Hatch is Hot

Someone forgot to tell us that the "W" in WHL no long stands for Wacky instead of Western as we were led to believe.

We say that because we just can not explain how all of a sudden the defensive minded 6'5 Tysen Dowzak of the Kelowna Rockets is on a scoring streak while offensive minded Tomas Kundratek of the Medicine Hat Tigers is trying to be a Colton Orr.

Got to start with our newest hero as Tysen "Hatch" Dowzak is the second hottest Ranger prospect with 4 assists in his last 3 straight games. We don't think that Michael Del Zotto or Bobby Sanguinetti need to worry about Dowzak passing them up as the Ranger's next offensive weapon but we are happy for our latest prospect profile.

Dowzak's Kelowna Rockets were hosting the Chilliwack Bruins and the Rockets lost their second straight 4-3 game that they should not have lost. The Rockets in our eyes are going though a bit of an emotional letdown after their huge win over the Vancouver Giants last Friday.

As for Dowzak, thanks to his last 3 games he has pulled to within one point of his career high in points which is 13. Dowzak got a secondary assist on Colin Long's first period goal as has been his scoring as of late.

It still for the young defenseman another sign that his play is still improving since Dowzak was a healthy scratch on Jan 17th. Dowzak has netted 6 assists as well as a +6 as even Dowzak himself told us that being scratched embarrassed him but what he did not say aloud was that Dowzak has no intention of being a healthy scratch again.

Then we have Tomas "The Hitman" Kundratek who for reasons that escape us is making some a late season run at the prospect fighting major lead with fights in back to back games.

We will give Kundratek credit for heart but someone needs to talk to him about wanting to take on a 6'6 Keith Aulie of the Brandon Wheat Kings.

Aulie is the captain of the Wheat Kings as well as a draft pick of the Calgary Flames and we would love to tell you the details of the fight but so far we have not gottewn any further reports.

Seriously Kundratek is not going to become an enforcer for the Rangers and his real role if he wants to become a Ranger is going to be as 2 way defender. The fighting is nice to see that Kundratek is willing to get his uniform dirty but this is not what Medicine Hat needs for him to do.

The Tigers took on the Brandon Wheat Kings on Wednesday missing 6 key players due to injuries. The Wheat Kings got scoring from their depth lines and won 4-1 which helps us point out that for a Kundratek fighting even in the last minutes of the game could hurt the Tigers and their playoff hopes.

The Tigers need Kundratek to be their power play QB, fighting does not help the Tigers score and if Kundratek reinjures that wrist again then his season could be done. Get hurt and Kundratek could also do some damage to his own development.

When we see Kundratek we do see a prospect with clear talent at both ends but not in the fistcuffs department. We have to hope that Kundratek comes to his senses and concentrates on improving his offensive game.

We really doubt that the Rangers signed Kundratek to be a fighter and if we were Kundratek (1-16-17) we would be embarrassed if Tysen Dowzak somehow winds up with more points than he does.

(Pictures Dowzak courtesy of Kelowna/Tim Swanky, Kundratek courtesy of Medicine Hat/Tim Machan)