An Interesting Night For Five Prospects

Brody Lamb (Green Bay Gamblers)

Just five New York Rangers prospects saw action on Saturday evening with Brennan Othmann's Flint Firebirds having their game postponed due to 11 members of the team testing positive for Covid-19. Still, it was an interesting evening thanks to the five who did get to play. 

Brody Lamb picked the wrong time to get hot as the Rangers 2021 fourth-round draft pick earned his first USHL "first star" after a 1-1-2 performance for his Green Bay Gamblers in their matchup with the Muskegon Lumberjacks. The Gamblers led for most of the game but gave up three goals in the third period to lose 3- 2 to the Lumberjacks. 

Lamb got his team going with his sixth goal of the season, a power-play goal at 17:51 of the second period. It was Lamb's fourth power-play goal of the season. 

2:04 later at 19:55, Lamb set up linemate Alex Servagno for an even-strength goal and a 2-0 lead going into the second intermission. Lamb besides his 1-1-2  was credited for two shots. 

The young forward heads to his holiday break with 6-6-12 thanks to a 3-1-4 performance over his last four games.

Ryder Korczak like Brody Lamb got hot at the wrong time as Korczak earned a "second star" for his performance as his Moose Jaw Warriors defeated the Regina Pats 5-3. Korczak registered a season-high three assists to help his team end their first half with a 14-14-2-1, good for fifth place in the WHL's Eastern Conference.

Ryder Korczak (Moose Jaw Warriors)

The Warriors would jump out with four unanswered goals, Korczak would earn a secondary assist on their third goal. Korczak with a pass worthy of Adam Fox would hit teammate Eric Alarie in the left corner who in the same motion found Robert Baco wide open in front of the Regina goal for the easy tap in.

Still, in the second with the Warriors on a power play, Korczak would hit Brayden Yager in the left corner and Yager would convert to put his team up 4-0. That goal would prove to be the game-winning goal.

In the third after Regina had cut the lead to 4-2, Korczak would team with Yager to set up Jagger Firkus for Moose Jaw's fifth goal of the game. This one was also a power-play goal and it was Korczak's third assist of the game. 

In addition to his 0-3-3 effort, Korczak was a +1 on two shots and an excellent 16-3 on his faceoffs. The three assists allow Korczak to enter the WHL's Top Ten Scorers at number nine with a 10-26-36 mark. 

The 26 assists are third-best in the WHL, he has won 405 out of 694 faceoffs both numbers are 2nd in the WHL. And he has won 58.3 % of his face-offs this season. Korczak finishes the first half with a four-game scoring streak at 3-7-10.

Tayln Boyko (Kelowna Rockets)

"It wasn't pretty but it got the job done" seems to be the mantra for Tayln Boyko's efforts in goal. The Rangers 2021 fourth-round pick stopped 41 out of 45 shots to help his Kelowna Rockets defeat archrivals the Kamloops Blazers 7-4. 

Boyko improved to 3-0 on the season against the Blazers which is impressive when you consider Kamloops has only lost eight games all season. The Rocket's goalie stopped 8 of 9 in the first, 16 of 18 in the second, and 17 of 18 in the third.

The win improved Boyko to 8-10-1-1 with a 3.52 goals against and a 0.903 save percentage. Since being traded to the Rockets, Boyko is 7-4-0-1 with a 2.97 goals against and a 0.913 save percentage.

Matthew Rempe was scoreless on one shot with a -1, a minor for "check to the head, and was 9-6 on faceoffs as his Seattle Thunderbirds lost to the Everett Silvertips 4-1. Rempe finishes his first half 5-2-7 with 44 PIMs (two fighting majors).

Evan Vierling had an assist and an ejection in his Barrie Colts 5-2 win over the Ottawa 67's. Vierling earned a secondary assist on Barrie's first goal for his 10th assist of the season and 18th point. 

Evan Vierling (Barrie Colts)

The Barrie center was a +1 on one shot going 11-6 on his faceoffs but it is his ejection that is head-scratching. Vierling was ejected at 19:44 of the third period as he was assessed with a "game misconduct-second fight".

It is a call that is almost never issued and hard to find in the OHL rule book. Vierling was called for a fighting major at 19:44 then hit with the game misconduct. 

What makes this even more interesting is that in over two-plus seasons, this was Vierling's first OHL fighting major and ejection. We are talking about a player who had just one minor penalty in 22 previous games and 38 total PIMs over 125 career OHL games.

This is the end of the first half for me as I will be taking a break until December 26th and the start of the World Under-20 Championships. 

I thank you for taking the time to read this and wish you and your family a very safe and happy holiday.