Sleepy Sunday

Four New York Ranger prospects saw action on Sunday including a game where three of them faced each other on Sunday. Christian Thomas and his Oshawa Generals play host to Andrew Yogan, Peter Ceresnak and their Peterborough Petes in a game that had a little more drama in it than the average game.

Christian Thomas (2010 2nd) we can now safely say is out of his scoring slump as his 4th goal of the season proved to be the game winner as the Generals defeated the Petes 3-1. Thomas pounced on a rebound just 23 second into the 3rd period and put it in to go Oshawa at the time a 2-0 lead.

For Thomas it was his 4th goal in his last 6 games (5 but you do not count shoot out goals) but his 2nd game winning play in his last 3 games. Good news for the Generals and bad for everyone else as Thomas is now 4-3-7 on the season.

This was an inter-divisional game the Petes are in 1st place but there lead over the 3rd place Generals is down to 2 points (Petes hold a game in hand). Yet the bigger drama of this game was going to be how Andrew Yogan responded to his very public "Healthy Scratch"?

Yogan (2010 3rd) was scratched by Peterborough Pete coach Mike Pelino after a series of what Pelino felt were a series of undisciplined penalties that Yogan had taken. Against the Generals, Yogan was able to stay out of the penalty box and provided the Petes with their only goal of the game.

And just to make sure Yogan got his message, Coach Pelino did not return him right back to his normal spot on the first line. We hate having to use the "this is for his own good" line but we have to because the last thing we want to see happen is a Yogan who has legit offensive talent not earn a Ranger's contract.

Yogan is a gifted weapon who would honestly help the Rangers with his 6'3 size and offensive skills. But Yogan is also his own worst enemy at times putting himself above his team and that will never cut it.

Yogan showed that offensive skill when he scored an unassisted goal at 6:13 of the 3rd period. Yogan and Derek Mathers broke in on a breakaway but Yogan choose to shoot with a great shot that he placed perfectly.

That gives Yogan a 5 games scoring streak (3-2-5) and a 3 game goal scoring streak. Teammate and fellow prospect Peter Ceresnak (2011 6th) had a quiet game but this was also his 3rd game in 4 nights which is something he has to learned to adapt to.

The 4th Ranger prospect to see action was Shane McColgan (2011 5th) and while McColgan has a 6 game scoring streak going after he had a secondary assist; his Kelowna Rockets are also winless in those same 6 games after a 3-2 road loss to the Kamloops Blazers.

On Sunday, McColgan and his Rockets were playing their 3rd road games in as many nights but as we have been mentioning lately; what ails the Rockets is not playing a full 60 minutes of hockey.

It is like they pick a period and just don't play as in this one, the second period was their downfall. Forget the 2 goals that won the game as a 16-4 Kamloops advantage in shots tells the story.

McColgan took over as the leading scorer among Ranger prospects at 1-9-10 but he also plays on the team that has the worse record among all the prospects Rangers and Islanders.

(Thomas/OHL Images/Aaron Bell)