It's a Saturday Night Without Any Stars

There has to be something about Saturday Nights that casts some kind of spell on the New York Ranger prospects as nobody stood out. Not one Ranger prospect earned a single star for their play which might have been a first this season.

Ryan McDonagh (Trade 2009) scored his first goal of the season but by the time he did the outcome of the game had long been decided. McDonagh's Wisconsin Badgers dropped a 5-2 decision to the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

The Badgers gave up 3 goals over the first 2 periods and were trailing 4-1 before McDonagh scored at 12:14 of the 3rd period. It made the score 4-2 but it was too little too late for the Badgers.

McDonagh's teammate Derek Stepan (2008 2nd) had a night to forget as the sophomore center was a -3 with 4 shots. With the loss the Badgers fell to 4-3-1 on the season.

Roman Horak (2009 5th) had the only other goal scored by a Ranger's prospect on Saturday night as his 6th goal was the first goal for the Chilliwack Bruins who went on to a 5-4 overtime win over the Edmonton Oil Kings.

Horak's goal was a power play; his second power play goal of the season. Horak is now 6-11-17 for the season.

Scott Stajcer (2009 5th) stopped 40 of 43 shots as his Owen Sound Attack rallied from down 2-0 for a 4-3 win over the Guelph Storm. Stajcer improved to 7-9-1-1 3.71 0.903 in 19 games this season.

Mitch Gaulton (2008 6th) did not score but was a +2 as his Erie Otter made it a weekend sweep of the Niagara Ice Dogs with a 6-2 win. It was an emotionally charged weekend for the Otters after the events of the last 2 weeks and they have held up well.

Sam Klassen (2009 UFA) had an assist as his Saskatoon Blades rebounded from the end of their losing streak with a 4-3 shootout win over the Prince Albert Raiders. For Klassen it was his 9th assist of the season (3-9-12).

Chris Kreider (2009 1st) returned to the Boston College Eagle lineup after missing one game due to injury as the Eagles defeated the Northeastern Huskies 5-1. Kreider was scoreless but took 2 shots and was a +1 for the game.

Daniel Maggio (2009 6th) did not score and was a +1 as his Sudbury Wolves shut out the Peterborough Petes 2-0. Maggio's offense has quieted down after an early start with just 1 assist in his last 5 games.

Chris Doyle (2008 5th) had a rough night as he was a -2 along with 1-5 on faceoffs as his Prince Edward Island Rocket were beaten by the Halifax Mooseheads 4-1 in QMJHL action.

Ryan Bourque (2009 3rd) saw his 5 game scoring streak come to an end as his Quebec Remparts lost in the shootout 6-5 to the Gatineau Olympiques. Bourque was a -2 and held to just 1 shot in regulation as well as missing his shootout attempt.

Bourque put up 1-8-9 during his streak to raise his season totals to 7-10-17.

Tomas Kundratek (2008 3rd) and his "Up and Down" Medicine Hat Tigers were "Down" on Saturday as they were beaten by the Brandon Wheat Kings 5-1. It was a rough night for Kundratek as he was a -3 on the evening.

Carl Hagelin (2007 6th) and his 4th ranked Michigan Wolverines also had a lost weekend as they dropped Saturday's game with top ranked Miami of Ohio 5-1. Hagelin saw his 3 game scoring streak come to an end but for his Wolverines the loss meant they were swept by a team at home for the first time since October 26-27th of 2001.

Max Campbell (2007 5th) did not score but his Western Michigan Broncos improved their record to 5-2-1 after a 2-1 win over Lake Superior State.

Luke Walker (Traverse City) broke out of his mini scoring slump with 2 assists as his Portland Winterhawks had to go to the shootout before defeating their rivals the Seattle Thunderbirds 6-5.

For Walker it was his first points in 3 games as he recorded assists 10 and 11 on the season to raise his stats to 11-11-22.

Craig Cunningham (Traverse City) and his Vancouver Giants lost their 2nd straight game 2-1 to the Spokane Chiefs. Cunningham was held scoreless in this matchup.

We end this with some happy news as we got this from the good folks at the Kitchener Rangers

The Kitchener Rangers Hockey Club has been informed that Ben Fanelli was released from Hamilton General Hospital late (Friday) night.

"This is obviously an emotional day for the Fanelli family, our organization and community and really for the entire Ontario Hockey League's players and fans. It is still very early in Ben's recovery that will include out-patient treatments at the hospital along with additional supporting treatments at home," stated Rangers C.O.O., Steve Bienkowski.

Ben's mother, Susan Fanelli, conveyed the following: "The support from the Kitchener Rangers organization has been wonderful. We are so appreciative it is hard to express."

Restrictions on visiting will remain in effect.

The Kitchener Rangers Hockey Club and the Fanelli family ask that the family's past requests for privacy continue to be honoured.

Any future information will continue to be released through the Kitchener Rangers Hockey Club.

We again thank everyone for their support to both Ben and his family.

However after now seeing Chris Drury be injured by a cheap blindsided shot against the Flames is it not time we had a discussion about hitting vs "hitting" in hockey as a whole?

Talk now before we talk about one of these hits resulting in someone dying on the ice; by then it will be too late for discussion about player safety.