Friday, March 11, 2011

Tigers With Huge 3-2 OT Victory Over Rebels

Incredible Victory tonight. It was a playoff type game right from the start. I thought the Tigers had more offensive zone time and looked better overall compared to previous rebel Vs Tiger games I have watched.

The Rebels seemed to get frustrated early. After a scoreless first ten minutes Red Deer started giving out extra shots and more interference. Eventually it got to a point where the refs had to start calling something, and in the second period the Tigers were rewarded with a lot of power-play time for staying disciplined.

However it was the rebels who scored 2 power play goals. Both shots in tight and over Bunz' shoulder.

The Tigers had trouble getting their powerplay going until the 3rd or 4th chance. The Tigers like to carry the puck into the zone and the Rebels were stacking 4 guys on the blueline, forcing them to dump and chase.

The Tigers had two very Important forwards out of the lineup and they gave more ice-time to guys like Reid Petryk, Boston Leier, Curtis Valk, Scott Mackay, and Kale Kessy. I liked How Boston Leier won a lot of small battles, and how Petryk is becoming a Cole Grbavac along the boards with very good puck control.

I thought Linden Vey and Emerson Etem both brought their "A" game. They were fighting the interference and making small moves where every-time a rebel put out an arm or stick they were switching directions or using the Rebels defenders momentum against them.

I was amazed on how they created an impressive breakaway from a 2 on 2 against the Rebels top shutdown pair late in the game.

I thought the 4th line continues to play phenomenal, they are outperforming the oppositions 3rd, 4th, and sometimes even second line on a regular basis. I thought Thomas Car had a real good solid steady game. Kellan Tochkin has upped his game in the last two weeks. I thought Coyle, Businius had so-so games.

With the point the Rebels maintain a 2 point lead over the Tigers. So the Tigers will need some help from other teams to catch 2nd place. The rebels remaining schedule is against calgary, swift current, and 2 against Edmonton.

The Tigers play calgary twice, lethrbidge once and Kootenay once.

It's looking more and more like the Tigers will either face, Edmonton, or Brandon in the first round. Brandon won and Edmonton lost tonight so if the Tigers cant catch Red Deer they may be facing a red hot Brandon Wheat King team in the first round.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Agree with you on Busenius. He needs to get better and quicker in his decision making. Holds the puck to long and ends up getting trapped. Wouldn't say he was horrible but he needs to be a bit better. Don't agree on your take on Coyle. Thought he did what they need him to do, lug the puck out of the zone. Thought overall the defensive group was very solid. Red Deer didn't get to many quality chances 5 on 5 and when they did Bunz was there.

TigerTurf said...

I thought for the most part Businius and Coyle played ok, they just each had a few shifts where they reverted to old habbits.