Here We Go Agan

First Star

Our First Star tonight was last night's Second star as Danny Hobbs had 2 goals along with 1 assist to help his Ohio Junior Bluejackets to a 6-3 win over the Cedar Rapids Roughriders. The win gave the Junior Bluejackets a sweep of the weekend series as well their 3rd straight win.

Hobbs got his team going as he set up teammate Charles Brockett for a power play goal at 11:24 of the first period to give the Jr. Bluejackets a 1-0 lead. That assist was Hobb's 11th of the season which matches what he had all of last season.

In the second period Hobbs scored the first of his 2 goals as he took a feed from teammate Derek Roehl for his 7th goal of the season to give his team a 4-0 lead. That goal wound up being the game winner which is Hobb's 2nd game winner of the season.

Hobbs then added his 2nd goal of the game also on the power play 14:46 of the third period to give the Jr. Bluejacket's a 6-2 lead and put the game away for sure. The 2 goals and assist also helped Hobbs to earn his 2nd straight 3rd star of the game award.

For Hobbs he now is 8-11-19 in 33 games which is 2 goals and 2 points off what he did in 60 games last season. Hobbs now also has a 3 game point streak as we are glad to see him showing us why the Rangers used their 7th round pick on him.

Second Star

Eric Hunter and his University of Alberta Golden Bears earn our second star as a unit because they became the first team with a Ranger prospect to clinch not only first place but the first seed in the Canada West conference semi-finals with a 3-1 win over 2nd place University of Saskatchewan Huskies.

Hunter's 11th goal of the season was the game clincher as Hunter put in an empty net power play goal at 19:17 of the 3rd period to give his Golden Bear's their final score. For Hunter it was his first goal since November 9th.

The Golden Bears have 3 games remaining in conference play before they begin the Canada West tournament on February 29th.

Third Star

It has been a while since we had a Carl Hagelin sighting as the Ranger's 6th round pick in the 2007 draft has been a tad quiet since returning to Michigan after the World Under-20 Championships where he won a silver medal as part of Team Sweden.

Hagelin scored his 7th goal of the season as it appears the very young 2nd ranked Michigan Wolverines wound up with yet another disappointing 3-3 tie with Northern Michigan. Michigan now is winless in their last 4 games and with 12 freshmen playing regular roles one is wondering if the team has hit a wall.

Hagelin's goal got Michigan on the scoreboard at 3:51 of the first period but it was a lead that Michigan could not keep as they blew a 3-1 lead to Northern Michigan. Hagelin wound up with 5 shots and a +1 for the game but it simply was not enough as Michigan will almost certainly fall further in the rankings.

The Rest of the Prospects

Tomas Zaborsky was scoreless but his Saginaw Spirit came from behind to defeat Ottawa 67's 3-2. For Zaborsky he now has gone 8 games without a goal.

Ryan Hillier had an assist as his Halifax Mooseheads defeated the St. Johns Fog Devils 3-2 to earn a split of their weekend series. For Hillier it was his 30th assist of the season which gives him a prospect high 57 points.

Max Campbell also had an assist but it was not enough as his Western Michigan Broncos spotted the Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks a 3-0 lead and could not catch up losing 3-2. For Campbell it was his 4th straight game with a point as he now is 5-13-18 which is also 2nd on the Broncos in scoring.

Jordan Foote was scoreless but his Michigan Tech Huskies came back from down 2-0 to tie the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves 2-2 in overtime.

Finally Billy Ryan remains out with an undisclosed injury as his Maine Blackbears lost 5-3 to UMass 5-3. Federal privacy laws prevent Maine from talking to us about the injury and we will respect that which is why we are not going to press for injury information. We will simply wish for a speedy recovery for Billy.

Sunday

Bobby Sanguinetti and Tomas Zaborsky will be looking to make Super Bowl Sunday super for themselves as both look to break 8 game streaks without a goal.

(Picture Credits- Danny Hobbs/Ohio Junior Bluejackets, Eric Hunter/University of Alberta, Carl Hagelin/Michigan Wolverines)