Predator 2- Michael St. Croix is back for more

Michael St. Croix (Edmonton Oil Kings)

It is not often that a guy who scores 40 goals, puts up 105 points and helps his team win a league championship but that is what Michael St. Croix (NYR 2011 4th) during last season. So how come St. Croix doesn't get the publicity like other Ranger prospects do?

There is a reason why I tagged St. Croix with the nickname "The Predator" and it had nothing to do with him and Nashville. It had to do with out of the 40 goals that St. Croix scored last season 18 were on the power play and 8 were game winning goals.

The nickname has to do with the uncanny ability that St. Croix showed last season that when he saw a team on the ropes; St. Croix would go for the kill and help turn a game into a blowout.

Sunday marked the 2012-2013 preseason debut for St. Croix as he and his Edmonton Oil Kings played against the Red Deer Rebels as part of the 6th Annual Preseason Invitational in St. Albert, Alberta. One thing you really want to see from your better prospects is how they make plays when their team needs one.

Edmonton had jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead only to see Red Deer come back and tie the game at 2-2. In the second period it was St. Croix earning his first point of the year when he fed T.J. Foster for the go ahead goal at 5:46 for a 3-2 lead.

Foster returned the favor when he found St. Croix for a goal at 13:38 for a 4-2 Oil King lead and the goal turned out to be the game winner. Just another typical game for St. Croix.

St. Croix when the 2012-2013 season starts on September 20th will be looking to extend a scoring streak carried over from the 2011-2012 season (4 game goal scoring streak). St. Croix scored 40 and 105 so what does he do for an encore?

If he stays healthy then the sky is the limit for him.

Griffin Reinhart (NYI 2012 1st) did not play for the Oil Kings in this one.

While there wasn't any reports on how Shane McColgan did during this weekend's Saskatoon Blade's scrimmages; there was a good write up on the Ranger's 2011 5th round pick. Daniel Nugent-Bowman has a good piece on McColgan's desire for a new start right here.

My favorite part was this one:

A fifth-round 2011 pick of the New York Rangers, McColgan is serious about his game.

He trained five days a week this summer, occasionally with NHLers Ryan Whitney, Shawn Horcoff, George Parros, Ryan Miller and Pittsburgh Penguins star centre Sidney Crosby.

So McColgan learned play-making from Whitney and Horcoff, fighting from Parros, work ethic from Miller and whining and diving from Crosby. Seriously this is a pretty good mix of NHL players for McColgan to learn from.

Brendan Kichton (New York Islanders 2011 5th) did not play as his Spokane Chiefs doubled up on the Seattle Thunderbirds 6-3. The game was part of the annual Everett preseason tournament which involves the 5 teams that make up the WHL's US Division.

In the OHL, no word on how Peter Ceresnak (NYR 2011 6th) did but his Peterborough Petes lost to the Mississauga Steelhead's 4-2. Ceresnak is a prospect we want to keep an eye on this season because the Rangers have a gap in their defensive prospects they need to fill.

Preseason is the hardest time to get game reports on so sorry if I don't have any word on Andrey Pedan of Guelph (NYI 2011 3rd), Adam Pelech of Erie (NYI 2012 3rd).

If you happen to follow me on twitter then you know that one of my followers is a Ranger fan who happens to live in Sweden. So make sure you add @zwintho to your twitter list if you want to know how Jesper Fast (NYR 2010 6th) is doing.

Hoping that we will be able to get reports on the other 3 Ranger prospects who play in Sweden. And if you happen to catch a Ranger prospect in action then you are always welcome to drop me a line and post your own report.