Sunday, February 20, 2011

Tigers take a pair of wins at home

4-0 Shutout vs Regina and a 5-2 Win over the Saskatoon blades

I thought there were a couple things going for the Tigers that they didn't have going in the games prior. They did a better job at smacking loose pucks away in front of Tyler Bunz, and they did a much better job at creating havoc in the neutral zone, which was giving Saskatoon specifically a hard time gaining entry into the Tiger zone, and it resulted in a good bunch of offensive opportunities.

Owuya, Theraiu, Businius, Carr, Mckay all played pretty well.

I thought the Blades didn't bring their "A" game. Gaining 3 out of 4 points against the #2 team in the chl is a pretty impressive feat. I still don't think the Tigers are firing on all cylinders, and they have some problems to fix before the playoffs come around. But this weekends games were good steps in the right direction.

The Tigers were missing 4 of their defenceman out with injuries. Tyler Bunz played real well, and the Tigers easily could have potted 7-8 goals if Steven Stanford wasn't playing on his head.

Thoughts
Linden Vey is starting to develop some bad habits defensively, he's thinking too much offense and playing extremely risky defensively. I thought the Tigers 4th line played phenomenal on the weekend. They were huge factors in both games and were dominating the blades 4th line which they were matched up against. Keep up the good work!

I like the play of new Tigers defenceman Alex Theriau. He is very smart with the puck, and has a pretty good shot.

Thomas Carr laid an absolute licking in a fight with Blades Ryan Olsen after a suicide pass left Curtis Valk vulnerable to a big hit. The ref gave Carr an instigator on the play. From what we've seen from the arena there seems to be quite a discrepancy as to what the refs are calling for the instigator.

The Tigers seemed to be fighting the refs a little as the zebras were letting the high hits and elbows go, but were calling the hooks.

8 comments:

cirque said...

With all the Tiger concussions, do you feel teams are trying to intimidate us? Is that their MO for beating the Tigers? Have any of the hits that injured our players resulted in suspensions?

TigerTurf said...

I'm not sure. The tigers have played a tougher schedule of games recently, with 11 in 20 days.

I think other teams are playing tougher trying to earn playoff positioning.

Anonymous said...

With a couple of games under his belt at home for the new dman Alex Theriau. What is your take on his play overall?

Anonymous said...

Seems like the blades get the refs on their side, like the hitmen did the previous year. Great penalty difference in the Ice game with chincy calls resulting in penalties, while cross checks and head shots ignored.

TigerTurf said...

So far I really like Alex Theriau. He is fairly poised and smart with the puck, he doesn't rush his passes, and has a wicked shot from the point.

I think he should be tried on the powerplay, because he is a better puck mover than anyone the Tigers currently have.

The other guy Kellan Tochkin I am disappointed in his play so far. I expected more from a signed player, but I think he has that (new team, I am signed) type mentality so it will take him a lot longer until he buys in.

Anonymous said...

Who are we getting more value from Tochkin or Theriau since coming here?

TigerTurf said...

Too early to tell as Theriau has only played a handful of games, while Tochkin has managed his fair share of points.

Theriau only being 18 appears to have better long term value.

Anonymous said...

Who do you guys see playing in the top six forwards and top two pairings down the stretch for the Tigers? And why?