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

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good to see another good effort. Guys are playing to their strengths and it is showing promise. Better coverage in the D-zone and even though they had lots of shots on net (still too many) but they were mostly from the outside with few scoring chances! Good job guys, keep it up!

Anonymous said...

Wow didn't expect that outcome. Curtis Valk is really stepping his game up, good to see a local kid finally getting his dues.

longtimefan said...

Maybe they should put these guys in a hotel and wear the black jerseys for home games. Seems like they are more comfortable playing away from the arena. As I posted below perhaps if the home fans didn't turn on them after making a mistake maybe the home record would change. They seem to play a much simpler and more patient game away from home for whatever reason.