconds into the period at and a 3-0 lead. Then in the 3rd period, Fogarty scored his 22nd goal with this one being unassisted at 11:01 for a 5-0 Penticton lead.

The 2 goals was Fogarty's 21st and 22nd of the season and the 2 assists Fogarty had raised his season total to 32 which gives Fogarty and overall record of 22–32–54. That puts Fogarty in second place among Ranger prospect scoring the season.

In Shawinigan Kirill Kabanov (NYI 2010, 3rd) was named the game's 3rd star after a 2 assist performance led to an easy 6-0 win over the Victoriaville Tigres. The win gave Kabanov's Cataractes sole possession of the top spot in the QMJHL overall standings.

Kabanov said that the game's first and fifth Shawinigan goals on the evening to improve his numbers for the season to 16-21-37 +19 in 32 games. Shawinigan is hosting the 2012 Memorial Cup and it looks like the intent not going as the host but as the QMJHL champions.

In the WHL, we had to see plenty of good action will start with John Persson (NYI 2011, 5th) and his Red Deer Rebels were hosting the Vancouver Giants. It was important game for the Rebels as they looked to try to get back in the hunt for a playoff spot in the WHL's Eastern Conference. As they entered the game against the Giants they were in 9th place 6 points behind 8th place Brandon.

Persson scored his 16th goal of the season as he got his Rebels going when he scored at 12:18 of the first period on the power play to tie the game at1-1. For Persson it was just his 3rd goal in his last 10 games but it also gave them a 3 game scoring streak.

The win also helped Persson regain 2nd place in the New York Islander prospect scoring race with a 16–26–42. Hopefully this breaks Persson out of the slump he has been in for the last couple of months.

Speaking of the leading scorer among Islander prospects, Brendan Kichton (NYI 2011, 5th) not only leads the New York Islander prospects but also all WHL defensemen in scoring as his Spokane Chiefs traveled to play the Everett Silvertips.

Spokane has been chasing the Vancouver Giants for the fourth seed in the WHL's Western Conference standings. And when you making a run you look to your veteran players to leading the charge and that is exactly what Kichton has been doing in the January.

Kitchen had one assist against Everett as the Chiefs won their fourth straight game 4-2 over the Silvertips. The win has the Chiefs now just one point behind the Giants lost to Red Deer.

Kichton is now 3-12-15 +16 for the month of January and is helping the Chiefs earn consideration as a serious contender for the WHL's Western conference championship.

When the CHL released its weekly rankings of the top 10 teams in all 3 CHL leagues, the Tri-City Americans were 3rd in the poll and the team they were facing Wednesday evening the Edmonton Oil Kings were at number 6 (their highest ranking in franchise history).

It was a game that we were very much looking forward to because you had in Edmonton the team that was leading the WHL's Eastern conference while Tri-Cities has been going toe to toe with the Kamloops Blazers for the top spot in the WHL's Western Conference.

We see a lot of games over the course of the season but what we saw Wednesday night as far as what we see was the most entertaining game of the season so far. We are glad that the game did not in the shootout because this is a game that if he didn't have a clear winner deserve to be a tie.

Tri-City thanks to an outstanding play by Brendan Shinnimin scored the game-winning goal in overtime to give Tri-City a 5-4 overtime win. Shinnimin made beautiful deke that. Michael St. Croix (NYR 2011, 4th) as well as everybody else on the ice fell for to create the space to score.

But this game was truly one that the fans their monies worth for sure. Edmonton drew first blood and Tri-City responded with 2 goals to.
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Edmonton answered with 2 goals of their own to retake the lead; then in the 3rd it was Tri-City answering back with 2 goals to take the lead again. But Edmonton responded with a goal that tied the game and he eventually led to overtime.

You had goalies making unbelievable saves way it looked like they will beaten; you had players were hitting or making plays as both teams play their hardest to win this game.

Michael St. Croix may not have scored and and yes he was beaten on the final play but he played a great game of his own between passing and offensive chances that he has no reason to blame himself for the loss.

And if you were a Ranger fan during the time when Ulfie Samuelsson was Ranger then you will love his son Henrik who plays for Edmonton. He is not as big as his father is but he made the right choice coming back to North America

Henrik already has been suspended for a game and in 6 games is 2-5-7. He needs a new nickname as there is only 1 King Henrik in North America.

As soon as we finished with the Edmonton game, we jump right in to the game between 2nd-ranked Kamloops Blazers and Shane McColgan's (NYR 2011, 5th) Kelowna Rockets. Kamloops came into this game was a 9 game winning streak that led to them to the top of the WHL standings.

Meanwhile Kelowna has been trying to get on a roll themselves, currently they are holding the 6th seed in the WHL's Western Conference which if the WHL playoffs were to start tomorrow we put them against the Portland Winterhawks. Not a favorable matchup but the Rockets are 11 points behind 5th place Spokane who also has 3 games in hand.

What we do like though is that Kelowna is trying to improve their fate and Shane McColgan is doing as we hoped which is score goals. McColgan was a game second star thanks to a 1-1-2 performance which helped his Rockets earn a 3-2 win in the shootout to stop Kamloops 9 game winning streak while Rockets have back to back wins.

McColgan scored his 13th goal in the 2nd period which tied the game at 1-1 and in the 3rd period fired a shot on net in which the rebound was pounced on and put and by his linemate Brett Bulmer which tied the game once again and forced first overtime then the shootout.

It was a huge win for the Rockets who were expected to have had a much better season then they have had. For McColgan he improves to 13-35-48 which puts him in third place among Ranger prospects.

(Fogarty – Penticton Vees. Kabanov- Shawinigan Cataractes, Kichton- Spokane Chiefs, Samuelsson- Edmonton Oil Kings)

Michael St. Croix CHL Player Of The Week

noreply@blogger.com (Prospect Park) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 08:53:00 +0000

For the second time this season a New York Ranger prospect was selected as the CHL player the week. Michael St. Croix of the Edmonton Oil Kings (2011, 4th) earned the honors for the week ending January 22, 2011.

It has been a long time since the New York Rangers have had two different prospects being named as a national player the week.

Here is a press release from our friends at the CHL:

Toronto, ON – The Canadian Hockey League today announced that forward Michael St. Croix of the Edmonton Oil Kings is the CHL Player of the Week for the week ending January 22 after picking up 10 points in three games scoring six goals and four assists with a plus-minus rating of plus-7.

St. Croix led the first place Oil Kings to three straight wins last week giving them 69 points to lead the WHL’s Eastern Conference Standings. Last Wednesday night he scored his first of two hat-tricks during the week as first star of a 5-0 win over the Prince George Cougars. St. Croix then picked up a pair of assists in a 6-1 road victory over the Swift Current Broncos on Friday night before matching a season-high with five points as first star of a 9-2 win over the Prince Albert Raiders on Saturday where he scored three goals and two assists.

St. Croix, an 18-year-old from Winnipeg, MB, is currently playing in his third full WHL season with the Oil Kings. A fourth round pick of the New York Rangers in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, St. Croix is currently ranked third in WHL scoring with 31 goals and 46 assists for 77 points in 48 games played.

theThis been quite a year for the young man we have given the nickname "The Predator" to; Michael has earned 2 "WHL Players Of The Week" starting with the one for the week ending December 4, 2011 and including the one for this week.

St. Croix was also the "WHL Player Of The Month" for the month of December. The first award that St. Croix won back in December was also the week when Christian Thomas (NYR 2010, 2nd) was named "CHL Player Of The Week.

Game Action

Samuel Noreau (NYR 2011, 5th) missed his third game in what is being called and upper body injury with no timetable for his return. The Baie-Comeau Drakkar were able to win their second straight by defeating the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 4-3 in a shootout

(St. Croix – Andy Devlin/Edmonton Oil Kings)

St. Croix Earns 2nd WHL Player Of The Week (updated Monday evening)

noreply@blogger.com (Prospect Park) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:53:00 +0000

EDMONTON OIL KINGS’ MICHAEL ST. CROIX NAMED WHL PLAYER OF THE WEEK

CALGARY, AB.- The Western Hockey League announced today that Edmonton Oil Kings’ Michael St. Croix is the WHL Player of the Week. St. Croix collected 10 points, scoring six goals and four assists to go with a +7 rating, in three games over the past week helping the Oil Kings to a 3-0-0-0 record.

On Wednesday, January 18, the Oil Kings welcomed the Prince George Cougars to Rexall Place in Edmonton. St. Croix picked up the hat-trick, finding the net three times and was named the games 1 Star as the Oil Kings’ shut-out the Cougars’ 5-0. On Friday, January 20, St. Croix collected a pair of assists in a 6-1 road victory over the Swift Current Broncos.

On Saturday, January 21, the Oil Kings were in Prince Albert to face the Raiders. St. Croix nabbed his third hat-trick of the season, scoring three goals, adding two assists and was also named games 1 Star in the Oil Kings’ 9-2 win over the Raiders.

St. Croix currently ranks 3rd among all WHL scorers with 77 points (31 goals, 46 assists) in 48 games played thus far this season. The Oil Kings are 7-2-0-1 in their past 10 games and currently sit first in the WHL Eastern Conference with a 32-11-1-4 record for 69 points.

St. Croix is in his third full season with the Edmonton Oil Kings. The Oil Kings made St. Croix the 4th overall selection in the 2008 WHL Draft and the New York Rangers recently selected the forward in the 4th round of the 2011 NHL Draft.

The WHL has also nominated Laurent Brossoit of the Edmonton Oil Kings for the CHL Goaltender of the Week Award. Brossoit posted a 2-0-0-0 record with one shut-out this past week, stopping 52 of 54 shots faced for a 0.963 save-percentage and 1.00 goals-against average. Brossoit an 18-year-old from Surrey, BC, led the Oil Kings to victories over the Prince George Cougars (5-0) and Prince Albert Raiders (9-2).

Rangers sign McNaught to AHL Contract

The New York Rangers announced that they had signed Randy McNaught (2010, 7th) to a AHL contract. McNaught who attended the Traverse City tournament, but then chose not to sign with the Rangers at that time in order to attend the University of Calgary.

McNaught played 12 games for the University of Calgary and was scoreless with 24 PIMs. McNaught is a 6'4 221 pound forward played last season for the Vancouver Giants in the WHL.

It is a unusual move for both player and team to make as usually during the season , it is the player who leaves the pro-team to attend college. What kind of prospect McNaught will be is gonna be interesting because he missed all but eight games last season due to a broken ankle and with the dinos did not show anything.

The one thing he does do very well is fight as he had some pretty good scraps with Dylan McIlrath last couple years. It's really hard to consider him as an NHL prospect at this time but he is worth the investment.

He's impossible to move from the crease area and if he can improve his eye hand coordination, you might have somebody.

Third Time The Charm?

Tomorrow morning I get to undergo my third operation on my neck, to say that this is getting frustrating would be an understatement.

Why my neck gives me problems could be true due to any number of reasons. What it has done is open my eyes to realizing that we can't keep ignoring shots to the head and neck area.

There is nothing more scary than waking up one day and discovering a part of your body is not working. Forget the pain part and try to imagine not even being able to type your own name like a normal person would.

Basically right now, something as simple as tying your shoelaces becomes an impossible task. Getting yourself a bowl of ice cream becomes an adventure.

I thank my friends for standing up for me and helping me keep this blog going. The current plan is for me to stay overnight in the hospital and go home on Wednesday.

But if you want prospect fix in, then start with the good people over at buzzing the net who cover the Canadian juniors and basically any of the blogs in the blogging the prospects section.

(St Croix - Edmonton Oil Kings, McNaught- New York Rangers )

Sin Bin Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Prospect Park) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 04:46:00 +0000

What a strange day Sunday turned out to be for the prospects of both the New York Rangers and New York Islanders. There were more fights (2) then there were combined goals and assists (1) from the eight prospects who played on Sunday.

Christian Thomas (NYR 2010, 2nd) was the player who recorded the assist as Thomas and his Oshawa Generals shut out the Barrie Colts 3-0. Thomas and his teammates playing their 3rd game in 3 days made it back to back wins after the embarrassing loss they suffered to Ottawa on Friday.

This game was a defensive battle for the first two periods as neither team was able to find a way to score. In the 3rd, it was Thomas and his linemates Andy Andreoff and Scott Laughton who were responsible for all 3 goals scored by Oshawa in the period.

Thomas got things going when he set up Andreoff for the game's 1st score at 4:03 and while it turned out to be the only goal Oshawa would need; the linemates added 2 more goals for the Oshawa win. For Thomas, it was his 22nd assist of the season and his 41st point of the season (19-22-41).

The win moved the Generals into 8th place past the Belleville Bulls lost on Saturday.

In Penticton, Stephen Fogarty (NYR 2011, 3rd) and his Penticton Vees made it 25 straight wins with a 3-1 win over the Prince George Spruce Kings. Fogarty did not score but was named the "Hardest Working Vees" for the game.

For us that is as good as earning 1 of the 3 game stars. We would like to also congratulate Penticton coach Fred Harbinson for wining his 200th game as a BCHL coach.

In Niagara, Mitchell Theoret (NYI 2011, 7th) and the IceDogs just trashed the Peterborough Petes with Andrew Yogan (NYR 2000, 3rd) and Peter Ceresnak (NYR 2011, 6th) 9-0. None of the three prospects in this game scored but Theoret did get into his third fight the season.

Theoret besides the fight was scoreless and a +1 for the game. Yogan was even and took an interference minor that led to a Niagara power play goal while his teammate Ceresnak was a -1 with no penalties.

Andrey Pedan (NYI 2011, 3rd) and his Guelph Storm hosted the Sarnia Sting on Sunday. The Storm earned a 3-1 win which moved them into 8th place in the OHL's Western Conference.

As for Pedan, he did not score but picked up his 1st fighting major of the season along with 2 more minors to his PIM to 91 (43 minors and 1 major).

John Persson (NYI 2011, 5th) was scoreless and a -1 as his Red Deer Rebels lost to the Calgary Hitmen 4-2. The Rebels are currently in 9th place in the WHL's Eastern Conference, 4 points away from a playoff spot.

The way the Rebels have been playing it is very unlikely they will turn things around in time to make a run for the playoffs.

Brendan Kichton (NYI 2011, 5th) and his Spokane Chiefs made it 3 wins in 3 nights as they defeated the Portland Winterhawks 6-1. Kichton was scoreless and even for the game.

The one thing that we have taken away from the last 3 games is that the Chiefs are just as much a contender in the WHL's Western Conference as Portland and Tri-City are.

In Baie-Comeau, Samuel Noreau (NYR 2011 5th) missed his third game with an undisclosed injury.

The Predator Strikes Again

noreply@blogger.com (Prospect Park) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 13:29:00 +0000

Saturday night was a much better night for the prospects of the New York Rangers and New York Islanders then Friday was. We saw better efforts out of several prospects even if they didn't show up on the score sheet.

Ranger's First Star Michael St. Croix

Can we just simply give this prospect his contract already? Michael St Croix (NYR 2011, 4th) goes from having a four-game scoreless slump to a favorite to win WHL player of the week again.

For the second time this season Michael St. Croix registered a five point night and for the second time this week a hat trick. St. Croix earned the game's first star thanks to a 3–2-5 night in leading his Edmonton Oil Kings to a 9-2 whipping of the Prince Albert Raiders.

It's the kind of repeat story that we never get tired of telling because we've waited so long to be able to tell this kind of story. We can say that because we've waited eight years to see nights like this.

The details as well as the rest of the day for Ranger prospects can be found right here.

Islanders First Star Brock Nelson

It has been a while since we've seen Brock Nelson (NYI 2010, 1st) here as he has been rather quiet as of late but that was not the case Saturday night. Nelson's 17th goal of the season turned out to be the game-winner as his North Dakota (team with no nickname) defeated St. Cloud State 3-2.

The goal which came at 2:50 of the 3rd period 4th game-winning goal of the season for Nelson. Nelson also had a secondary assist on North Dakota's 1st goal of the game as a game's 2nd star improves to 17-10-27.

Nelson was not the only Islander prospect to have a good evening as you can check out the rest of the Islander prospects right here.

( St. Croix- Edmonton Oil Kings, Nelson- NHL media)

The Gremlins ate my homework

noreply@blogger.com (Prospect Park) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 10:39:00 +0000

For those of you who were kind enough to check the blog out this morning; sorry but Comcast says they are experiencing a "major" breakdown which has knocked out service of all types.

Truth be told Comcast does not want Ranger fans to know that Micheal St. Croix had his 2nd 5 point night of the year.

They do not wasn't you to find out that JT Miller had a 2 goal night or that Christian Thomas was our 3rd star with a 1-1-2 evening.

Those Flyer pukes don't want Islander fans to know that Brock Nelson helped North Dakota win.

They don't want you to know that Brendan Kichton had another strong game either.

All kidding aside we hope you will come back later and get the details.

A Night For Bad News

noreply@blogger.com (Prospect Park) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 12:13:00 +0000

Friday night was more about bad news than it was about outstanding performances for both New York Ranger and New York Islanders prospects. The first bit of bad news was announced before anybody even stepped on the ice as each team had bad news about first-round pick.

The New York Rangers saw their 2010 first-round pick Dylan McIlrath be suspended for eight games as a result of the hit McIlrath delivered during a game against the Victoria Royals on January 18th. If you missed it here is the link to our report from earlier this evening which has a video clip of what McIlrath did.

McIlrath will be eligible to return to play on Friday, February 10th when Moose Jaw Warriors play the Calgary Hitmen.

The New York Islanders found out that there 2011 first round pick Ryan Strome be out at least two weeks possibly three after undergoing surgery for a broken nose and other facial fractures. Strome was a victim of a sucker punch during a game last week and his loss is a huge one for the Niagara IceDogs who also are going to be missing Jeff Beukeboom's son Brock whose out with concussion like symptoms.

Ranger Star Danny Hobbs

It's been a rough senior year for Danny Hobbs as the Rangers 2007 7th round pick has been fighting some nagging ankle injuries that caused to miss a few games but he was healthy on Friday night. His UMass Minutemen were glad to see him back healthy as Hobbs registered his first career hat trick in helping UMass beat Vermont 4-3.

Hobbs opened the scoring with his 7th goal of the season at 8:39 of the first period giving UMass a 1-0 lead and was the only scoring in the period. In the 2nd, Vermont scored twice to take the lead after two periods 2-1.

In the third period, Hobbs tied the score just 59 seconds in with his 8th goal of the season. With UMass on the power play, Hobbs broke the tie with his 3rd goal of the night at 10:23.

UMass as we said went on to win the game 4-3 as Hobbs earned the game's 1st star for his efforts. For Hobbs the three goals also extended a scoring streak that now is up to 6 games (5-4-9) and overall Hobbs is 9-9-18 on the season.

We have the rest of the Ranger prospect report right here.

Islander's Star Brendan Kichton

Sometimes there comes along a player who the first time you watch him, you don't think much of his abilities or his potential. That is why you never want to make a judgment call on a prospect good or bad until you have seen him play in different situations.

That basically is how Brendan Kichton (NYI 2011, 5th) has won us over as the Spokane Chiefs defender has shown us there is more to him than meets the eye. Kichton and his Chiefs were in Kennewick Washington to take on their arch rivals, the Tri-City Americans.

Last Saturday night in Spokane, Kichton and his Chiefs defeated the Americans with Kichton playing a huge role in that win. The rematch Friday night was just as good a game as the last time they met.

Kichton who leads all WHL defensemen scoring also happens to be pretty good defensive player himself. His play on the penalty kill was a big reason why Tri-City could not score on any of the five power plays they had.

But when Spokane was given their 6th power-play of the game it was Kichton who cashed it in. Kichton took a pass right at the blue line and one-timed it towards the Tri-City goal.

The puck deflected off one American and then a second as it somehow found its way into the back of the goal. It was Kichton's 8th goal of the season and 44th on the season (8-36-44)

The goal at 10:56 gave Spokane a 2-1 lead and proved to be the game-winning goal as Spokane added another "pinball like" goal while shorthanded to make it a 3-1 game.

Kichton was named the third star as the Chiefs were able to keep pace with the Vancouver Giants in the battle for the fourth seed in the WHL's Western Conference. As for how the other Islander prospects did as well as an updated injury report can be found right here.

(Hobbs – UMass athletics, Kichton – Spokane Chiefs)

Breaking News McIlrath Suspended 8 Games

noreply@blogger.com (Prospect Park) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 01:01:00 +0000

The WHL this afternoon suspended New York Ranger 2010 first-round pick Dylan McIlrath of the Moose Jaw Warriors for eight games as a result of his receiving a checking to the head major on January 18 against Victoria Royals.

As part of their ruling, the WHL cited that:

1-Primary contact was made to the head of the opponent

2- They hit resulted in an injury to the opponent

3- This is the second suspension the player received the season

For those of you who missed the hit we found this clip starting around the 4:12 point and as much as we are huge fans of Dylan McIlrath there is no way we can disagree with this ruling.

A stick tap goes out to our friend Gregg Drinnan of Taking Note for finding these quotes from McIlrath as told to Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald.

Meanwhile, the Moose Jaw Warriors await word from the WHL office as to the length of suspension to D Dylan McIlrath, who took out Victoria Royals D Jesse Zgraggen with an elbow to the head on Wednesday night. “I know my thought process coming in wasn’t to hit him up high,” McIlrath told Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald on Thursday.

“I wanted to ride him into the boards and make a routine hip check, like I’ve done so many times before,” McIlrath said. “It was just a bang-bang play. It’s unfortunate.

“I saw him on the ice. Obviously, I didn’t want to see anyone to get injured. I felt bad right after it happened. He went down pretty hard. It’s tough to see.”

McIlrath is a repeat offender, having sat out three games after a charging major he incurred on Nov. 23 for a hit on F Trevor Cheek of the Calgary Hitmen.

As we stated in the past, we like good clean hitting and we don't want to see the game lose the hitting part but we do want to see the the sport lose the "people getting hurt" part of the game that is happening sadly with an increasing rate.

We will have more on this later as part of our Friday evening report.

(McIlrath – Moose Jaw Warriors)

Ewwwwww

noreply@blogger.com (Prospect Park) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:25:00 +0000

The New York Rangers were not the only ones to have a rough Thursday evening as three of their prospects saw their teams suffer ugly losses while the one I New York Islander prospect to play got to see his team earn a blowout win

Andrew Yogan (NYR 2010, 3rd) it is hard to talk about how good he played when his team the Peterborough Petes lost 9-4 to the Ottawa 67's. What a strange game this was as a total of 7 goals were scored by the 2 teams in the first period.

Yogan had a goal and an assist for the Petes as this was a tough one to watch. Peterborough put themselves into an early hole when they gave up a shorthanded goal in the game's first 4 minutes. The Petes were playing catch-up the rest of the game and outside of a couple of minutes in the first period were never really in it.

Yogan was able to help Petes tie the score at 1-1 when he set up Joey West at 7:36. It was Yogan's 20th assist of the season but Ottawa answered back 4 minute later to re-take the lead at 2-1.

Peterborough answered back less than 30 seconds later to tie the game up once again at 12:23 and then Yogan gave the Petes their only lead of the game when he scored his 23rd goal of the season exactly 23 seconds later at 12:46.

That was the end of Peterborough highlights the night as Ottawa and reeled off 2 goals to reclaim the lead at the end of the two stars period 4-3. In the second period, the 67s added 2 more goals to stretch their lead to 6-3.

Peterborough would score 1 goal early in the 3rd period to pull within 2 goals making it a 6-4 game. But any hope of a comeback was snuffed out when Ottawa scored 3 more goals to win the game 9-4.

The loss put the Petes 3 points behind 5th-place Barrie who won on Thursday. It was the Petes 2nd straight loss and kept them tied with Mississauga.

While Yogan improves to 23-20-43, he was also a -2 and took one minor penalty. Teammate. Peter Ceresnak (NYR 2011, 6th) was scoreless and for the most part invisible despite being the starting defenseman.

Thursday was equally as cruel to JT Miller (NYR 2011, 1st) and his Plymouth Whalers as they took on the Brampton Battalion. It was a matchup of teams both leading a division in their respective conference as well as being the current 2nd seed.

Miller entered this game struggling with a slump having just 1 point in 6 games for the month of January. Make it 7 games as the Battalion embarrassed the Whalers shutting them out 3-0 but the score was not what was embarrassing.

It was Brampton holding Plymouth to a total of 9 shots for the entire game. Plymouth managed 4 shots in the 1st, none in the 2nd and 5 for the 3rd.

There really isn't much you can say as Plymouth who leads the OHL in goals scored found themselves totally shut down by the team that is given up the fewest goals in the OHL.

Adding to the Thursday fun was Andrey Pedan (NYI 2011, 3rd) and Guelph Storm as they took on the Windsor Spitfires. Both teams play in the OHL's Western Conference and are among two other teams who are fighting it out for the bottom 3 seeds in the conference.

The Storm had little trouble with the Spitfires this evening blowing them out 6-0. This was a real beating as the Storm outshot the Spitfires 43-23 and a 4 goal is first period was all they needed for the win.

For Pedan, the game ended a streak that to us leaves us scratching our head as Pedan did not take a penalty. Pedan had taken a penalty in each of his previous 5 games as part of the 38 penalties he has taken this season.

Pedan even had a primary assist on Guelph's 5th goal of the game ending a 4-game scoreless streak for him. It was Pedan's 14th assist of the season and 20th point.

With the win, the Storm were able to move past Saginaw and into the 8th seed just 1 point behind the Spitfires who are holding down the 6th seed.

(Yogan – Peterborough, Miller – Plymouth, Pedan – Terry Wilson of OHL Images)

Some Good Some Bad

noreply@blogger.com (Prospect Park) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:03:00 +0000

Wednesday night was New York Ranger prospect night as they had 5 prospects playing and the results were a mixed bag. It very much was one of those 'we got good news and we got bad news so which do you want first?"

We'll start with the good stuff as Michael St. Croix (2011, 4th) ended a four-game scoreless streak in style. St. Croix registered a natural hat trick to help his Edmonton Oil Kings to a 5-0 shutout win over the Prince George Cougars.

For St. Croix who was named the game's first star game actually was a bit of a mixed bag for him despite the goals. St. Croix got his evening started when he scored his 26th goal of the season at 19:12 of the first period which gave the Oil Kings a 2-0 lead

In the second period, St. Croix was the beneficiary of some great forechecking by his teammates as they pinned the Cougars into their defensive zone long enough to start a line change while still on the attack.

St. Croix had just stepped on the ice and went right towards the net where he found the puck at his feet, tapped the puck to his stick and goal number 27 was in the net.

The even strength goal came at 9:02 and gave his Oil Kings a 3-0 lead. The goal also matched St. Croix's career-high of 27 goals that he he set last year.

But St. Croix on the same shift also took a bad penalty as he was called for tripping at 9:38 which gave Prince George their first power play of the game. Prince George didn't score and exactly one second after St. Croix's penalty had ended wound up catching Prince George with too many men on the ice giving the Oil Kings a power play of their own.

About 20 seconds into the power play St. Croix fired what looked to be more of a pass then a shot but the puck wound up in the net and St. Croix earned himself his second hat trick of the season as well as a new career-high in goals scored at 28.

The Oil Kings would add another goal 1 more goal finish up the scoring for the evening.
It was not the perfect game for St. Croix but it broke his scoreless streak and the current Ranger prospect leader in scoring is now up to 28-42-70 on the season which is also good enough to be 6th in the WHL for scoring.

For a couple of weeks now we were kind of worried about how physical Dylan McIlrath (2010, 1st) had been playing. It was looking to us like he was almost borderline on some of his hits as well as his timing in getting into fights.

His Moose Jaw Warriors team have been playing a very physical brand of hockey and it is a big reason why Moose Jaw is in first place team in the WHL's East division and second place in the WHL's Eastern conference.

Now please don't think that Dylan McIlrath is a dirty player as that is not the case. The case is a 6'5 and stronger than the average teenager. He plays a physical game and sometimes he just does not know his own strength

We found a video with highlights of this game which was Moose Jaw hosting the Victoria Royals. Victoria was hitting just as hard as Moose Jaw was as you will see in the video package. McIlrath's hit starts at around 4:12 of this clip.

The first couple of angles shown to not give clear look at the hit but the third angle which is over McIlrath's shoulder is the best look and sadly confirms our fears.

The way that the WHL has been handing out discipline has us thinking that as a second offender is looking at somewhere between 5 and 10 games. And as much as we are big fans of Dylan McIlrath a suspension in this case is warranted and deserved.

Now before people want to get on the soapbox and talk about how we are turning the game soft; it's not about taking the hitting out of the game it's about taking people getting hurt out of the game.

More importantly Dylan McIlrath is a key player for the Warriors, his presence in or out of the lineup could be the difference between Moose Jaw entering the WHL Playoffs as a first or second seed.

The other problem is when McIlrath returns to the lineup he's going to have a bull's-eye on him with the officials. When you coming back off of a a suspension, the officials they watch a little closer, they don't give you the benefit of the doubt when it comes to close calls, and we really don't want to tell you what happens if a third situation comes up especially in the playoffs.

When we did the mid-season review and we got to Shane McColgan (2011, 5th) of the Kelowna Rockets, we said that: the season is going to be dependent on how well McColgan plays.

Wednesday night McColgan and his Kelowna Rockets hosted the Everett Silvertips on the back end of the home and home series between the two teams. Kelowna had won on Everett's ice on Sunday and was looking for the sweep.

Everett was able to grab a two-goal lead by the end of the first period and made it stand up until the final minute of the second period when McColgan set up Colton Sissions for a power-play goal at 19:19 per Kelowna's first goal of the game.

In the third, Everett scored again just 2 minutes into the period to push their lead back to two goals. McColgan answered with his 12th goal of the season at 10:08 to pull Kelowna to within one goal at 3-2.

That was as close as Kelowna would get as Everett walks out with the win. Kelowna can look at this game and realize that they should have lost it not to the team with the worst record in the WHL.

We can't complain about McColgan after he went 1-1-2 to improve on his season to 12-34-46 which is 3rd among Ranger prospects.

JT Miller (2011,1st) that his Plymouth Whalers into Owen Sound to take on the defending OHL Champions the Attack. January has not been very kind to JT Miller who has all of one point on-I assist to show for his last 6 games.

Owen Sound is where Scott Stajcer (2009, 5th) plays or should we say shares the play in a goalie rotation that we honestly think is not good for either goalie and their development.

But credit Owen Sound as they defeated Plymouth 5-4 to extend their unbeaten streak to 5 games. Miller didn't score as his slump continues.

For Miller's part, his coach Mike Vellucci still has Miller as his first-line center so we will watch and see how Miller deals with being a slump.

(St. Croix - Edmonton Oil Kings, Dylan McIlrath - Moose Jaw Warriors, Shane McColgan- Kelowna Rockets)

Don't Blink

noreply@blogger.com (Prospect Park) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:58:00 +0000

Tuesday night only had one prospect in action and that was New York Islander prospect John Persson (2011, 5th) of the Red Deer Rebels. Once upon a time, Persson and his Rebels were flying high challenging for the WHL's Eastern Conference lead.

But that was back in November matter of fact we can tell you exactly when the Red Deer season fell apart and that was on Sunday, November 13. That was the start of a month-long losing streak as Red Deer did not win another game until Tuesday, December 13.

Red Deer played 13 games in that span and did not win a single one. November 13 was also the day that John Persson's 8 game scoring streak came to a halt.

The first 20 games of the season, Persson was 11–16– 27 and was leading all Islander prospects in scoring. In the 23 games since then Persson has gone 4-8-12.

What's scary is that up until last weekend Persson continued to lead Islander prospects in scoring. Out of fairness to the Islanders, the majority of their best prospects play in the NCAA.

The Rebels have fallen all the way to 9th place in the WHL's Eastern conference, their season record has hovered around the 500 mark which made Tuesday night the wrong time for them the face the Calgary Hitmen.

The Hitmen entered the game winners of 7 straight and have blown past the Rebels in the standings. Make it 8 straight games the Hitmen ran all over the Rebels 5-1.

As it has been during the Rebels hard times, the Rebels would get a 1-0 lead and then the other team would do just like Hitmen did score 5 unanswered goals and that was the game.

It's not like the Rebels are out of it in terms of the playoffs but they're falling further and further back. Persson was scoreless continuing his own struggles.

John Tortorella's Worst Nightmare

I actually feel sorry for the coach as he has had to put up with Brian Engblom for two straight games asking without question some of the dumbest questions ever asked of an NHL coach.

Then to top his night off, he gets to listen to his owner talking about winning the Stanley Cup. Don't think for a second that the Ranger beat media did not enjoy John Tortorella's discomfort.

The ones I did feel sorry for were the Rangers PR guys; those guys have to have the toughest job in all of sports. This might surprise you but these guys are really good people who have gone above and beyond for me on several occasions.

But I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in John Tortorella's office after he finished with his postgame press conference.

You want to talk about a MasterCard moment?

Yup that would have been priceless.

(Persson – New York Islanders)

Bravo For Life's Little Ironies

noreply@blogger.com (Prospect Park) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 06:38:00 +0000

Monday in the United States was supposed to be about honoring the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr; the one game involving a New York Ranger prospect would not be a good example of what Dr. King was working for.

In Plymouth, JT Miller (NYR 2011 1st) and his Plymouth Whalers hosted the Windsor Spitfires in a game that wound up with 37 different penalties, 112 penalty minutes, 7 fights, and we expect later this week that a couple of coaches will be writing checks to the league and a couple of players will be suspended.

Oh yeah, Plymouth rolled over Windsor 5-1 in a game that the score did not even come close to describing how badly Plymouth beat on the Spitfires. The Whalers wound up with 54 shots for the entire game while holding the Spitfires to 27 shots.

Miller was scoreless in this game but was involved in one of the fights which makes it is for fighting major of the season and second game in a row with fight. If JT Miller plans on playing as a pro next year that some friendly advice to him would be that the others fight and you do everything else.

The Rangers are going to start your contract just because you can fight; they will turn you pro because you can score, create, and play defense. For you fighting to be the last resort.

We normally don't do game sheets but this one we think we should because it's very much an example of what happens when a game gets out of control. We expect the couple of coaches to be writing couple checks as will the team as well. Total disgrace to the game and of all days, Dr. Martin Luther King Day.

You know how coaches like talk about missed opportunities? On Monday evening, the Spokane Chiefs might look back at their game with the Seattle Thunderbirds as one of those missed opportunities.

Brendan Kichton (NYI 2011 5th) and his Chief teammates will regret their 3-2 loss to the Thunderbirds as they could've closed to within two points of fourth place in the WHL's Western Conference.

Ranger fans will understand this one as Spokane defeated conference leading Tri-City just the other night in what was a key win for them but lost the momentum by losing to a team that's 15 points behind them in the standings.

Kichton didn't score but he had his chances but he isn't to blame for the loss as this one belongs the entire team. Spokane had three games in hand entering today's play, losing this one could down the road be the difference between having home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs and not having it.

Lessons lost

I was five years old when Dr. Martin Luther King gave his "I've got a dream" speech in Washington DC. I was eight when he was assassinated in Memphis Tennessee and I remember my mother crying because he wasn't a president, he was just a man at least that's what I thought.

It saddens me that in the year 2012 that we still have to fight bigotry and intolerance. I'm grateful that my mom taught me that the people not by the color of their skin but rather the size of their heart.

It has been 48 years since Dr. King spoke his most powerful words about having a dream. Yes you can say there has been some change but honestly very small.

We still have incidents of players using racial or sexual gender remarks. One would think that by now that would not be any need for investigation of alleged remarks but yet three times in the NHL, two times in the OHL and who knows how many times in the other leagues.

The excuse that we hear be given time and time again is "the heat of the moment or battle." In 2012 that excuse should be unacceptable to all of us.

Maybe I'm disappointed because on one hand we don't see people counting how many people of color are playing the game. That's a good sign; now we have to work on the mindsets because it should not matter what color player is, or if he's gay or straight.

What should matter is he a good player, is he a good contributor to the community and to see the type of person you would want your kids to have as a role model.

Call that my "I have a dream" moment.

(Dr. Martin Luther King- Dr. Martin Luther King.net)

Missed Opportunities

noreply@blogger.com (Prospect Park) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 05:17:00 +0000

Sunday was definitely not a day for pretty hockey as five New York Ranger prospects combined for a total of one assist among themselves while the lone Islander prospect was a healthy scratch. It very much was a Sunday to just stay in bed and watch football.

Dylan McIlrath (NYR 2010 1st) was the only Ranger prospect to earn a point on Sunday as McIrath's Moose Jaw Warriors thanks to a five goal third period blew out the Brandon Wheat Kings 8-2. The game had been close for the first two periods but the third period was just too much Moose Jaw.

McIlrath had a primary assist on Moose Jaw's 7th goal which was McIlrath's 14th assist of the season and 16th overall point.

Shane McColgan (NYR 2011 5th) had a scoreless evening as his Kelowna Rockets needed the shootout before securing a 3-2 win over the Everett Silvertips. The win improved Kelowna's record to 18-21-2-3 which is good for sixth place in the WHL's Western Conference.

Michael St. Croix (NYR 2011 4th) and his Edmonton Oil Kings are discovering that like to the top gets harder and harder as they dropped a 4-3 decision to the Calgary Hitmen. Michael St. Croix has now gone pointless in his last four games.

Samuel Noreau (NYR 2011 5th) and his Baie-Comeau Drakkar got smoked 8-1 by Victoriaville Tigre. This was one ugly game for the Drakkar as the Tigre jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the first period; then the Drakkar scored once to make it look like a game.

Then the Tigre scored six unanswered goalsto make it a blowout win. The Tigre held the Drakkar to no morethan seven shots per period while firing 43 their own. Noreau was was scoreless and a -2 for the evening.

Christian Thomas (NYR 2010 2nd) and his Oshawa Generals missed out on an opportunity to pass Mississauga in the standings by losing to the Sudbury Wolves 3-2. Thomas was scoreless as the Generals remain in ninth place in the OHL's Eastern Conference.

Cody Rosen (NYI 2010 7th) was a healthy scratch for the Clarkson Knights as they beat Yale 5-4 in overtime.

Plenty Of Nothing To Go Around

noreply@blogger.com (Prospect Park) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 10:33:00 +0000

There are times where trying to make sense of what is happening with New York Ranger or New York Islander prospects is best not attempted. Saturday night saw five games end in shutouts, two games were 2-1 scores, and we even had a tie.

Rather than do the usual first, second, third star that really overall for players stood out and the rest did not.

Star-- Scott Stajcer Owen Sound Attack

On an evening where shutouts were the norm it was nice that one of the prospect goalies was able to get one for himself. Scott Stajcer (NYR 2009 5th) earned his third OHL career shutout after blanking the Erie Otters 5-0.

Stajcer stopped all 27 shots he faced but we also have to give credit to his teammates for limiting how many chances the Otters and against Stajcer. Other than 12 shots in the first period, the Otters were held to 15 shots total in the second and third periods.

Stajcer improves to 8-6-2-2, 2.41 goals against (5th OHL), and a 0.928 save percentage (3rd OHL). The win also extends Owen Sound's unbeaten streak to four games and helps them pulled to within two points of 4th place Sarnia in OHL's Western Conference.

Star-- Brendan Kichton Spokane Chiefs

It was a pretty big game for Brendan Kichton (NYI 2011 5th) and his Spokane Chiefs as they were facing the Tri-City Americans who currently are the leaders in the WHL's Western Conference. The Americans coming into this game winners of 14 out of their last 15 games and held an 18 point lead over the Chiefs.

For the Chiefs the opportunity to show that they can play with the Americans who they might face in the playoffs was important. The Chiefs behind to Kichton's 2 assists were able to defeat the Americans 5-3.

The game's second star, Kichton had the primary assist on the Chiefs first goal and the secondary assist on the goal that proved to be the game-winner. The two assists extended Kichton's scoring streak to 6 games (1-9-10) and his overall season numbers to 7-36-43 which is tops among WHL defensemen.

Star-- Chris Kreider Boston College

Chris Kreider (NYR 2009 1st) came through with the big goal as Kreider's 14th goal of the season wound up being the game winning goal as fourth-ranked Boston College held off Northeastern 2-1 as part of the "Frozen Fenway" festivities.

Kreider and teammate Danny Linnell teamed up on the game winning goal as Linnell got the puck to an open Kreider who is able to beat Northeastern goalie Chris Rawlings for shorthanded goal and 2-1 lead. It was Kreider's second career shorthanded goal but it could not come at a better time for Boston College.

After disappointing loss Friday night to Massachusetts, Boston College really needed this win and thanks to Kreider's efforts they got it. And as we have been tracking all season long, Kreider took five shots and is now 14-11-25.

Star Steven Fogarty Penticton Vees

Steven Fogarty (NYR 2011 3rd) earned second star of the game honorsafter a two assist performance helped his Penticton Vees to a 4-0 win over the Prince George Spruce Kings in the BCHL action on Saturday evening. Fogarty had a primary as well as a secondary assist on two goals in the third period.

Fogarty was also part of the Vees penalty kill unit that stopped all six Spruce King power plays. While the Vees extend their winning streak to 23 straight games; Fogarty extends his own scoring streak to five games (4-6-10) as well as his season totals o f20-30-50 making him the second Ranger prospect to reach the 50 point level the season.

The Rest Of The Prospects (Islanders)

Brock Nelson (NYI 2010 1st) was held scoreless as his North Dakota (no nickname) lost to fifth-ranked Minnesota 6-2. Nelson was held to shots and a -1

Anders Lee (NYI 2009 6th) and Robbie Russo (NYI 2011 4th) were both held scoreless as their third-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish lost to 11th-ranked Western Michigan the second straight night; this time 3-1.

John Persson (2011 5th)and his Red Deer Rebels were shut out by the Swift Current Broncos 4-0. Persson was -2 for this game as his team saw the record fall back to 500 at 19-19-1-4.

Ryan Strome's (NYI 2011 1st) nose made some kind of miraculous recovery as when from being shattered to whatever as Strome and his Niagara IceDogs defeated the Barrie Colts 4-1. Strome had a secondary assist on Niagara second goal which proved to be game-winning goal and raises season totals to 18-22-40.

The win which is Niagara's fifth straight also move them into a virtual tie on top of the OHL's Eastern conference.

Kirill Kabanov (NYI 2010 3rd) was scoreless as is Shawinigan Cataractes were 4-1 winners over the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. It was a sixth straight for the Cataractes who are the overall leaders in the QMJHL.

Andrey Pedan (NYI 2011 3rd) was scoreless but he did take is 38 minor penalty of the season as his the Guelph Storm shutout the Peterborough Petes3-0 with Ranger prospects Andrew Yogan (NYR 2010 3rd) and Peter Ceresnak (NYR 2011 6th).

The win allowed the Storm to move into 8th place in the OHL's Western Conference while the Petes missed out on a chance to pass Barrie for this place in the OHL's Eastern conference

The Ranger Prospects

JT Miller (NYR 2011 1st) and his Plymouth Whalers were shut out 2-0 by the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors. The loss ended Plymouth's seven-game winning streak.

Dylan McIlrath (NYR 2010 1st) did not score, picked up his eighth fighting major of the season as well as an instigator and misconduct but in this case it was to defend his goalie. His Moose jaw Warriors though loss the game to the Medicine Hat Tigers 4-3.

Shane McColgan (NYR 2011 5th) did not score but his Kelowna Rockets were still able to pullout a 4-3 win over the Vancouver Giants.This was one game where McColgan and his teammates should take out their goalie for huge steak dinner as he saved their butts big-time. The chances could not score on had Adam Brown while the Rockets scored four goals on 15 shots against a 16-year-old goalie.

Michael St. Croix (NYR 2011 4th) was scoreless for the third straight game but his Edmonton Oil Kings were able to extend their unbeaten streak to five games after defeating the Kootenay Ice in overtime 3-.2

DID NOT PLAY

Jason Clark (NYI 2010 3rd) - Wisconsin-unknown
Mitchell Theoret (NYI 2011 7th) - Niagara- unspecified injury
Cody Rosen (NYI 2010 7th) - Clarkson- healthy scratch

(Stajcer-Aaron Bell of OHL images, Kreider – NHL media, Fogarty – Penticton Vees, Kichton – Spokane Chiefs)

Welcome To Friday The 13th Hockey Style (Ryan Strome Injured)

noreply@blogger.com (Prospect Park) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 13:58:00 +0000

BREAKING NEWS RYAN STROME INJURED

Reports coming out of the Niagara IceDog camp are saying that New York Islander 2011 first-round pick Ryan Strome was injured during the game between the IceDogs and the Sudbury Wolves.

According to this report written by Bill Potrecz of the Chronicle;

Niagara coach/GM Marty Williamson is quoted as saying "Stromer shattered his nose and we'll have to see what else is wrong with him,"

We don't have any details as to the severity of his injuries. As of this writing we do know that the very least he is a broken nose and possibly other facial injuries.

We also want to report that Strome's teammate Brock Beukeboom also suffered some form of head injury. Brock Beukeboom is the son of former New York Ranger Jeff Beukeboom whose own career was cut short by a concussion.

Our thoughts and prayers are with these two young men for a full recovery

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Good old Friday the 13th, it sure lived up to it's reputation as we had some interesting performances both good and bad from the New York Ranger and the New York Islanders prospects.

It's always nice when you have to think long and hard over who deserves which star because Friday night we had several performances worthy of stars. Even better is seeing prospects addressing some of the concerns that we had about them.

Rangers First Star- Steven Fogarty

When we did the mid-season review on the prospects, one of the things that we wanted to see from Steven Fogarty (NYR 2011 3rd) was a multi-goal games. We just felt that because Fogarty did not always face the of the team's best players that his production should be a little higher.

Against the Langley Rivermen, Fogarty went out and scored his first BCHL hat trick to help his Penticton Vees win their 22nd straight game 9-2. Fogarty added a assist to make it a four-point evening for Rangers 2011 3rd round pick.

The Rivermen never had a chance in this game as Fogarty opened a scoring with his 18th goal of the season at even strength coming at 11:49 of the first. In the second, Fogarty scored his 19th goal of the season this time shorthanded at 3:03 which gave the Vees 3-0 lead.

That goal also wound up being the game winning goal (his fifth game-winner) but Fogarty still wasn't done. In the third, with the Vees already leading 6-2, Fogarty earned a secondary assist on power play goal making the score 7-2.

At 17:18, Fogarty earned the hat trick when he scored his 20th goal of the season and making it 8-2. The four-point night earned Fogarty the game's second star as the Vees with their win also set a new BCHL Interior conference record for most consecutive wins.

Fogarty is now 20-28-48 on the season which makes him second among Ranger prospects in scoring. This is just beginning of the Ranger evening and you can find a full report right here.

Islander First Star Kirill Kabanov

The news of Ryan Strome's injuries put a damper on the island of prospect evening as several Islander prospects did play well.

Kirill Kabanov (NYI 2010 3rd) must've been reading about our worrying about his season as Kabanov helped lead his Shawinigan Cataractes to an 8-2 whipping of the Prince Edward Island Rocket. This one was a butt kicking from the start of the game all the way to the very end as the Cataractes jumped all over the Rocket and never to the foot off the gas.

Kabanov had a 1-2-3 evening starting with a secondary assist on the Cataractes 4th goal of the first period. Kabanov then added his 15th goal of the season at 3:28 of the second period to make it a 5-0 game.

Kabanov also added a second secondary assist on the Cataractes eighth and final goal of the game. When the smoke cleared, Kabanov is now 15-19-34 with a +16 on the season.

The win was the fifth straight for Shawinigan who moved into first place in the QMJHL standings. The rest of the Islander prospects did not play that badly I'm actually saw some strong play; you can find that report right here

( Kabanbov- Ron Morin, Fogarty- Penticton)

Contenders or Pretenders?

noreply@blogger.com (Prospect Park) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 08:41:00 +0000

Thursday night was a rather interesting night with five games involving New York Ranger and New York Islander prospects. That was a wild shootout and "message game" in the QMJHL, two one goal games in the OHL and in case of the rich getting richer in the WHL.

We have to start with a key matchup in the OHL as Ryan Strome and his Niagara IceDogs took on the Barrie Colts. The two teams are fighting for the the top spot in both the OHL's Eastern conference as well as the lead in the Central Division.

Ryan Strome (NYI 2011 1st) set up Freddie Hamilton for the go-ahead goal at 12:07 of the third as Niagara edge Barrie 2-1 for the ice dogs third straight win. It was Strome's 20th assist of the season and it helps Niagara pulled within two points of central division leader Brampton was idle.

Strome now has a four game scoring streak going (2-7-9) as he improves to 17–20–37 on the season. Fellow Islander prospect Mitchell Theoret (NYI 2011 7th) was a healthy scratch for the second game in a row.

In Peterborough, the Petes were hosting the Kitchener Rangers in the aftermath of what was an unpopular trade by the Petes involving one of their top players. Currently the Petes sit in seventh of the OHL season conference holding onto a slim two-point lead over Mississauga but at the same time also trail fourth-seeded Barrie by three points.

Kitchener earned a 2-1 win over the Petes behind a two-goal second period and then play of their goalie Frankie Palazzese who stole the show stopping 38 of 39 shots. Ranger prospects Andrew Yogan (NYR 2010 3rd) and Peter Ceresnak (NYR 2011 6th) were both scoreless in his matchup.

Ceresnak took a holding penalty in the second period and led to Kitchener's first goal of the game.

In the QMJHL, we were treated to a taste of what might happen at the 2012 Memorial Cup as the 2011 Memorial Cup winners, the Saint.John Sea Dogs hosted the Shawinigan Cataractes will be hosting the 2012 Memorial Cup.

The Cataractes entered this game trailing the Sea Dogs by two points in the race for first place in the QMJHL and was interesting because both teams added couple of key players for the playoff run.

The defending champions added Charlie Coyle via Team USA and Boston University while the Cataractes were debuting defensemen Brandon Gormley who they acquired in a trade last week. If you don't know who Gormley is; he was only voted the best defensemen at the just concluded World Under 20 championships.

The Cataractes struck first when Kirill Kabanov (NYI 2010 3rd) set up Michael Chaput for the game's opening goal at 7:40 of the first period. It was Kabanov's 17 assist of the season and 31st point.

While Saint John did tie the score almost 3 minutes later; the Cataractes took control in the second and third periods to learn a 4-1 win. Kabanov actually had a pretty good evening as he got off six shots including three really good scoring chances.

We have a feeling we will be seeing these two teams in both the QMJHL playoffs and the Memorial Cup.

And it's almost funny that we went from a really good well played game to pond hockey as Samuel Noreau (NYR 2011 5th) and his Baie-Comeau Drakkar took on the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. The Armada somehow was able to eke out a 7-6 win over the Drakkar.

How many different ways forFinally in the WHL we had one game featuring Michael St. Croix (NYR 2011 4th) and his Edmonton Oil Kings as they were on the road facing the Medicine Hat Tigers. Our interest wasn't really on Michael St. Croix but rather the newest member of the Oil Kings, Henrik Samuelsson.

Samuelsson the son of former Ranger Ulfie was actually returning to North America to play after starting the season in Sweden. Samuelsson is 6'2 192 lb right wing who can also play center.

We won't kid ourselves as clearly this was a move by Samuelsson to improve his draft status. The midseason CSB rankings had Samuelsson ranked as the 33rd European skater.

Returning to North America where Samuelsson played for the USNTDP teams the last couple of seasons should help improve his draft value especially playing on team like the Oil Kings.

The Oil Kings scoring three times in 4:13 at the end of the second period; turned a 2-2 game into a 5-2 lead after two periods. Michael St.Croix did not score for the the oil Kings in this one and they really did not need his offense.

The Oil Kings with the win now have a 4 game unbeaten streak; they also increased their lead over second-place Moose Jaw to six points. this game to be wild? In the first period we had four goals scored in about 5 minutes, then 2 goals 10 seconds. Then we saw 4 consecutive power-play goals and the Drakkar still had a chance to tie the game up in last minute.

This was definitely not a game for your penalty kill as the two teams combined to go five for six on the evening. In the end the fans can't say that they didn't get their monies worth out of this one.

(Strome – Aaron Bell– OHL images, Kabanov – Ron Morin/Lewiston Maineaics)

Middle Of The Week Lessons

noreply@blogger.com (Prospect Park) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 09:55:00 +0000

On Wednesday night, 3 prospects saw action (2 New York Islander, 1 New York Ranger) with all the action taking place in the WHL.

We start our evening in Spokane Washington where quietly the Spokane Chiefs are starting to heat up. The Chiefs began play Wednesday night with a modest three-game winning streak as the Chiefs are in fifth place in the WHL's Western Conference.

Part of the reason that the keys are starting to heat up has to be due to Brendan Kichton (NYI 2011 5th) is also starting to heat up. We had said that for Spokane have any hope of going deep in the playoffs that they needed Kichton to start putting the puck in the back of the net.

Kichton had gone 13 games without scoring a goal but after Spokane had traded away their leading goal scorer last week, the pressure on Kichton to produce became greater. Against Everett, Kichton broke his goal scoring slump as the game's first star wound up with a 1-2-3 evening to the Spokane to a 6-1 win and a four-game winning streak.

Spokane was already up 1-0 when Kichton earned his first point of the evening; a secondary assist on Spokane second goal just 7:23 into the game. Everett got a goal back late in the first to make it a 2-1 game and almost escaped the first period down only one.

Kichton earned his second assist of the evening when he found Blake Gal for a goal at 19:03 of the first period extending the lead to two goals again. Spokane added two goals in the second and in the third Kichton picked up his seventh goal of the season 1:46 of the 3rd to make it 6-1.

For Kichton his seventh goal along with his two assists brought his season totals to 7-33-40 which in addition to leading all WHL defensemen in scoring; also made Kichton the new leader in scoring for Islander prospects.

The win also was number 500 for Spokane coach Don Nachbaur so we offer our congratulations to the coach on this milestone.

In Red Deer, the Islanders other fifth-round pick from the 2011 draft John Persson continued their hard luck season losing in the shootout 2-1 to the visiting Kootenay Ice. This actually was a pretty good goaltenders battle as neither team could find a way to get anything passed the two goalies.

Eventually the game made its way to to the shootout where Red Deer couldn't score there either as the Ice were able to score on one of their times to earn the extra point.

In Portland, Shane McColgan (NYR 2011 5th) led his Kelowna Rockets up against the Portland WinterHawks and in this one the Rockets were their own worst enemy. The Winterhawks came away with a 4-2 win with the difference being the two shorthanded goals that Portland scored in this game.

The Rockets actually had the better of play during the first, outshooting Portland 15-8 but Portland scored first taking advantage of a power play to grab a 1-0 lead. McColgan and his teammates responded quickly as McColgan set up Madison Bowey for the game-tying goal at 10:22.

Portland broke that tie 1:03 later taking the lead for good at 11:25 and the Rockets trailed 2-1. 54 seconds into the 2nd period, Portland made it 3-1 with a shorthanded goal and then added a second shorthanded goal at 6:38 for a 4-1 lead.

McColgan also had a fight in the 2nd period for his 3rd of the season as the assist gave him a 11-32-43 on the season. The 2 teams will play each other again on Friday.

(Kichton- courtesy of the Spokane Chiefs.)

Losing Without Playing

noreply@blogger.com (Prospect Park) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:12:00 +0000

While there was no action involving New York Ranger or New York Islander prospects on the ice; off the ice was the trading deadline day for both the WHL and the OHL.

No Ranger or Islander prospects changed teams on Tuesday but that for a few of the prospects what happened Tuesday will have an impact on how the rest of their season goes.

In our eyes, the one prospect was affected most on Tuesday was Scott Stajcer. Stajcer the New York Rangers fifth round pick in the 2009 draft had been sharing the goaltender duties in Owen Sound.

Now we can understand the reluctance of Owen Sound general manager Dale Degray to trade Stajcer given how his other goalie Jordan Binnington has had a subpar season. But now that the decision has been made to keep Stajcer then it's only fair to turn over the starters position to Stajcer.

With Stajcer having a respectable 2.55 goals against and a 0.925 save percentage than the choice is clear if the goal is to win. Stajcer has the fifth best record among all OHL goalies so now it's time to put away the 50/50 rotation.

If not this will be a wasted season for Stajcer.

Our friend Neate Sager of Buzzingthenet may have said it best when he said about the Oshawa Generals

"Oshawa is gambling the reinforcements can pay off in a third or fourth playoff seed, by which time 17-year-old goalie Dan Altshuller might be ready to live up to his considerable potential."

We are hoping that the Oshawa Generals would have traded Christian Thomas thinking about next year rather than gambling this year. Right now the Generals sit in ninth place of the OHL's Eastern Conference. And yes we will say that that conference is mostly wide open right now; that can change in a hurry.

Thomas can score 50 goals but if your defense is giving way 60 goals then you still are going to lose. And if I talked to Christian Thomas tomorrow the first thing I say is stay healthy and we will see you in Connecticut sooner not later.

Then we have the team's who moved people and and helped the prospects like Andrew Yogan. And a rule, we try to avoid the locker room rumors and gossip mainly because we're dealing with teenage boys.(Army saying: Rumor Control is 99% BS)

Yogan's Peterborough Petes traded off one of their best players in Austin Watson and the only thing we know is something happened between team and player that was not good. But in this case we look at it as good for Yogan as somebody will get those minutes.

Yogan has been playing well and this might be the opportunity he needs. Yogan can score a bunch of points so here is you chance kid go for it.

Niagara (Ryan Strome) on the other hand is looking to go for it all giving up basically what amounts to an eight player deal for one guy trying to win the OHL's championship. Niagara had four players who played for Canada on the World under 20 team added a 5th in 6'7defender Jamie Oleksiak.

On paper it looks like they gave up a lot but they really didn't we could talk about the rights to this guy a draft picks for those guys but still we don't think Niagara is going to be an OHL contender.

Plymouth on the other hand with JT Miller decided not to make any kind of any move and it is hard to argue when you have the second best record in the OHL.

Out west in the WHL, the first that stood out was one that didn't cost the Edmonton Oil Kings a lot. They added Henrik Samuelsson as in Son of Ulfie from Modo Sweden. Samuelsson is a 6 foot two wide-body forward who might just move Michael St. Croix's point totals to about 120

Memo to Henrik, lose the King Henrik nickname, someone else has long proven the name is rightfully his.

Dylan McIlrath ought be happy as his Moose Jaw Warriors added one of his best friends from Winnipeg in James Henry who was the captain of the Vancouver Giants and then added still another captain Cam Braes of Lethbridge.

Moose Jaw knows that McIlrath will not be back next season so time to make the move as this just about turns the WHL Eastern Conference into a 2 team race between Moose Jaw and Edmonton.

Neither Kelowna, Red Deer or Spokane made any moves that improved their playoff chances or waved the white flag.

(Stajcer- Aaron Bell of OHL Images)

The Sleepy Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Prospect Park) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 04:05:00 +0000

OK we admit it, because of all the hockey that we get to watch during the course of the season involving the NewYork Ranger and New York Islander prospects that there are days when the hockey is boring.

It is not a knock on the players because it's a long season and not every game is going to be a classic. Sometimes the winning ugly game is a lot better than losing the pretty classic.

So on days like these we decide to focus on the players rather than the wins or losses. We do that because at this point the season we wonder if players might benefit from a change of scenery.

And as much as we like Christian Thomas (NYR 2010 2nd), as much as we like the folks will run the Oshawa Generals including the owner of theirs named Adam Graves that maybe the Generals think about tomorrow. With 27 games remaining in the OHL regular season, do the Generals seriously think they can make a run in the playoffs?

Or as they did once a time, trade a player was not gonna be back next year and get as much for him as they possibly can. Christian Thomas on a good team can be a season changer just like the London Knights did when they sent Thomas to Oshawa as part of the John Tavares/Michael Del Zotto trade?

On Sunday, Thomas had a goal and an assist as the Generals lost 6-2 to the Brampton Battalion. Thomas set up Oshawa's first goal which at the time tied the game at 1-1 but Brampton wound up leading 2-1 after the first period then 3-1 after 2.

In the third period, Thomas scored his 18th goal of the season to cut the lead to 3-2 at 3:44. But that was as close as Oshawa would get as Brampton added a goal 17 seconds later to make a 4-2 and then two more goals to put the game away.

Oshawa saw to winning streak end at five games and still find themselves in ninth place in the OHL's Eastern Conference. Thomas improves to 18-19-37 and is heating up going 5-5-10 in his last 6 games.

JT Miller (NYR 2011 1st) and his Plymouth Whalers would be one of the places where we would like to see Christian Thomas wind up. Miller and his Whalers are in second place in the OHL's Western Conference and after a 2-1 win over the Sarnia Sting have a six game awinning streak going.

Of course the idea of Thomas on the same team as his future teammate sooner than later is our goal. For us it is win-win with the Whalers making a possible Memorial Cup run only helping these 2 Ranger prospects.

As for the game, Miller was scoreless as the Whalers took advantage of Sarnia missing their leading sThe two teams played to a 2- 2 overtime tie as Kreider was scoreless and took only two shots. You already know what to say about how many shots Kreider took so we will skip that.

We are mildly disappointed to be still harping on this at this point in this season. Boston College will not go anywhere without Chris Kreider dominating, corer Nail Yakupov who was injured in the recently concluded World Under-20. But then again put Thomas on the same team as Yakupov has its appeal too.

Chris Kreider (NYR 2009 1st) and his fourth ranked Boston College Eagles hosted 6th ranked Merrimack College in a key Hockey East matchup. Boston College is currently in first of the conference while back is 3rd just three points back but Merrimack has 2 games in hand.

Kirill Kabanov (NYI 2010 3rd) is another player who we think should be producing more than he has been. Kabanov is supposed to be a world class talent and we have seen him dominate. We watched him last season carry the list in in the playoffs and 14-16-30 in 26 games we believe is underachieving.

On Sunday, Kabanov was scoreless as his Shawinigan Cataractes defeated the Victoriaville Tigre 4-2. We would like to see Kabanov going to run and now wait until is guaranteed spot in the Memorial Cup to do that.

Brendan Kichton (NYI 2011 5th) had a primary as well as a secondary assist to help is Spokane Chiefs to 5-3 win over the Everett Silvertips. For Kichton the 2 assists raise his season totals to 6-31-37.

In Edmonton, John Persson (NYI 2011 5th) and his Red Deer Rebels took on WHL Eastern Conference leaders the Edmonton Oil Kings with Michael St. Croix (NYR 2011 4th). In what was a bit of an upset Red Deer defeated Edmonton 4-3 in the shootout.

This was a fight fille game which saw both teams combine for 36 penalties and 114 PIMs. Red Deer was able to halt St. Croix's 7 game scoring streak (7-10-17) while Persson scored his 14th goal of the season.

(Thomas-Oshawa Generals, Miller-Plymouth Whalers)

And They Are Off

noreply@blogger.com (Prospect Park) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 04:50:00 +0000

With the World Under-20 Championships decided and everyone's holiday break over; then the second half of the 2011-2012 season got underway for New York Ranger and New York Islander prospects. Sluggish play would be the best way to talk about the overall play of the prospects

Islander Star - Ryan Strome

Ryan Strome (NYI 2011 1st) returned to the Niagara IceDog lineup on Saturday with a 1-2-3 performance earning him the game's first star as he led his IceDogs to a 4-2 win over the Sarnia Sting.

Strome set up the IceDogs first and second goals of the game then scored the IceDogs third himself for his 17th goal of the season. The goal also proved to be the game winner (Strome's 3rd) as Strome improves to 17-19-36 on the season.

Ranger Star- Danny Hobbs

Hockey East held "Frozen Fenway" on Saturday with Danny Hobbs (NYR 2007 7th) and his UMass Minutemen taking on Vermont. Hobbs and the Minutemen must like playing outdoors as they went to the last 22 seconds of overtime before winning 3-2.

Hobbs scored his 6th goal of the season and had a secondary assist on the game winner. For Hobbs it was his 5th multi-point game of the season.

Hobbs is 6-8-14 on the season as UMass improved to 7-8-5 on the season

The Ranger Prospects

Michael St. Croix (2011 4th) had both a primary and a secondary assist to help his Edmonton Oil Kings come from behind to defeat the Swift Current Broncos. St Croix extends his current scoring streak to 7 games (7-10-17) and is 4th in the WHL at 25-42-67.

Steven Fogarty (2011 3rd) also had a primary and secondary assist to help his Penticton Vees win their 21st straight game 6-1 over the Salmon Arms Silverbacks. Fogarty improves to 17-27-44 on the season as this winning streak is something else to see.

Shane McColgan (2011 5th) also had 2 assists but both his were primary assists. McColgan's Kelowna Rockets wound up going to the shootout before earning a 4-3 win over the Victoria Rockets.

McColgan is now 11-31-42 on the season as the Rockets won their 3rd straight game.

Dylan McIlrath (2010 1st) did not score but earned a misconduct in the 2nd period. McIlrath's Moose Jaw Warriors despite being held to just 22 shots defeated the Kootenay Ice 3-2.

In the QMJHL, Samuel Noreau (2011 5th) was scoreless on 2 shots and a -1 as his Baie-Comeau Drakkar fell in the shootout 3-2 to the Rimouski Oceanic.

In the OHL, Andrew Yogan (2010 3rd) and Peter Ceresnak (2011 6th) were held scoreless but their Peterborough Petes were able to earn a 4-3 shootout win over the Mississauga St. Michaels Majors.

The win enabled the Petes to jump from 7th to 5th in the OHL's Eastern Conference.

JT Miller (2011 1st) had a quiet return to the Plymouth Whaler lineup going scoreless and missing on his shootout attempt but his Whalers were able to earn a 4-3 shootout win over the Saginaw Spirit. It was the Whaler's 5th straight win.

Scott Stajcer (2009 5th) needed overtime but was able to earn his 7th win of the season 4-3 over the Brampton Battalion. Stajcer stopped 35 out of the 38 shots he faced to improve to 7-6-2-2, 2.55 goals against and a 0.925 save percentage.

The Islander Prospects

John Persson (2011 5th) was scoreless as his Red Deer Rebels could not hold a late 3rd period lead and eventually lost 3-2 in overtime to the Medicine Hat Tigers. Rebels are 9th in WHL's Eastern Conference 7 points out of 8th place.

Brendan Kichton (2011 5th) had the primary assist on what proved to be the game winning goal as Kichton's Spokane Chiefs defeated the Seattle Thunderbirds 4-2. The assist was Kichton's 29th on the season and 35th point as Kichton was also a +3 on the evening.

Andrey Pedan (2011 3rd) was scoreless as his Guelph Storm rolled the Saute Ste Marie Greyhounds 6-1. Pedan was a +1 and had a slashing minor.

Brock Nelson (2010 1st) had the primary assist on North Dakota's 3rd goal as North Dakota defeated Clarkson 3-1 in a game played in Winnipeg Manitoba. 7075 attended an NCAA hockey game in Canada says a lot about the good folks of Winnipeg and their love of hockey.

Nelson is now 15-9-24 on the season.

Robbie Russo (2011 4th) had a primary assist on 3rd ranked Notre Dame's first goal as Notre Dame defeated 5th ranked Minnesota 4-3. Anders Lee (2009 6th) did not score but took a team high 6 shots.

Russo is now 3-9-12 on the season.

Scott Mayfield (2011 2nd) scored his 2nd goal of the season as 10th ranked Denver recovered from being upset by University of Alabama-Huntsville on Friday to earn a 5-2 win. For Mayfield it was his 1st goal since October 22nd as Mayfield is now 2-2-4 on season.

Jason Clark (2010 3rd) still has yet to score a point this season but his Wisconsin Badgers defeated RIT 2-1. Clark is pointless in 14 games this season.

Did Not Play

Cody Rosen (NYI 2010 7th) Healthy Scratch
Mitchell Theoret (NYI 2011 7th) Healthy Scratch

Randy McNaught (2010 7th) Unknown

(Strome- Aaron Bell of OHL Images, Hobbs- Masslive.com)

A Good Night To Be A Ranger Fan

noreply@blogger.com (Prospect Park) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 08:39:00 +0000

Guess the New York Ranger 2010 draft class was getting tired of hearing about how good the 2011 draft class has been and made a statement on the first Friday night in 2012. Islander fans got a rough start from their prospects and might want to just skim through this report.

On Thursday night, it was Andrew Yogan and his Peterborough Petes being embarrassed on home ice by the Kingston Frontenacs 7-3. The question was how would the Petes react in the second half of this home and home series.

The Petes behind Andrew Yogan's 2-2-4 evening were able to defeat the Frontenacs 6-4. It was a season high night for the the Rangers 2010 third round pick and for the Petes it could not have come at a better time.

Yogan scored his 19th goal in the second on the power play just 1:40 into the 2nd to gave the Petes a 2-1 lead. It was the start of a 4 goal period for the Petes with Yogan involved in the scoring of 3 of the goals.

Yogan earned secondary assist on the Petes 4th and 5th goals of the game which gave the Petes a 5-2 lead after two periods. Those assists would come in handy as Kingston scored two goals in the third period making it a 5-4 before Yogan sealed the win with an empty net goal for his 20th goal of the season at the 19:00.

For his efforts, Andrew Yogan was named the game's third star but more importantly to us was seeing this kind of performance after a bad performance is a good sign. Not to mention that quietly Andrew Yogan has moved his way up to 4th among Ranger prospect scoring at 20-19-39.

Yogan's 20 goals puts him in second behind Michael St Croix. Fellow Ranger prospect Peter Ceresnak (2011 6th) returned from representing Slovakia at the World Under-20 and was scoreless.

Peterborough's win became even more important after Christian Thomas (NYR 2010 2nd) helped his Oshawa Generals win their fifth straight game 6-3 over the Kitchener Rangers. Thomas had a 1-2-3 evening as he earned the game second star for his performance.

Thomas first point of the game was a secondary assist on a power play goal which at the time gave the Generals a 2-1 lead after the first period. In the second period after the Rangers had tied the score at 2-2, it was Thomas with his second assist of the night this time a primary assist which gave the Generals the lead for good at 3-2.

Thomas added his 17th goal of the season at 16:38 to give the Generals a 5-2 lead on their way to the way to the win. In addition to the win being the team's fifth straight it also raise the team record to 500 and pulled the Generals to within 1 point of eight seeded Mississauga as well as three points of 5th seeded Sudbury.

Thomas and his three points improved his numbers two17-18-35 and we know from experience that if Thomas gets going on a roll he can pile up points in bunches.

If you are an Islander fan then this is one of those parts you wanna skip as Andrey Pedan (NYI 2011 3rd) and his Guelph Storm turned a 3-2 lead after the first period into a 8 -3 blowout loss to the Saginaw Spirit. There's really not a whole bunch one can say when you give up six unanswered goals over two periods.

Pedan was scoreless into the penalty in the second period which led to a Saginaw power play goal. We do not get any satisfaction in reporting the bad stuff but you can't ignore things when they stick out as badly as Pedan's penalty does.

In Niagara, Mitchell Theoret (NYI 2011 7th) and his Niagara IceDogs played host to the Owen Sound Attack. The IceDogs playing good host was kind enough to give away a goal third period lead and settled 4-3 shootout win.

The IceDogs were missing for players including Ryan Strome was returning from representing Canada and the World Under-20. Theoret was scoreless for the evening and Ranger prospect goalie Scott Stajcer (NYR 2009 5th) was the backup for Owen Sound.

In the QMJHL, Kirill Kabanov (NYI 2010 3rd) and his Shawinigan Cataractes exploded for 5 third period goals as they rallied for a 6-3 win over the Chicoutimi Sagueneens. Kabanov had a secondary assist on the games final goal for is 16th assist and 30th point of the season.

In Baie-Comeau, the Drakkar thanks to a pair of goals in a second period were able to hold off the Rimouski Oceanic 3-2. Ranger prospect Samuel Noreau (NYR 2011 5th) did not score what was it +1 and was credited with three hits.

Heading west to the WHL, it was the battle of defensive prospects as Dylan McIlrath (NYR 2010 1st) led his Moose Jaw Warriors into Spokane to face Brendan Kickton (NYI 2011 5th) and his Spokane Chiefs. It has turned into a rough road trip for McIlrath and his teammates having dropped the last two games during this 6 game road trip.

Spokane was not any easier as the Chief's defense limited the Warriors to 26 shots overall and while Moose Jaw plays a solid defense of their own it was a lack of offense that cost them this. Moose Jaw dropped this one 5-2 and really the loudest cheers of the game came when the Chiefs scored their final goal which meant the fans in attendance received free Chapulas as part of the local promotion

McIlrath was scoreless but Kichton that a secondary assist on the Chapula goal for his 28th assist and 34th point.

In Victoria, Shane McColgan (NYR 2011 5th) scored Kelowna's first goal of the game then set up their second goal as the Kelowna Rockets were able to defeat the Victoria Royals 5-2. The multipoint game allowed McColgan to become the third Ranger prospect to reach the 40 point mark at 11-29-40.

John Persson (NYI 2011 5th) had a secondary assist for his 24th assist and 37th point but it was not enough to prevent his Red Deer Rebels from losing to the Swift Current Broncos 3-2. Swift Current
scored the first 3 goals of the game and the Rebels could not come back.

Steven Fogarty's (NYR 2011 3rd) 17th goal of the season at 19:40 of the 3nd period broke a 2-2 tie as his Penticton Vees tacked on 3 more after that for a 6-2 win over the Chilliwack Chiefs 6-2. It was the 20th straight win for the Vees who have not lost since November 5th.

As for Fogarty, he is now 17-25-42 on the season which is 2nd among Ranger prospects but now there are several other prospects looking to pass him.

Sorry Islander fans got another one you want to skip as Scott Mayfield (NYI 2011 2nd) registered his 1st point in 16 games but Mayfield's 10th ranked Denver Pioneers suffered an embarrassing 3-2 home loss to the University Alabama-Huntsville Chargers. It was just the 2nd win of the year for UAH (2-21-1) who are trying to find a way to remain a Division 1 hockey team.

For Mayfield, his assist was just his 3rd point of the season (1-2-3).

The quest for Jason Clark's (NYI 2010 3rd) first point of the season continues as the sophomore forward remains scoreless in 13 games but at least his Wisconsin Badgers defeated RIT 6-3.

We apologize for how this blog has been appearing as we deal with a serious health issue. Thank for your support because I will not lie, I need it to help keep me going. We are awaiting a visit to the surgeon on Monday as well as software that we have been told will help us improve the quality of the writing.

(Yogan - Aaron Bell-OHL Images, Christian Thomas- Oshawa Generals)

In The End Hockey Won

noreply@blogger.com (Prospect Park) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 04:09:00 +0000

Thursday night was an interesting night for both New York Ranger and New York Islander prospects but the real winners on Thursday was the sport of hockey itself.Yes right now it is hard for Canadian fans to feel good about a third place finish just as it is very hard for American fans and the seventh place finish.

The box scys that Sweden won 1-0 in overtime over Russia but the box score is not to tell you just how exciting this game was gold medal game. The cynics will say that nobody would care about who won this gold medal since it wasn't involving Canada.

Judging from the sounds and the intensity of the the fans who attended this game that it is doubtful that anyone walked away thinking they did not get their money's worth.It's hard from an individual standpoint to say that any of the prospects either Ranger or Islander played badly. There was no real surprise as players showed that they can hold their own.

Ryan Strome showed he could play with anybody and still produce even if he did not settle for the bronze. Johan Sundstrom offered a glimpse of the potential to be a good two way player down the road.

On the Ranger side, J.T. Miller was steady and consistent his numbers may not have set the world on fire but he showed up for every game and work hard no matter what the score was. Peter Ceresnak did not embarrass himself but didn't show that he has work to do with the skating as well as his decision-making process.

Now the world juniors heads overseas for two years and that might be good for both Canada and the U.S. 2013 in Russia than 2014 in Sweden will allow both programs to take good looks and make some changes.

Rest Of The Prospects

It has been quite a while since we saw Danny Hobb's (NYR 2007 7th) name show up because of the good play. It has not been the kind of breakout senior season that the captain of the UMass hockey team had hoped for.

Hobbs 5th goal of the season came at 19:23 of the third period tying the score at 4-4 and allowing UMass to walk away with an overtime tie against Providence.

Hobb's was named the game's first star to after a seven shot performance trying to help UMass p pull out the win. It has been tough going for Hobbs who has been battling ankle injuries since early in the season.

Next up for Hobbs and UMass will be a game outdoors on Friday at Fenway Park against Vermont. It should be interesting to see if UMass can get themselves on a run in the second half of the season.

In Peterborough which should have been and easy win for the Petes turned turned into an embarrassing 7-3 loss to to the Kingston Frontenacs. There really no nice things to say about this game as Andrew Yogan (NYR 2010 3rd) that the Petes going in the first period when Yogan set up Steven Trojanovic for an even strength goal at 17:23 of the 1st period.

It was Yogan's 17th assist on the season and his 35th point but that is where the highlights end and the lowlights begin. First Kingston grabbed a 2-1 lead in the 2nd before Peterborough tied the game at 2-2.

Yogan took a penalty for roughing that led to a power play goal for Kingston but Peterborough got that goal back to end the 2nd period tied at 3-3. In the 3rd period; it was all Kingston as they scored 4 goals to earn the road win.

The loss cost Peterborough a chance to increase their lead over 8th placed Mississauga and 9th placed Oshawa who were both idle.

(Sundstrom- New York Islanders, Hobb- Masslive.com)

Predator/Player Of The Month/Day

noreply@blogger.com (Prospect Park) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 08:26:00 +0000

With the World Under-20 Championships coming to a disappointing end for both Team USA and Team Canada, our main focus turns back to the New York Ranger and New York Islander prospects and their teams as they get their 2nd half of the season.

For Micheal St.Croix (NYR 2011 4th) then Wednesday was a very good day before he even took the ice. First the prospect we have nicknamed "The Predator" was named the "Husky WHL Player Of The Month" for December.

St Crox as the press release said:

The 18 year-old forward led all WHL scorers collected 26 points through the month of December finding the net 10 times and accumulating 16 assists to go along with a +11 rating. St. Croix picked up points in 10 of 12 games played which included eight multi-point games and five games where he gathered three or more points. Some highlights include a two goal and two assist performance in an 8-3 victory over Eastern Conference rivals the Saskatoon Blades and another four point night in a 6-3 win over the Victoria Royals.

He was also named WHL Player of the Week, for the week ending December 4. St. Croix currently sits third among all WHL scorers with 62 points (24 goals, 38 assists) in 39 games played. His consistent play helped the Edmonton Oil Kings to a 9-2-0-1 record in the month of December and currently sit 1st in the WHL Eastern Conference with a 25-10-1-3 overall record for 54 points.

St. Croix’s efforts have also earned him a Three Star selection six times, with three being 1st Stars.

The Winnipeg, MB product is playing in his third full WHL season with the Oil Kings who selected St. Croix 4th overall in the 2008 WHL Draft. The New York Rangers made the centreman their 4th round selection in the 2011 NHL Draft. This is St. Croix's first WHL Player of the Month Award.

The day got even better for St. Croix and Edmonton Oil King teammates as they found themselves ranked 7th in the BMO Mastercard Top 10 Rankings but there was a game to be played and the Oil Kings were short 2 players as they hosted the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Poor Lethbridge never had a chance as the "Predator" struck again for a goal and 2 assists during a 9:31 span in the 2nd period turning a 2-2 game into a 5-2 lead after the 2nd period as the Oil Kings won 6-3.

What more can we say about St. Croix who was named the game's 2nd star for his efforts? With the score 2-2, St. Croix set up Cole Benson for a even strength goal at 8:48 to give Edmonton a 3-2 lead.

5:54 later it was St. Croix who made it 4-2 with his 25th goal of the season at 14:42 on the goal that became the game winner (his 4th) but St Croix was not finished as 3:37 later St Croix made it a 3 point evening when he set up Dylan Wruck for Edmonton's 5th goal.

Edmonton with the win increased their lead over Moose Jaw for the WHL's Eastern Conference to 3 points as Moose Jaw was losing to Tri-City while this was being written.

And now the fun stuff, the 3 points bring St. Croix to 25-40-65 +21 on the season (3rd in WHL), St Croix now has his 3rd 6 game or more scoring streak (7-8-15), St. Croix has 19 multi-point games on the season and if St Croix continues on this pace he will wind up 43-68-111.

Can we get him a contract please?

Steven Fogarty (NYR 2011 3rd) and his Penticton Vees returned from their holiday break looking to keep going an 18 game winning streak from before the holiday break. No need to worry as the Vees scored 3 goals each in the first and second periods to cruise to a 6-1 win over the Vernon Vipers.

Fogarty had a primary assist on the Vee's 4th goal in the 2nd period while the Vees were on the power play. It was Fogarty's 25th assist on the season and 41st point.

In Kelowna, it was the battle of the 2011 fifth round picks as Islander fifth rounder defensemen Brendan Kichton (NYI 2011 5th) leads his Spokane Chiefs against Ranger fifth round pick Shane McColgan (NYR 2011 5th) and his Kelowna Rockets. The 2 teams meet 8 days ago with Spokane winning 4-1.

This time the outcome was different as Kelowna held their home ice with a 5-2 win. Kichton was held scoreless while McColgan was credited for two secondary assists. McColgan with two assists improves to 10-28-38 on the season.

The difference in this game was that the Rockets scored three goals in the second and held off Spokane in the third period.

In Tri-City, Dylan McIlrath (NYR 2010 1st) and his Moose Jaw Warriors were spanked 5-0 by the Tri-City Americans. All McIlrath has to show for his game was his 7th fighting major of the season.

We understand why McIlrath will fight during games like this with the outcome as long decided but we would rather see McIlrath work on the things that will decide whether one day he is a part of the Ranger blueline.

Going cross country, Kirill Kabanov (NYI 2010 3rd) recorded his 14th goal along with his 15th assist of the season to help his Shawininigan Cataractes defeat the Rimouski Oceanic8-3 in QMJHL action. Kabanov set a new career high in points thanks to his assist which brought his season totals to 14-15-29.

Kabanov last season had 28 points for the Lewiston Maineaics. We still think that Kabanov can do better and honestly we'd like to see more out of him. We see a very talented young man who has true world class skills.

And in the OHL, Christian Thomas (NYR 2012 2nd) had a lot of the almosts that don't show up in the score sheet but doubt he's complaining as his Oshawa Generals won their fourth straight game 4 to 1 over the Belleville Bulls. Thomas didn't score but give some credit to the Belleville team they checked and closely and to Bull's goalie John Chartrand who kepted beating him.

But like we said Thomas is more than happy with the win since then pulls them to within 1 point of 8th seeded Mississauga. The OHL Eastern Conference is getting very bunched up as the win gets the Generals back to within 5 points of 5th seeded Sudbury.

World Under-20

They are breaking out the party materials as Team USA was able to win 7th place by a 2-1 win over Switzerland. Forgive us if we don't join in as this was a very embarrassing outcome from a team that 2 years ago won the gold medal.

One is supposed to build on winning not fall backwards as the USA has. Was that gold medal a fluke and the hockey program not as good as it thinks it is? These are fair questions to ask especially when you watch the Under-18 program winning 3 straight golds.

JT Miller we were not worried about because he has been a part of those gold medal wins. A medal would have been nice but a OHL title will do more for his development. Miller finished 2-2-4 as he heads back to Plymouth.

Peter Ceresnak and his Slovakian team can claim a win for their program as they finished 6th overall after barely fending off relegation for 2 straight years. Ceresnak played the role of stay home defender with no points to show.

They need Ceresnak in Peterborough so he will be interesting to watch,

(St Croix- Edmonton Oil Kings-Andy Develin)

Brother Can You Spare Some Patience?

noreply@blogger.com (Prospect Park) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 06:03:00 +0000

I know I have said this before but I will say it again; for the life of me I just do not understand why New York Ranger fans can not just sit back and enjoy the good times the team is going through right now.

The Rangers are 24-9-0-4 52 points after 37 games, they have the best record in the NHL and yet when you take a wander over the internet you would be thinking that the Rangers are one of the worst teams in the NHL. It is mind boggling to see how on a day where the team rallies from down two goals, overcomes some really terrible officiating and finds a way to win in regulation 3-2.

They beat the Flyers on their ice and on national TV; how do you not love that? How are you not jumping for joy watching some of the supposed experts having to eat their words about this New York Ranger team. You better believe that this fan who grew up watching the Rangers get pushed around, get beaten up and usually losing games like this to the Flyers soI loved watching every second of it.

For me it was a huge win, an emotional win because I so rarely get a chance very often to just sit in front of the TV and enjoy what I watching. Yet but before this game was even over people were complaining not just about the referee and badly blown calls they were complaining about how bad the Rangers are.

Are you kidding me?

There are people who were saying this team can't win unless they pick up another veteran defenseman to run the power play. Have we not traveled this road before?

The problem is not going to be solved by making a trade but rather by the team doing what John Tortorella has practically turned into a mantra every time he starts to walk out of the locker room. He says he wants to see more motion, more people moving their legs and to be honest that's exactly what they need to do to fix a power play.

Can we try my idea first before going out and making trades? It's really simple this "do nothing" method as you wait and see where the team is in the next 50 days before making a move. Michael Del Zotto is doing the things that the Rangers thought he would do when they drafted him. And now if you have complaints about how he's been playing then I have got wonder about you.

He has righted his ship, Del Zotto is the last person anyone including yours truly would ever have thought would be second in the NHL for plus/minus (FYI Cam Fowler is currently a -18). But want to know what the most important thing about this is? It was that the Rangers did not give up on Michael Del Zotto and that is a lesson than the fans to learn.

Del Zotto has been trashed left and right by so many bloggers that it is pathetic. The kid has turned things around so how about backing off him?

Sometimes your best move is to do nothing at all and then let the chips fall. Even before July 1 came along, all you would hear is how Brad Richards would be the guy to get Marian Gaborik going which is why the Rangers had to sign him.

Yes Marion Gaborik appears to have found his scoring touch once again but not thanks to Brad Richards as it really was Derek Stepan and Artem Anisimov who have developed some excellent chemistry with Gaborik.

And you know what? This is not a knock on Richards either as his play with Ryan Callahan and to whoever they have put on the left side has worked too.

Could the Rangers use more offense? Of course they could but the bigger question is at what price? Dubinsky has shown signs that he's waking up on the offensive end but he's also shown to be a very key part of the penalty kill which at last glance was 6th in the NHL.

While everybody is make a big deal about fixing the offense they are forgetting what wins championships and that is a rock solid defense.So how about we do nothing other than enjoy watching this team win for a while? Try it is a lot of fun and it sure beats losing.

Game Action

Dylan McIlrath led his Moose Jaw Warriors into Portland Oregon to take on the Portland Winterhawks and it is ironic that on this night these two teams met because as you know Canada was facing Russia in the World Under-20 semifinals up in Calgary.

Portland and Moose Jaw came into this match up with almost identical records and that the game wound up in overtime before Portland won was no surprise. This is a close game, it went back and forth with neither team able put the other way. And as one would expect it was the top players for both teams who came through for their teams tonight.

McIlrath (2-12-14) had an assist on Moose Jaw's 3rd goal which gave them a 3-2 lead in the 2nd period that would hold up until Joe Morrow set up the goal that forced overtime. Morrow is only 2nd among WHL defensemen in scoring but he is more than just offense as he is a solid two way defender.

Ty Rattie for reasons that still escape us is only the leading scorer in the entire WHL yet he wasn't good enough for team Canada go figure. Call me crazy but somehow I would have found a spot for kids who has 37 goals in 37 games.

So when the smoke clears it turns out that only Johan Sundstrom gets to play for the gold medal. Back It is fitting justice that neither Canada or USA wind up playing for the gold medal. Both teams made questionable decisions as to keep and who to cut.

The good news is that the next two World Juniors will be held in Europe which hopefully will give both programs time to fix the flaws in how they select teams.

One last bit of news before we go and that is how somebody must have really like Michael St. Croix as his Edmonton Oil Kings got themselves one great big late Christmas present. It is a present coming all the way from Sweden by the name of Henrik Samuelsson.

Yes son of Ulfie who is a 17 year old 6'2 power forward and has played in North America so he knows what to expect.