CHL Player of the Week

We are not going to bother to wait until the middle of the week, we are going to simply hand the OHL and CHL player of the week awards to Christian Thomas (2010 2nd) of the Oshawa Generals. In the 7 seasons we have been covering prospects, we have witnessed outstanding performances and Christian Thomas's 2 game performance is right up there with the best of them.

Fresh off a 6 point performance against the Erie Otters, Thomas followed that up with  a 4 point performance in leading his Oshawa Generals to a 7-4 win over the Barrie Colts. Thomas had 2 goals and 2 assists in this game to help the Generals remain unbeaten in their last 6 regulation games.

Thomas started with a secondary assist as he teamed with Islander prospect Calvin De Haan (2009 1st) on Alain Berger's power play goal at 6:40 of the 2nd period which tied the game at 3-3. Thomas then scored his 16th goal of the season just 2:29 later which gave the Generals a 4-3 lead.

In the 3rd period after Barrie had tied the score at 4-4, Thomas had another secondary assist on another Alain Berger at 5:59 on what proved to be the game winning goal as the Generals went up 5-4. Thomas then capped off his night when added his 17th goal at 18:44 of the period to give Oshawa a 6-4 lead.

With his 10 point effort over the last 2 games, Thomas has jumped up to 12th in the OHL scoring race. Thomas is now 17-16-33 on the season tops among all Ranger prospects.

Islander prospects De Haan (1 assist) and 2010 5th round pick Tony DeHart (2 assists) were key contributors for the Generals.

Casey Cizikas (2009 4th) did not score but his Mississauga St. Michael's Majors ran their unbeaten streak to 14 game (13-0-0-1) after edging the Peterborough Petes 4-3.

In Kingston, Ethan Werek (NYR 2009 2nd) and his Kingston Frontenacs
blew a 3-0 lead and lost in the shootout 4-3 to the London Knights. Werek was scoreless in regulation and missed on his shootout attempt.

On Saturday night, Portland Winterhawk radio guy Andy Kemper warned about tonight's match against the Spokane Chiefs. He said the Chiefs had owned the Winterhawks in Portland and even worse were coming into Portland after getting badly beat 8-3 by Tri-City.

Kemper sadly knows his stuff as the Chiefs did exactly as he predicted just dominating the Winterhawks in the first 2 periods before holding on in the 3rd for a 3-1 win. The Chiefs kept Nino Niederreiter (NYI 2010 1st) off the board which is a big reason why they won.

Ranger prospect Ryan Bourque (2009 3rd) and his Quebec Remparts got a measure of revenge on Islander prospect Kirill Kabanov (2010 3rd) and his Lewiston MAINEaics with a 4-2 win that snapped the MAINEaics 10 game winning streak.

Bourque has been the most dominate of Ranger prospects during the month of November had a goal and assist while shutting down Kabanov. Bourque had an unassisted goal (his 12th) and a secondary assist (his 15th) as Bourque is now 7-8-15 in the month of November.

Kabanov was held scoreless as the Remparts used the win to break a tie for first place in the QMJHL's Telus East Divison with Lewiston.

Bourque's pal and fellow Ranger prospect Chris Krieder (2009 1st) did not score but his 9th ranked Boston College Eagles earned a 2 game sweep of 3rd ranked Maine Black Bears 4-1. The Eagles improved to 8-4 on the season as Kreider had a quiet day.

(Images: Thomas/Oshawa Generals, Cizikas/Aaron Bell/OHL Images, Bourque/Katherine Ep)