Sunday Sunday

There are times when words just do not do justice the efforts that New York Islander and New York Ranger prospects put in towards making their NHL dream a reality.

Sunday was one of those days for Kirill Kabanov (2010 3rd) as had a 4 point game to help his Shawinigan Cataractes to a 7-1 beating of the Prince Edward Island Rocket.

Kabanov's game has been building towards an outburst like this and for the Cataractes it could not have come at a better time. The Cataractes lost Michael Chaput to an injury during this game so Kabanov stepped up his game.

Kabanov got the Cataractes going Sunday when he scored his 4th goal of the season at 10:20 of the first period to give his team a 1-0 lead. In the 3rd period was when Kapanov put on his show as first he teamed with Jonathan Racine to set up Anton Zlobin's 19th goal of the season at 4:58 to make it 4-1 Shawinigan.

Then 2:11 later at 7:09, Kabanov made it a 3 point night with his 5th goal of the season to make it 5-1. At 18:20 Kabanov teamed with Loik Poudrier to set up Zlobin's 2nd goal of the game and his QMJHL leading 20th goal of the season on the power play for a 7-1 lead.

Kabanov was the game's first star on his 2-2-4 on 5 shots (all called legit scoring chances) a +1,  1 minor penalty and 1 good hit. In 6 games with the Cataractes, Kabanov is 5-5-10, +9 with a 5 game scoring streak going.

But the stat that really caught our eye was his shots to scoring chances ratio as Kabanov has taken 24 shots of which 17 were seen as scoring chances including going 5 for 5 on Sunday.


JT Miller (NY)R 2011 1st) scored his Ranger prospect leading 9th goal of the season to help his Plymouth Whalers shut out the Saginaw Spirit 2-0 on Sunday.

Miller scored the only goal that his Whalers would actually need when he converted a power play shot at 9:12 of the first period for a 1-0 Whaler lead.

It was Miller's 2nd game winning goal of the season, his 3rd power play goal and for Plymouth it gives them a 4 game unbeaten in regulation streak.

For Miller he pulls into a tie with Shane McColgan for the overall Ranger prospect scoring lead with his 9-10-19.


Brendan Kichton (NYI 2011 5th) had a 2 assist night as his Spokane Chiefs bounced back from losing their 1st home game of the season on Saturday with an 8-1 blowout win over the Everett Silvertips on Sunday.

The Chiefs had just lost the home and home series with division leader Tri-City and made the Silvertops pay for it as this was an ugly game to watch. Kichton set up what turned out to be the game winning goal at 13:57 of the 1st period.

It was Kichton's 9th assist of the season and Kichton added his 10th in the 3rd period when he set up Spokane's 5th goal of the game. Kichton is now 1-10-11 on the season for the Chiefs.

Andrey Pedan (2011 3rd) registered his 5th assist of the season on Guelph's only goal of the game as they dropped a 3-1 decision to the Brampton Battalion. Pedan is 4-5-9 on the season.

Dylan McIlrath (NYR 2010 1st) missed his 4th game out of 5 played with what is being called by the Moose Jaw Warriors as an "Upper Body Injury." McIlrath is listed as day to day but we are wondering if McIlrath will be back in time to play for Team WHL on November 17th against the Russians.

Christian Thomas (NYR 2010 2nd) missed game 6 of his 10 game OHL suspension. The OHL lists the day that Thomas can return to action as November 14th. The bad news for Thomas is that unless they changes things then Thomas will not be allowed to play for Team OHL on November 10th when they play against the Russians.

Thomas has not had the best of seasons so far and we fear that along with the suspension will cost him his invite to try out for the Under-20 team for Hockey Canada. We still say the suspension was 5 games too many and the price Thomas is paying does not fit the crime.

Scott Stajcer (NYR 2009 5th) was the back up goalie for Owen Sound on Sunday and as much as we respect our buddy Neate Sager over at Buzzing the Net; we respectfully disagree that this 2 head goalie tandem was unexpected.

The Rangers were saying from the start of training camp that the plan was to always send Stajcer back for his overage season in the OHL. Owen Sound choose to not move him or his rights and in our eyes is not helping either goalie.

Both deserve to be starters and this every other game rotation is not going to help either player with their development or help the team get on a roll. Pick one goalie deal the other and move on if this team wants to defend it's OHL title.

(Kabanov-Cyberpresse.ca, Miller- Aaron Bell of OHL Images, Kichton- Spokane Chiefs)

Tick Tock Beating The Clock

Saturday night was a nightmare if you were a college hockey team ranked in the top 10 as teams with New York Ranger and New York Islander prospects lost to teams they never should have lost to.

But the stars on this evening were the guys you least expected to steal the spotlight. It was just last night when we were talking about John Persson and what he is being asked to do for his Red Deer Rebels.

Islander's Star John Persson

You want to talk about players who stepped for their team and nobody this season did what John Persson (2011 5th) did for his Red Deer Rebels against the Kootenay Ice on Saturday evening. Forget that Persson had back to back 3 point games or that he is the leading scorer for the Islander prospects.

Persson's 2nd goal of the game scored at 4:53 of overtime gave his Red Deer Rebels a huge 4-3 overtime win over the WHL's defending champions on the road. Each of Persson's 3 points in this game were impact points as the Rebels are undefeated in regulation in 4 straight games,

Persson excellent evening as well as the results of his fellow Islander prospects can be found here.


Ranger's Star Micheal St. Croix

This has been the year of streaks among Ranger prospects and maybe the best story of all the streaks belongs to Micheal St. Croix (2011 4th) of the Edmonton Oil Kings. On October 8th, St. Croix was scoreless for the 5th straight game and played a terrible game.

The very next evening Oil Kings coach Derek Laxdall showed St. Croix that he still had confidence in him and sent him out as his first line center. St. Croix responded with an assist that night and now 10 games later St. Croix has not stopped scoring.

Against the Seattle Thunderbirds, St. Croix earned first star of the game honors with 2 assists and a rock solid all around game to lead Edmonton to a 4-1 win. St. Croix has gone 4-11-15 during his streak as he has tied Shane McColgan of Kelowna for the longest scoring streak by a Ranger prospect.

St Croix was the brightest spot of a somewhat strange Saturday night for Ranger prospects and that story is right here.

(Persson- Red Deer Rebels, St. Croix- Edmonton Oil Kings)

It Is All About Being Dominant

New York Ranger's Director of Scouting and Player Development Gordie Clark says it perfectly:

"Dominate at the level you are currently at before moving up to the next level"

For us at Prospect Park; it is one of our most basic of principles as it is a sign that a prospect is ready to advance to the next challenge. It does not guarantee that a prospect is going to be a superstar but it opens up a window for us to gain an insight as to what the possibilities that the prospect might offer.

We have all seen what happens when teams rush prospects to the NHL before they are ready and the damages that can result to their development. We have no control over what the NHL teams do but we do know that if we use this as a way of gauging a prospect's potential then we can gain important insights that otherwise we might take for granted.

Anyone can score a ton of points but can they score when their team needs a goal? Can they score "the goal" the one that seals a win or giving life where there might not be any?

Both the New York Rangers and New York Islanders have prospects who are showing those signs whether it is Chris Kreider at Boston College or a Kirill Kabanov in Shawinigan; when they "bring it" they can control a game with their play.

And quite honestly it is what both teams are so badly missing right now; that player who is going to not look at others but rather will take it upon himself to put the team on his back and carry them.

Ranger's First Star Chris Kreider

When we said that we wanted Chris Kreider (2009 1st) to return to Boston College for another year; it was because we felt he had not begun to showcase the talent we know he has. Chris Kreider is one of those players who when you watch him take over a game you just want to rewind the game and watch it over and over.

Ask the poor Maine Black Bears what happened to them on Friday night as Kreider and his linemates basically won the game in the first period as top ranked Boston College jumped out to a 3-0 lead and cruised to a 4-1 lead.

Kreider was involved in all 3 of those goals and then in the 3rd period showed us something we have been waiting to see for 3 years. We saw some snarl out of him as Kreider even showed us some temper when Maine tried to push him around and Kreider pushed back.

Kreider had a goal and 2 assists in earning his 2nd straight 3 point game as well as his 2nd straight "first star". We have more on Kreider and the rest of a pretty good Friday night for Ranger prospects right here.

Islanders First Star John Persson

When the Edmonton Oilers decided to keep Ryan Nugent-Hopkins rather than return him to the Red Deer Rebels then John Persson (2011 5th) was going to be one of the Rebels who was going to have to bring his game up a notch.

The 6'2 190 left winger from Mora Sweden earned the game's 3rd star as Persson went by the numbers 1-2-3 +4 to help his Rebels to an 8-2 whipping of the Seattle Thunderbirds. Persson just might be the only prospects leading his team in scoring that nobody knows anything about.

Persson jumped past another hot prospect Anders Lee to become the leading scorer among Islander prospects with his performance against Seattle. At 5-11-16, Persson is joining some very talented young prospects that the Islanders are stockpiling.

So the recap of Persson's efforts as well as the rest of the Islander prospect story can be found right here.

(Kreider- NHL Media, Persson- Red Deer Rebels)

Quietly They Played

The only highlight that came out of the 2 games involving New York Islander and New York Ranger prospects was Ryan Strome (NYI 2011 1st) scoring his 7th goal of the season.

The goal which extends Strome's scoring streak to 9 games (7-5-12) was about the only highlight for his Niagara IceDogs who lost to the Oshawa Generals 5-3 on Thursday evening.





Strome scored a power play goal at 1:40 of the 2nd period to give Niagara a 2-1 lead but after that it was all Oshawa as they scored 3 unanswered goals to take command and the win.


Fellow Islander prospect Mitchell Theoret (2011 7th) was scoreless as the IceDogs lost for the first time in regulation in 6 games.

Christian Thomas sat out Game #3 of his 10 game suspension.

Andrew Yogan (NYR 2010 3rd) was scoreless and a -2 as his Peterborough Petes jumped out to a 4-1 lead and then held on for a 4-3 win over the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.  Since his 6 game scoring streak ended; Yogan has only 1 point in his last 5 games.

We hate seeing someone who has this much talent just not figure out how to put everything together. It is frustrating because if you gave Brandon Prust who is 95% heart even half the skill set that Yogan has then you would have a true life superstar.

Fellow Ranger Prospect Peter Ceresnak (2011 6th) also was scoreless and we wonder if he has already hit his rookie wall. Ceresnak is scoreless in his last 7 games and has only a -6 to show for it.

Got to wonder if he too needs a chance to watch from above.

Thursday was quiet but the Ranger Round Table that we are apart of posted what your Ranger bloggers have felt about the team for games 6-10. This time the blog is over at SNYRangersblog and it makes for good reading to seeing what the diverse blogger minds are thinking about the Rangers.

Mid Week Almost Nothing

For a quiet day, Wednesday had some pretty interesting stuff for those who follow prospect hockey both New York Rangers and New York Islanders.

First we want to offer congrats to Anders Lee (NYI 2009 6th) for being named the CCHA RBC Financial Group Player of the Month.

The press release as follows

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. — The Central Collegiate Hockey Association announced today that sophomore forward Anders Lee of Notre Dame has been named the RBC Financial Group CCHA Player of the Month for October.


Lee, a 21-year-old from Edina, Minnesota, spurred the Fighting Irish to a 5-2-0 record and No. 6 ranking in October while leading the nation with 10 goals. His 13 points puts him in a tie for fourth in the nation in scoring. The Fighting Irish alternate captain scored a goal in all seven of Notre Dame’s games this month, including a two-goal game and a hat trick. He tallied multiple points in four of those games and his current seven-game goal and point-scoring streaks are both career highs.


The 6-foot-2, 218-pound Lee began the month by scoring a goal in his team’s season opener, a 4-3 loss to Minnesota Duluth on Oct. 7. He followed that up with a goal and an assist in Notre Dame’s 5-3 win over the Bulldogs the next night.


The next weekend Lee registered a 3-2-5 scoring line in a split against Ohio State. After scoring three times in a 5-2 win over Rensselaer on Oct. 21, Lee added a goal in both Irish victories at Bowling Green, Oct. 28-29, to close out the month.


Special mention for RBC Financial Group CCHA Player of the Month honors goes to Bowling Green sophomore forward Camden Wojtala, Ferris State senior defenseman Chad Billins, Lake Superior junior forward Nick McParland, Miami senior forward Alden Hirschfeld, Michigan junior forward Lindsay Sparks, Michigan State sophomore forward Lee Reimer, Northern Michigan senior forward Justin Florek, Ohio State sophomore forward Chris Crane and Western Michigan University sophomore forward Chase Balisy.

The other item to make hockey headlines is a good thing for USA college hockey as the Comcast/NBC merger is paying off a rather nice dividend sooner than later. As many may know Versus on Jan 2nd 2012 will be changing their name to the NBC Sports Network and on Wednesday adding Notre Dame to the Hockey East got the conference a new TV deal.

Here is that release:

NEW YORK - The Hockey East Association and NBC Sports Network announced on Tuesday a multi-year deal to broadcast Hockey East games live, including the 2012 Hockey East Tournament at the TD Garden in Boston, Mass.


The Hockey East regular-season schedule will begin on NBC Sports Network with two games hosted by the University of Vermont on February 10 against Boston College at Gutterson Fieldhouse and February 24 vs. Boston University. NBC will also broadcast a Hockey East quarterfinal game on Friday, March 9 and then will continue their tournament coverage the following weekend on Friday, March 16 with the semifinal games at 5 and 8pm and the 28th Hockey East Championship Game on Saturday, March 17 (8pm) from the TD Garden.


"The landscape in college hockey is about to go through a significant change. Television will become even more important to all programs with national aspirations and national television will become a key to future success," said Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna. "This agreement will play a major role in our ability to stay in a leadership position in our sport."


The games are part of a 16-game college hockey schedule slated to start on VERSUS, which will be rebranded as the NBC Sports Network on Jan. 2, on Saturday, December 31, when Notre Dame hosts Boston University (7 p.m.). This season's schedule, which marks the first time that the NBC Sports Group will air college hockey games, was developed through partnerships with numerous collegiate hockey conferences and universities.


"We are excited to be launching our first-ever college hockey package by building a destination on Friday nights on the NBC Sports Network with many of the preeminent brands in the sport," said Jon Miller, President of Programming for NBC Sports Group. The college hockey telecasts will be produced by the same Emmy Award-winning team that oversees all of the NHL games for the NBC Sports Group, led by Sam Flood, executive producer for NBC Sports and VERSUS.


The Hockey East Association is a 10-team Division I college men's hockey conference founded in 1984 and an eight-team Division I women's league which began play in 2002-03. The men's league has won seven NCAA championships in the past 19 years. Since 1999, Hockey East has won five NCAA Championships and have placed 18 teams in the Frozen Four, along with 45 teams in the NCAA Tournament. 

Anything that helps get more hockey out there for fans to watch helps the sport grow.

Game Action

Only one prospect saw action on Wednesday night as Steven Fogarty (NYR 2011 3rd) and his Penticton Vees took to the road to play the Vernon Vipers in BCHL action. The Vees though forgot their game at home as Vernon spanked them 7-1.

The Vees may have the best record in the BCHL at 11-3-0-1 but boy when they lose they gets their butts kicked. Fogarty was scoreless and not much more to say other than this game was a bad one.

(Lee/CCHA)

JT Miller Interview (Updated 10:30 PM EDT)

Just one game on the Tuesday night schedule for either New York Rangers or New York Islander prospects but it is a big one. Kirill Kabanov's (2010 3rd) Shawinigan Cataractes hosting the Quebec Remparts in the second half of their home and home series.

Kabanov and his Shawinigan teammates had lost to the Remparts in the shootout on Saturday in their house so they were looking for get some revenge on Tuesday night.  If there was any question as to whether or not Kabanov was motivated to play for Shawinigan then his play in the 4 games since joining them should answer that question.

Kabanov and his linemates (Michael Chaput and Anton Zlobin) are fast becoming not a good line but a great one. Chaput and Kabanov against the Remparts scored 3 goals combined in the 3rd period to rally the Cataractes from down 3-1 to a 4-3 win.

Kabanov first took a pass from Chaput and converted for his 2nd goal of the season at 6:50 to make it 3-2. The duo repeated the trick 2:22 later at 9:12 to tie the game up at 3-3 on Kabanov's 3rd goal.

Then Chaput got the game winner for the Cataractes 2:59 later at 12:11. Kabanov in 4 games with the Cataractes is now 3-2-5 +6 as the only thing he did not do right was win a faceoff.

The Cataractes are now 5-0-1-1 in their last 7 games as they have the 2nd best record in the QMJHL.

In the meantime the good folks over at the Plymouth Whalers sent us a couple of items for your interest starting with a JT Miller interview.

http://www.plymouthwhalers.com/video/index/id/67220c6a50eb03dbb0076b35380446dc


The other item of interest is more for those of you interested in collecting Game Worn items

With Christmas just around the corner, the Plymouth Whalers have a Christmas gift for the serious hockey fan - or maybe just a serious Whalers fan. The team has acquired game-worn National Hockey League jerseys by Whalers alumni who are currently playing in the NHL

The jerseys are the most popular players to play in Plymouth since Compuware Arena opened in 1996.

The team is selling the jerseys via silent auction at: http://www.plymouthwhalersauction.com/products/?category=17

The proceeds towards the jersey sales go directly towards the Whalers Pink Out! Campaign for Breast Cancer Awareness.

The game-worn jerseys include:

TYLER SEGUIN BOSTON BRUINS

Seguin played for the Whalers fro 2008-10 and won the Ontario Hockey League League’s Red Tilson Award as Most Valuable Player in 2009-10 before being taken second overall by the Boston Bruins in the 2010 National Hockey League Entry Draft.

He is the most recent Plymouth Whaler to score 100 points in a season (106 in 2009-10)

After playing in a depth role with as a rookie and helping the Bruins win the Stanley Cup last season, Seguin has been give a bigger role this year by Boston head coach Claude Julien.

Coming into November, Seguin is the leading scorer for Boston with four goals and six assists for 10 points in 10 games. He averages just over 16 minutes of ice time for the Bruins and is tied with Patrice Bergeron for the team lead with 34 shots on goal.

CHAD LaROSE, CAROLINA

Never drafted at any level of the game, LaRose has persevered to become a success throughout his hockey career. After setting the Whalers single season record for goals scored in a season in 2003-03 (61), LaRose worked his way up the Carolina Hurricanes system, making his debut in 2005-06 and helping the Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup in 2006.

LaRose (from Fraser) has become a steady, gritty performer with the Hurricanes. Coming into November, the “Chuck Norris” of the NHL has played in 417 career games with Carolina

LaRose is in the middle of his sixth full season in Carolina

DAVID LEGWAND, NASHVILLE PREDATORS

Roughly ten years before Seguin, Legwand burst on to the OHL scene with the Whalers in 1997-98, scoring 105 points in his rookie season with Plymouth en route to winning the Red Tilson Award as OHL MVP, the Emms Family Award as the league’s top rookie and won the Canadian Hockey League’s Midas Rookie of the Year Award.

Like Seguin Legwand was also taken second overall, by Nashville in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft. After graduating from the Whalers in 1999, Legwand has enjoyed a productive career with the Predators ever since and leads all current Whalers alumni playing in the NHL with 779 games played – all with Nashville

Like Seguin, Legwand (from Grosse Pointe Woods) currently lead Nashville in scoring, with three goals and eight assists for 11 points in 11 games while averaging over 20 minutes of ice time.

JAMES WISNIEWSKI, COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS:

Wisniewski was originally a first-round draft choice of the Whalers, who selected him 20th overall in the 2000 OHL Draft. He completed an excellent Plymouth career as the team’s highest scoring defenseman in franchise history with 187 points in 217 career games.

Canton won the Canadian Hockey League’s Defenseman of the Year Award in 2003-04.

The fortunes of the Blue Jackets seem to turn around bit recently when Wisniewski – signed over the summer as a free agent - returned from an eight-game suspension. Coming into November, Wisniewski has four assists in his first four games with the Blue Jackets while averaging a team-high 28 minutes per game of ice time.

JARED BOLL COLUMBUS BLUEJACKETS:

A relative unknown when Plymouth acquired him in a trade with Kingston in 2005, Boll became a popular player with Plymouth, helping the Whalers win the OHL Championship in 2007. Boll is now in his fifth season with Columbus

In addition, Legwand procured jerseys of teammates Ryan Suter (a one-time Whalers draft choice in 2001), Shea Weber and Pekka Rinne.

Many of the Whalers Pink jersey – worn during the team’s annual Pink Out! for Breast Cancer Awareness – remain for sale

(Miller/Aaron Bell- OHL Images, Kabanov/Lewiston Maineaics)

Players Of The Week

Choosing our Prospects of the Week for the New York Islanders and New York Rangers was for a change not an easy task this week. Nobody really had an eye opening week as we had some single game performances like Chris Kreider had for Boston College and Corey Trivino for Boston University.

But in the end we wound up going with Anders Lee (2009 6th) for the Islanders and Scott Stacjer (2009 5th) for the Rangers as both had the most impact on how their teams did for the week not just one game.

First Anders Lee the sophomore forward for Notre Dame, we admit it that boy do we just love watching this monster play. The leading goal scorer in all of the NCAA with 10 goals as well as the only prospect Islander or Ranger to reach double digits in goals.

Lee and his now 4th ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish took to the road for 2 games against Bowling Green. Lee was the player with the big goals as on Friday night his 9th goal of the season to give Notre Dame a 1-0 lead that they never gave up

On Saturday, Lee scored the tying goal with his 10th goal of the season as Notre Dame went on to a 3-2 win and the sweep of the weekend series. It was Notre Dame's 3rd straight win and their 5th of the season.

Lee is a scary sight on the ice as you have a 6'3 218 power forward who when he sets up in the slot is impossible to either stop or move out of there. And what was a "let's take a chance pick" on Lee is starting to look very good for the Islanders.

Other Islanders we looked at were Ryan Strome of the Niagara IceDogs and Kirill Kabanov of the Shawinigan Cataractes. And you know this trio as it is has the makings of a very lethal line combo as you have the bull strength of Lee, the offensive creativity of Kabanov and the offensive package to make it all work in Strome.

Good news for the Islanders bad news for the rest of the NHL.

Scott Stajcer (2009 5th) was the odd man out because he had an overage year of eligibility remaining and the Rangers had 1 too many spots to fill. So Stajcer was sent back to the Owen Sound Attack of the OHL.

We knew it was the right move for Stajcer after losing what really was looking like his break out season last year. It created yet another goalie logjam but Stajcer has made it clear that he fully intends on staying in Owen Sound.

If last week is any indication of his intentions then Owen Sound is going to have a happy problem of having 2 starting goalies. Last week Stajcer made 2 starts and was 1-0-1-0 in them with a 1.98 Goals Against and a 0.949 save percentage.

Stajcer earned the game's second star in an overtime road loss to the London Knights as he gave up 2 first period goals then kept his Owen Sound team in the game long enough for them to rally and tie the game up. The Attack lost in overtime but gaining a road point was a small consolation.

On Sunday, Stajcer was at his best holding the Windsor Spitfires to just 1 goal in a 5-1 Owen Sound home win. Stajcer had to be at his best in the first period as his Owen Sound teammates were out played and dominated.

Out shot 18-6 and giving the Spitfires 3 power plays, Stajcer yielded a goal and then shut the Spitfires out the rest of the way. In the 3rd period with Owen Sound holding a 2-1 lead, Stajcer stopped Alexander Khokhlachev on a breakaway then stopped him again when the puck was right on the goal line.

That took the fire out of the Spitfires as Owen Sound broke the game open with 3 late goals for Stajcer's 2nd win of the season. Stajcer since his rough beginning since returning to Owen Sound has been lowering his numbers.

Now the 6th best goalie in the OHL despite his 2-2-1-1 record, Stajcer now has a 2.62 goals against and a 0.920 save percentage.

Michael St. Croix 1-2-3 with a 9 game scoring streak was the other Ranger prospect up for consideration.

(Lee/Notre Dame, Stajcer/Aaron Bell-OHL Images)