Emerson Etem and Curtis Valk both had hat tricks tonight. Emerson Etem flew into calgary and met the team in Lethbridge for the game tonight.
Their were so many goals tonight that I'm just gonna point out some thoughts.
Curtis Valk
Curtis Valk had a really rough first period taking a hit from behind and a stick to the face early in the game. He made the Canes pay for it popping in 3 goals. (2 on the powerplay). Again this kid has really stepped his game up another notch. He takes a lot of punishment and its good to see him being rewarded for his efforts.
Kale Kessy
After Hurricanes Player Spencer Galbraith got rid of the puck at the point Kale Kessy came charging in to deliver a hit to the canes defender. Spencer Galbraith had anticipated the hit and both players had thier mitts and sticks up high. Galbraith knocked Kessy off his feet. Kessy would get up and fall over woozily before making his way to the bench. He left the game and did not return. I expect he will be out with a concussion. Tough loss for the Tigers as IMO Kessy had been turning a corner and improving quite a bit recently.
Canes bring their B game?
I thought the canes stuck with the Tigers for the first 20 minutes but for the first time we've seen them this year they didnt bring their A+ game for the full 60 minutes. Every game this year the Canes have played the Tigers extremely tough and I thought tonight the Tigers finally were able to capitalize on their scoring chances and bury their many chances they have had on Canes Goaltender Damien Ketlo.
Etem, Bettauer and Valk all had 4 point nights. The Tigers are on a 6 game winning streak.
Up Next
Tigers Next game is at Home Saturday Night vs the Surging Calgary Hitmen. With Kootenays 7-6 OT Loss to Prince Albert The TIgers take sole possesion of 3rd place...2 points back of Moose Jaw who defeated the blades 2-1..the Hitmen and Ice are 3 points back with a game in hand.
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Great to see the offense. Tigers seem to be stronger right now than before Christmas. I'm thinking all this fighting on the ice they have been doing since Christmas, is drawing the team closer together.
I am still concerned about when the playoffs come around. That some of our defensemen are putting to much emphasis on scoring. Those numbers and chances will be alot fewer in the playoffs. Defense will win championships and toughness. We will not have that time and space when playoffs start, that the "D" currently are enjoying. I guess one of the things that stands out, is why do we have dmen pinching and being caught up us when we have a 5-2 and 6-2 lead. Selfish comes to mind.
If we think back to one of the reasons that stands out to our series loss versus Kootenany last year. Is Kootenany , killed us every time we pinched in the O-zone. I have one question, how many goals do we need to win a hockey game? Last time I checked , only one more than the opposing team.
Defense defense defense ! When we got up last night 6-2. That's when we need to work on defense even more so. And pull the reins on some players to play within the systems more.
Hopefully , we don't wait til playoffs to tighten up our back end.
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