A Mixed Bag

The best way to describe how the New York Ranger prospects performed on Wednesday evening would be to compare it to on of those bad TV medical dramas. One patient found new life, another found himself on life support, one passed away and the last one passed on.

Sam Klassen is the one with new life as his Saskatoon Blades earned a very badly needed win in Brandon 5-4 over the Wheat Kings in Game 3 of their WHL playoff series. The Blades though made sure that they put their fans though a lot of suffering before earning this win.

The Blade jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 2nd period before Brandon answered with 3 unanswered goals for a 3-1 lead and what looked like the beginning of the end for the Blade's season. But Klassen and his Blades rallied with 4 unanswered goals of their own for a 5-3 lead before a late goal by Brandon with the extra attacker brought the score closer.

Klassen was his typical no points, good defense self as the Blades cut the Wheat King's lead in the series to just 2-1 but they are a long way from turning this series in their favor.

Tomas Kundratek and his Medicine Hat Tigers went from a very good win on Tuesday night to their season is now on life support after the Tigers lost 4-1 to the Calgary Hitmen in game 4 to fall to 3-1 in the series. The Tigers simply could not solve the Hitmen's defensive scheme as the Hitmen held the Tigers to just 9 total shots over the last 2 periods.

Kundratek was held in check and that was a key to keeping the Tigers off balance and frustrated. Now the odds are really stacked against the Tigers since Calgary got their wake up call in the first round against Moose Jaw. The Hitmen will not take any chances after having to come back from down 3-1 themselves.

Ryan Bourque saw his season come to a frustrating end as Chris Doyle's Victoriaville Tigres finished off Bourque's Quebec Remparts in 4 games after a 4-2 loss. Doyle missed this game due to personal reasons but Bourque just was held in check by the Tigre defense.

Bourque was totally shut out in their series and hopefully it was a learning experience to build upon for next season. For Bourque, this season had to be viewed as a mixture of joy and frustration as it was clear when Bourque was healthy he produced (19-24-43 in 44 games).

The critics are going to have some ammo going into next season on Bourque but we have faith in him if he can add some muscle to his frame. Bourque has some potential as a player but he is going to have to work a lot harder than most others because they will hold his height against him.

As for Doyle; he missed this game because of his ongoing problems in Prince Edward Island from when he was a member of the Rockets. Now hopefully all of this will end before the next round so Doyle can get back to concentrating on hockey.

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On Thursday, the NCAA's Frozen Four gets underway in Detroit with 3 key Ranger prospects seeing action. For our selfish pleasure we are going to hope that things break the right way so on Saturday, Ranger prospects will play against each other for the National championship.


First up will be the Badger brothers (Derek Stepan and Ryan McDonagh) as they lead their Wisconsin Badgers against the Cinderella team of the NCAA tournament the RIT Tigers. Now we know our bias colors our judgment in some cases but we have been watching the Badgers for this entire season but we think the clock strikes midnight for the Tigers.

The Badgers just have too much of everything for RIT to overcome as the only way we see Wisconsin losing is if they beat themselves with an inconsistent game. We just do not see it happen as we see the leadership of the Badgers (starting with McDonagh) carrying the Badgers to Championship game.

The first game starts at 5PM EDT on ESPN2 and if you have not seen either Derek Stepan or Ryan McDonagh then you might want to watch this game as both are future Rangers.

In the other game Chris Kreider and his Boston College Eagles take on the Miami of Ohio Redhawks in what should be the better of the semi-final matchups. While Kreider is looking to continue his dream year; the Redhawks are looking to erase last season's collapse in the finals against current Ranger Matt Gilroy and Boston University.

Boston College is facing one of the best defensive teams in college hockey but also one that is on a dual mission. The first is the one we just mentioned about losing in last season's final but the other is to honor Brendan Burke who's story has been retold hundreds of times since his death.

For Boston College to win then they have to jump on Miami and never stop until the final buzzer. They will need to score on their power play chances (they are currently 0 for the NCAA tournament) and use their team speed on the forecheck.

What they can not afford to do is try to play from behind against this Miami team as they will have a rough time trying to comeback in the 3rd period. We hope they do because Derek Stepan has said if given the chance he will knock his friend Chris Kreider on his tail if he gets him.

Kreider's response was "he is welcome to try" and we have to agree as we have watched player after player try to knock Kreider off his skates and it just has not happened.

(Klassen courtesy of the Saskatoon Blades)

Everyone Deserves a Pat On the Back

"Kundratek needs to be the player he was in the first round as few in the Calgary lineup are going to match his skating and passing skills. If Kundratek gets more involved then the Tigers have a chance."


OK so we like to show off when we are right on about a player so excuse us while we take a moment to pat ourselves on the back for being proven right. But first we have to share the love from our friends in the Czech Republic:


"Told You So ;-)"


Now that everyone has finished patting themselves on the back here is the bigger story. The Medicine Hat Tigers let the Calgary Hitmen know that they intend on putting up a heck of a fight in their 2nd round WHL series. 


The Tigers waited until the 3rd period of Game 3 before they turned up the heat and came from down 2-0 to earn a 4-3 overtime win over the Hitmen. The win brings the Tigers right back into the series trailing 2-1.


Kundratek did exactly as we said he needed to do and he did it with a nice exclamation point by setting up Emerson Etem for the game winner at 8:26 of the first overtime period. For Kundratek it capped off a very solid performance as he was a +3 to go along with his game winning assists.


It is exactly the kind of performance we need to see Kundratek do to help his chances of becoming a future Ranger. We still believe of all the Ranger's defensive prospects that Kundratek with his passing skills alone remains the ideal defender for the John Tortorella system.


While Michael Del Zotto is going to be the offensive leader on the blueline; Kundratek is going to be one of the better 2 way defenders who will help chip in at both ends of the ice. Kundratek has been used by the Tigers in all situations and it is a great sign to finally see the maturity in his game.


We said the other night that it looked Calgary was going to be too much to handle and at least in Game 3 we were proven wrong. We hope to remain wrong for another 3 Tiger wins.

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If you haven't noticed but in the upper right corner we are now tracking the current Ranger draft pick status along with who is viewed as one of the best prospects for that slot. What it does not mean is that player is who would be the best possible pick at that spot.

Our early projections believe that the number one need that the Rangers have in the entire system is a Top 6 scorer who can play on the right side. 

The Rangers have played themselves out of the Nino Niederreiter sweepstakes but this young man on the left is not a bad second prize. His name is Emerson Etem and he just might be the best prospect that you have never heard of.

Etem is a 6' 194 goal scoring machine out of Long Beach California and yes you read that right California. If where he comes from makes you wonder then let us reassure you that this 17 year old scored 37 goals in his WHL rookie season. 

Etem is also a product of the US National Training and Development program where he play in on Under-17 part of the program. We could just talk away about him but here is some video courtesy of the WHL on Etem.

Etem needs some work still but he doesn't even turn 18 until 9 days before the 2010 NHL draft. And one last thing about Etem to consider is that he is playing in one of the toughest conferences in the WHL; he is part of the same program (the Medicine Hat Tigers) that produces the 2 players who had an impact in the Ranger's loss against the Sabres.

Willie Desjardins was Team Canada's coach in the last WJC and he knows exactly how to prepare a prospect for the NHL. Like we said Etem would be a nice second prize in the NHL draft.

(Etem and Kundratek courtesy of the Medicine Hat Tigers)

Closer to the Edge

Just one game on the prospect schedule and it was good news/bad news for the prospects. For Chris Doyle and his Victoriaville Tigre, the news was good as they returned home for game 3 of their series with Ryan Bourque and his Quebec Remparts.

The bad news was for Bourque and his Remparts as they lost Game 3 of this series 6-1 and now are down in this series 3-0. Doyle and his teammates did everything right in this game from dominating at even strength as well as on the power play, going 3 for 8.

Doyle got his first point of the series as he was reunited with Philip-Michael Devos and Tomas Kubalik as that line produced 3 goals and 3 assists. Doyle also was a +2 while taking a minor at the end of the first period.

Ryan Bourque on the other hand continued to struggle as he again was scoreless and was a -2 for the night. Game 4 will be Wednesday evening in Victoriaville as the Tigre look to close out this series with a sweep.

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As we had hoped rather than going home to the Czech Republic, Roman Horak has joined the Hartford Wolfpack and while he has not played at the least he is getting experience playing at the higher speed of the next level.

Every practice that Horak gets to attend helps him with his development and we believe this is a kid who has a legit shot at becoming an NHL player. He has adapted well to the North American brand of hockey but the more important point is that he came over from Europe with the right skill set of good skating, strong defense and focus on the fundamentals of the game.

And if you are wondering why Horak is able to be with the Wolfpack; the answer is that the Rangers held his rights before he was drafted in the CHL Import Draft. That loophole allows somone under than 20 to play in the AHL but in Horak's case unless he drastically improves his body then send him back to the WHL for another season.

(Doyle courtesy of the Victoriaville Tigre)

Got Them Right Where They Want Them

So one of our readers who is a big supporter of the Czech Republic prospects of the New York Rangers made sure that we knew that in the first round of the WHL playoffs that Tomas Kundratek and his Medicine Hat Tigers lost the first 2 games of their series with the Kootenay Ice.

The only problem is that the Calgary Hitmen are a huge step up in class for the Tigers as witnessed by the 4-0 shutout they put on the Tigers in Game 2 of their series on Sunday. The Hitmen have held the Tigers one of the better offensive teams in the WHL to just 2 goals in 2 games while scoring 9 of their own.

But to be fair; we had the Tigers written off after looking bad against the Ice in the first 2 games and the Tigers came back with 4 straight wins to win the series. Can the Tigers come back is the bigger question as they have to find a way to get untracked on the offensive end to have a chance.

19 shots just is not going to cut it especially when 9 of those shots came in the first period. What has to happen is that Tomas Kundratek needs to become more of a force on offense than with his fists (though a willingness to fight a player 6'5 does impress us).

Kundratek needs to be the player he was in the first round as few in the Calgary lineup are going to match his skating and passing skills. If Kundratek gets more involved then the Tigers have a chance.

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So we got asked why we are not saying anything about the OHL playoffs; the answer is kind of easy as there aren't any Ranger prospects still playing in that league. Still we watch with interest because 3 players who will go in the first 4 picks of the 2010 NHL draft are involved and there is one player who the Rangers had at Traverse City (Luke Pither) that they did not choose to sign.

Luke Pither who plays for the Barrie Colts only returned to them for the season and finished 3rd in the OHL scoring with 94 points (36-58). What bothers us is that the Rangers did not offer him a contract so instead Pither signed with the Flyers.

Then add in Craig Cunningham of the Vancouver Giants who was 6th in WHL scoring with a 37-60-97 (and leads the WHL playoff scoring with 8-8-16 in just 6 games) who also was at Traverse City and now re-enters the NHL draft.

And of course our favorite Luke Walker of the Portland Winterhawks who was 27-30-57, won a gold medal with Team USA and showed what a true team player he is by his willingness to do whatever his team need to win. Walker also re-enters the draft.

So we bite our tongues because we think the Rangers made 3 bad moves on top of the even worse moves like Kotalik and Brashear. Remember it was Glen Sather who said "Young players get better, older players just get older".

(Kundratek courtesy of the Medicine Hat Tigers)

Losing It

It is hard enough when you are losing but when the officials start making some really questionable calls then the hardest part is remaining calm and under control. However there are times when even the calmest of people will explode when pushed too far.

That would be the best description of Sam Klassen's evening as his Saskatoon Blades got the short end of some highly suspect calls in game 2 of their series with the Brandon Wheat Kings. The Blades lost the game 4-1 but also their cool as well.

The Blades have a case for blaming the officials but in all honesty at every level these days the officiating has not kept up with the changes in the game and the game has suffered. Still all this leads to is that Klassen found himself taking an early shower after receiving a 10 minute misconduct with just over 5 minutes to go in the game.

Klassen objected to being called for interference while killing a penalty and the normally calm Klassen said the magic word to the refs and got the misconduct. Klassen actually had played a decent game as he was a +1 and spent a lot of time on the penalty kill.

But the bottom line is that the Blades lost both game 1 and 2 on their home ice and now face an almost impossible task trying to win this series with 4 games remaining in Brandon.

In the QMJHL, Chris Doyle may not have scored but his Victoriaville Tigres took game 2 from Ryan Bourque's Quebec Remparts 4-2 on Quebec's home ice. Doyle had 3 shots on net as 1 of 3 Tigres with that many shots.

Ryan Bourque and his linemates had just a rough evening as Bourque also did not score but wound up a -3. As was the case in Game 1, the Tigre wound up with a 3-1 lead after the 2nd period and coasted from there.

Bourque having been held scoreless for the 2nd straight game is going to have to find a way to get untracked in a hurry or this series will be over in a hurry.

(Klassen courtesy of the Saskatoon Blades)

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)

Ready For Round 2

For the 4 remaining New York Ranger prospects still alive in the CHL, round two begins this weekend with 2 prospects going head to head with each other. It is rather ironic that 2 defensemen; Sam Klassen, Tomas Kundratek, and 2 left wingers/centers; Ryan Bourque, Chris Doyle are the ones who remain.

We start with the head to head matchup as Chris Doyle and Ryan Bourque are both key parts of their team's chances at winning. Bourque who put up a nice 2-6-9 in the first round leads the Quebec Remparts against Doyle's Victoriaville Tigres.

The Tigres actually had a better record than the Remparts but the Remparts were division champions in the QMJHL which earned them home ice advantage in this round. Going head to head, the Tigres were 3-0-0-1 but 2 of the wins were via the shootout.

In the first round, Quebec had little trouble defeating the Acadie-Bathurst Titan 4-1 but that series was a bounce or two from being a very different story. The Tigre on the other hand were pushed to the limit by the Shawinigan Cartaractes having to come from behind to win 4-2.

The Tigre will have the edge in scoring in this series as they can roll out 3 scoring lines who all can contribute points especially after the addition of Chris Doyle who's role from the Tigre changed from what it was with the Prince Edward Island Rocket.

Doyle has been the power play quarterback instead of setting up in the crease as he did in PEI. It has worked as Doyle had a late season surge of 10-26-36 in 29 games. The other difference with Doyle has been on the defensive end as Doyle was a +8 which is something he never was with the Rocket.

Bourque on the other side has really elevated his game in the post-season as he is healthy and when he has been healthy he has produced. Bourque gives the Remparts a huge weapon at both ends of the ice.

His speed in many ways makes up for his lack of size as his skill on the forecheck has been a great disruption on the defensive end. His impact will be huge as the Remparts need Bourque to not only match the offense of the Tigres but also to help stop the Tigre offense.

Prediction: The Tigre because of their depth will win in 6 games but it should be 6 very close games.

Sam Klassen and his Saskatoon Blades have been fighting all season long with the their second round opponent the Brandon Wheat Kings. For most of the season, the Blades held the division and conference lead over the Wheat Kings but a late season slump gave the Wheat Kings the division title and home ice advantage.

In the first round, Klassen was asked to shut down Willie Coetzee of the Red Deer Rebel and shut down is exactly what Klassen did. Coetzee only had one goal during the first round which he scored when Klassen was not guarding him.

Against the Wheat Kings, Klassen most likely will be asked to shut down Matt Calvert and Brayden Schenn both who put up 99 points during the regular season. This one will be a much tougher task for Klassen and his partner Stefan Elliott but if they can at least keep them in check then the Blades have a real chance at winning the series.

Because the Wheat King's arena is not going to be ready to start the series the opening 2 games will be played in Saskatoon. Win those and the Blades will have a huge edge when the series shifts back to Brandon.

Prediction: The Wheat Kings already know that no matter what they will be in the Memorial Cup so the pressure is off them. They had it easy with Swift Current and it is going to hard to stop their offense. Brandon in 7

Then there is Tomas Kundratek and his Medicine Hat Tigers who face the regular season's best team the Calgary Hitmen. The Hitmen had to come from down 3 games to 1 to win their first round series with Moose Jaw which is also bad news for the Tigers.


The Tigers really do not match up well with the Hitmen in any area so Kundratek has to elevate his game even higher in this round. Kundratek has really taken his game to another level in the second half. His maturity as a player and person has been exactly what the Rangers were hoping for when they sent him back to Medicine Hat for this season.

At first it was feared that Kundratek was not going to report to Medicine Hat but he did and while he went though the expected letdown of being demoted; his play in the second half of the season as well as the first round of the WHL playoffs was a great sign for the Rangers.

Now he needs to work twice as hard for his Tigers to have any chance at winning.

Prediction: Calgary is the team to beat in the WHL's Eastern Conference and after the scare they had from Moose Jaw, they will not take anyone lightly. Calgary in 5

(Klassen courtesy of the Saskatoon Blades)