Game Day vs. Seattle

First of six games in eight days.  It's going to be a rough stretch but could be quite character-revealing.

"This is where the depth of the team comes in," said Tri-City coach Jim Hiller. "Everyone is important. By the time the season is over, everyone will have played an important role and gotten their minutes."

In other words, haters stop whining about guys sitting in the stands.  The depth this team has is a good problem to have.  And it's going to pay off with all these games bunched into a tight amount of time.  At least, in theory.  Then again, Communism worked in theory, so we'll see.

The Americans have relied on balanced scoring during their rise to the top of the standings, with nine players scoring 11 goals or more and 15 players with 12 or more points.

Among that group is rookie Patrick Holland, who has 11 goals and 14 assists in 40 games -- but he's really come alive since the Christmas break with six goals and eight assists in 16 games.

"We made note of him real early," Hiller said. "The biggest thing for him is that he's a good player, he just needed to work on his assertiveness and confidence. We knew he had it in him. When TK (Todd Kennedy) got hurt, that spread minutes around and he has shown consistent play." (Herald)

From Russia With Glove got himself some new equipment, including fancy new helmet. Click here for some fancy photos, not sure who took them though, no credit is given.  I was going to insert them into this post, but blogger is a dirty whore.

So tonight the boys face off against Seattle.  They are a tough opponent, make you really work for the win.  Then there's Calvin Pickard.  AMS have had a difficult time trying to solve him.  Lord (and Bob) only knows who will be in net for the Americans.  If going with real tandem, it's Drew's turn to start since FRWG started last game.  If playing the hot goalie, it's Drew's start.  If wanting to piss me off, it'll be FRWG (kidding, geez, lighten up).  Course, Seattle might be a good opponent to get his game back on track after less-than-stellar outing in Vancouver.

Personally, this is a game I'd like to see Nils Moser in, he's got the size and moxie to battle against the T-Birds.  Actually, I think he's got more of a finish-his-checks type style than Mike Brown who was brought in to fill that role.  But whatever, I'm no GM.  But my 2 cents is that the team would be better served giving 16-year-old Moser some ice time (granted, it's not much) than a 19-year-old.  Neither of them get more than a couple shifts a night, so give the kid some chance to develop a little.  It's not that Brown is a bad player or anything, I just personally haven't seen much of him to say he should get more ice time than Moser.

I just hope it's a good game.  I'm bringing a couple friends who have never been to a game but love my obsession for it.  Hopefully AMS can convert them to being full-time fans.