I can't believe in this day and age the WHL still uses a potato to broadcast whl games. I wish they could provide better quality. 1080P shouldn't be too difficult in this day and age. /EndRant
Thoughts
I thought overall the Tigers play looked quite scrambly, but they got a lot better as the game went on. Willie D was saying pregame that he wished he had a couple more exhibition games.
I was pretty impressed with the Hurricanes providing they were down at least 3 and potentially a 4th key veteran and they had a ton of new faces in their lineup. There was only 7-8 names I recognized from the previous year. I thought they played pretty well.
The Hurricanes scored the games first two goals and the Tigers didn't really turn on the jets until their first powerplay in the 2nd period.
Unfortunate Goal To Go Down 3-1
The Tigers were pressing pretty hard and had a big edge in territorial play until they ran into an unfortunate hiccup. On the powerplay, A blocked shot/pass was chipped over a jumping Tiger defenceman at the point and 17yr old Jacob Boucher was sent in on a breakaway and buried an impressive shot past Mads Sogaard. At that point in the game, it was 3-1 hurricanes and it was a bit unusual to see Mads Sogaard looking angry.
The ComeBack
It was started by the new Import Jonathan Brinkman. Brinkman made a beautiful play out of nothing. It was a 1 on 4 and slipped past a couple hurricane defenders wide and sent a pass out to Lockner who just skated into the zone and was unguarded. Lockner one-timed it past Tetachuk in a bang-bang what the hell just happened type of play.
A minute later it was the Tigers turn for a lucky bounce. A shot by Trevor Longo at the point and Ryan Chyzowski was battling hard in the slot for positioning on the rebound. He outmuscled his man down low and was able to slap the backhand passed an outstretched Tetachuk. TIE GAME
Moments later the Tigers had a pair of breakaways but Tetachuck stood tall. What a turnaround
OT
The hurricanes had the better of the chances but nothing was solved.
The hurricanes had the better of the chances but nothing was solved.
Shootout.
The first 4 shooters all scored. Hamblin, Kemp for the Tigers, D-Jay Jerome and Dino Kambeitz for Lethbridge. Zach Stringer was stopped by Sogaard and Chyzowski was able to pot the winner.
Player Thoughts
Brett Kemp stood out for me. After the first period, he was routinely dangerous in the offensive end. He made a beautiful no-look, behind the back pass, out front to Cole Sillinger for his first regular-season goal.
James Hamblin was also good, but perhaps a bit of a slow start out of the gate.
Jonathan Brinkman - He impressed me. He is very slick and seems like the playmaker type that will make things happen. I loved his first game. Imports sometimes get off to very quick starts, followed by a lull. I look forward to seeing some more games from him but I was really impressed. Really good puck control and an ability to make some plays in tough situations.
Parker Gavlas - I'll need a few more viewings. He seems solid, but I feel like he could be a bit stronger on the puck at times. He was involved in a fight after a strong hit, he got a couple punches in, lost his footing momentarily and overpowered his hurricane opponent quite quickly. I think he should be a decent fit on the 2nd line.
Brown & Preziuso - I was a bit disappointed because I didn't notice much of an improvement from either. They didn't look any-more dangerous than last season with perimeter outside plays. Preziuso had a lot of shots and some outside speed, but I do expect a bit more from a 20.
I think ostir deserves a game in the lineup.
Sillinger - Looked very strong on his feet. You can just tell he is going to be an impact player because he wins the majority of the small battles and he is exceptionally strong on his feet for a 16.
Defense - It was sometimes hard to tell who was on the ice due to the poor potatoe quality webcast. After a bit, I could start to see who was who. I don't remember seeing any major gaffes, although I'm sure if you watch video there are things they could do better. I think they gave up a few odd-man rushes from players not knowing how to recover, but I think that onus is more on the forwards.
Goaltending - Mads had a tough game because the Hurricanes were in his face the entire time they were in the offensive zone. Hurricanes were doing a great job at just skating in front of him as a shot was taken. I felt like only 1 shot really beat him clean. The 2 other goals were a mass of players in front of him where a shot ping-ponged around the scrum.
Krebs looked bigger than the 5'11 167lb's he is listed at.
After the first game here is my armchair coaching lines I like
Brinkman Hamblin Kemp
Sillinger Chyzowski Ostir
Brown Lockner Hopwo
McCarry Anderson Wilms/Danielson
Backer Clayton
Longo Gevlas
Krebs/Agyeman/Watson Van Impe
Who do you like?
