Saturday, January 4, 2014

The stars stayed home Friday

It was the first full Friday night hockey of 2014 only there was not a whole lot of excitement and it is fair to say that the weather did play a role in that. Surprisingly just 1 game involving a New York Ranger or New York Islander prospect was postponed because of the weather but that might be the case on Saturday evening.

So for Friday the prospect who came the closest to earning a star was Kyle Burroughs (NYI 2013 7th) of the Regina Pats. Burroughs scored what was the game tying goal in the 2nd period as his Regina Pats earned a 4-3 shootout win over the Saskatoon Blades. For Burroughs it was his 4th goal of the season and 2nd goal in as many games for the Pats.

Burroughs the captain of the Pats missed close to 3.5 weeks due to a concussion appears to have fully recovered and with the Pats fighting for playoff position; they will need their captain in the lineup in the 2nd half. Burroughs is now 4-19-23.

Anthony Duclair (NYR 2013 3rd) is not resting on his newly signed contract from the Rangers as Duclair scored his 32nd goal of the season to help his Quebec Remparts earn a 3-2 win over the Drummondville Voltigeurs. Duclair scored the game's 1st goal at 5:26 of the first period giving his Remparts an early 1-0 lead.

It was the 5th straight game with a goal for Duclair as his Remparts are also unbeaten in regulation in those same 5 games. The goal also allowed Duclair to move into 2nd place in the QMJHL for scoring with his 32-26-58 mark.

Troy Donnay (NYR 2013 UFA) had an assist but it was not enough to prevent his Erie Otters from falling in overtime to the Owen Sound Attack 3-2. Donnay had the primary assist on Michael Curtis's 15th goal of the season coming at 5:14 of the third period. It was Erie's first goal of the game and helped the Otters rally to tie a game they had trailed for most of.

For Donnay, the assist was his 8th of the season and 9th overall point. That sets a new career high in points for Donnay.

Jesse Graham (NYI 2012 6th) had the secondary assist on the game tying goal in the 3rd period as his Saginaw Spirit came from behind to earn a 3-2 shootout win over Graham's former team, the Niagara IceDogs. The win was just the 2nd in the last 10 games for the Spirit.

Graham is now 6-24-30 on the season.

Taylor Cammarata (NYI 2013 3rd) and Jake Bischoff (NYI 2012 7th) were both scoreless as their top ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers played to a 2-2 overtime tie with the Colgate Raiders in the opening round of the Mariucci Classic (Colgate won the shootout round 2-1). Call Minnesota guilty of playing not to lose and given that 2nd ranked Ferris State just so happens to be playing in this same tournament that Minnesota just may have lost their spot at number 1.

Loic Leduc (NYI 2012 4th) did not play a smart game as he was scoreless and a -1 with no shots but 2 minor penalties and 2 hits. Leduc's Rimouski Oceanic defeated the Val-d'Or Foreurs 5-3 but Leduc taking minors for "headbutting" and "checking from behind" made things harder than they should have been.

It may have been just an exhibition game but Adam Tambellini (NYR 2013 3rd) and his North Dakota hockey team have to be embarrassed at losing to the University of British Columbia 3-2 in overtime. Tambellini was scoreless but his teammates just looked poorly losing to a Canadian College team.

Goalies Mackenzie Skapski (NYR 2013 6th) of the Kootenay Ice and Stephon Williams (NYI 2013 4th) were "DNP" for their respective teams. Ryan Graves (NYR 2013 4th) and his Charlottetown Islanders saw their game against the Halifax Mooseheads postponed for weather. No makeup day has been scheduled as of yet.

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