First Period
The First two Hitmen goals came off a 4 minute powerply after Matt Konan sticked a guy in the face......It was a little unfortunate because about 7 seconds prior Curtis Valk had been sneakily tripped up behind the net by Hitmen Victor Rask.
The First Hitmen goal Tyler Bunz would have liked to have back. A bad angle shot from the lower circle somehow found its way past Tyler Bunz. 2 minutes later on the same powerplay A point shot from Collin Bowman was deflected in by Danny Gayle.
2-0 Hitmen
By the end of the period the Hitmen had put on a ton of pressure and were starting to control the game.
2nd Period
The Tigers came out with a better effort. On the Powerplay James Bettauer did a nice job at getting open down low and Emerson Etem fed him a perfect cross Ice pass. Bettauer buried the one-times wrist shot scoring his 18th of the season.
2-1 Hitmen
Curtis Valk would walk out from the half wall and fed it to Emerson Etem down in the corner. Etem passed it out front and Hunter Shinkaruk managed to get a stick on it potting it into the half open cage despite being partially tied up.
2-2 TIE
Every single goal scored at ths point were powerplay goals. Tyler Lewington took a tripping penalty late in the 2nd period....dun dun dunnnnnnn......
Third Period
The Hitmen would cash in on their powerplay again, as Alex Gogolev rifled a perfect shot top corner over bunz on the short side.
WTF Just Happened
Now a very confusing scnenario happened, and I wasn't sure what happened till I re-watched the webcast....Calgary Forward Trevor Cheeck fired a shot on net from the top of the circle that handcuffed Tyler Bunz. Cheek saw the puck go in and put up his hands to celebrate however the puck would end up going completely through the net and play continued quickly up Ice.
Hunter Shinkaruk would whack a puck out of the air which was saved by the Hitmen goalie Brandon Glover......after the whistle the refs went upstairs to review the play.....everyone was a little confused as to why the Shinkaruk shot was being reviewed as it looked like a clear save (Turns out they were actually reviewing the Trevor Cheek goal).....
After the refs reviewed the play the ref signalled a goal and the arena erupted in cheers after the scoreclock operator added a goal to the Tigers side making it 3-3.
They dropped the puck and we all thought the game was tied.....half a minute later the Arena announcer says "Hitmen Goal scored by #29 Trevor Cheek....we looked up at the scoreclock and it then read 4-2 for the Hitmen......really weird play.....fans had erupted in cheers thinking it was a tie game...only moments later to see that it was the Hitmen who were credited with the goal....First time I've seen an opposition goal being cheered on by the fans ROFL.
The Tigers would pull thier goaltender but Hitmen Forward Joe Kornelson fired a rolling puck down the Ice. It looked to be going wide but curved its way right into the middle of the net. Final Score 5-2 Hitmen
Thoughts
Tyler bunz didn't have a sharp night tonight. But anytime the opposition fires more than 30 shots on net..let alone 39.....you didn't play well defensively. The Hitmen didn't play any different than what they have been playing like recently. Last week the Tigers caught them on an off game when they won 5-1... tonight the Hitmen played their systems well and played smart hockey. They dont have any stars but they are very good away from the puck at getting open and creating passing lanes.
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Miles Koules
Looks like the NCAA North Dakota Fighting Sioux is making a real strong push for Tigers Prospect Miles Koules. The Tigers recently aquired his rights at the whl trade deadline in exchanage for Reid Petryk.
According to his twitter feed he Visited North Dakota's Campus last week.....
His Twitter Profile Reads..."LA native. Hockey player for Team USA u18. North Dakota Fighting Sioux for the fall of 2012."
One of his recent Tweets...
"Great win for the Sioux last night vs Wisco. Such a fun visit. Can't wait to start playing here."
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10 comments:
Just one comment: I thought the cheers after the 3-3 posting were sarcastic ones. Everyone around me knew the puck had gone through the net and you could tell by Bunz's body language that he knew it too. We all cheered because it was a little funny that the crew made it a tie game when we obviously hadn't scored.
Previous game to last night. Anonymous makes a good argument about defense.
Bettauer is a gem of an offensive player. Unfortunately he sports one of the worst plus minuses on the team. Defensively, he needs to focus his attention on his own end. Positioning , and wrong side of the puck are claringly obvious woes of his. He has been on the ice 10 of the last 10 of the last 12 goals against. This has been a constant all year.
On the positive, how about the play of Grbavac , Cox, and until injured Kessy. Great to see secondary scoring from these guys.
Team toughness is a necessity for the balance of the season, to see an extended post season success.
We have been one of the hottest teams in the league. Might be time to give Bunz a much needed break. He will have lots of time to set the franchise record for wins.
Let's keep our individual successes in check, and hone in on some of our defensive neglects. THAT, will allow us to prevail in the post season.
Two thumbs up for January !!!!
Could not see why Bunz was in net, he looks tired and not really into the game. He needs a break!!! Konen needs to play with a bit more control, he has a knack for taking useless unnecessary penalties that seem to always cost us!!!! It is too often his actions that place us in poor positions.
Too bad, was hoping Koules would come play for the Tigers, he would have helpful in offense, well, hope the Tigers make a push for him still if he has not committed!! But does not sound promising.
Koules has been committed to North Dakota for over 2 years. North Dakota's not making a push for him, they already have him signed on. He's signed a letter of intent. He was on an official visit, not a recruiting visit.
Letters of intent aren't contracts and are only really binding for within the usa's college system.
Although the Tigers have had one previous player come over after signing one when Kevin Undershute won a whl championship with the Tigers.
Miles has previously stated he would only consider joining Portland or the Tigers.
I'm just pointing out to Tigers fans that his outlook for coming over may not be that great. But you never know...
Forget about the prospects. Tigers mgmt/coaches have yet to provide any confidence in what they have invested in.
Bunzy is playimg for personal gain. Coach is scared to play backup goalie and GM has no backbone to play young guy's? . next season will have/import a 20 yr old goalie and Cameron never had a chance. Tigers never give guy's experience.Rookies Jensen or Cameron... and others are without experience and never given the chance to gain any confidence. IMO this year is a waste of money$. I like our young guy's and Brad, GM/Shaun coach have provided no opportunity to help them along. Yey tigers for using vets till they drop and non-developing guy's who don't want to be there cause they fill your bench.
The last few game were games were game to test the new guy's and mgmt / coaches dropped the ball. I am a tiger fan and like to to see the young succeed , spelling ain"t great but give prospects achance to go or no on their own . Bunz has not been the best, give others a chance...
I got to agree with the above comment, I'm watching tigers / rebels game online and not impressed, except for Etem... but not giving up . But yes give the rookies a chance and support them if they fall down. Looks to me like vets fall down as well, and cheers to them for trying to stand on one leg. Fresh legs are not being used and Tigers vets could use a break , but what do i know, just a fan. Bunzy can take a well deserved break, IMO.
GO TIGERS GO , you are not doing bad, I know you boy's are trying your best.
yep, I hope they get there poop together before playoffs, cause coaches, mgmt have not developed or helped to develop rookies and back-up players. Experience is learned not by infusion. And don't blame rookies or back-up players if Tigers fail. All players want to win. Still time , and still enjoy what the tigers bring every game.
Their in the middle of the playoff hunt. Your not going to give your rookies top line minutes.
They stopped doing all the little things right that got them into a 6 game winning streak.
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