Saturday, September 29, 2012
Tigers Defeat Regina 5-1
Before the Game the Tigers Acquired Overager Elgin Pearce from Kootenay for a 5th round 2013 draft pick. He will join the Tigers on their BC road trip starting on Wednesday in Victoria.
Kale Kessy has moved up to Phoenix's Farm Team in preparation for the AHL/ECHL training Camps. Looking at Phoenix's Depth Charts I find it hard to see Kessy sticking in the AHL. More Likely he gets sent to the ECHL or back to the Tigers.
Jayden Hart and Ty Stanton were scratched with Day-To-Day Injuries. It allowed Cole Sanford, and Matt Staples to see their first game of the season.
Brief Thoughts
Through 2 periods the game seemed a little dry. Lots of neutral zone play and not a whole lot of shots on the net. Regina's only Goal I'm sure Marek Langhamer would have liked to have back. Lane Scheidl fired a shot from just inside the blue-line which beat him glove side.
In the third period it looked like Regina started to tire out a little. We saw the same thing with Lethbridge during the Home Opener where the Tigers stuck with it and by the third period the other team had no legs left.
Curtis Valk scored another High-Light Reel Goal, undressing half of the guys on the ice and the goalie, which gave the Tigers a 2-1 Lead at that point.
We saw Jacob Doty get a little more ice-time. He was used on the powerplay standing in front.
The more I Watch Kyle Becker the more I'm wondering how the hell he wasn't on this roster full time earlier. He scored the Tigers first Goal with a rocket top corner on the powerplay, and continued his steady defensive play.
I see improvements from Trevor Cox on the ice. He looks more shifty/ able to anticipate the next play better.
Miles Koules displayed his Hand-Eye coordination, and play-making skills knocking a couple pucks out of mid-air, and scored his 2nd goal in as many games.
Derek Ryckman looked to be fighting the puck a little, but Ryckman and Lewington are proving to be strong steady presences on the back-end.
I thought Shinkaruk looked a bit snake-bit, even though he managed a 4 point night.
Spenser Jensen has improved. I like how he has been able to turn and match the speed of the smaller forwards who try to beat him to the outside..
Cole Sanford dressed for his first game of the year, and he didn't look out of place. The young guys Labelle, Penner, Butcher, Owre also looked good.
Matt Staples dressed for his first game of the year. Their is no doubt he shows a lot of mobility and vision on the back-end, his defensive game is something that will need a bit of work.
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After Two Home Game, and watching 2 road Webcasts I am impressed by the Tigers play so far this season. They have Outshout the opposition by a wide margin, and have limited the opposition team to under 30 shots in 3 of the 4 games. The defense is doing a hell of a lot better than I thought they would be and is actually a strong point 4 games in.
I'm anxious to see how they would fare against Edmonton and Saskatoon.
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16 comments:
Every year they seem to surprise us!
They need a big forward now that Kessy is gone
Regarding your comment on Kyle Becker I believe he had some kind of injury last year that kept him from playing most of the season.
Becker defensively doesn't get it. If you know the game, you will understand what i'm talking about. In brief, have a look at the videos of the highlights, when he is on the ice. Being in front of the net, and NOT tying up a stick or your man, will not keep you in the top two pairings long. Offensively, it's great to see him get some points...but before we give him too much credit. The shot he scored on from the point is a poor shot taken. Dmen are told and encouraged to shoot for the pads. How the heck are forwards expected to go to the net, when someone is teeing off when the puck is 3 1/2 feet off the ice?Again, great to see him getting some points, but know it is early in the season.
Great to see Hunter putting up some points as well.
Three wins and a loss, and one of the top defensive forwards in the league is a dash 2??
Watched hilights as you suggested. Beckers low shot to post allowed cox to tip in a goal on Friday, his low shot later on Friday allowed bredo and Leir to direct it to Cox who scored... Funny all three were in front of the net and were not hit in the head. Beckers low shot on net was deflected by Koules for a goal in Sat game. He was not hit in the head either! Why the hate on for Becker? Seems to me like he gets it. The two times this year he has actually taken a one timer from the point resulted in goals right under the crossbar. Most of his shots
@ anon 12:37
Defensively doesn't get it? I don't want to sound rude here but I think your barking completely up the wrong tree.
The goal he scored was a one-timer. If you've ever played the game you would know how difficult it is to rocket a shot top corner off a one-timer.
Becker has done an outstanding job at getting shots through to the net. 8/10 of his shots are perfect low shots that find their way to the net.
The goal Miles Koules scored was a deflection from Kyle Becker's Point shot.
Last night Becker broke up a dozen of Regina's cycles along the boards just by himself.
If you watch him on the ice you will see his excellent positioning that shows he has that 5th sense that not every Dman at this level possess.
He is poised and sees the Ice Very well and does an excellent job at making a first pass out of the zone.
IMO he is the type of player that has an excellent shot at getting an NHL contract. In fact I would put money on it.
he has broken up a ton of 2 on 1's already as well
but i mean if you dont think Bredo is good defensively Anon 12:37, then your hockey IQ is clearly not intelligent enough to break down hockey plays
This is a question out of left field but is Langhammer still wearing Bunz's old pads or he happen to get the exact same ones that Bunz had at the start of last season??
Exactly how i saw the game too Tiger turf, he has the ability to be a top tier defenceman in this league. Last year i believe he suffered a wrist injury which put him on the outside looking in with Jensen and Lewington securing the spots before he was fit to play. We now have a very good young crop of defencemen who will only improve with the playing time they are getting.
Hey Colin, I think Anonymous was speaking about defensively. When he says watch the video highlights. He gives good credit to Becker offensively. Pretty sure he is talking about Becker's play in front of his own net. Becker doesn't have any sticks tied up in front of his own net in the last couple of games WHERE there is a goal scored against us. Anonymous is right if that's what he is talking about.
On the other hand , I like what he is doing on the PP. and there are some good redirects by our forwards, after Becker has put it towards the net. The goal scored by Becker on the one timer is very high, and would IF he shoots it consisitantly high off the one timer would make the forwards wary lol. All in all, Tigers are playing good hockey so far. Hopefully, they can keep it up when they go out West. There are a couple of teams out west that look like they may provide a better game than the last couple of opponents.
@ anon 12:37
So far I have watched all 4 season games. I also read this blog faithfully. I am not sure what you have against Kyle Becker, but if you are the same annon from last year, listening to your comments it sounds like you might have a vested interest in trying to clear a spot for some one you might know. It also appears you might have a history with Mr Becker. Maybe we shouldn't let personal feelings cloud the judgement of what is best for the team.. I have watched a very calm, well positioned defencemen, with an amazing break-out pass. This kid kind of reminds me of a young Nicklas Lidstrom.
In the footage he did not tie up the stick...... in one clip..... in one game...... we are talking a split second of footage...... if you are going to post at least have better evidence that one slip up in one split second of the game. I can find footage of Lidstom doing the same thing. No player is perfect for the whole game, lets not split hairs.
Becker is gold, love this kid. I think he will end of being one of our best Dman since Russell. I do not know about Langhammers pad...but good questions, anyone? You would think they would get him a new pair??
@anon 12:37
No shot taken is a poor shot, especially if it goes in.
24,800 page views for September, breaking the previous high of 17,000 last september.
@ September 30, 2012 9:55 PM
Not sure if you referring to me, but I always post by log in, and haven't posted yet in this thread on the topic of Becker.
As for my opinion, he has been a real surprise and I would say our best defenseman so far early in the season. Hope he continues to play well.
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