PROSPECT CAMP 

It’s that time again… Summer camp for soon to be professional hockey players. Camp is next week at the Rangers training facility. Here’s the release on the event from the Rangers.

2010 RANGERS PROSPECT DEVELOPMENT CAMP

New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that the club will hold the 2010 Prospect Development Camp, Monday, June 28th – Friday, July 2nd , at the Madison Square Garden Training Center.  The camp will bring together several of the team’s top prospects, including Derek Stepan, Chris Kreider, Evgeny Grachev, Ethan Werek, Ryan Bourque and Ryan McDonagh, along with players selected at the NHL Entry Draft on Friday in Los Angeles.  The camp will also feature recently acquired defenseman prospect Jyri Niemi.

Stepan, 20, served as Captain of Team USA at the 2010 World Junior Championship, leading the United States to just its second Gold Medal (2004) in the elite tournament.  He led all skaters in assists and points, and finished the tournament with four goals and 10 assists for 14 points in seven games.  This season, Stepan registered 12 goals and 42 assists for 54 points in 41 games with the University of Wisconsin Badgers.  He tied for first in the NCAA with 42 assists and ranked second with 54 points, both career-highs.  He also led the WCHA in points, assists and power play assists (22), and tied for fifth in power play points (23).  Stepan, who was ranked 16th overall among NHL prospects by The Hockey News on their 2010 Future Watch list, registered six points (two goals and four assists) in the NCAA Tournament, including a four-point performance (two goals and two assists) and the game winning goal in the National Semifinal contest vs. R.I.T. on April 8, to lead Wisconsin to the National Championship game.

The Hastings, Minnesota native was originally the Rangers second round choice, 51st overall, in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.

Kreider, 19, became the first player to win a World Junior Championship Gold Medal, Conference Playoff Championship and NCAA Championship in a single season this year.  He led Team USA and ranked third in the tournament with six goals at the 2010 World Junior Championship, including a hat trick against Latvia in a first round matchup on December 29.  Kreider registered 15 goals and eight assists for 23 points, along with 26 penalty minutes as a Freshman for Boston College.  He helped the Eagles capture its fourth NCAA National Championship, tallying one goal in the Final on April 10 vs. Wisconsin and finishing the NCAA Tournament with two points (one goal and one assist).  Ranked 22nd overall among NHL prospects by The Hockey News on their 2010 Future Watch list, Kreider ranked second among conference Freshmen in goals and tied for ninth in points en route to being named to the Hockey East All-Rookie Team.  He tied for second on the team in game winning goals (three), ranked fifth in goals and ninth in points, helping Boston College to the 2010 Hockey East Championship.  He also captured the 2010 Beanpot Tournament Title with the Eagles, tying for the team lead with two goals in two contests.  Recently, Kreider represented the United States at the 2010 World Championship in Germany, registering two points (one goal and one assist) and a plus-three rating in six games.  He has also been invited to USA Hockey’s evaluation camp for their 2011 World Junior Championship team.

The Boxford, Massachusetts native was originally the Rangers first round choice, 19th overall, in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

Grachev, 20, skated in 80 games with the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League (AHL) this season, registering 12 goals and 16 assists for 28 points, along with 14 penalty minutes.  He led all Hartford rookies in assists, points and power play goals (four), and tied for first in goals.  Grachev also tied for sixth on the team overall in goals, eighth in points and ninth in assists.  Ranked 21st overall by The Hockey News on their 2010 Future Watch list, Grachev registered five multi-point efforts and three multi-goal performances on the season.  He tallied back-to-back multi-point efforts on November 6 at Providence (one goal and one assist) and November 7 at Bridgeport (one goal and one assist).  He recorded a season-high, four-game point streak from October 9 at Providence to October 16 at Portland, recording four points (one goal and three assists) over the span.  Grachev made his AHL debut on October 3 at Binghamton, and notched his first point with a power play goal on October 9 at Providence.

The Khabarovsk, Russia native was originally the Rangers third round choice, 75th overall, in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.

Werek, 19, appeared in 57 games with the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) this season, recording 30 goals and 33 assists for 63 points, along with 68 penalty minutes.  He established a career-high in assists, and reached the 30-goal, 30-assist and 60-point marks for the second consecutive season.  Werek led Kingston in goals, ranked second in points and tied for third in assists.  He posted 18 multi-point performances, including four multi-goal efforts.  He was named OHL Player of the Week for the period ending on November 15, registering seven points (three goals and four assists) in three games including back-to-back three-point efforts on November 12 at Brampton (two goals and one assist) and November 13 vs. Belleville (one goal and two assists).  Werek registered a season-high, seven-game point streak from November 6 vs. Brampton to November 20 vs. Kitchener, tallying 12 points (seven goals and five assists) over the span.  In addition, Werek tied for the team lead in goals (three), third in points (five) and eighth in assists (two) in six OHL playoff contests.  Recently, he has been invited by Hockey Canada to attend their evaluation camp for the 2011 World Junior Championship team.

The Markham, Ontario native was originally the Rangers second round choice, 47th overall, in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

Bourque, 19, skated in 44 games with the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) this season, registering 19 goals and 24 assists for 43 points, along with 20 penalty minutes.  The first-year player ranked seventh among league rookies in goals, 10th in points and tied for 11th in assists.  He also finished sixth on Quebec in goals and points, and tied for seventh in assists.  Bourque tallied 14 points in a nine-game span from October 24 vs. Baie-Comeau to November 15 at Drummondville (four goals and 10 assists).  He registered 11 multi-point performances, including three, four-point efforts.  On February 6, he notched his first QMJHL hat trick with three goals vs. Gatineau.  Bourque also captured a Gold Medal as a member of Team USA in the 2010 World Junior Championship, and has recently been invited to USA Hockey’s evaluation camp for their 2011 World Junior Championship team.

The Beverly, Massachusetts native was originally the Rangers third round choice, 80th overall, in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

McDonagh, 21, skated in 43 games with the University of Wisconsin Badgers this season, registering four goals and 14 assists for 18 points, along with 73 penalty minutes and a plus-22 rating.  He ranked second on the team in plus/minus rating, and ranked third among team defensemen in assists and points, and fourth in goals.  In his third season with the Badgers, McDonagh established career-highs in games played, assists, points and penalty minutes.  He tallied an assist on the game winning goal in the National Semifinal game vs. R.I.T. on April 8 to help Wisconsin advance to the National Championship game vs. Boston College.  McDonagh finished the tournament with two assists, and was named to the All-West Regional Team.

The St. Paul, Minnesota native was acquired by the Rangers, along with forward Christopher Higgins and defenseman Pavel Valentenko, from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for forwards Scott Gomez and Tom Pyatt, and defenseman Mike Busto on June 30, 2009.  He was originally Montreal’s first round choice, 12th overall, in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.

Here are the stats of the invitees…