As December starts to wind down, it’s hard to be optimistic about anything hockey-related.

Although the World Juniors don’t officially begin until next week, all three Montreal prospects were in action on Thursday in the first of two exhibition games.

The World Juniors begin next week and although the Habs won’t have as strong a presence this year in terms of the number of prospects participating, the players that are going will make their presence felt.

Our monthly three stars return with a new twist. With the Habs out of the picture, our focus shifts to the Hamilton Bulldogs as well as Montreal’s prospects playing at other levels.

On Thursday, I had a chance to take in the Sarnia Sting-Barrie Colts game featuring Montreal’s 1st round pick Alex Galchenyuk.

In the second half of our interview with Derek Wills, the voice of the Hamilton Bulldogs, the focus shifts primarily to the players.

In the past couple of weeks, we’ve taken a look at how Montreal’s prospects playing in European leagues and the CHL have fared so far this season.

Last month, our readers and writers were invited to submit their questions for the play-by-play voice of the Hamilton Bulldogs, Derek Wills.

Last week, we took a closer look at the Habs’ prospects that were playing in the CHL to see how they were playing early in the season.

The Bulldogs/Marlies game Friday night was a lively one that the Bulldogs should have won handily instead of losing 5-4 in overtime.