Win now or pay for it later

What a terrible Saturday night we had for both New York Ranger and New York Islander prospects. 14 prospects dressed and the record for the evening was 3-8-1 (two teams had two prospects playing), and this kind of effort will ensure that many prospects will see their season end sooner than later.

And I'm pretty sure that once again Islander fans will be unhappy with me because none of their players aren't stars tonight. As I said yesterday please read report and show me where I'm wrong.

Tonight's Star Shane McColgan

Not sure what is about Prince George that Shane McColgan (NYR 2011 fifth) likes but two games up there and McColgan was a key player in helping his Kelowna Rockets earned two wins. Saturday night, McColgan had a 1-2-3 evening to lead the Rockets to a very dominating 4-1 win.

The game's first star McColgan got his Rockets on the board with his 15th goal of the season (power-play goal) at 16:52 of the first period. It gave the Rockets a 1-0 lead which they held until around the middle of the second.

In the second period after Prince George tied the game, the Rockets took command of the game with three unanswered goals 4-1 lead. McColgan earned two secondary assist on the third and fourth goals scored by the Rockets.

For McColgan, the three points improved his numbers to 15-38-53 which puts him third among Ranger prospects.

Ranger Prospects

JT Miller (NYR 2011 first) had an assist for his 31st assist of the season and 50 point as his Plymouth Whalers defeated the Windsor Spitfires 5-1. Miller is 19-31-50 on the season and he had his fifth fight of the season where he was caught with a jersey violation that gave him a 10 minute misconduct.

Andrew Yogan (NYR 2010 third) broke his six-game goalless streak with his 24th goal of the season but he was a -3 as his Peterborough Petes were spanked 8-4 by the Sudbury Wolves. Yogan is now 24-22-46 on the season but the loss was costly because it allowed fifth-place Sudbury to increase their lead over six place Peterborough to four points.

Teammate Peter Ceresnak (NYR 2011 sixth) was scoreless but not much of a factor in this game.

Danny Hobbs (NYR 2007 seventh) was scoreless on six shots as his UMass Minutemen lost to the Merrimack Warriors in an unbelievable heartbreaking fashion. Merrimack scored the game-winning goal with just 2 seconds remaining in regulation costing UMass a badly needed point in the Hockey East race.

UMass because of the loss fell 2 points behind 8th place Northeastern who defeated UMass on Friday night.

Islander Prospects

Mitchell Theoret (NYI 2011 seventh) had a primary assist on his Niagara IceDogs first goal of the game as the IceDogs rallied from down 2-1 with four unanswered goals in the third period to defeat the Brampton Battalion 5-2. A huge win for the IceDogs as they opened up a four-point lead over the Battalion in the race for the Central Division title.

In addition, the IceDogs moved to within two points of OHL Eastern conference leader Ottawa who lost Saturday. For Theoret, he is now 10-6-16 on the season.

Brendan Kichton (NYI 2011 fifth) scored his 12th goal of the season but it was not enough as his Spokane Chiefs were beaten 6-2 by the Kootenay Ice. It was a costly loss for the Chiefs as they missed on a chance to pull within four points of third placed Portland who lost.

And Vancouver won which pulled them even with the Chiefs in the battle for fourth place in the WHL's Western Conference. Kichton remains the leading scorer among Islander prospects with his 12-41-53 record.

John Perssons (NYI 2011 fifth) had a goal as well as an assist, but was also a -3 as his Red Deer Rebels gave up four goals in the first, scored two in the second and then gave up two more in the third to lose to the Calgary Hitmen 6-2.

Perssons was awarded the game second star but we seriously cannot honor that call when you lose like Red Deer lost. For the season, Perssons is 19-28-47.

Kirill Kabanov (NYI 2010 third) was scoreless as his Shawinigan Cataractes dropped the very key 2-1 loss to the Saint John Sea Dogs. The loss dropped the Cataractes three points behind the Sea Dogs in the race for the first seed in the QMJHL Playoffs.

Very disappointing seeing Kabanov with no points again as he needs to start scoring now and not wait until the playoffs. Just three points in his last seven games. We know he can do better and should do better.

Robbie Russo (NYI 2011 fourth) scored his fourth goal of the season set up by his teammate Anders Lee (NYI 2009 sixth) to open the scoring for sixth-ranked Notre Dame. Unfortunately it was not enough as visiting Bowling Green came away with a 3-2 win.

We are sorry but Notre Dame ranked sixth in the United States was outplayed on their home ice by a last-place team, outshot 12-4 in the third period and got what they deserved. Russo is now 4-10-14 as a freshman defenseman while the sophomore Lee is 14-15-29.

Jason Clark (NYI 2010 third) returned to the Wisconsin Badger lineup after missing seven games, but it did not help as Clark remained scoreless the 2011- 2012 season. His Wisconsin Badgers lost their fourth straight game this time; 2-1 to St. Cloud State.

Clark deserves a pass this entire season as our experience has shown us that it takes most players anywhere from six months to a year to recover from single hip surgery and Clark underwent double hip surgery last summer.  We have faith in his coach Mike Eaves who looks for places to put Clark which says to us the coach believes in the kid, then so should we.

Scott Mayfield (NYI 2011 second) was scoreless as his 13th-ranked Denver Pioneers skated to a 2-2 overtime tie with the Colorado College Tigers. Mayfield was starting defenseman, but took no shots and was even for the night

Did not play

Scott Stajcer (NYR 2009 fifth) – dressed as backup for Owen Sound's 2-1 over the Belleville Bulls.

Cody Rosen (NYI 2010 seventh) - did not play in Clarkson's 5-1 loss to Yale

(McColgan – Kelowna Rockets)