Monday, December 9, 2013

The Otters keep rolling along

Adam Pelech (OHL Images)
Sunday prospect hockey for the 5 New York Ranger and New York Islander prospects in action was basically the same old story, the good teams kept winning and the not so good losing. The Erie Otters lead things off as they won their 7th straight game 7-2 over the Kingston Frontenacs.

Adam Pelech (NYI 2012 3rd)
had 2 secondary assists and was a +1 as he earned 3rd star of the game honors in the Otter's win. Earning a star on the road says something especially when one considers that Pelech also took 2 minors including one for "checking from behind" which tends to rile the home folks. Pelech earned his 1st assist on Connor Brown's 20th goal at 16:21 of the 1st which gave Erie a 2-0 lead.

In the 3rd period with Erie already up 5-1, Pelech picked up assist number 2 on Andre Burakovsky's 21st goal which came on the power play. For Pelech, the 2 assists improve his season totals to 8-15-23.

Teammate Troy Donnay (NYR 2013 UFA) was scoreless and a -1. While the Otters keep winning now 26-4-1 on the season; this won't be a one year team as they have a core of players who will be back for at least one more season after this one.

Someone forgot to tell the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles that they are supposed to be a terrible team, not one that has now won 5 straight after defeating the Acadie-Bathurst Titan 3-2 in overtime. Loic Leduc's (NYI 2012 4th) team has a record of 18-11-0-3 39 points and is just 1 point behind Anthony Duclair's Quebec Remparts.

Leduc had a mostly quiet game scoreless on 2 shots with a minor for roughing but the team defense has been a big part of the Screaming Eagles turnaround. Leduc and his fellow defensemen blanked the Titan power play on 5 chances.

Going in the opposite direction are Ryan Graves (NYR 2013 4th) and his Charlottetown Islanders who were defeated 4-1 by the Halifax Mooseheads to extend their winless streak to 8 games at 0-7-0-1. Graves was scoreless on 2 shots with a -1 and 1 hit for his efforts.

Griffin Reinhart (NYI 2012 1st) and his Edmonton Oil Kings won their 5th straight game with a 2-1 squeaker over the Medicine Hat Tigers. Reinhart was scoreless and a -1 in a game that saw all the scoring done in the 1st period with goaltending the key to the win for the Oil Kings.

The win puts the Oil Kings in 3rd place in the WHL's Eastern Conference just 2 points behind the conference leading Swift Current Broncos.

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