Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Tigers Defeat P.G 4-1

The game on the webcast was a slideshow so I didnt watch much of it.

Hunter Shinkaruk capped an empty netter for his hat-trick scoring his 43rd,44th, and 45th goals of the season. Brendan Hurley scored his 2nd as a Tiger giving the Tigers a 2-1 lead at that point.

The same callups Blake Penner, Chad Butcher and Kyle Becker all played again.

Playoff Spot Clinched
With the win tonight the Tigers officially clinched a playoff spot.


Scoreboard Watching
Kootenay lost to Edmonton, Regina lost to Red Deer. Calgary squeaked by the Broncos

Calgary remains 4 points back with a game in hand. Kootenay has dropped to 9 points back with a game in hand.

The Tigers travel to Vancouver for a game friday and then face Kootenay for a Home and Home which could be huge in deciding Home Ice Advantage.

Notes on Tuesday's 3-2 Win

Returns
Kale Kessy
Tyler Bunz

Both returned to the lineup. Both showing some rustyness at times. Bunz still made some pretty goods stops when called upon.

Injured
#5, Tyler Lewington, Lower body, 2 weeks
#7, Spenser Jensen, Upper body, 1 week
#10, Gavin Broadhead, Upper body, 1 week
#14, Cole Grbavac, Upper body, 1 week
#24, Patrick Parkkonen, Upper body, 1 week
#28, Rhyse Dieno, Upper body, 1 month+


Call-Ups
For the Road Trip to P.G the Tigers took a couple new call-ups with them. Blake Penner and Chad Butcher both dressed and saw 4th line minutes. They were often out together with Riley Sheen as well as Kyle Becker on the point. As an all call-up/rookie line they held thier own pretty well and only had 1 shift where they got penned in their own zone.

After watching Kyle Becker for a couple games I think its apparent that the only reason he didnt make the team full-time was his injury at the start of the year combined with the Tigers depth of young-ins on the blueline. I think he will be a near lock for next years team.

The Tigers played the young guys a lot last night. Despite the 3-2 score the Tigers had P.G on the ropes for a good portion of the game. They hit the post 3 times in the first period. I thought The Etem/Shinkaruk line wasn't out as often as they have been.

Brendan Hurley saw some scoring chances on a couple breakaways. Finally saw a hint of an offensive ability. I feel he is still playing pretty conservatively with his new team. It would be nice to see him ramp up his game to another level.

Playoffs
Tigers are 1 point gained and/or 1 Red Deer point lost from gaining a playoff spot.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Tigers Defeat Rockets 4-3 SO

Very Short Recap. Watched game on webcast.

Tigers had 2 goals called off.

Bredo's Goal Called Off
The puck was knocked was in the air and it looked like Boston Leier was going to catch the puck but a Rocket player swung his stuck up near Leier's head which caused leier to hesitate and pull back, their is a half a second where you cant see the puck then it pops out into the middle of the slot where Bredo scored.

The ref called this goal off saying it was a glove pass.

Konans OT Goal
Hunter Shinkaruk was taken out by Colten Martin into the boards. Emerson Etem scoops up the puck, passed it out front to Matt Konan who scores. The ref decided to call coincidental roughing penalties on Shinkaruk and Kelowna's Colten Martin who had a good hard battle going on down low, and dissallowed the goal.

You can see the ref pointing at the two as Etem scoops up the puck.

Very untimely calls from the Tigers point of view. Lifesavers from Kelowna's. I thought Kelowna got lucky taking 1 point out of the game.

Thoughts
I thought the Tigers largely outchanced the Rockets and deserved the win. Adam Brown played outstanding for Kelowna in net. It coulda been something like 8-3 Tigers.

Good News/Bad News/Injuries
Ridley mentioned that Bunz is likely for the games in Prince George, and that he almost played tonight. Hunter Shinkaruk returned to the lineup tonight.

Cole Grbavac was not dressed tonight.

Looks like Chad Labelle's Midget team won thier playoff series in 2 games so he was able to play for the Tigers tonight. Tigers also dressed Kyle Becker. The Tigers were still down 1 roster player with those 2 callups in the lineup.

Not Dressed due to injury
Tyler Bunz
Tyler Lewington
Cole Grbavac
Rhyse Dieno
Kale Kessy
Spenser Jensen
Gavin Broadhead
Patrik Parkkonen left the game and did not return.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Hitmen Defeat Tigers 5-3

I only watched bits and pieces of the game, but from the sounds of things the Hitmen really controlled the first two periods, and then the Tigers completely took over in the third period. The hitmen only managed 2 shots on net during that period.

Bunz, SHinkaruk, Lewington, Kessy, Gavin Broadhead, Spenser Jensen, were out and Rhyse Dieno left during the game and did not return.

Kenny Cameron made some real big stops in the first couple periods but couldn't hold the fort forevor.

Riley Sheen
Riley Sheen scored his first career whl goal with a nice wrist shot from the slot.

Chad Labelle
Chad Labelle also picked up his 2nd goal and added an assist. He saw a couple shifts on the top line after Rhyse Dieno went down with an injury. Chad Labelle was also rewarded with the third star.....not bad for a callup, 3 points in 5 games.

If I'm not mistaken Labelle was playing for the Calgary Northstars Midget AAA team then got called up to the ajhl's Calgary Mustangs for 5 games as an injury replacement, he then got called up again by the Tigers for 5 games.

The Calgary Northstars play their first playoff game tomorow, and Chad has hit the 5 game mark so I assume he will stay in Calgary then possibly re-called once his AAA team is done.

Gavin Broadhead
It looks like the Tigers have added Gavin Broadhead to the roster on a more permanent basis as the Midget AAA Tigers season is done, and he was listed as an addition on the whl injury report. I think Gavin is out with an injury or a flu bug.

Rhyse Dieno
I caught the Calgary broadcasters mentioning that Dieno was headed to the locker room during play. Looks like he has an "upper body" injury... that's the last thing the Tigers need.... another injury.

Dawson MacAuley
Dawson MacAuley saw his first whl regular season game action playing the Third Period. He only faced 2 shots and stopped both. He looks like a Giant in net with his 6'6 216 lb frame.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Oil Kings defeat Tigers 5-4 SO

Feel bad for the Tigers on this one. They deserved better after a very good start. The Oil Kings were throwing everything on net and got some good puck luck at the end of the game.

First Period
Tigers got off a really good start. 3 goals in the first ten minutes and they were all over the Oil Kings.

Valk went cross Ice to Bettauer who buried a one timer on the powerplay.

Matt Konan fanned on a one-timer but the shot went off the backboards right out to Valk who buried it, also on the powerplay.

On an odd man rush Rhyse Dieno made a perfect cross ice pass over to a rushing Patrik Parkkonen who buried it past Laurent Brossoit. Brossoit would get pulled after that in favor of Tristan Jarry and the momentum would change.

Near the radio time-out Tyler Lewington took a hit and went akwardly into the boards. He did not return to the game. Around the same time the Oil kings started pressuring and the Tigers resorted to more of a defensive game.

Second Period
Edmonton would get on the board late in the second period as St. Croix received a pass in the slot and rifled a shot over Cameron's glove.
3-1 Tigers

Third Period
The Tigers made a bad change in their own end. The Oil Kings had a 4 on 3 and turned in into a 3 on 2. T.J Foster received a pass in the slot and rifled it over the glove of Cameron 3-2 Tigers

Edmonton would tied the game on a very unlucky goal. Dylan Busenus just after coralling the puck would get pokechecked. The puck would bounce off a skate and directly onto Mark Pysyk's outstretched stick who poked it past Cameron. 3-3 Tie

The Tigers weren't done yet. James Bettauer took a hit and made a very nice pass to Emerson Etem who had a step on the Oil kings last man back. Etem would go five-hole putting the Tigers up 4-3, on a mini breakaway.

The Oil Kings would tie the game with 37 seconds left. A slow rolling puck made its way past a scrum in front of the net. Cameron was a little handcuffed by it and kicked out a rebound which was promptly scooped up by Dylan Wruck who shot it over Camerons outstretched pads. 4-4 TIE

Note: Wruck had a crazy celebration pumping his fists into the air and slamming into the boards. He must have injured himself as he didnt play overtime or was in the shootout and went straight to the room.

Overtime
Would solve nothing. The Tigers had 2 very good chances to score and Cameron made a big save on Henrik Samuelsson.

Shootout
Tyler Maxwell would do some dispy doodling and shot a puck over the pad and under the arm of Cameron stick side.

Curtis Valk rang a shot off the Iron.

Martin Gernat shot it over Camerons pad glove side.
Emerson Etem was stopped trying to shoot under Tristan Jarry's arm.

Good News Bad News
Brendan Hurley and Curtis Valk returned to the lineup. Kale Kessy, Hunter Shinkaruk, and Tyler Bunz are listed as day-to-day. On the radio Rick Carrier said Bunz took a shot to the ear and is almost ready.

Bad News - Tyler Lewington took a hit and went akwardly into the boards. I did not see him return to the game. Lewington has been playing very well as of late.

Overall
The Tigers played real well in the first and second period. They played a very smart first two periods, blocked a lot of shots and kept most of the Oil Kings chances to the outside.

In the third period I thought the Tigers looked a little tired as the Oil Kings pressed. Kenny Cameron made some big stops and played well.

Overall I was pretty happy with the Tigers effort. It was just a disappointing finish. The Tigers still get a point out of it but now the Oil Kings are 8 points ahead with a game in hand with only 11 games left. The Tigers would pretty much have to go unbeaten and hope for the Oil Kings to lose a bunch of games.

The Tigers cannot get 2nd place unless MJ and the Tigers both pass edmonton, due to the rule where the division leaders go 1. 2. no matter the points.

The Tigers magic number is 9, as a combination of 4.5 Tiger wins or Red Deer losses will clinch them a playoff spot.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Tigers Avenge Loss with Big 6-0 Win

Career Firsts
KENNY CAMERON recorded his first career whl shutout..Great Stuff!!

Chad Labelle recorded his first career whl goal. He stripped (Either Dylan McIlrath, or Kendall McFaull off the puck then put on a highlight real move undressing Warriors Goaltender Luke Siemens.

Labelle looks like a real solid speedy guy. He showed great pokechecking instincts in the offensive zone. I think the Tigers coaches used him very effectively. Next year he will be a great addition.

Tiger Fans
Tigers fans tonight showed their smarts as they cheered on these 2 guys and I was proud of the way the crowd responded for everyone's efforts.


Its amazing to see this type of effort with Bunz,Valk,Shinkaruk,Hurley,Kessy all out of the lineup. I've been extremely impressed with these unsung heroes stepping up their game. Its making me very excited for the future and the playoffs this year.


Thoughts
I liked the adjustments the Tigers played with tonight. They passed the puck around the horn spreading things out offensively, then attacked down low when opprtunities arised. They stayed away from MJ's game of tough hockey. They kept their gloves on for the most part and used their speed.

Coaches mentioned that Valk, and Shinkaruk were close to returning. Brendan Hurley is finished with his suspension and will be back on Monday vs Edmonton.
I like when Moose Jaw comes to town because the games are always very exciting.

Scoreboard Watching
Last Night wasn't very kind as many of the teams in the conference got points. Tonight was better as Saskatoon and Kootenay Lost, however Calgary won over Kamloops.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Fight Filled Affair in Moose Jaw

The warriors defeated the Tigers 6-0 in Moose Jaw.


Scratches
Tyler Bunz was out with the flu? (MJ broadcaster mentioned it briefly)
Curtis Valk, Hunter Shinkaruk, Kale Kessy, and Brendan Hurley were also not dressed due to injuries and suspensions.

According to the whl gamesheet Dawson Mcauley was the back-up. Chad Labelle was dressed again. The gamesheet said Gavin Broadhead was dressed however I didn't see him on the Ice.

To be honest I thought the Tigers didn't play bad persay. I thought the ref decided to call everything and every other battle the Tigers were getting accidental type penalties called against them... It was one of those games where nothing was going their way.

MJ capitalized on their powerplays going 5 for 7.
The Tigers went 0 for 6.
That pretty much sums up the game right their.


Fight Filled Afair
Sheen, Mckay, Grbavac, Jensen, Bredo, Dieno all got involved in the fisticuffs department....Even the coaches were getting involved verbally on the benches.

Rhyse Dieno won his fight over Andrew Johnson with a KO punch at the end.

Scott Mckay fought Cody Beach....Mckay used a good strategy getting in close to beach firing off some short rabbit punches, largely a draw...Beach looked a little rattled at the end mocking Mckay after the fight.

Cole Grbavac fought Dylan Mcllrath. Mcllrath landed more punches but they were quicker rabbit type punches where as grbavac landed a couple heavier shots...I'd call it a draw...maybe slight edge to Mcllrath

Spencer Jensen fought Shayne Gwinner...the fight was all jensen untill the end where Gwinner got a good punch in that knocked Jensen over...draw.

Riley Sheen got into his first fight against Jordan Wynton. Sheen got in the first punch and Wynton landed the second one then suprised him with a left that knocked sheen over.


With 7 minutes left in the game their was a point where the Tigers only had 5 extra players untill other penalties were over...Patrik Parkkonen and James Bettauer finished the game on forward.

The re-match goes Saturday in the Hat. I wouldn't be suprised to see the same players not dressed again. Very tough schedule playing against the top teams while a good chunk of players are out.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Pats Defeat Tigers 3-1

Despite the loss I thought the Tigers played a good hockey game, with the exception of the opening minutes. The Tigers didn't allow Regina many quality shots on net as Kenny Cameron saw his first start since December 10th.

I thought Busenius, Parkkonen, and Lewington had pretty good games for themselves on the back-end.

The Tigers were missing Shinkaruk,Valk,Kessy,Hurley and Tyler Bunz was on the bench. That is a massive chunk the Tigers were without tonight and they played well enough to win. The young guys got a lot of ice-time and played pretty well. Spenser Jensen is adapting extremely well being moved up to forward.

The Tigers also dressed Call-up Gavin Broadhead and Chad Labelle. Labelle looks like he has a real good set of wheels. I liked that hit he threw which prompted a round of applause.

I thought Kenny Cameron got better as the game went on. That second goal he probably wanted back but other than that he stopped 25 of 27 shots and played well.



Regina
Regina's goalie Matt Hewitt was frequently playing a couple feet outside his crease stopping shots, and the Tigers couldn't find away to get him moving side to side, or generate rebounds. Regina was also pretty aggressive on their forecheck at times.

Injuries
Darren Kruger mentioned that Valk and Shinkaruk are questionable/unlikely for the weekend games against Moose Jaw. Hurley has 2 games left on his suspension. Kessy is listed as out for 2 weeks yesterday on the whl injury report.

Even though Injuries aren't what you want to see, their are a lot of positives with these young guys getting a lot of icetime.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Tigers Defeat Brandon 4-2

With the Exception of the opening 5 minutes where Brandon jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead, I thought the Tigers played a really smart game in all areas of the Ice. I am very happy to see the improvements they have made in the last couple weeks, moreso towards their team defense.

The unsung heroes have been playing really well and its taking pressure off on a lot of areas. Two of their 3 top scorers were out and the unsung heroes like Bredo, Mckay, Jensen, Leier, Dieno, Theriau, Parkkonen have been stepping up their game and are winning a lot of the small battles in the trenches and playing well in their own end.

Leier took a couple shots from behind that I thought the refs should have called. He looked banged up by the third period.

Their were a couple spurts where brandon had control of the puck in the Tigers end for a chunk of time and I thought the Tigers kept Brandon to the outside and really played well covering their guys, blocking shots, and limited Brandon's passing lanes.

Hunter Shinkaruk
Hunter Shinkaruk was a scratch for tonights game with an injury.


Injuries
That left Kessy, Hurley, Shinkaruk, and Valk as out of the lineup. That is some pretty significant losses. Hurley has 3 games left on his suspension. On the Radio Kruger mentioned Valk was a probable for Wednesday's game. A little unsure of Shinkaruks return but Kruger didn't think he would be out too long, they just want to make sure he is 100% healthy before he returns. Darren Kruger said that Kessy will still be out for a bit yet with his upper body injury.

Rhyse Dieno
Rhyse Dieno filled in on the top line with Etem and Bredo and played a very strong game again. Dieno now has 3 goals in 3 straight games. With the Injuries the Tigers have had at forward Dieno has had an opporunity to receive a lot more ice-time, and he is flourishing with it. I thought he had been playing an improved game since christmas and its nice to see him getting rewarded for his efforts.

Cole Grbavac also has 3 goals in 3 straight games.

Emerson Etem
It's official 51 goals in 50 games. Etem's also crawled to 1 point back of the scoring leader Mark Stone. 50 goals is an amazing achievement let alone 50 in 50 games.

Here is a 50 in 50 montage the Tigers put up onto their website.
http://www.tigershockey.com/video/index/id/916e5c99c984f8f43acceb0e3111183c
Medicine Hat News
http://www.medicinehatnews.com/local-sports/50-in-50-at-last-etem-hits-what-has-become-a-rare-milestone-in-victory-over-the-wheat-kings-02132012.html

Penalty Kill
Also it looked like the Tigers made some adjustments to their PK. The Tigers had given up PP goals in 5 straight games and they ended that Streak Tonight.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Tigers Defeat Raiders 3-1

Curtis Valk was a scratch. Tigers mentioned it was just a day to day thing and might be back for Sunday's game against Brandon.

I thought the Tigers came out really hard on Friday. They didnt take P.A lightly and played an excellent first period of hockey.

You could tell that Rhyse Dieno looked pumped for tonights game. On his twitter feed he said his family was in town for the weekend and he was playing with some extra jump in his step.

Both Dieno and Alex Theriau have stepped up their game lately. Both players are on 2 game goal scoring streaks and each have 3 points in their last 2 games.

Emerson Etem looked pretty charged at the beggining of the game in search of his 50th. The Raiders were shadowing him closely all night. Etem still had a few chances to pot that 50th.

The Raiders coach looked determined to prevent Etem's 50th as He choose not to pull his goaltender late in the game When Etem was on the Ice.

I thought the Raiders Netminder Cole Holowenko played a very strong game in net as did Tyler Bunz, it was a goaltenders battle out their.

Next game at Home against Brandon

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Tigers Defeat Hitmen 5-3

Short Recap.

I thought the Tigers were lucky tonight. The Hitmen played a very good road game, and took it to the Tigers for long periods of play. Hitmen outshot them 43-24.

I thought the Tigers played with some really good discipline in the third period staying out of the penalty box, and after Cole Grbavac scored the game winning goal, the Tigers found new life and played their best hockey of the game.

Alex Theriau scored his first goal of the season. Rhyse Dieno scored his second goal of the season. Trevor Cox got his 8th of the season.....Cole Grbavac got his 9th of the season, Etem got his 49th of the season.

I thought the Hitmen improved over the last time the Tigers played them. Bunz played real well and the Tigers got scoring from everyone.

Etem came oh so close twice at the empty net for his attempt at getting 50 but just missed. Tyler Bunz also took a shot at the empty net and Boston Leier cut short his shot that looked destined to fall a little short.

This is a huge win in the standings, as it vaults the Tigers 3 points ahead of the hitmen with a game in hand, and 4 points ahead of kootenay with 2 games in hand.

The Tigers are tied with Moose Jaw with 70 points however due to the conference lineup they'll remain in 3rd untill a team passes them or they can pass Edmonton who has 2 games in hand and 6 points.

The Hitmen play Edmonton Tomorrow night. The Tigers are off untill Friday when they face the Prince Albert Raiders again at home.

Hurley Suspended For 6 Games

2/07/12 Brendan Hurley Medicne Hat Six games for cfb major and g.m. at Saskatoon on February 4
• The player checked the opponent, who was in a vulnerable position, from behind.
• The opponent was injured on the play
• The player has received several checking from behind penalties this season

-From the whl website


http://www.whl.ca/page/WHL-discipline

EDIT February 8th, 2012http://www.thestarphoenix.com/sports/Blades+captain+indefinitely/6117715/story.html

The saskatoon article says Duncan Siemens has a concussion and the blades will keep him out of the lineuup untill he is symptom free for 2 weeks.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Tigers Skill Competition

The Tigers for the first time ever are putting on a Medicine Hat Tigers Skill Competition. The Event will be held February 23rd from 7:00 to 8:30

- The following information was taken from twitter feeds involving the Tigers.

Reports are saying that Tyler Bunz was largely involved in helping set this event up. Long-time Billet Sue Larock has been battling multiple sclerosis.

"We know Sue (Larock) pretty well," said Bunz. "She is a great Lady She has had a lot of players come through. "If we can help her out one step at a time, it is one step in the right direction."

Tickets are only 5$ and all the money will be going to the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Tigers Beat Up Blades 7-2

Tigers got off to a great start in this game. They played a very strong defensive game for the first ten minutes, and scored 2 goals in the early going from SHinkaruk and Valk.

The blades got back into the game after the Tigers got into some penalty troubles. Brenden Hurley got booted from the game after throwing a hit from behind on Saskatoon's Duncan Siemens. Siemens didn't return to the game.

Hurkey and Siemens were racing to the puck in the blades end and Hurley dumped the puck in. As Siemens gained possesion Hurley turned his left shoulder and followed through with his momentum, hitting siemens high on the back.

It was a very similar hit to the one Busenius took later in the third period where no call was made. I just checked the discipline page and it does not look like Hurley has been suspended before. 5 Minute majors are subject to be reviewed. It was a hit from behind so Hurley might potentially be looking at a game suspension or two.

In the Second Period Jayden Hart and Hunter Shinkaruk scored goals.

In the third period Shinkaruk completed his hat-trick, Valk scored his second, and Boston Leier scored his 10th of the season.

Thoughts

The Tigers powerplay continues to play well as the Tigers went 2/2 on the PP. Their powerplay has now creeped to 5th overall in the league. Their PK unfortunately has went the other way and has slid down to 15th

I thought defensively the Tigers took some baby steps in the right direction. The blades did however fire 43 shots on net, but I thought the Tigers did a little better job in their positioning. Their were still instances where they can improve upon like when Grbavac, Bettauer, and Konan got caught in a corner on the penalty kill leaving the slot wide open for Lukas Sutter. But overall they took some baby steps forward in their own end.


Curtis Valk undressed 15 year old defenseman Nelson Nogier scoring another highlight reel goal.

I've liked the play of Mckay,Hurley,Hart line they have managed to create some offense and points in the last two games.. Deino took over Hurley's spot tonight after he was booted out.

Jayden Hart scored his 2nd goal in as many nights with a sweet perfectly placed wrist shot....Would like to keep seeing that from him.

I thought Busenius had a tough night taking 2 penalties and a high hit, and James Bettauer made a couple booboos with the puck in his zone.

The Tigers are now 8-2 in their last ten games. The win keeps the Tigers 3 points over saskatoon in the standings.

The Tigers next game in on Tuesday at home against the Hitmen. This will be a good test to see if the Tigers have improved upon their last meeting where Calgary defeated the Tigers 5-2

Friday, February 3, 2012

Tigers Defeat Raiders 3-2

Bunz Gets Record
Forgot to mention this yesterday but with the Win over P.A Tyler Bunz becomes the Tiger's all-time regular season wins leader. Bunz was wearing some new pads for the game.


I thought the game was a real battle for both teams. The Tigers played hard for 60 minutes, and the raiders also came to play. I thought The reffing favored the Tigers as they got away with a couple borderline calls and called the Raiders on a few borderline calls.

Bunz looked pretty sharp tonight stopping 26 of 28 shots for the win.

First Period
NO goals. Both teams came out with a high tempo game. I thought the Tigers weathered the P.A game and got a bunch of scoring chances early.

Second Period
The Raiders get on the board first. Off the Faceoff the puck came out to Raiders Defenceman Harrison Ruopp...Ruopp had some time and space to get a good shot off. It might have been deflected, there was traffic in front and it beat Bunz (looked like blocker side) 1-0 Raiders

Off the cycle Scott mckay dropped a puck along the boards for Jayden Heart. Hart had a tiny bit of room and walked off the halfwall and fired a shot over the shoulder of Raiders Goaltender Cole Holowenko. 1-1 TIE

The raiders would take a tripping penalty late in the 2nd period

3rd Period
On the Powerplay some very quick movement from the Tigers. THey passed the puck down low to hunter shinaruk at the side of the net who did a 180 (in front of the net wrap around and scored past the outstretched pads of the raiders goaltender) 2-1 Tigers


The Tigers would strike again on the Powerplay. Hunter Shinkaruk helped create a turnover checking Tyler Yaworksi down low. Yaworksi accidentally backhanded the puck right out in front where Emerson Etem said thank you very much and shot the puck over Cole Holowenko's shoulder blocker side. 3-1 Tigers

The Raiders would respond on a powerplay of thier own. Boston Leier slewfooted a raider player along the halfwall and lost control of his stick as it struck a raider player in the face.

Mark Mcneil made a great Individual effort, as James Bettauer was a little too deep in his own end and made a mistake of skating forwards to meet Mcneil. Mcneil recognized this and cut to the middle. Bredo tried to put a stick on him and almost succeeded but Mcneil lmade a great play to cut in front of the net to take a shot and get his own rebound past Tyler Bunz outstretched pad. 3-2 Tigers

The game got a little chippy after that. Josh Morrisey took a run at hunter Shinkaruk and Alex Theriau said no you arn't allowed to do that. He dropped his gloves and the two almost immediately fell to the ice...the refs called it roughing.

A couple minutes later the Tigers were going to get a penalty and I dont think Patrik Parkkonen recognized this as he took a shot on net just as the ref blew the whistle. This created a scrum along the boards and Cole Grbavac and Harrison Ruopp ended up squaring off to fight.

THe fight was mostly grbavac as he threw a bunch of punches and dodged the couple that ruopp threw. Gravac landed a couple so I give the decision to Grbavac.

Thoughts
The Tigers played real well in the neutral zone and in the offensive zone. I think their neutral zone play limited the Raiders chances, however their defensive zone coverage still needs work(not neccessarily just the Dman, moreso the forwards). The Tigers played with a strong 60 minute effort that prevented a lot of chances, but against a top team they may have some work still to do.


I am happy with the Tigers effort tonight as the Raiders played pretty hard. The Tigers responded equally as hard, and Bunz looked really sharp.

One of my notes I took said Mckay, Hurley and Hart created some good offense...and ten minutes later hart scored a goal.

Matt Konan played inspired hockey. He was on his game defensively. Bettauer needs to step his defensive game up a notch. Also Spencer Jensen is impressing me a lot lately. He does a lot of the small things right...Its way to early but at this point I'd say he might be draft material next season...he shows some smarts and skill.

Alex Theriau had an up and down game he was undressed by P.A raider Anthony Bardaro but made up for it sticking up For Hunter Shnkaruk when he was crunched and challenged Antoine Corbin to a fight.



Reffing Controversy?
After the game Raiders GM Bruno Campese had some words for the officiating they have received recently. I thought in tonights game the Raiders seemed to get the short end of the stick on some calls. No doubt he will receive a call from the league, but after watching the game on the webcast at least for this game I can see why he was frustrated.