Tigers Pick up 3 of 4 points on the Road

Saturday Night In Brandon
The Tigers came out and had a very strong first period getting out to a 2 goal lead in the first period. However after the first Brandon started to control the game.

Cole Grbavac took a 5 minte major interference penalty and game misconduct as he crashed into the goaltender in the first period. Grbavac had attempted a move to get around a defender and partially fell over on one foot. He crashed full speed into the Brandon Anderson. Grbavac didn't make much of an effort to get out of the way or stop. To me it wasn't intentional at all and he was drving to the net, however the onus was still on him to move out of the way. I think the One-Game he has already served is more than enough punishment.

For the second and first half of the third period the Tigers were on thier heels, as Brandon started controlling the play. Consequently Brandon came back and scored 3 straight goals to take a 3-2 lead.

Late in the game Brandon took a checking from Behind penalty and the Tigers made them pay tieing the game up with 3:51 left in the game. Hunter Shinakruk scored all 3 regulation goals and scored his 2nd hat-trick in 2 games at this point.

In Overtime Emerson Etem was fed a cross ice pass from Dylan Bredo. Brandon's Mark stone was actually in between the two but missed batting the puck away and Etem had a partially open net to score the Winner.

Thoughts
Tigers were fortunate to win this one. They played well for good portions of the game, but Brandon really controlled the play in the second period. I thought Brandon deserved a better fate.

Sunday Night in Regina
Similar game to the previous night in Brandon. Strong start in the first, sat back in the second, but played a much better third period. Regina scored two powerplay goals late in the first and second periods to take a 2-0 lead.

The Tigers scored 3 goals less than 5 minutes apart in the third period, and had another goal called off after a Tiger players skate clipped the pad of Regina's Goaltender Matt Hewitt at the edge of the crease, and Kale Kessy's rebound goal was called off.

Regina's Morgan Klimchuck would pot the winner in OT off a goal mouth scramble.

Overall
The Tigers had pretty good first and third periods. But the second periods in both game were not thier best. The Tiger powerplay came alive on the Road and were extremely key. 2 for 3 in Brandon and 3 for 4 in Regina. Thier PP has moved from 18th to 7th.

Both games Emerson Etem wasn't given much room at all, and Shinkaruk was more than willing to skate with the puck. The Tigers first line was very heavily shadowed against. Brandon's Mark Stone line and Regina's Jordan Weal line was on the ice evertime Shinkaruk and Etem were on the ice.

I think it might be time to experiment with seperating the Shinkaruk/Etem combo on two different lines. They are the two leading scorers in the whl with Etems 23 and Shinkaruk with 18 goals respectively. I think with them seperated they could keep Bredo's production on the first line but also open up more points for a guy like Scott Mckay or Cole Grbavac on a second line.

Hunter Shinkaruk Player of the Week
http://www.whl.ca/article/tigers-shinkaruk-whl-player-of-the-week