Saturday, January 7, 2012

A Good Night To Be A Ranger Fan

Guess the New York Ranger 2010 draft class was getting tired of hearing about how good the 2011 draft class has been and made a statement on the first Friday night in 2012. Islander fans got a rough start from their prospects and might want to just skim through this report.

On Thursday night, it was Andrew Yogan and his Peterborough Petes being embarrassed on home ice by the Kingston Frontenacs 7-3.  The question was how would the Petes react in the second half of this home and home series.

The Petes behind Andrew Yogan's 2-2-4 evening were able to defeat the Frontenacs 6-4.  It was a season high night for the the Rangers 2010 third round pick and for the Petes it could not have come at a better time.

Yogan scored his 19th goal in the second on the power play just 1:40 into the 2nd to gave the Petes a 2-1 lead.  It was the start of a 4 goal period for the Petes with Yogan involved in the scoring of 3 of the goals.

Yogan earned secondary assist on the Petes 4th and 5th goals of the game which gave the Petes a 5-2 lead after two periods. Those assists would come in handy as Kingston scored two goals in the third period making it a 5-4 before Yogan sealed the win with an empty net goal for his 20th goal of the season at the 19:00.

For his efforts, Andrew Yogan was named the game's third star but more importantly to us was seeing this kind of performance after a bad performance is a good sign.  Not to mention that quietly Andrew Yogan has moved his way up to 4th among Ranger  prospect scoring at 20-19-39. 

Yogan's 20 goals puts him in second behind Michael St Croix.  Fellow Ranger prospect Peter Ceresnak (2011 6th) returned from representing Slovakia at the World Under-20 and was scoreless.

Peterborough's win became even more important after Christian Thomas (NYR 2010 2nd) helped his Oshawa Generals win their fifth straight game  6-3 over the Kitchener Rangers. Thomas had a 1-2-3 evening as he earned the game second star for his performance.

Thomas first point of the game was a secondary assist on a power play goal which at the time gave the Generals a 2-1 lead after the first period.  In the second period after the Rangers had tied the score at 2-2, it was Thomas with his second assist of the night this time a primary assist  which gave the Generals the lead for good at 3-2.

Thomas added his 17th goal of the season at 16:38 to give the Generals a 5-2 lead on their way to the way to the win.  In addition to the win being the team's fifth straight it also raise the team record to 500 and pulled the Generals to within 1 point of eight seeded Mississauga as well as three points of 5th seeded Sudbury.

Thomas and his three points improved his numbers two17-18-35 and we know from experience that if Thomas gets going on a roll he can pile up points in bunches.

If you are an Islander fan then this is one of those parts you wanna skip as Andrey Pedan (NYI 2011 3rd) and his Guelph Storm turned a 3-2 lead after the first period into a 8 -3 blowout loss to the Saginaw Spirit.  There's really not a whole bunch one can say when you give up six unanswered goals over two periods.

Pedan was scoreless into the penalty in the second period which led to a Saginaw power play goal.  We do not get any satisfaction in reporting the bad stuff but you can't ignore things when they stick out as badly as Pedan's penalty does.

In Niagara, Mitchell Theoret (NYI 2011 7th) and his Niagara IceDogs played host to the Owen Sound Attack.  The IceDogs playing good host was kind enough to give away a goal third period lead and settled 4-3 shootout win.

The IceDogs were missing for players including Ryan Strome was returning from representing Canada and the World Under-20.  Theoret was scoreless for the evening and Ranger prospect goalie Scott Stajcer (NYR 2009 5th) was the backup for Owen Sound.

In the QMJHL, Kirill Kabanov (NYI 2010 3rd) and his Shawinigan Cataractes exploded for 5 third period goals as they rallied for a 6-3 win over the Chicoutimi Sagueneens. Kabanov had a secondary assist on the games final goal for is 16th assist and 30th point of the season.

In Baie-Comeau, the Drakkar thanks to a pair of goals in a second period were able to hold off the Rimouski Oceanic 3-2. Ranger prospect Samuel Noreau (NYR 2011 5th) did not score what was it +1 and was credited with three hits.
 
Heading west to the WHL, it was the battle of defensive prospects as Dylan McIlrath (NYR 2010 1st) led his Moose Jaw Warriors into Spokane to face Brendan Kickton (NYI 2011 5th) and his Spokane Chiefs.  It has turned into a rough road trip for McIlrath and his teammates having dropped the last two games during this 6 game road trip.

Spokane was not any easier as the Chief's defense limited the Warriors to 26 shots overall and while Moose Jaw plays a solid defense of their own it was a lack of offense that cost them this. Moose Jaw dropped this one 5-2 and really the loudest cheers of the game came when the Chiefs scored their final goal which meant the fans in attendance received free Chapulas as part of the local promotion

McIlrath was scoreless but Kichton that a secondary assist on the Chapula goal for his 28th assist and 34th point.

In Victoria, Shane McColgan (NYR 2011 5th) scored Kelowna's first goal of the game then set up their second goal as the Kelowna Rockets were able to defeat the Victoria Royals 5-2. The multipoint game allowed McColgan to become the third Ranger prospect to reach the 40 point mark at 11-29-40.

John Persson (NYI 2011 5th) had a secondary assist for his 24th assist and 37th point but it was not enough to prevent his Red Deer Rebels from losing to the Swift Current Broncos 3-2.  Swift Current
scored the first 3 goals of the game and the Rebels could not come back.

Steven Fogarty's (NYR 2011 3rd) 17th goal of the season at 19:40 of the 3nd period broke a 2-2 tie as his Penticton Vees tacked on 3 more after that for a 6-2 win over the Chilliwack Chiefs 6-2. It was the 20th straight win for the Vees who have not lost since November 5th.

As for Fogarty,  he is now 17-25-42 on the season which is 2nd among Ranger prospects but now there are several other prospects looking to pass him.

Sorry Islander fans got another one you want to skip as Scott Mayfield (NYI 2011 2nd) registered his 1st point in 16 games but Mayfield's 10th ranked Denver Pioneers suffered an embarrassing 3-2 home loss to the University Alabama-Huntsville Chargers. It was just the 2nd win of the year for UAH (2-21-1) who are trying to find a way to remain a Division 1 hockey team.

For Mayfield, his assist was just his 3rd point of the season (1-2-3).

The quest for Jason Clark's (NYI 2010 3rd) first point of the season continues as the sophomore forward remains scoreless in 13 games but at least his Wisconsin Badgers defeated RIT 6-3.  

We apologize for how this blog has been appearing as we deal with a serious health issue. Thank for your support because I will not lie, I need it to help keep me going. We are awaiting a visit to the surgeon on Monday as well as software that we have been told will help us improve the quality of the writing.


(Yogan - Aaron Bell-OHL Images, Christian Thomas- Oshawa Generals)

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