Last season, Andrew Yogan (NYR 2010 3rd) was a member of the Erie Otters and to say that by the end of the year his relationship with Erie coach Robbie Ftorek was rocky would be an understatement. It led to Yogan's trade to the Peterborough Petes during the off-season so Thursday night when the Petes hosted the Otters, you just had to know that Yogan had a little extra motivation.
Yogan with his 16th and 17th goals of the season started and ended a four unanswered goals outburst from the Petes as they rallied for a 5-2 win. Yogan for his efforts was named the game's first star as he extended his scoring streak to 4 games (4-3-7) carrying over from before the holiday break.
With the Petes missing several players for a variety of reasons, they needed Yogan to pick up the slack and that he did. And one of the things where we are seeing improvements from Yogan as of late has been with his on-ice discipline.
Yogan who spent some time in his coach's doghouse for taking some bad penalties has only taken 2 minors in his last 13 games. Yogan improves his season to 16-17-33 as he works his way up the Ranger prospect scoring list and raises his own stock.
With the win, the Petes moved to within four points of second place in the OHL Central division.
Back east in the QMJHL, Samuel Noreau (NYR 2011 5th) and his Baie-Comeau Drakkar dropped a 3-1 decision to the Drummondville Voltigeurs. Noreau was quiet on the evening with just a shot as well as one minor penalty to show for himself.
Out west in Red Deer, John Persson (NYI 2011 5th) did not score but his Red Deer Rebels picked up a 4-2 win over the Kootenay Ice. Persson who is leading Islander prospects in scoring at 13-33-36 saw his team climb back to .500 at 17-17-0-3 as they won for just the 3rd time in their last 10 games.
In Tri-City, Shane McColgan (NYR 2011 5th) saw why the Tri-City Americans have the best record in the WHL after being spanked 5-1. McColgan was held scoreless as the Americans controlled the Rockets all night long.
The week between Christmas and New Year's for those who play in the NCAAs is for holiday tournaments. And for us, it also marked the first appearance of the season for junior goalie Cody Rosen (NYI 2010 7th) of Clarkson.
Hate to say it but it was the short appearance for Rosen as he lasted a little under 28 minutes before getting yanked after giving up four goals on 15 shots. Rosen took the loss as his Clarkson Knights fell 6-1 to the Maine Black Bears in the opening round of the Florida College Classic.
It would not be fair to be critical of a player who sat as a healthy scratch for his team's first 20 games. We hope Rosen will get another chance to play this season if for no other reason than for his confidence.
In the other half of the Florida College Classic, Danny Hobbs (NYR 2007 7th) an assist to help his UMass Minutemen upset 13th ranked Cornell 5-2. For Hobbs, it was his 6th assist and his 10th when this season as he set up UMass's first goal of the game.
The Minutemen will play fellow Hockey East member Maine for the Florida College Classic championship on Friday.
Chris Kreider (NYR 2009 1st) and his 3rd ranked Boston College Eagles were in Detroit to face the Michigan Wolverines as part of the Great Lakes Invitational. But the Eagles tried to sleepwalk through the first period and gave up two goals as they lost to Michigan 4-2.
Kreider did not play well with just one shot on net and -2 but also took a high sticking minor while already on the penalty kill which gave the Wolverines, a two man advantage that they scored their second goal on.
The Eagles will face Michigan Tech in the consolation round on Friday.
And our night would not be complete if we did not report the football scores from the 2012 World Under-20 Hockey Championships. First, Ryan Strome continued his solid play this third goal in as many games as Canada had no problem with Denmark 10-2.
Strome like many of his teammates we will give them some credit for trying not to run to up score but with the harder they tried; the dumber they got. Strome took two minors and we stopped counting was we got past 9-2. And you know the world likes to talk about the ugly Americans for bad manners and boorish behavior?
The announcers calling the game for TSN should have shown the kids from Denmark a little more compassion rather than joking about how bad they were or the mistakes that the team made. Yes Canada we know hockey is your game but there are times like these when you show the least amount of sportsmanship and please make no mistake about it; this comment was directed at the announcers not the players.
And we're only going to mention this because it happened as Russia 14 Latvia 0. Cmon 2 games with a combined 24-2 score?
Not sure if either Denmark or Latvia has a strong enough program to remain at this level. If somebody wishes to explain to us how hockey programs gets better by being badly beaten like these 2 teams have been we would be glad to listen.
(Yogan – Peterborough Petes)
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