Saturday, December 8, 2007

The Saturday Report

First Star
When you look at prospects one of the keys you like to see is what they do under pressure situations and Saturday night Carl Hagelin gave a glimpse of a possible future as a Ranger.

If you strictly looked at the box score and see that Hagelin assisted on the game winning goal that is what you might think is why he is our first star tonight. That is not the case as it was his defense that did it.

Hagelin a freshman from Sweden came into this season with so little known about his potential. Most thought he was going to be an offensive weapon but while those expectations are slowly being met even fewer knew what he could do on the the defensive end.

In college hockey there is normally a pecking order where seniors are given the lion's share of responsibility and freshmen are expected to sit and learn. Someone forgot to tell Hagelin that as he has been earning more and more responsibility as the season progresses.

Bowling Green came into this weekend's series with the nation's number 2 power play. On Saturday they went 1 for 9 which gave them a combined 2 for 15 in the weekend series. Carl Hagelin was a major reason why as he broke up play after play, Hagelin was a force disrupting the Bowling Green attack and helped to secure a sweep of the weekend series.

But let us not forget Hagelin's offense either as with his 2nd ranked Michigan Wolverines having blown a 2-0 lead against a very tough Bowling Green Falcon team, Hagelin set up what proved to be the game winning goal with just 6 seconds left in the second period.

The assist (Hagelin's 7th) gave the Wolverines a 3-2 lead that they hung on to and as they enter their holiday break the Wolverines are 16-2 overall but 11-1 in CCHA play good for first place. Hagelin is now on his way to join Team Sweden in the World Under-20 Championships.

Second Star

One of the best things that hockey does at this time of the year is the Teddy Bear Toss. For those of you who do not know what the Teddy Bear Toss is then put it simply it is one of the best ways for hockey to show it's caring side.

When the home team scores their first goal of the game, the fans are invited to flood the ice with stuffed animals who are then collected and donated to various charities.

Danny Hobbs and his Columbus Junior Bluejackets held their annual Teddy Bear Toss Saturday afternoon and it was Hobbs who set up the Teddy Bear goal.

The Junior Bluejackets lost the game to the Tri-City 4-2 but it will be the children of the Ohio area who are the actual winners. The Fraternal Order of Police Foundation collection the stuffed animals and will be giving them to children during their tours of duty.

For Hobbs it was his 7th assist of the season but it is doubtful that he will score any more important assist than he did on Saturday. We also want to salute the Junior Bluejacket franchise as well as they gave fans who brought stuffed animals a free ticket for each stuffed animal donated.

The Rest of the Prospect Report

Nobody really stood out to earn the 3rd star so none was awarded for Saturday.

Ryan Hillier had an assist (number 20) but his Halifax Mooseheads lost their 3rd straight this time to the Chicoutimi Saguenéens 5-2.

Billy Ryan was held scoreless but his Maine Blackbears defeated the Merrimack Warriors 3-1.

Max Campbell had an assist on the last goal as his Western Michigan Broncos made it 2 in a row defeating Wayne State 5-1. For Campbell it was his 8th assist of the season. Next up for Western Michigan will be an exhibition game against Bobby Sanguinetti and Team USA on Dec 18th.

Greg Beller we hate to report was back to being a healthy scratch for Yale as they defeated Brown 2-1. We will let you know if and when Beller returns to the Yale lineup.

And the winner is

As this is being written the voting is come to an end and once again Bobby Sanguinetti appears to have won his 2nd straight Dean Prentice Prospect of the Month. We will make it official on Monday.

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