Sunday was not super for hockey

Andrey Pedan (Guelph Storm)

While the rest of the world was getting ready for the Super Bowl; the OHL had 2 games involving New York Islander prospects in action. The coaches of the 2 losing teams might seriously consider burning the game tapes from today's games.

Andrey Pedan (NYI 2011 3rd) if you go by the stat sheet was the game's 3rd star. But if you watched the game then you saw Pedan do a pretty good job on offense but was subpar in the defensive zone.

Pedan had a career high 3 assists to help his Guelph Storm earn a 6-3 win over the Windsor Spitfires but at the same time; Pedan was just too stationary in his own defensive zone and the Spitfires were able to take advantage of it.

On offense, Pedan was solid with a good primary assist that was more of a one timer that bounced right off the boards to a teammate who shoved it home. Pedan had a secondary assist on Guelph's 4th goal which sent them into the 2nd intermission with a 4-2 lead.

In the 3rd, Pedan got his 3rd assist again as the primary setup and Guelph led 5-2. Pedan earned the game's 3rd star and while seeing this kind of offense is great; at the same time Pedan would be sitting in a NHL coach's doghouse if he played the kind of defense he did in this game.

And Islander fans please understand that my criticism of Pedan is as someone who wants to see all the prospects do well. Pedan by all rights should be a legit NHL defensemen but he is also his own worst enemy.

If Pedan fails to make the Islanders then it will be all on him and the choices he makes. With his 3 assists Pedan is now 11-22-33 on the season.

Adam Pelech (NYI 2012 3rd) returned to the Erie Otter lineup after serving his 4 game suspension but he might have wanted to stay away for another day. The wheels are falling off the Erie Otters as they got beaten badly by the Kitchener Rangers 11-4.

The Otters had looked like they were turning a corner but the loss of their number one goalie to a concussion has sent this team into a downward spiral. Erie grabbed an early lead thanks to a goal from Hayden Hodgson but Kitchener scored 2 quick goals of their own to grab a 2-1 lead and off they went.

Kitchener made it 3-1 before Pelech responded with a goal of his own to cut the Kitchener lead t0 3-2. It was Pelech's 7th goal of the season and his first goal in 9 games.

The teams traded power play goals early in the second period with Pelech scoring his 2nd of the game and 8th of the season. Kitchener would then score 4 unanswered goals to take a 8-3 lead before Erie would respond but after that it was 3 more goals for Kitchener.

The 11-4 loss extended Erie's winless streak to a season worst 7 games and effectively eliminates them from any serious playoff consideration. Pelech with his career best 2 goals improves to 8-28-36 but he was also a -3 and got an early exit after a roughing minor with 1:15 left.

Erie has a lot of work to do between now and really the beginning of next season.