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Lightning 2005 First Round pick and Red Deer defenseman Vladimir Mihalik notched his first North American points Tuesday night as the Rebels crushed Brandon 9-4. Mihalik had two assists in the game to go with a plus-two rating. Mihalik played last season in Slovakia. Also Tuesday night, Kelowna winger Justin Keller moved into fourth place among WHL scorers with two assists in a 6-3 win over Saskatoon. Keller now has 11 points in 10 games.

Today marked a battle of two of the best goaltenders in the Swedish Elitserien as Fredrik Norrena and Linkopings squared off with Stefan Liv and HV 71. The game did not disappoint as it took overtime to break a 2-2 deadlock for Linkopings to emerge victorious on the strength of a Tim Eriksson goal. Fredrik Norrena stopped 27 of 29 to improve his record to 7-0-0 on the season. Defenseman Andreas Holmqvist also contributed an assist on Mikko Luoma's first period goal in the win.

Bolt Prospects has learned from the Johnstown Chiefs that goaltender Morgan Cey is currently injured and still in Springfield, hence the reason for no formal reassignment to Johnstown of the ECHL. Developing.

The Johnstown Chiefs have issued a press release announcing their training camp roster. Despite the lack of a formal announcement of reassignment, it appears goaltender Morgan Cey has lost the battle to be Springfield's backup goaltender to Gerald Coleman. There are currently 31 players in Chiefs camp, assuming the omission of goaltender David Currie from the press release:

It seems almost inconsequential in light of the human costs associated with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, but damage caused by the recent storms has forced the Texas Wildcatters and Mississippi Sea Wolves to suspend operations for the 2005-2006 season. As a consequence the ECHL has released an amended schedule for the Johnstown Chiefs. Foremost among the necessary changes, the Chiefs' season opener has been moved up one day to October 21st. Johnstown will start on the road against the Columbia Inferno before returning home to play their previously scheduled home opener against Reading on the 22nd. Johnstown's training camp opened today and the team plans to play an intrasquad scrimmage and two preseason games before the opener in Columbia.

Johan Hagglund scored a goal late in the third period as IK Oskarshamn defeated Nykoping 4-0 in Allsvenskan action. The goal was Hagglund's first of the 2005-2006 campaign, and came as he was elevated to the team's first line. Through 4 games he has 1 goal, 2 points, a team leading 16 penalty minutes and a +2 rating. Oskarshamn is currently seventh in the league standings with a 2-1-1 record.

In the words of the godfather of soul, "My brother get ready, that's a fact! [url=http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20052006/GS020032.HTM]Get ready you mother... for the big pay back."[/url] FLA-1 TB-2 Crazy ending whereby some questionable officiating nearly handed the Panthers a point, however John Grahame was large. PantherNation will spin this as proof of their impending playoff ascendency, but I prefer to look at it as John Grahame being able to match the best young goaltender in the game, Luongo, pretty much save for save the past two nights. The Lightning's offense is going to eventually come around. It's an inevitability. Goaltending was the question mark and so far John Grahame has the answer.

Tonight marks the opening game of the second season for the Springfield Falcons under a full affiliation with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Much is on the line as the Lightning try and establish the Falcons as a credible AHL club while at the same time developing desperately needed young talent which will be in the NHL sooner rather than later with the new CBA. I will be covering the game live using the B2 Networks' cybercast, so for those who aren't watching the Panthers/Lightning game, buckle up. [i]Update: I just wanted to add because I bagged on the internet connection I got to the B2 Network the last game that their service was nearly flawless all night long. Excellent job B2.[/i] Tonight's lineup and lines: Milley/Vesce/Campbell Craig/Jaspers/Artyukhin Reid/Henrich/Kvapil Fritz/Tarnasky Ranger/Rohloff H. Pratt/Egener O'Brien/Bombardir Eklund Coleman

Justin Keller, Chris Lawrence, and Radek Smolenak continued their point streaks Friday night. Including Chicoutimi winger Stanislav Lascek, Tampa Bay has four prospects with scoring streaks of four games or more, and two with points in six straight games. Friday night in the CHL and NCAA:

It's been another banner day for the Lightning's Finnish born goaltending prospects. Not to be outdone by young Karri Ramo's 1-0 shutout victory over Jokerit in the SM-liiga, Fredrik Norrena today stopped 20 of 20 shots to shutout HC Mora 2-0. With the victory, Linkopings and Norrena now improve to 6-0 on the season. Norrena is currently third in the Swedish Elitserien in GAA and sv% with a 1.33 GAA and a .952 save percentage. Defenseman Andreas Holmqvist, who played on the second pairing in the game, saw his point scoring streak snapped at 2 games. Linkopings has opened up a 4 point lead in the standings over Vastra Frolunda for the league's top spot. The team's eight goals allowed is tied for the best in the league with Brynas IF.