A mostly ugly evening

Anders Lee

Friday night was one of those nights where ugly was the best description for some of the games involving New York Ranger and New York Islander prospects. In 10 counting games, the prospects combined to go 3-7 on the night and some of these losses were just unacceptable.

Tonight's Star Anders Lee Notre Dame

The only star of the evening was center Anders Lee (NYI 2009 6th) as the junior captain of 9th ranked Notre Dame helped lead his team to a 5-2 road win over Northern Michigan in CCHA play. Lee had a goal and an assist to go along with 5 shots and a +2.

Lee who was named the game's second star earned his points by first setting up Peter Schneider for Notre Dame's 4th goal at 3:51 of the 3rd period. Lee's goal was an empty netter for Notre Dame's 5th goal of the evening at 18:51 of the 3rd.

Lee is now 2-3-5 on the season as Notre Dame wins their CCHA league opener.

The rest of the prospects

Defenseman Robbie Russo (NYI 2011 4th) had a secondary assist on Anders Lee's empty net goal. It was Russo's 3rd point of the season (1-2-3) and Russo took 4 shots with an "even" for his night.

Center Steven Fogarty (NYR 2011 3rd) took 3 shots and was a -1 in the game. Notre Dame plays North Michigan again on Saturday evening.

Right wing Cristoval Nieves (NYR 2012 2nd) was scoreless on no shots but was a +2 as his 6th ranked Michigan Wolverines defeated 3rd ranked Miami 4-2.

Defenseman Scott Mayfield (NYI 2011 2nd) did not score and was a +1 as his 5th ranked Denver Pioneers defeated Michigan Tech 5-1 in WCHA play. It was the conference opener for Denver and the same two teams will play on Saturday evening.

Brendan Kichton (NYI 2011 5th) was held scoreless as his Spokane Chiefs gave up 4 goals in the first 17:32 of their game against the Everett Silvertips and could not make them up losing 6-5.

It was the second straight loss for the Chiefs.

Samuel Noreau (NYR 2011 5th) and his Baie-Comeau Drakkar went from defeating the 3rd ranked Quebec Remparts on Thursday to losing in the shootout to the expansion Sherbrooke Phoenix 3-2.

Noreau did not play badly as he was scoreless but a +2 on 5 shots with 1 hit. This is called overlooking who you are playing and down the road we will see if the Drakkar learn from this embarrassment.

Loic Leduc (NYI 2012 4th) recorded his 2nd assist of the season but his Cape Breton Screaming Eagles lost to the Drummondville Voltigeurs 4-1. This was not as close as the score suggests as Drummondville dominated this game from start to finish.

Leduc in addition to the assist was a -2 but had 5 hits for the game.

Ryan Strome (NYI 2011 1st) had 2 primary assists on 2 power play goals but that was it for highlights for the Niagara IceDogs. The IceDogs saw their 6 game unbeaten streak ended by the Sudbury Wolves 7-2.

Strome with his 2 assists extends his scoring streak to 7 games (4-7-11) and remains 4th in the OHL in scoring with a 9-12-21. Defenseman Jesse Graham (NYI 2012 6th) was scoreless and forward Mitchell Theoret (NYI 2011 7th) missed his 2nd straight game with an "upper body" injury.

Andrey Pedan (NYI 2011 3rd) and his Guelph Storm dug themselves a 0-2 hole and spent the rest of the game trying to catch the Windsor Spitfires but came up short. The Storm saw their 9 game unbeaten streak ended 6-4 but to his credit, Pedan played well.

Pedan had a primary as well as a secondary assist for the evening to extend his scoring streak to 4 games (2-6-8); the streak matches Pedan's career high. Pedan also stayed out of the penalty box as he improves to 4-8-12 on the season.

Adam Pelech (NYI 2012 3rd) had an assist but his Erie Otters lost to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds 6-5 in the shootout. Erie could not hold on to a 3-0 lead they had built up as the Greyhounds fought back to force overtime then the shootout.

Pelech picked up his 11th assist on the season to improve to 2-11-13. Pelech also has a 4 game scoring streak (1-5-6) which is a career high for him.

Cody Rosen (NYI 2010 7th) was the backup once again as his Clarkson Golden Knights lost to Niagara 2-0. One wonders if Rosen will get another chance as Clarkson remains winless at 0-4.

In exhibition action, Brady Skjei (NYR 2012 1st) sat out his 2nd ranked Minnesota Golden Gopher's 2-2 tie with the US Under-18 squad. Skjei was given the night off as he is a little "dinged up" but would have played if this was a WCHA conference game.