Thursday, November 22, 2012

McColgan Possible Concussion

Shane McColgan (Saskatoon Blades)
(Updated Thursday Midnight PDT) Sorry to report bad news on Thanksgiving but multiple sources are reporting that Shane McColgan (NYR 2011 5th)of the Saskatoon Blades has suffered a possible concussion and has returned back to Saskatoon. The injury occurred Tuesday evening during the Blades game with the Victoria Royals.

The injury happened during the 2nd period of the Blades 5-2 loss to the Royals when he collided with the Royal's Luke Harrison and landed directly on his head. It was not a dirty play but more of an awkward one.

McColgan will miss the final 2 games of the Blades road trip at the very least. McColgan is the 2nd leading scorer on the Blades at 6-17-23 and is their first line center.

For McColgan, this injury could not have come at a worst time as his play as of late had picked up and was a big part of why Saskatoon was starting to turn things around.

(stick taps to Gregg Drinnan of Taking Note and Daniel Nugent-Bowman)

The ironic thing about McColgan's injury was that Thursday evening was the debut of "Over the Edge: The Road to the Mastercard Memorial Cup." The best way to describe this show was what HBO has done with the 2 Winter Classic only difference it this is about the Saskatoon Blades who are the hosts of the 2013 Memorial Cup.

Losing McColgan is a huge blow as McColgan has been their first line center and the Blades have already been hit hard by the injury bug. 4 of the team's regular defensemen have been out with injuries forcing the team to double shift the remaining 3.

In addition the Blades lost one player in a freak accident when he cut himself with his own skate during a scrum and another forward was taken out on a dirty play in the same game that McColgan was hurt.

McColgan has proven himself to be a durable player despite his smaller size but right now hockey needs to take a back seat and let McColgan fully recover rather than rush back into the Blade lineup.

Game Action

Just one game on the Thanksgiving schedule as Adam Pelech (NYI 2012 3rd) and his Erie Otters hosted the Belleville Bulls. The Otters put themselves into a hole giving a goal just 23 seconds into the game.

The hole grew to 3-0 before the Otters answered back with Pelech getting the primary assist on their first goal. The Otters to their credit fought back to tie the game at 3-3 and forcing overtime and then the shootout.

But in the shootout the Bulls outscored the Otters 3-2 and came away with a 4-3 shootout win. As I have said before when the Otters learn how to win these 1 goal games, they will be tough to beat.

Pelech with his 17th assist of the season set a new career high for points with 21 (4-17-21).

A Sellout

The annual college hockey game at Madison Square Garden between Michigan and Cornell is a sellout but the folks at MSG Networks plan on showing the game live on Saturday night. Here is your chance to watch future Ranger Cristoval "Boo" Nieves in action.

The game starts at 8 PM EDT with John Giannone and Billy Jaffe calling the action.

No comments: