Boyko And Garand Each Win Their Sixth Straight Start

Talyn Boyko (Kelowna Rockets)

There once was a time when the New York Rangers had pretty much zero depth at the goalie position even during the days of Henrik Lundqvist. The Rangers were super lucky that Lundqvist rarely missed time with injuries. 

Today the Rangers boast Igor Shesterkin and Alexander Georgiev in goal and Adam Huska is still developing at Hartford. Dylan Garand of Kamloops is signed and can join Hartford after this year.

Talyn Boyko of Kelowna is showing signs that he is going to be a very good goalie and then there is Hugo Ollas of Merrimack who the Rangers can watch him develop for the next three years after this but he too is showing serious promise. 

Rangers goalie guru Beniot Allaire has to be loving life now as if these kids are good before they get to work with him, imagine if you will how good they might become under his schooling?

Talyn Boyko led his Kelowna Rockets to their seventh straight win 4-1 over the Spokane Chiefs. Boyko won his sixth straight start stopped 24 out of 25 shots to earn his 17th win of the season. 

A scoreless first period ended with Boyko facing just eight shots but in the second after his team had taken a 2-0 lead, Boyko was beaten clean over his glove by Spokane's Bear Hughes and it is hard to complain about the goal as Hughes has a nasty shot. 

But that was the only goal that Boyko would give up as he stopped 11 of 12 shots in the second and Boyko's teammates limited the Chiefs to just five shots in the third period. The win gives Boyko a 17-11-2-1 record with a goals against of 2.99 and a save percentage of 0.911. 

Considering that Boyko started the season 1-6-1-0 with a 4.49 goals against and a 0.887 save percentage, then those numbers are remarkable. With Kelowna Boyko is 16-5-1-1 with a 2.52 goals against and a 0.920 save percentage. 

Boyko's 17 wins are sixth best in the WHL, and if you were to look just at his Kelowna numbers then he would be eighth in goals against and third behind Dylan Garand. And Boyko has another year to refine his game with Kelowna as well as a second Rangers training camp.

Dylan Garand (Kamloops Blazers)

Dylan Garand and his Kamloops Blazers were part of the TSN CHL Game Of The Week as they took on the Vancouver Giants for the ninth time this season. If you thought I was the president of the Dylan Garand fan club, trust me compared to Craig Button of TSN I am not even close. 

Button and the TSN crew were singing Garand's praises from the pre-game to post-game. 

Button: 

          Garand stops all the shots he sees and rarely fails to stop those he can't see. He is one of the best technically sound goalies in the WHL. He isn't the biggest goalie but he is one of the best at positioning.

Garand won his sixth straight start and Kamloops won their seventh straight game over the Giants. It wasn't pretty as the first goal Garand gave up was one he would admit he should of stopped. 

The other goal that he gave up wasn't his fault as Garand was the victim of as perfect a screen as you could have. In all, Garand was 23 of 25 for the night as he earns his WHL best 23rd win of the season.

His 1.97 goals against is best in the WHL and his 0.925 save percentage is second best. And while Kamloops is now 8-1 against Vancouver, if the season ended today they would face each other in the first round of the WHL playoffs. 

It has been a rough season for Riley Hughes of the Northeastern Huskies as a lower body injury cost him two months and eight game on the season. The Rangers 2018 seventh round pick hasn't been much of an offensive weapon during his first two seasons at Northeastern and entering Friday's game against Vermont with just one goal.

Hughes had a goal as well as an assist to help Northeastern edge Vermont 5-4. His goal was a true power forward's goal, coming in on the attack but even after several views, I still don't know how Hughes beat Vermont's goalie but it was a sweet goal coming at 5:37 of the third period and giving Northeastern the lead for good at 3-2.

RILES FROM NO ANGLE!!!!!!!

WE'RE BACK ON TOP!#HowlinHuskies | #HockeyEast pic.twitter.com/bPYTU4gjvz

— Northeastern Men’s Hockey (@GoNUmhockey) February 5, 2022

Hughes is in his junior season at Northeastern and in all honesty it might take a miracle for him to earn a contract from the Rangers. Hughes is 2-7-9 in 18 games this season.

Simon Kjellberg had a two-point night but his Rensselaer Engineers lost to the Princeton Tigers 3-2 in ECAC action. For the third time, this season Kjellberg was 1-1-2 as the junior defenseman has quietly been a bright spot for the inconsistent Engineers.

Kjellberg earned his first point on the Engineers' first goal when he was credited with a secondary assist. It was a power-play goal and gave the Engineers a 1-0 lead in the first period. Kjellberg would score in the second period on a different kind of goal for him.

With the teams at even-strength, the junior defenseman started creeping in from the point and a point shot happened to rebound right to his stick and Kjellberg banged in it for his fifth goal of the season. The goal was a new career-best for Kjellberg as he improved to 5-12-17 (also a new career-best) which is third-best on the Engineers.

Matthew Rempe returned to the Seattle Thunderbirds lineup as his team spanked the Prince George Cougars 7-2. Rempe had a goal in his return on just one shot and a +1 while going 8-5 on facroffs.

The goal was Seattle's seventh of the game coming at 12:41 of the third period. Rempe put back a rebound of a teammate's shot for his 10th goal of the season and 13th overall point.

Brennan Othmann had a secondary assist as his Flint Firebirds defeated the Kitchener Rangers 5-2. Othmann earned his point on the Firebirds' first goal of the game.

The assist was Othmann's 27th and overall he is 30-27-57 as his 0-1-1 came on a game-high seven shots. Othmann remains the OHL leader in goals and sixth in overall scoring.

Ryder Korczak saw his seven-game scoring streak (4-7-11) end but his Moose Jaw Warriors won their seventh-straight game 3-1 over the Swift Current Broncos. It wasn't a strong effort by Korczak as he was limited to just one shot and he was 5-12 on his faceoffs. 

Jayden Grubbe was scoreless on one shot as his Red Deer Rebels edged the Prince Albert Raiders 2-1. It wasn't one of Grubbe's better nights as he struggled on his faceoffs going 6-11.

Will Cuylle and his Windsor Spitfires got spanked by their archrivals the London Knights 5-1. Cuylle had a secondary assist on the Spitfire's only goal as he registered five shots and was a -1.

The assist improves Cuylle to 24-18-42 on the season.

Hank Kempf and his 13th-ranked Cornell Big Red are winless in their last four games (0-2-2) as they dropped a 3-2 decision to Colgate. Kempf was scoreless on four shots and a +1.

Brody Lamb and his Green Bay Gamblers dropped a 3-1 decision to the Chicago Steel. Lamb was only credited with just one shot and was a -1.

Brett Berard was scoreless as his Providence Friars dropped a 2-1 decision to the UConn Huskies. Providence barely had any kind of offense as Berard didn't even register a shot on goal.

Did Not Play 

Hugo Ollas was the backup goalie for the Merrimack Warriors.