http://www.yardbarker.com/nhl/players/alessio_bertaggia/145192 Recent articles about Alessio Bertaggia en-us Michael St. Croix (Edmonton Oil Kings) Friday night was a crazy night with upsets in both the WHL playoffs and the NCAA conference tournaments and the New York Ranger and New York Islander prospects were in the middle of it. There are going to be a lot of people scratching their heads trying to explain what happened. First Star Michael St. Croix Edmonton Oil Kings The Edmonton Oil Kings have made it clear that they have "Unfinished Business" from last season's WHL Championship run. If game one of their series against the Kootenay Ice is any indication then it could be very hard to stop the Oil Kings from reaching their goal of a Memorial Cup. Michael St. Croix (NYR 2011 4th) opened his 2013 playoff run with a 1-2-3 +3 night as his Edmonton Oil Kings roared out to a 5-0 1st period lead as they blew out the Kootenay Ice 9-0 in game 1 of their WHL Eastern Conference playoff series. St. Croix started with a secondary assist on the only goal the Oil Kings would really need on Stephane Leg Sat, 23 Mar 2013 05:21:00 -0400 http://network.yardbarker.com/nhl/article_external/yikes_what_a_mess/13213633 http://network.yardbarker.com/nhl/article_external/yikes_what_a_mess/13213633 Yikes what a mess http://www.yardbarker.com/nhl/articles/yikes_what_a_mess/13213633 http://www.yardbarker.com/images/yb_logo_square_grey.png Griffin Reinhart (Edmonton Oil Kings) Friday night was about players stepping up for their teams as the prospects of the New York Ranger and New York Islanders make pushes to help their teams with their playoff hopes. No position had a bigger impact than the defense corps and it should not be a surprise that more defensemen are also captains on their team. First Star Griffin Reinhart Edmonton Oil Kings His team is already set in their playoff position and while others would take the night off that wasn't the case for Griffin Reinhart (NYI 12 1st) as the captain of the Edmonton Oil Kings led them to a 3-1 win over the Red Deer Rebels. Reinhart's 8th goal of the season at 6:59 was the game winner (his 3rd of the season) as the Oil Kings needed to rally to defeat the Rebels. Reinhart hasn't forgotten last season's disappointing performance at the Memorial Cup and isn't about to let his teammates forget either. Reinhart had a secondary assist on Edmonton's first goal which t Sat, 16 Mar 2013 07:50:00 -0400 http://network.yardbarker.com/nhl/article_external/the_defense_to_the_rescue/13158514 http://network.yardbarker.com/nhl/article_external/the_defense_to_the_rescue/13158514 The Defense to the rescue http://www.yardbarker.com/nhl/articles/the_defense_to_the_rescue/13158514 http://www.yardbarker.com/images/yb_logo_square_grey.png Shane McColgan (Saskatoon Blades) Tuesday evening was one of those nights where if you had a weak heart then watching New York Ranger or New York Islander prospect hockey was not a good idea. Take your pick of the 3 games involving the prospects and yes you got your money's worth and then some. The big one was in Edmonton as Michael St. Croix (NYR 11 4th), Griffin Reinhart (NYI 12 1st) and their Edmonton Oil Kings were hosting the Saskatoon Blades with their Ranger duo of Shane McColgan (11 5th) and Josh Nicholls (13 UFA). Guess anyone who called the Blades 18 game winning streak as suspect might want to retract those words as the Blades came from behind and earned a 3-2 shootout win over the Oil Kings. This one was a dandy as you had everything from hard hitting to some outstanding goalies putting on highlight reel saves. The first period was really quiet as both teams played more of a chess match type of game with both teams trying to avoid making the first mistake. Edmonton struck first wh Wed, 13 Mar 2013 06:07:00 -0400 http://network.yardbarker.com/nhl/article_external/dull_this_evening_wasnt/13128313 http://network.yardbarker.com/nhl/article_external/dull_this_evening_wasnt/13128313 Dull this evening wasn't http://www.yardbarker.com/nhl/articles/dull_this_evening_wasnt/13128313 http://www.yardbarker.com/images/yb_logo_square_grey.png Cody Rosen (ECAC Hockey) Saturday night prospect hockey was not for the faint of heart if you are a fan of either the New York Rangers or New York Islanders as games that looked like they were decided sometimes weren't. And if you are wondering about who the picture is then you aren't alone. Our first prospect to see his season come to an end also saw his college career end as well as Cody Rosen and his Clarkson Golden Knights were eliminated by Brown 4-3 to sweep their ECAC playoff series 2-0. Rosen was one of those guys you grew to like because he had every right to not be happy about his lot in life with Clarkson but he never did. Instead what makes Cody Rosen special is that the senior choose to help his 2 goalie teammates adjust to playing college hockey. A first class person who hopefully at least gets an ATO from the Islanders. And at least Rosen got to finish his career in net coming in like he has this season in relief to start the 3rd period. His teammates were trailing 4-1 but g Sun, 10 Mar 2013 07:55:00 -0400 http://network.yardbarker.com/nhl/article_external/dont_blink/13100605 http://network.yardbarker.com/nhl/article_external/dont_blink/13100605 Don't Blink http://www.yardbarker.com/nhl/articles/dont_blink/13100605 http://www.yardbarker.com/images/yb_logo_square_grey.png Recapping Day 2 at the World Junior Hockey Championship in Ufa, Russia. United States 8, Germany 0 The Americans routed Germany Thursday behind a goal and two assists each from Alex Galchenyuk and Riley Barber. This was the first Group B game for the Americans, who are tied for first place with Canada. The Canadians downed Germany 9-3 on Wednesday. The U.S. plays Russia on Friday. The Americans had eight different goal scorers. The Americans were up 3-0 after the first period on goals by Sean Kuraly, Jacob Trouba and Galchenyuk. They scored another three in the second - Barber, Shayne Gostisbehere and Ryan Hartman. J.T. Miller then scored on a solo effort midway through the third and Seth Jones completed the rout less than two minutes later. US goaltender John Gibson stopped 19 shots through two periods. He was replaced for the third by Jon Gillies, who made seven saves. German goalie Marvin Cupper stopped 38 shots. Russia is third in Group B after beating Slovakia in overtime on Wednesday. Germany is Thu, 27 Dec 2012 13:34:36 -0500 http://network.yardbarker.com/nhl/article_external/us_shuts_out_germany_in_opener/12519748 http://network.yardbarker.com/nhl/article_external/us_shuts_out_germany_in_opener/12519748 US shuts out Germany in opener http://www.yardbarker.com/nhl/articles/us_shuts_out_germany_in_opener/12519748 http://www.yardbarker.com/images/yb_logo_square_grey.png One of my favorite songs as a kid was The Gambler by Kenny Rogers.  You know the song, "You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run, because you never count your money, when you're sittin' at the table they'll be time enough for countin', when the dealin's done."  Yet his song actually had some ok gems of advice with these lyrics, "Now every Gambler knows, the secret to survivin', is knowing what to throw away and knowin' what to keep, because every hand's a winner and every hand's a loser" are really all talking about the skill of the game.  Top level poker players often have a natural ability to quickly calculate their odds.  I was never really that great at math.  In fact, I hated it.  I really did all that I could to avoid it, and in college I managed to fulfill my math requirement in a Statistics class.  I still may struggle to utilize Euclidean Geometry correctl... Thu, 12 Apr 2012 01:00:00 -0400 http://network.yardbarker.com/nhl/article_external/2012_nhl_central_scouting_mid_term_final_rankings_movement_tracker/10538933 http://network.yardbarker.com/nhl/article_external/2012_nhl_central_scouting_mid_term_final_rankings_movement_tracker/10538933 2012 NHL Central Scouting Mid-Term / Final Rankings Movement Tracker http://www.yardbarker.com/nhl/articles/2012_nhl_central_scouting_mid_term_final_rankings_movement_tracker/10538933 http://www.yardbarker.com/images/yb_logo_square_grey.png