I am proud to proud to publish the January 2012 release of my Top-150 Prospects Rankings. As you know, this is an extensive, in-depth look at the world of goalie prospects on a monthly basis, and includes draft-eligible, domestic, and international goalies. Please remember that the Top-30 Prospects is free to view and download, but only members of GoaliePost or The Goalie Guild receive the full Top-150 Prospects release.

When the holidays were over and I finally got back from my vacation in Costa Rica, I was so pumped to watch a number of quality goalie prospects in the 2012 World Juniors Championships. If you watched any of the games, I’m sure you saw at least one fantastic puck-stopping performance.

Although everyone was ranting and raving about the bold bravado and timely play of Petr Mrazek, I was personally more impressed with Russia’s tandem of Andrei Vasilevski and Andrey Makarov. Both goalies displayed such a different set of talents, but both came up absolutely huge for their country.

Ironically, both are draft-eligible this summer, thus leading them to experience fairly significant boosts in this month’s ranking. Vasilevski is only 17 years old, so he’s likely to be drafted before Makarov, who is 18. But if you ask me, I’d be taking a claim on Makarov first.

Elsewhere, I have my eye on three Top-20 prospects right now in Richard Bachman, Kevin Poulin, and Leland Irving. Bachman straight up stole the backup role in Dallas from Andrew Raycroft last month, while Poulin kicked off 2012 with three shutouts in his first three games, then earned a recall to the Islanders after winning his fourth straight game in Bridgeport.

Irving’s story is one of true perseverance and patience, as he spent the last two years working his tail off to finally earn his first recall opportunity. He was outstanding in his first three NHL games last month, which coincidentally all fell on Fridays. He was brought back down to earth in a blowout loss against the Bruins, but the fact remains that he’s a rising star ready to take the next step.

I’m also getting excited about the situation surrounding two Finnish prospects, Jussi Rynnas and Iiro Tarkki. Rynnas has played very well to begin 2012 for the Marlies, while Tarkki earned a recall due to a groin injury to Dan Ellis, was thrown into the fire that very same night, and eventually earned the win over Columbus in his NHL debut. What a crazy day for Tarkki!

Please remember that Jhonas Enroth is now a member of The Graduates Rankings, as he has has started more than 25 NHL games and was removed from the Top-150 Prospects Rankings.