Friday Fun

Someone forgot to tell New York Ranger prospects that Saturday is when they normally do not put up numbers as Friday has been their strong night. Not this week as the output of Ranger prospects was 1 goal and 3 assists.

Evgeny Grachev is now just one point away from tying the Brampton Battalion single season scoring record by a first year player held by Jason Spezza after scoring his 38th goal of the season. That was the only highlight for the Battalion as they lost to the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors 4-1.

Grachev is now 38-32-70 as he leads Chris Doyle now by 2 points in the race for the Prospect Scoring title. As for the Battalion; the loss was costly as the Battalion fell 2 points behind the Belleville Bulls in the battle for the top seed in the OHL's Eastern Conference.

Michael Del Zotto set up the London Knight's first goal as the Knights defeated the Kitchener Rangers for the 2nd night in a row this time 5-3. Del Zotto now as points in 4 straight games (0-6-6) is at 61 points as he tries to top his career high of 63 set last year with just 3 regular season games remaining.

Max Campbell had 2 assists but his Western Michigan Broncos dropped game one of their best of three CCHA playoff series with Lake Superior State 6-3. Lake Superior State jumped out to 5-0 lead and then coasted from there.

In a way this is a great chance for us to see how Campbell handles playing in must win games as the Broncos now must win 2 straight in order to advance to the second round of the CCHA playoffs.

Chris Doyle saw his 3 game scoring streak come to an end as his Prince Edward Island Rocket lost to the Lewiston MAINEaics 5-3. Doyle was held to just 3 shots while going 3-2 on faceoffs.

Antoine Lafleur may have gotten himself a new lease on life as current Rouyn-Noranda Huskie's starting goalie Mikael Audette gave up 6 goals before giving way to Lafleur in the Huskies 6-3 loss to the Val-d'Or Foreurs.

Lafleur entered the game at 3:08 of the third period and stopped all 6 shots that he faced. It remains to be seen if Lafleur will be given the against the same Foreurs on Sunday but if he does then he had best play the game of the season.

Tysen Dowzak had a very quiet night as his Kelowna Rockets defeated the Chilliwack Bruins 3-1. The win coupled with Spokane's loss moved the Rockets into the 3rd seed in the WHL's Western Conference.

Tomas Kundratek also had a quiet evening as his Medicine Hat Tigers had a 3-1 lead but gave up 3 goals to lose to the Regina Pats 4-3. The Tigers now are the 5th seed in the WHL's Eastern Conference trailing the Swift Current Broncos by 3 points with 4 regular season games remaining.

Mitch Gaulton got to sit on the bench but did not play as his Erie Otters earned a 1-0 overtime win over the Sarina Sting. The win moved the 7th place Otters to within 3 points of the 5th place Sting in the OHL's Western Conference.

Derek Stepan and his Wisconsin Badgers are winless in their last 5 games as they dropped a 2-1 decision to North Dakota. Despite the loss the Badgers did clinch home ice advantage for the first round of the WCHA playoffs.

Stepan was the starting center but he was held scoreless and held to just 3 shots. With a 16-15-3 record, the only way that we see the Badgers earning a trip to the NCAAs will be by winning the WCHA tournament.

After spending most of the season as either a healthy scratch or a 4th liner, Danny Hobbs was the starting right wing for the UMass Minutemen. It did not help either Hobbs or the Minutemen as they lost to the Merrimack Warriors 3-2 in overtime.

Hobbs was scoreless but has to take heart that the UMass coach staff wanted to show some confidence in the freshmen after the struggle this season has been for him.