Offering a Helping Hand

As we told you all earlier this week, it is the Ranger prospects who basically write the stories and all we do is pass along the message. It is the prospects themselves who give us our "themes" for the evening and Friday night was not different.

Friday night was "assist" night as a total of 9 assists were recorded by Ranger prospects led by David Skokan's 3 assists in his Rimouski Oceanic's 7-1 win over the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.

For Skokan (who was named the game's Third Star) it was a nice return to action after missing the previous 2 games due to a groin injury. Skokan's 3 assists along with going 10-12 on faceoffs, a +1 and 2 "good" hits helps to earn him our First Star for the evening.

And for Skokan those 3 assists bring his season totals to 6-14-20 which is good for second in scoring on the Oceanic. Skokan does not get the notice that the better known and higher picked prospects do but despite the injury Skokan is on a 7 game scoring streak.

Second Star

Tomas Zaborsky was the only Ranger prospect to score a goal on Friday but his counted the most as Zaborsky's 13th goal of the season was the game winner as his Saginaw Spirit were 6-4 winners over the Sudbury Wolves.

Zaborsky also added his 14th assist as the Spirit evened their record at 10-10-2-1. For Zaborsky he is now on a 4 game scoring streak along with now scoring points in 11 out his last 12 games.

On the season Zaborsky is now 13-14-27 with 2 game winning goals.

Third Star

Bobby Sanguinetti set up the game winning goal as part of his 3 assist evening helping his Brampton Battalion to a 9-5 win over the Kingston Frontenacs. Sanguinetti's assists were all on the power play and were all the primary assists.

It was an impressive display on how to be the power play quarterback that the Rangers so badly lack this season. For Sanguinetti, those assists brought his totals to 16-23-39 which is 11th overall in the OHL.

The only blemish on Sanguinetti's game was being a -1 but other than that it was a solid game for the New Jersey native.

The rest of the prospects

Max Campbell had an assist as his Western Michigan Broncos took care of Ohio State 4-2 to earn just their 4th win of the season.

Eric Hunter also had an assist as his University of Alberta Golden Bears earned a hard fought 3-2 win over the University of British Columbia.

Ryan Hillier's Halifax Mooseheads saw their 8 game winning streak come to an end as they lost 2-1 to Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. Hillier was held scoreless.

Carl Hagelin did not score but played a strong game at both ends of the ice as his 2nd ranked Michigan Wolverines defeated the Wisconsin Badgers 3-2 as part of the College Hockey Showcase.

CHL Weekly Poll

Because of the ADT Canada/Russia Challenge the weekly CHL Mosaik Mastercard Top 10 did not come out until Friday. In a someone surprising vote Ryan Hillier's Halifax Mooseheads despite defeating last week's number one Cape Breton only moved up to 2nd in the poll.

The Mooseheads were once again the only team with Ranger prospects in the poll