A Sunny Sunday

Samuel Noreau (PEI Guardian)

For the New York Ranger and New York Islander prospects playing on Sunday; the efforts were way better than they have been all week even if the outcomes weren't.

Samuel Noreau (NYR 2011 5th) made his first goal of the season count as the 6'5 defenseman of the Baie-Comeau Drakkar helped lead the Drakkar to a dominating 4-2 win over the Chicoutimi Sagueneens.

Noreau had a big bounce back game for the Drakkar who had lost on Saturday to the Victoriaville Tigres. Noreau scored his first goal of the season at 5:10 of the 2nd period to put his Drakkar up 3-1 at the time.

The goal proved to be the game winner which was a first for Noreau in the QMJHL along with it being his 1st power play goal too. But Noreau was not only playing well on the offensive side but on the defensive side as well too.

Noreau was part of a defense that limited the Sagueneens to just 18 shots for the entire game. It was the all around game that we have been wanting to see out of Noreau this season now lets see him do it consistently.

I hope the Niagara IceDog fans enjoy watching Ryan Strome (NYI 2011 1st) play while he is still on the IceDog roster. If the NHL and NHLPA do settle their labor dispute then I just don't see Strome returning to the IceDogs from the Islanders.

Strome had his 2nd straight 2 goal game for the IceDogs who despite the output lost to the Kingston Frontenacs 5-4 on Sunday. The IceDogs dug themselves into a 0-3 hole before they got their game going but by then it was too late.

Down 0-3 in the 2nd period when fellow Islander prospect Mitchell Theoret (NYI 2011 7th) got the IceDogs on the board when Theoret set up Steven Shipley for a goal at 13:14 of the 2nd. It was Theoret's 1st point of the season and may have kept this game from being a blowout.

Kingston added another goal before Strome scored the 1st of his 2 goals (his 3rd of the season) with just 5 seconds remaining in the 2nd period to close the gap to 2-4. At 3:09 of the 3rd period, Strome brought the IceDogs to within 1 goal with his 4th of the season.

The Icedogs though gave back the goal 30 seconds later restoring the Frontenac's lead to 2 goals and they held on for the win. It was Niagara's first loss of the season as they fell to 3-1 0n the year.

Strome now has back to back 2 goal games, Theoret with his 1st point on the season remains the starting left wing. The 3rd Islander prospect on the IceDogs defenseman Jesse Graham (NYI 2012 6th) did not score but was a -2 on the game.

Andrey Pedan (NYI 2011 3rd) didn't score but his Guelph Storm played well enough to steal a 4-1 win over the London Knights. Pedan did manage a hat trick of his own as he was called for "diving", a double minor for checking from behind and a fighting major.

All together it added up to 11 PIMs on the day for the Guelph defenseman who now has 2 games with 11 PIMs in them (both against London). Pedan has 24 PIMs in 4 games with 2 fighting majors.

Thanks to Pedan, I was able to see one of the new rules involving fighting be applied. Pedan did not start the fight he was in so it will not count towards any possible suspension down the road.

Brendan Kichton (NYI 2011 5th) is another prospect affected by the lockout and if it gets settled I would be surprised if the Islanders don't sign Kichton when training camp opens because Kichton (who is 20) might be needed to replace one of the Islanders recalled to the main team after the lockout ends.

Kichton had a primary assist for the second game in a row but this time it was not enough as Kichton's Spokane Chiefs lost to the Vancouver Giants 3-2. The Giants just swarmed all over the Chiefs limiting them to 15 shots for the entire game.