Friday, September 23, 2016

Season Opener

Their is a wave of excitement over the Tigers this season. They have a lot of returning players, and some new quality imports that should pack quite the scoring punch. They have a future potential NHL goaltender, and their defence is much improved.

Reading some of the review around the league, nobody besides Tiger Fans expect the Tigers to make some noise in the central.  The WHL's own website is saying the Tigers "Should find a way back into the playoffs"

The WHL Broadcasters polls put the Tigers in 3rd.  It seems The Tigers will enjoy starting the season in the underdog role.

First Period
The Tigers looked a little nervous in the first period. Their passes and teamwork wasn't quite jiving. In the first 5 minutes they gave up a couple scoring chances on bouncing pucks. the Hurricanes had 2 early chances in the slot missing the net and McGovern made a solid save on the 2nd attempt.

The Tigers were on a powerplay and veteran Matt Bradley took a bad and unnecessary penalty. He slashed  a Hurricanes player after the whistle on the ankle after receiving a light push. It negated the powerplay.

A few moments later Off the faceoff in the Tigers end 16yr old and future star defenceman for the Canes Calen Addison put a wrist shot on net to the far side. Duncan Mcgovern didn't see it. 1-0 Canes

The Tigers managed 2-3 quailty scoring chances, but Stuart Skinner stopped them all. The Tigers had some very good zone time on a powerplay but failed to score.

The Hurricanes had the edge with puck possesion and would go up 2-0 late in the second period. Off the rush Young Cale Addison would feed a puck to 20yr old Ryley Lindgren.

Lindgren put a weak shot on net, but the puck somehow found a way through McGovern. McGovern likely wanted that one back.  2-0 Canes

Tigers outshot the Canes in the Period, but the Canes out-chanced the Tigers. The Tigers didn't appear to have any set line combos and were using multiple combinations.  Kristian Rubins had a ton of ice-time and looked pretty good on the back-end in the first period.


Second Period

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