An Up and down game from the Tigers....They had the rebels on the ropes, and at the end of the second period it looked like the rebels were gassed with a 5-2 Tiger Lead.
The rebels managed to score a couple goals to make it close, but the Tigers prevailed.
The rebels played their backup goaltender Bolton Pouliot and he had an up and down game letting in a couple weaker goals including the first shot of the game, but he also made a number of highlight real saves in the second and third periods.
I was impressed with Rebels 16 year old Connor Bleakly he had 2 goals and was thorn in the side making a number of solid body-checks.
For the Tigers Curtis Valk inched closer to the whl goal scoring lead with a hat-trick and is only 3 goals off the goal scoring leader Brendan Leipsic from portland.
I thought Zach Hodder had another good game and has stepped up his game up a notch.
The win puts the Tigers within 3 points of PA, and 5 points of Red Deer
With Lethbridge losing tonight the magic number to clinch a playoff spot is now a combo of 10 Tiger points or Lethbridge loss of points.
Next Up: A delayed Home and Home against the Kootenay Ice Wednesday Night at the Arena
17 comments:
valk was unreal, but how about bredo again and leier , shinkarok has to get it going
Shinkarok needs different linemates, Doty is not in the same league and can not help him, maybe McVeigh or someone who can pass and play, why have they not tried Koules with Shinkarok again? He cant do all the work himself.
#9 sets up tons of plays and often is the key guy in getting it goal set up. He is in a bit of a scoring slump but his hard work will pay off.
Even though Shinkaruk is in a bit of a slump he had a big point streak going on...so we cant really call that a slump...but we all know he is still finding his game.
Hard work pays off and I see steps in Shinkaruk's game that he is trying to battle through these tight checking games......better now than learning in the playoffs.
He threw a few hits in last nights game and thats a good sign of battling through tough times.
I have some flags about his overall game....their is no denying he has talent. I'm not trying to bash the guy like some Tiger fans do....I'm trying to be realistic about where I think he can improve.
I don't like the fact that he is shying away from the corners, and doesn't know how to take a hit.
He looks like Miles Koules at the beggining of the season where he backed off anytime their was a scrum or close contact and instead reaches into the scrum......(Miles has improved 1000% on this since the beggining of the season)
Shinkaruk also needs to improve his east/west lateral offensive game....he is too north/south and has a hard time creating offense 5 on 5 unless their is an odd man rush. Get the defender moving side to side...look at pearce or Valk at how they create offense laterally
Shinkaruk's true potential of what he could acheive at the pro level won't be known untill he can implement that in his game....
Etem in his draft year was purely a north/south player but encountered the same mini-slump when focused on. Mid-season he started to incorporate an east/west attack into his offensive rushes to break the slump and the year after his game exploded.
Shinkaruk will still get points on a bad day because he is skilled and offensively minded....at the next level if you dont' reach a certain proficiency on defense you dont play.
More stops and starts in the D zone, and dont be afraid to get dirty and take a hit. The boards dont hurt as long as your right against them when receiving a hit......if you brace yourself and stick close to the boards the other guy will bounce off you.
Don't be afraid to cross the ice in the Offensive zone instead of going wide all the time, just keep your head on a swivel when doing so.
If Shinkaruk starts to score goals 5 on 5 like he can this team will be hard to beat come playoffs.....It's also no coincidence that Shinkaruk's slowdown in scoring goals also coincides with the Tigers PP drying up a bit as well.
Tigers are going to be lucky to play 5 games if they finish 6-8th, lets be honest
Once you take Pearce away from Shinkaroo his production falls off as Valk is not much of a play maker and tries to score off most rushes.Hunter needs an unselfish player to spring him and Pearce was doing that.
Valk selfish.....HUH...
As far as to what you said TURF...Bang on...If Hunter used his speed to cut to the middle and split the d instead of trying to beat them wide and kissing the plexiglass. Teams would respect that and stop cheating knowing he goes wide for the most part.
Playoffs is the goal, who cares how many we are out in. I see it as a successful season to make playoffs, get some playoff experience for these young guys and next year will be better as we are older and more experience.
Dont forget that some of 18s goals has been from amazing feeds from 9. He is still a major impact out there. That and he draws all the attention opening up 18, 20 etc
I totally recall Etem struggling as he would always come in wide around the D and score. That stopped working for him and then he struggled to get any goals. I imagine Shinkrark will follow suit and figure out his game. But he will have to get tougher. I notice he is digging much more behind the net and wins a lot of those battles, but he has to get in closer in the slot and down into the corners. It will come, you can see him pushing through this.
1. If Hunter tried to cut to the middle that Dman is just going to step up into his lane and lay him the F out, Hunter goes outside all the time because he tries to catch them flat footed or get them with slow rotation turning over and his acceleration is so quick he can usually go right around him, not fast enough like Etem where he can cut in and break to the net but soon
2. The Tigers can be a very very good team next year but they have got to look at a different GM and coaching options yes the trade with PA was good but that was a blind swing and the way that trade looks good is because the players we traded collapsed and joined a slumping team. Clouston does not seem to be an effective coach with his constant line changing and very poor ice management, it will be interesting what the Masors will do since they are buddy-buddy with Clouston but this a huge red flag, got to get in a different coach
I've been overseas. Getting caught up on the T Turf. Way to Go Valk!! Like I said before,I watched him this spring/Aug. He stood out to me. If some of the other boys start playing with 'Valk' determination and try to achieve coach's definition of 'BEST' the Tigers will be kicking you know what in the next few years!Next year for sure with Valk leading the way!
Cutting to the middle isn't exactly the right choice of words when I'm talking about an east/west game, because it gives the impression of crossing the ice and getting open to a big hit.
Cutting to the inside of the defenceman is a better choice of words....Ex. Valk is really good at getting the Dman to hesitate or misstep and quickly cut either to the inside or outside to get around the guy.
Shinkaruk needs to improve that so when he does cut either way he creates a small token of space he can take advantage of.
An NHL defenceman will stop any guy that goes wide all the time 100% of the time.
Anon 3:43 I'm going to dispute point number two in your post. In talking about the trade with PA you are saying Clouston got lucky because the Raiders were a slumping team. Don't forget he also got what is supposed to be a very good prospect along with a second round pick in this years Bantam draft. If those two players play at some point for the Tigers that trade is a steal for this team. I might also add Clouston brought in Lanigan, Pearce and Ryckman in deals as well. All three of them have performed very well since coming here especially the first two who quite likely are a big reason this team is in a playoff spot. So while you have some merit with Cloustons ice management I don't think anyone can complain about the work he has done as a gm.
I completely disagree with saying we need a coaching change. This is a team who was marked not to make playoffs and here we are in the running. The PA trade was brillent. Pearce was a steal. Lanigan is awesome as it Langhammer. The lines change a lot but if there is an injury, this team can deal with that. There is always some consistencies in the lines but one or two changes here and there are not going to hurt anyone.....plus, they have been winning. If it was a real problem we would see losses. This team has come leaps and bounds because of Clouston. I think you all need to go back and watch footage from Oct and Nov games, then you can see what wonderful things he has done. And, the grass is not always greener on the other side! Willy chose Clouston for a reason, because he knows hockey and can coach it!
Tonight's game is on Shaw TV.
PA, Red Deer, Swift and Lethbridge all play tonight.
They'll need Shinkaruk going against the leagues most underated defenseman in Joey Leach. I remember last time they keyed on Valk
Jaedon Descheneau is on a tear scoring 6 goals in his last 3 games.
Brock Montgomery likes playing the Tigers scoring 6 goals in the last 3 games against them.
The dangerous Sam Reinhart is on an 8 game point streak.
Anonymous 3:43 you need to really get the good sh--.
Collapsed? take a look at their personal stats. Maybe the team has collapsed but the Bus/Hart trade hurt our team. Their second half of the season is turning out to be great. Sounds like you really know what your talking about though.Boy we have to continue to trash guys that are no longer with our team, sounds a little old already. Move on!
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