Two solid rivals one solid game

Taylor Cammarata (Associated Press)

Thursday night had a couple of games involving both New York Ranger and New York Islander prospects with one being the meeting of 2 very long time rivals in a game that did not disappoint. It was top ranked Minnesota with Ranger prospect Brady Skjei (NYR 2012 1st) and Islander prospects Taylor Cammarata (NYI 2013 3rd) and Jake Bischoff (NYI 2012 7th) taking on 12th ranked Wisconsin in Big Ten Conference action on Thursday evening in Madison Wisconsin.

Minnesota was sporting a 14 game unbeaten streak while Wisconsin was looking to knock off a team ranked first for the 9th time in school history. Wisconsin would win this one 2-1 thanks to a goal that came midway in the 3rd period as this was a game in which both goalies would dominate the game.

With Wisconsin up 1-0, it was Taylor Cammarata who would score Minnesota's only goal of the game as he slipped a puck in past the Wisconsin goalie to tie the game at 1-1. For Cammarata it was his 6th goal of the season as the freshman cashed in a nice feed from behind the Wisconsin net.

Overall Cammarata was 1-0-1 on 2 shots and a +1, Brady Skeji was scoreless on 4 shots and was "even", and Jake Bischoff was scoreless as well as shot less for Minnesota. The two teams will play each other again on Friday night with the game being televised on the Big Ten Network.

In the battle of defensive prospects, the Erie Otters with Adam Pelech (NYI 2012 3rd) and Troy Donnay (NYR 2013 UFA) played host to Jesse Graham (NYI 2012 6th) and his Saginaw Spirit on Thursday evening. The Otters were looking to keep up with the Guelph Storm in the race for first place in the OHL's Western Conference trailing them by 1 point in the standings.

This game was also a defensive battle with just as in the Minnesota/Wisconsin game but Erie's backup goalie Devin Williams pitched his 5th shutout of the season as Erie won 3-0. Adam Pelech had a secondary assist on Erie's 2nd goal of the game but it was the Erie defense that really stood out limiting Saginaw to just 8 shots a period for the game.

Pelech with his assist (and +2 for the game) is now 8-34-42 while Donnay and Graham did not score.