Sometimes it doesn't show

Shane McColgan (Steve Hiscock)

Friday night prospect hockey was more about what you won't find on the scoresheet or even in the media reports as New York Ranger and New York Islander prospect help their teams jockey for playoff spots. In the case of one prospect, whether what he did on Friday will fire up his teammates remains to be seen but it was understandable why he did what he did.

Nobody gets a star in this report but in the hockey tradition tonight's award will be stick taps.

First Stick Tap

Shane McColgan (NYR 2011 5th) is not the biggest guy on the ice but that doesn't mean the forward of the Saskatoon Blades won't jump to protect a teammate. That is exactly what McColgan did when Moose Jaw's Bryson Gore took out Josh Nicholls on a questionable hit.

McColgan did not even blink and went after Gore even if he did take some hard shots himself in the fight. Before anyone goes "thought you were anti-fighting" no I am anti-staged fights as I won't ever knock a fight that happens like in this case. McColgan went after someone who hurt his linemate and that is players policing each other not lining up at a face-off then dropping the gloves.

McColgan got 17 minutes in penalties while Gore got a 5 minute major for "checking from behind" along with the ejection that goes with it. McColgan did not score in this one as he spent most of the 2nd period in the penalty box.

Saskatoon would score the game's 1st goal on the resulting power play and went on to defeat Moose Jaw 3-1 for their 10 straight win. Saskatoon moved back into 1st place in the WHL's East Division and 2nd in the WHL's Eastern Conference.

McColgan saw his 5 game scoring streak come to an end (3-3-6) but doubt that matters to him after the win.

Second Stick Tap

Brenden Kichton (NYI 2011 5th) of the Spokane Chiefs is the leading scorer among WHL defensemen and many times people will think that because of that Kichton is suspect defensively. Not the case as one of the reasons why Kichton was a 5th round pick is because he is 5'11 not the 6'3 or 6'4 that most expect a defender to be these days.

Kichton gets a stick tap for making a play on a penalty kill as he broke up an Everett power play and sent teammate Dylan Walchuk off for a shorthanded goal which at the time gave Spokane a 4-1 lead. It was Kichton's 4th shorthanded assist of the season which does happen to lead the WHL.

The goal also wound up being the game winner as Spokane defeated the Everett Silvertips 6-3. Kichton had the shorthanded assist and a secondary assist while earning the game's 3rd star.

The win moved Spokane into 4th place in the WHL's Western Conference past the Victoria Royals and remain 2 points better than Tri-City. Kichton's 2 assists bring his point totals to 18-49-67 (19th in WHL).

The rest of the prospects

There have been a lot of goals scored by the prospects that get covered here but Steven Fogarty (NYR 2011 3rd) just may have stolen the show with his goal against Miami on Friday night. It sadly is also the only real highlight of his 12th Notre Dame efforts against 3rd ranked Miami.

Here is the clip courtesy of Notre Dame/CBS Sports Network, Fogarty's play starts about the 2:08 mark.



I have one question for Fogarty which is where was this offense been hiding all season?

The goal was Fogarty's 5th of the season but like I said it was the only real highlight of Notre Dame's 3-1 loss to Miami which took Notre Dame just about of the running for the CCHA's regular season's championship with 5 games left.

Notre Dame really beat themselves in this game and anyone who watched the game just might agree.

Notre Dame had 3 power plays in the 1st period and failed to convert on any of them. Matter of fact Notre Dame had just 2 shots in the period total and you won't win games when you aren't productive. Notre Dame was 0 for 6 on their power plays and of course you know that means Miami would score their 1st goal of the game on the power play.

To make matters worse for Notre Dame is 30 seconds after Miami scored their 1st goal that they scored their 2nd of the game. If not for Fogarty's highlight reel goal this one was a shutout but while Fogarty scored to make it 2-1; Miami added an empty netter to ice the win.

Notre Dame captain Anders Lee (NYI 2009 6th) has to wait until after Sunday's game against Miami to see if he earned a stick tap tonight. Lee took exception to one of Miami's players going after his knees and went right after him.

It was more a move to fire up his teammates for game 2 of this series which will take place on Sunday as part of an outdoor doubleheader in Chicago at Soldier Field. The other prospect in this game Robbie Russo (NYI 2011 4th) was scoreless and took a misconduct on the play where Lee was run.

The other half of that doubleheader will be 2nd ranked Minnesota against Wisconsin and they played Friday night in Wisconsin with Minnesota earning a 3-2 win. Brady Skjei (NYR 2012 1st) didn't score nor did he take any shots in this game.

Peter Ceresnak (NYR 2011 6th) returned to the Peterborough Pete's lineup after being a healthy scratch for 2 games. Ceresnak had a primary assist on the game winning goal and was a +3 as Peterborough defeated the Ottawa 67's 5-1.

Ceresnak (1-7-8) played well but this was against the worst team in the OHL so whether or not Ceresnak got the message won't be known until he puts together several games like this in a row. Peterborough has pulled to within 2 points of the last playoff spot in the OHL's Eastern Conference but the team they are chasing holds 2 games in hand.

Ceresnak is not going to get an NHL deal from the Rangers and it is hard to blame this on Ceresnak or the Rangers as Peterborough has been a horror story during Ceresnak's time with them. Hope the Rangers at the least bring him to the Whale and hopefully end his stay in North America on a positive note.

Adam Pelech (NYI 2012 3rd) and his Erie Otters are pretty much out of the running for the OHL playoffs but hockey is a funny game as his Otters defeated the London Knights 4-3. The Knights have the best record in the OHL but the Otters went after them from the start.

Pelech had a secondary assist on Erie's 3rd goal for his 37th point of the season (7-30-37). The Otters may not be a playoff team but they have a 4-2 record against London and Barrie who lead the OHL's conferences (Stick Tap to Victor Fernandes of GoErie.com).

Andrey Pedan (NYI 2011 3rd) was actually well behaved compared to some of his teammates against the Owen Sound Attack as he only had a roughing minor. A total of 26 penalties were handed out to the 2 teams in a game that Owen Sound won 4-2.

Pedan was scoreless as his Storm fell 5 points behind Owen Sound for 3rd place in the OHL's Western Conference.

Samuel Noreau (NYR 2011 5th) and his Baie-Comeau Drakkar dropped a 4-3 decision to the Quebec Remparts on Friday night. Noreau was a -2 on 1 shot and 1 hit.

Cody Rosen (NYI 2010 7th) was DNP in Clarkson's 3-2 win over Princeton.