Monday, November 10, 2008

The Dean Prentice Prospect Of The Month

He is called the best player not in the Hockey Hall of Fame, when we had the honor of interviewing Andy Bathgate; all Bathgate wanted to do was honor his former linemate. Most Ranger fans of today do not know his name but we do and when it came to naming our Prospect of the Month, the choice was simple.

Dean Prentice was everything you wanted out of a player, a 2-way specialist who did everything right whether it was backchecking, killing penalties, fighting in the corners for the puck or jumping in on the power play. Bathgate was the fancy player, Dean Prentice was a Section 400 player who just played without fanfare.

Today, Dean Prentice is 14th on the all-time scoring list for the Rangers as in 666 games Prentice was 186-236-422. As a Ranger during his 11 seasons, Prentice set a standard for hard work and effort.

We mention this because for the month of October there was one Ranger prospect who stood out and for the first time since we started awarding the Prospect of the Month award, Chris Doyle of the Prince Edward Island Rocket made this a one man race.

Doyle who was the Ranger's 5th round pick in the 2008 has started this season like no other prospect in the 5 years of prospect coverage we have been producing. Almost since day 1 of the start of this season, Doyle has been the leading scorer among Ranger prospects and is now running away from the pack.

We count September as part of the October so during that period Doyle was 9-15-24, 6 power play goals and a 5 game scoring streak of 4-6-10.

To be honest had anyone asked us who we thought would have been the best Ranger prospect at this point of the season and Chris Doyle would not have even made our top 5 list. Doyle has overcome a lot as he was the only Ranger draft pick not invited to the Ranger training camp after Traverse City.

Instead of moping about it, Doyle has used it as an incentive it seems and the Prince Edward Island Rockets have to be very happy with the results. What is even more exciting is that since November 1, Chris Doyle has turned it up even more so do not be at all shocked that come December we are right back giving Chris this award again.

HE IS COMING

We have it on very good authority that the ranks of the Ranger prospects are about to be increased by one. We are not at liberty to announce his name just yet but we have to admit that we really are happy to hear about this news.

When the official announcement is made this week, Ranger fans we are very sure will be as happy about the news as we are.

It is not very often when we get excited about adding another prospect but this one is special as if there was anyone who Ranger fans will adopt instantly it will be this young man.

This is the true feel good story of the season and we will be very happy to bring it you once we get the OK to do so.


The Weekly Polls

The weekly college hockey polls are out and we are left scratching our heads at how teams are ranked in both polls.

Michigan with Carl Hagelin is a surprise at 8th in both the USA Today and the CBS Sports Polls as to be blunt the Wolverines do not deserve to be in the Top Ten. The Wolverines have not looked good in most of their games this season and we have to question if most of where they are is due to their reputation as a traditional college power.

UMass is 20th in the CBS Sports poll and 21st in the USA Today version. They made the cardinal sin of looking past an opponent when they played Merrimack. This week though the challenge is huge as the Minutemen are going to face the number one team in both college hockey polls in Boston University.

(Dean Prentice--Legends of Hockey, Chris Doyle--PEI Rocket, The Lone Ranger--John Cassaday)

3 comments:

Nick said...

Jess,

Please tell me it isn't Lyon Messier...if it is, it would be a huge disappointment. He is TERRIBLE. and i don't care what his name is..it is a waste of a contract...i mean he was cut from 2 CHL teams....

-Nick

pack attack said...

Concerning the addition of the new prospect: This really isn't the super secret information. It has been known since Oct 30th that the kid was coming back this season.

http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081030/HOCKEY01/810309897/-1/SPORTS04

Unknown said...

I would have to agree with Nick, I'm sure that Lyon is a great kid but by the lack of interest by other teams in lesser leagues it hardly points to someone who has fallen through the cracks...