Friday, February 8, 2008

My Name Is

Prospect Park wants to point out that tonight's 3 stars are all prospects who were taken in the 5th round and later of the 2007 draft. So an honorable mention has to also go to the team of Ranger scouts who discovered these hopefully future Rangers.

First Star


2007 7th round pick David Skokan sent a message to Ranger fans that they might have perhaps they voted for wrong Ranger prospect when they picked Ryan Hillier over Skokan as the Dean Prentice Prospect of the month.

Skokan's 11th and 12th goals helped his Rimouski Oceanic to a 5-3 win over Hillier's Halifax Mooseheads while earning the game's 3rd star. For Skokan it was yet another strong performance since his return from the World Junior Championships.

In addition to the 2 goals Skokan also was 12-10 on his face offs, 4 shots of which 2 were considered dangerous, 4 PIMs, 1 good hit and a +1 to round out his evening. Skokan's first goal of the evening was at 3:57 of the 3rd period gave the Oceanic a 4-2 lead and his 2nd goal was a power play goal at 19:20 of the same period to finish off the Mooseheads.

Skokan is now 12-18-30 on the season as he closes in on topping last season's 14-21-35 while hoping to earn a Ranger contract.

Second Star

To borrow from Western Michigan's own game notes; 2007 5th round pick Max Campbell has been MMMM MMMM GOOD as of late. The freshman from Strathroy Ontario entered the game against Lake Superior State on a 4 game scoring streak.

Make the streak 5 games as Campbell scored at 15:27 of the 3rd period as his Western Michigan Broncos rallied to earn a 3-3 overtime tie with Lake Superior State. The goal was Campbell's 6th of the season as it also earned him the game's 3rd star.

"Soup" as he is known is 3-3-6 during his streak to run his numbers to 6-13-19 good for 2nd on the Broncos but what is standing out during this streak is that each of the goals that Campbell has scored has been a key tying goal for the Broncos.

That is an impressive display of clutch scoring from a freshman no less. Ranger fans would just love to borrow some of the "Soup" and feed his scoring to the team.

Third Star

Finishing our stars for the night is 2007 6th round pick Carl Hagelin of the 2nd ranked Michigan Wolverines as the freshman from Sweden had an assist as his Wolverines took game 1 of a very crucial 2 game series 4-2 over number 1 Miami of Ohio on the road.

As seen on CSTV, the assist was a highlight reel play as Hagelin drew a couple of defenders on the right circle and then found teammate Aaron Palushaj alone in front of the Miami goalie and that goal gave the Wolverines a 2-0 first period lead they would not give up.

With the win the Wolverines moved past Miami for first place in the CCHA with the rematch to be held Saturday night also on Miami ice.

The Rest of the Prospect Action

It may have been an empty net goal but for Tomas Zaborsky it ended a 9 game streak without a goal as Zaborsky's Saginaw Spirit took care of the Guelph Storm 4-1. The goal for Zaborsky was his 25th as he pulled to within 2 points of Bobby Sanguinetti for 2nd in the prospect scoring race.

Speaking of Sanguinetti, the defenseman was scoreless while his Brampton Battalion shut out the Erie Otters 3-0.

As mentioned earlier, Ryan Hillier's Halifax Mooseheads lost to David Skokan's Rimouski Oceanic 5-3 as Hillier had a quiet night going scoreless just drawing a minor penalty and registering one good hit for the game.

Jordan Foote was also scoreless as his Michigan Tech Huskies held the Wisconsin Badgers to a 1-1 overtime tie. If you did not know, the Badgers have 2 of the NHL's top prospects in Kyle Turris and Blake Geoffrion on their roster.

Finally Billy Ryan sadly remains out of the Maine Blackbear lineup with his injury as Maine lost to New Hampshire 3-2.

Saturday will be just as busy so please make sure to come back and see how the future of the Rangers do. Also please stop to vote on our latest poll.

(picture credits David Skokan/Rimouski Oceanic, Max Campbell/Western Michigan, Carl Hagelin/Michigan Wolverines)

No comments: