It seemed as if what was supposed to happen went the opposite direction but that is why you have to play the game. It was that kind of night for the prospects.
It was supposed to be about the 2 New York Ranger prospects playing for Team WHL against the Russian Select team but JT Miller (NYR 2011 1st) stole the show.
Miller put up 3 assists in earning the game's 3rd star as his Plymouth Whalers defeated the Windsor Spitfires 5-4 in overtime. Miller extends his scoring streak to 5 games (3-7-10) as the Ranger's prospect scoring leader is now 14th in the OHL in scoring at 11-17-28.
Miller had 2 primary and 1 secondary assist on the evening with 2 of the assists coming on the power play. Miller got his night going by setting up defenseman Beau Schmitz at 3:03 of the first for a 2-0 Whaler lead.
At 12:33 of the first, Tom Wilson took advantage of JT Miller setup to give the Whalers a 3-0 lead on Miller's 2nd assist of the night. After Windsor rallied for 3 goals to tie the game, Miller got a secondary assist on Andy Bathgate's 8th goal of the season.
It is ironic that Miller had his 3 point evening while a prospect many Ranger fans were wanting Mark McNeill was playing for Team WHL against the Russian Selects. McNeill actually had a really good night with a 2-1-3 effort of his own but his team lost to the Russians 7-5.
Dylan McIlrath (NYR 2010 1st) had a rough night as he made one mental mistake which cost a goal but he also had the bad luck of being on the ice for 4 Russian goals. McIlrath may be a huge player but give the Russians some credit as they took some nasty hits from him and dished some to McIlrath.
Can't see McIlrath being invited to tryout for Hockey Canada but his teammate Michael St. Croix (2011 4th) at the very least deserves some consideration for a tryout. St. Croix did not score and he also was a -3 but we saw some good defensive coverage from a prospect not known for his defense.
We can see St. Croix as a role player for Hockey Canada as we saw an effective penalty killer but because St. Croix is also a legit offensive weapon then he could make an ideal 4th liner for the World Under-20 Championships.
On the New York Islander side, Ryan Strome (NYI 2011 1st) and Mitchell Theoret (NYI 2011 7th) did not score but their Niagara IceDogs played a dominating game shutting out the Mississauga St. Michaels Majors 3-0. Strome saw his 13 game scoring streak come to an end (11-9-20) but pretty sure for the IceDog's 2nd straight win doubt he will complain.
Theoret also has a streak going but it is a negative one as Theoret has gone scoreless now in 10 straight games. So of course as we move on to the last game of the night that streaks and irony played a part in that game's outcome.
Last night the Belleville Bulls took the Peterborough Petes to the wood shed with a 6-3 spanking so in the rematch in Peterborough it was only fair for the Petes to return the favor. The Petes defeated the Bulls by 3 4-1.
In this one Andrew Yogan (NYR 2010 3rd) saw his scoring streak of 5 games (3-4-7) come to an end while Peter Ceresnak (NYR 2011 6th) ended his 4 game scoreless streak with a goal. Ceresnak's goal was the first one of the game for the Petes coming just 1:59 into the game and it almost held up as the game winner.
Still Ceresnak improves to 3-5-8 on the season with the goal and the Petes got the win.
Coming up Friday night is the battle of big men as Chris Kreider (NYR 2009 1st) will lead his 3rd ranked Boston College Eagle against Anders Lee and his 4th ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The game will be telecast on CBS College Sports starting at 7:30 PM/ 4:30 PM.
Finally while everyone is talking about concussions there is a growing problem that our friend Gregg Drinnan talks about in his Taking Note Blog. It is a good read and really a must read for anyone who truly cares about the safety of the players.
(Miller- Aaron Bell- OHL Images)
No comments:
Post a Comment