Game Day vs. Vancouver
Honestly, I don't remember much after Neal went down, it was really hard to concentrate. But I remember thinking it was a pretty close game. Then I looked at the scoreboard--it was 6-2, Ams were outshooting Blazers 42-20. So not really close at all. But it seemed closer. Blazers sure made them work for every inch--every inch in front of Lanigan. Still.
It was a physical game, lots of bodies banging against the boards. It seemed Mason "Wrecking Ball" Wilgosh never left the ice.
To no one's surprise (I assume) Carter Ashton was on the Shinnimin-Hughesman line. At first I was a little concerned, Wilgosh has had great chemistry with them and if Ashton was on different line it could spread out super scoring to other lines. But then I saw them work their magic and hell yeah. Good stuff. Hughesman continues to be outstanding. His first goal he was going down the ice, Shinny to his left, I thought for sure he'd pass...he didn't. He friggin' nailed the back of the net with it. HAWT.
"He's a great player and such a big body down there," Hughesman said of Ashton. "We were trying to work the puck down low, bring it to the net, and that seemed to work tonight."
Hughesman now has a team- and career-high 26 goals, and his 32 assists are second on the team to Shinnimin's 34.
He's shown no signs of letting up -- a welcome change in his 19-year-old season to the previous two, when he faded in the second half after strong starts.
"To be honest, it goes back to my conditioning," he said. "It's been as good as it's ever been, and I've been able to carry it into the third period, into back-to-back games." (Examiner)
Speaking of hot goals, Matt MacKenzie's slapshot in the 2nd was damn sexy. He and Suds are a great pairing and both had an excellent game last night.
Tonight the Vancouver Giants are in town. Last time they were here it was a gongshow. They've gone 5-5-0-0 in their last 10, but those 5 wins have been in their last 6 games, including 3-2 victory over the Medicine Hat Tigers last night.
Apparently there's some outdoor game going on. Frankly, I'm indifferent. Well, except I want Kootenay to spank Spokane. So I guess that's not totally indifferent. The same two teams played last night and the Ice walked away with the 6-2 victory. Things apparently got pretty chippy so in that sense it could be a good game today. Go Ice!!
Looking at the US Division, the Winterhawks lost to the Kelowna Rockets 5-3 while Seattle beat Everett 3-1. All of that is great news for the Americans who are now 3 points behind Portland and only 1 point behind Spokane (as of this writing, but outdoor game set to start in an hour so that may change by tonight's drop of puck in Kennewick).
4 comments:
Regarding Doty vs. Messier: I was corrected. Apparently blindside headshots are only illegal in the NHL and virtually every other junior league except the WHL. So... this is the league that won't let players take off their helmets to fight because there's a 1 in 28742349832 chance they could fall on their heads, but blindside headshots which nearly always result in concussions are a-ok. Right. I would also like someone to tell me the difference between that hit and Kennedy's hit on Doyle last season that had everybody up in arms. Dead horse beaten.
I had my doubts about breaking up the Shinny-Willy-Hughey line too, but after seeing how Ashton's size benefits, I'm warming up. You can really sense a *team* feeling that seemed to be missing earlier in the season. It allows line juggling to help and not hinder for the most part.
Suds-MacKenzie pairing is nails. Even though Sohor and Grist have frequently been a minus, I like them together and thought they were impressive last night. Guess you were right about Grist. Given time to develop, he certainly has.
I hope Vancouver decides to play some actual dehockey tonight.
dehockey? No idea where I was going with that.
@Spokant - regardless of the legality of the hit, it's taking Big Mess out for a while: "He's banged up, for sure...He's going to be out for a little while...," says Hiller in the Examiner article. http://www.examiner.com/tri-city-americans-in-seattle/ams-blaze-to-10th-straight-home-win All I have to say about that is $%#&!
With Big Mess and Prokop injured, we will be playing every player currently on the roster - no healthy scratches. That scares me. That's been scaring me since I started hearing 1 healthy scratch per game before Ashton showed up. If we run in to any games/weekends/playoff series like Kelowna 2 years ago with the current number of rostered players, we are screwed. Wish I knew if extra guys were practicing with the team.
Huge thanks to Kootenay and Kelowna for stomping on Spokane and Portland for us.
Anyone else think that the points system is unfair? We have more wins in fewer games than Spokane, but get to sit behind them in the standings because of loser points.
Finally watched that Doty hit on Messier ... easily the dirtiest hit I've seen all year, by a long shot. Sure, mess turned, but Doty had plenty of time to avoid getting his arm up and hitting Mess from behind. Discipline in the Dub fails again. Anyway, I know I'm preaching to the choir here, so I'll let it go ...
Good game last night. For as physical as it was from the get-go, I thought it stayed pretty clean.
I'm also pleased so far with the new acquisitions. Should make for an interesting remainder.
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