A Czech Cashing in His Chance

It seems like every year the New York Ranger scouting staff finds a prospect that nobody knows much about and he turns out to be a very pleasant surprise. Roman Horak one of the Ranger's two picks in the fifth round in the 2009 is this year's stealth pick it seems.

Nobody knew much about Horak when he was first drafted and since he was selected by the Chilliwack Bruins (a WHL team that Glen Sather owns a piece of) there was some skepticism about Horak's talent. If anything it looks like the Bruins took advantage of some inside information when they selected Horak in the CHL Import Draft.

The Bruins have just 5 wins after upsetting the Tri-City Americans 5-2 on Wednesday night. Roman Horak the game winning goal in 2 of those games including against the Americans.

In 15 games with the Bruins, Horak is 4-8-12 +10 12 PIMs and the 2 game winning goals. On a team that has a record of 5-6-1-3 to have a player with a +10 is pretty impressive. Just as impressive is Horak's 3 goals in his last 4 games.

Against the Americans in the 3rd period, Horak cashed in a rebound that wound up right in his lap to break a 2-2 tie at the 1:25 mark. It was more than just the game winner as it got the Bruins fired up and they increased the pressure on the Americans.

The Bruins added an insurance goal at just 2:11 later and went on for the win.

One has to wonder which Medicine Hat Tiger team Tomas Kundratek (2008 3rd) plays for; last week they outscored 2 teams by a combined 16-3. This week, the Tigers have been outscored 13-2 in back to back games including a 6-0 shutout on Wednesday evening.

In this case the key cause of this was simply a bad effort by the Tigers as a team the night after getting spanked by the Saskatoon Blades 7-2. Kundratek was no different than any of the Tigers so we will not hang him out to dry.

That is because we know his coach Willie Desjardin is going to take his entire team to the woodshed on Thursday.

In the OHL, Mitch Gaulton (2008 6th) did not score but was a +2 as his Erie Otters earned a 5-2 win over the Guelph Storm. It gives the Otters their 3rd win in their last 4 games as the team moves closer to a 500 record at 5-7-2-1.

Daniel Maggio (2009 6th) and his Sudbury Wolves have been struggling after a strong start. A 3-2 start to the season has turned into a 5-9-0-1 and a change at head coach. The Wolves dropped a 3-2 decision to Brock Beukeboom and his Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds.

Maggio was scoreless ending a 4 game scoring streak but was also a -2.

(Horak courtesy of the Chilliwack Bruins)