Saturday, October 27, 2007

Busy Saturday

Saturday night is always a great night for hockey but this one was one of the more exciting Saturday's we have seen in a very long time.

OUR THREE STARS

Tomas Zaborsky (2006 5th) we can now declare is on fire after his 5th goal in 3 games as his Saginaw Spirit hosted the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors. Zaborsky's 7th goal of the season along with an assist helped the Spirit to a rather easy 5-1 win over the Majors.

Zaborsky has now had 3 straight first stars during his hot streak. Over the last 3 games, Zaborsky has 5 goals and 2 assists to raise his numbers to 7-10-17 for the season.

Eric Hunter's (2006 6th) 7th goal of the season was also the game winner as his University of Alberta Golden Bears scored 3 goals in the third period breaking open a close game with host University of Manitoba to win 7-4.

Hunter's goal was a shorthanded marker came off a nifty give and goal from teammate Ian McDonald was also Hunter's second of the game. Hunter also added an assist to give him the 3 point game which also gave him sole possession of the Canada West scoring lead at 7-7-14.

In addition to leading Canada West in scoring Hunter also leads in goal (7), is 6th in assists, tied for 2nd in game winning goals with 2, and 2nd in shot percentage thanks to his 7 goals on 25 shots. Hunter it is safe to say has fully recovered from his broken ankle suffered in the WHL playoffs last season.

Carl Hagelin's (2007 6th) 3rd goal of the season turned out to be the game winner as his 3rd ranked Michigan Wolverines dismantled Boston University 6-2. Hagelin also added an assist as he earned the game's third star against one of the nation's top college programs.

It was an impressive performance for the freshman from Sweden as his goal was a beauty. With his team on the power play, Hagelin took a breakout pass from teammate Mark Mitera split the defense and then went top shelf over BU goalie Karson Gillespie's glove.

Hagelin is a very gifted player who is only going to get better playing for a coach like the legendary Red Berenson who has sent many of his players to the NHL. If you have CSTV as part of your TV package I really recommend that you take the time next Friday night (Nov 2) to get a look at Hagelin as the Wolverines travel to play Nebraska-Omaha starting at 6 PM CDT.

The Rest of the Prospects

Ryan Hillier (2006 3rd) had 2 assists in one of our featured matchups as Antoine Lafleur (2007 2nd) led his Prince Edward Island Rocket in Halifax to face Ryan Hillier and his Halifax Mooseheads. For Hillier his assists came at the perfect time as the first gave his Mooseheads a 5-4 lead and the other turned out to be on the game winner as the Mooseheads won 6-5.

Hillier is now 11-8-19 on the season as his Mooseheads continue to be one of the top teams in the QMJHL. However the real story of this game was that the Mooseheads rallied back from down 4-0 thanks in part to some suspect calls that clearly angered the team but served as a rally point.

However on the other side, Antoine Lafleur (2007 2nd) had a great start to this game shutting the Mooseheads down for close to 30 minutes but then his defense stopped playing for him allowing 2 goals in in the 2nd period but once the Mooseheads closed the gap to 4-3 then the Rocket's defense simply stopped playing in support of their goalie

Lafleur showing the signs of why the Rangers made him a 2nd round pick this past spring. However no goalie is going to last if his team waves at the other team as they skate by them as what happened on the tying goal. In watching this game you could see Lafleur's spirit get broken when the Mooseheads tied the game and then just break totally when the Mooseheads took the lead.

The Rocket are a franchise with some very serious problems I am sad to say because they need to find an experienced defenseman to shore up their blueline because all season long they have blown leads. I feel badly for Lafleur who's confidence is close to looking shattered.

One night after shocking number one North Dakota, Jordan Foote (2004 6th) and his 15th ranked Michigan Tech found out the hard way why North Dakota was the top ranked team in US college hockey getting blasted 6-0. That took a lot off the luster of the upset win on Friday night.

Max Campbell (2007 5th) had an assist in a losing effort as his Western Michigan Broncos dropped a 3-1 decision to the Niagara Purple Eagles on the road.

Billy Ryan (2004 3rd) did not score but his Maine Black Bears finished off a weekend sweep of Northeastern with a 4-3 win.

David Skokan (2007 7th) found himself moved to wing as his Rimouski Oceanic lost a 3-2 heartbreaker to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. The Oceanic have been hit by the injury bug so with so much inexperience in their lineup they find themselves as they did tonight always have to play from behind. Skokan was scoreless in the game and only took 4 face offs going 3-1 but also was a -1.

Another player who had an even more heartbreaking day was Danny Hobbs (2007 7th) as his Ohio Junior Bluejackets dropped a second straight 3-2 shootout loss to the Waterloo Black Hawks in Columbus. Hobbs was scoreless and missed a chance to extend the shootout.

Greg Beller (2005 6th) was not in the lineup for reasons unknown as his Yale Bulldogs earned their first win of the season with a 2-0 win over Brown. We will pass along if it was a healthy scratch or another injury for Beller.

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