The One Man Gang And Friends

Friday night was one of those nights where the New York Ranger and New York Islander prospects really made life interesting. From a 4 goal performance from Christian Thomas (NYR 2010 2nd) to the first time a Ranger and Islander earned stars of the game in the same game to a comeback that led to an NCAA record being tied.

The theme for Friday night really had to be "expect the totally unexpected" as nights like this are helping to set the stage for the home stretch for the prospects. Ranger fans will not be happy to hear that 2010 1st round pick Dylan McIlrath missed his 3rd straight game with a knee injury that clearly is more serious than a "tweak".

Christian Thomas told us earlier this season when we profiled him for the Blueshirt Bulletin that he wanted to do 2 things this season. The first was to top the 41 goals he scored last season and the other was lead the OHL in goals.

The first goal we think he is not going to have any trouble reaching as with 4 goals against Sudbury, Thomas has equaled the 41 goals he scored last season. With 16 games remaining for Thomas we have to say that 50 goals now has to be his goal as Thomas is now 2nd in the OHL goals just 4 goals behind the leader.

The Ranger report with the breakdown on Thomas's efforts is right here.

The Islander side of the story is really a broken record as another week another first star for Anders Lee (2009 6th) as he earned the game's first star to help lead his 10th ranked Notre Dame to a 2-1 win over Bowling Green.

Lee's 19th goal of the season was the game winner as Notre Dame moved back into first place in the CCHA with the win. Lee had a secondary assist on Notre Dame's other goal to give the talented freshman his 12th multi-point game of the season.

The Islanders Friday night report can be found right here.

Corey Trivino of Boston University (NYI 2008 2nd) was the 2nd star and Danny Hobbs of UMass/Amherst (NYR 2007 7th) earned the third as they become the first Ranger/Islander duo to earn stars in the same game. Boston University earned a 4-3 overtime win.

Congrats to Max Campbell and his Western Michigan Broncos as their Cinderella season continues as first the Broncos made their way into the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Hockey Men's poll for the first time in 10 years at number 15. On Friday night coming from down 3-1 to 12th ranked Miami, the Broncos tied the game forcing overtime to tie which first extended their regulation unbeaten streak to 14 which is longest active streak in the NCAA.

The tie also tied the NCAA record for most ties in a season with 10 which  was set by Minnesota Mankato in 2003.

(Images: Thomas/ Oshawa, Lee/New York Islander)