Three Games But Only One Winner

Four New York Ranger prospects took to the ice on Friday evening to open up their second round series but only one got to walk away with a win. Of course since two prospects are going head to head that was the only one with a winner.

Chris Doyle and his Victoriaville Tigre took on Ryan Bourque's Quebec Remparts in Quebec with the Tigre coming away with a 4-1 win and a 1-0 series lead. Neither prospect was a big factor on the scoring sheet as they basically canceled each other out.

Chris Doyle had 2 shots on goal with only 1 of them being considered a good scoring chance. Doyle did get credited for 2 hits and was a +1 for his Tigre.

Ryan Bourque did not register any shots on goal, was a -1 and was also credited with 2 hits. Bourque though was effective on the penalty kill as the Remparts limited the Tigre to a 1 for 6 evening.

As for the game itself, the 2 teams scored early in the first period to wind up tied at 1-1 after 1 period but the Tigre got 2 goals just 18 seconds apart in the second period which broke open the game as they added 1 more in the 2nd period to take away the home ice advantage from the Remparts.

Game 2 of this series will be Saturday evening.

In the WHL, it was one wild and heartbreaking game in Saskatoon but the Brandon Wheat Kings eventually came away with a 6-5 win over Sam Klassen's Saskatoon Blades. Klassen was a -1 with no points and 1 minor penalty.

Still Klassen did help keep the Wheat King's duo of Matt Calvert and Brayden Schenn to just one goal which is what he was supposed to do. But the bad news is for the Blades is that because of scheduling problems in Brandon, the first 2 games in this series was being played in Saskatoon with the next 3 in Brandon.

That puts the Blades in a "must win" situation for game 2 as they can not afford to be down 0-2 in Brandon. For Brandon this win was their 13th straight win going back to the regular season.

That game 2 will take place on Saturday evening.

In Calgary, Tomas Kundratek had the only point of the night among the Ranger prospects but the Calgary Hitmen jumped out to a 3-0 first period lead and then just cruised to a 5-2 win over Kundratek's Medicine Hat Tigers. Kundratek received a secondary assist on the Tigers 2nd goal which cut the lead to 4-2 after 2 periods but the outcome of this one was never really in doubt.

As we said in the preview, Calgary really has too much in all areas for the Tigers to have much of a chance in this series. Yes Medicine Hat was second in the WHL during the regular season with 276 goals but their defense gave up 232 (Calgary only allowed 177).

Game 2 of this series will be on Sunday.

(Chris Doyle courtesy of Benoit Dery)