Wednesday's Wildcat Alumni Weekly

Our Wednesday's Wildcat Alumni Weekly is headlined once again by Ty Conklin who earned his fourth shutout of the season, his eighth career NHL shutout, in a goaltending duel with one of the hottest goaltenders in the NHL right now, Steve Mason and his Columbus Bluejackets. The two defenders of the twine slugged it out through the first two period with neither allowing a goal until Mason cracked (he really didn't have a chance) under the Detroit Redwings' assault on the powerplay. But the saves through the first two periods were phenomenal on both ends of the ice as witnessed by the game highlights. In the end Detroit would get a second goal on the powerplay and one more with thirty seconds to go the easy way - with Mason, who recently had a streak of THREE shutout games, on the bench and the net empty. Conklin, who has a more than two game shutout streak going at home himself, was awarded the first star turning aside twenty-three but I'm sure he recognized Mason for his thirty-seven stops in the loss. All four of Ty's shutouts have come at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena.

Jason Krog was named to the AHL Canadian All-Star Team for the "2009 AHL All-Star Classic presented by Charter Communications, to be played later this month at the DCU Center in Worcester, Mass."(theAHL.com) But last night his Manitoba Moose were hunted down by the Hartford Wolfpack and defeated 6-3. Krog had an assist which puts the reigning scoring champion at nineteenth in the league with eight goals and twenty-six assists for thirty-four points in thirty games. Going back to Saturday, Krog had two assists then scored twice in an extended shootout only to have his Moose fall in the tenth round though Jason would earn the first star. Unfortunately the video highlights don't feature the shootout goals.

In that game it was Jacob Micflikier's Rochester Americans winning their second straight in the New Year against Krog's Moose. Jacob scored the game winner on the powerplay in the first match of the weekend and was a +1 the second night. See Jacob's goal in this highlight reel - an absolute snipe on the powerplay.

Kevin Regan got the 'w' over Derek Bekar and his Springfield Falcons in a Saturday start. Regan stopped thirty-one of thirty-three through the highlights capture just one of his saves - that's when you know you're playing well.

I had hoped to go see this game, but I guess this is the next best thing, as Garrett Stafford and Darren Haydar got to play tour-guide for their fellow Grand Rapids Griffins for their visit to the Granite State to take on our Manchester Monarchs. Ultimately though, Darren Haydar would prove too much for the home team, scoring first and then assisting on the game winner in a close one - 2-1 for his Griffins. The 'hometown' boys ironically were the first two to take a seat in the penalty box in the game which saw just six total penalties called. Did you see that Haydar slapshot!?

Well, did I miss any recent notable performances, Nation?

Until next week, this has been your UNH Men's Hockey Blogger Guy...

Go 'Cats!