What I Learned
It is impossible to accurately assess how fast a game hockey is until you're in the game. Or right next to it. Not even 1st or 2nd row seats in the stands allow people to truly get a sense of the fast pace. It's unreal.
I have no idea how line changes are able to be made so fluidly when often times both teams are changing at the same time so there's 8-10 guys all going (at a high rate of speed) towards the benches. It fascinates me.
Coach calls him Little Mess too.
Rob Sumner might be a little insane. And Mitch Elliot may need anger management counseling.
Tweet of the night goes to Spokant: "Rob Sumner is going to explode and splatter all over Section Z". I don't even know what all he was mad about (besides his team getting curbstomped once again), did he really think the Americans wouldn't retaliate for the blindside hit on Messier?
One of Tyler Schmidt's best games ever as an American. Rumor is Minnesota Wild scouts were in the house. I hope they were as impressed as I was. He's really been playing well as of late, but last night was lights out. And he kept his yapper shut. Amazing how that works.
The "hoot hoot hoot" calls after Drew makes a great save are awesome. And good and loud, especially considering the small crowd in the building last night and the very few saves he had to make. Let's keep that up fans, it's fantastic.
Matt MacKenzie is good. I mean, obviously. That's why Bob picked him up. He didn't look out of place at all, he was solid, communicated well with teammates and was working hard.
Drew didn't have a lot of work, Seattle only had 7 shots in the 1st, 10 shots on him before he got some rest and Chris Driedger got to play. Chris did well, only allowing one. He didn't get a lot of work either, only 8 shots he faced.
Meanwhile, Calvin Pickard faced 52 shots (just another day at the office), which was helped by the TEN power play opportunities the Americans had.
Ten power plays. Seattle completely lost their shit. Some of those poor guys looked so dejected. Or just uncaring. How hard would it be to go to the rink everyday knowing that the .500 hockey you're playing still isn't good enough for anything except last place in the division? I almost feel bad for them.
The fourth line got a TON of ice time, which is great for them, srsly. And they were working hard, got rewarded with power play time, and Conrad got a sweet goal. RAWRRRR.
Holland's breakaway was so sick. The F-H-P line was outstanding once again last night. God, they all were.
"We came to play and we didn't hold back," Feser said. "We wanted them to know we were coming out strong. Everyone had a phenomenal game, not just the first, second and third lines."
"It's a pretty good recipe when the building is alive and you go out and score early on the power play," said Tri-City coach Jim Hiller, whose team has scored 16 goals in the last two games. "We feed off that and it really sets a team back. We're scoring at a pretty good pace. We didn't score a lot early in the season, but it's happening a bit more now."
MacKenzie arrived in the Tri-Cities 10 minutes before warmups, but had a solid first outing for the Americans. He partnered with Brock Sutherland, saw time on the power play and the penalty kills. He had a couple of shots on goal and one from the point that missed the net by just a couple of inches.
"If I could play, I wanted to," MacKenzie said. "I got my gear on and went out on the ice. It was good to get in there. There are a lot of memories from playing here last year (in the WHL finals). The fans are great here. They sure get behind their team. It's a rink that is nice and loud when things are going well."
"We did it last year," said Schmidt of going to the net on the power play. "We changed up what we had to do to challenge their penalty kill. The team is playing well, guys are finding me and I've had a little luck on my side."
"Smitty, since Christmas, is playing as well as he did in the playoffs last year," Hiller said. "Each and every game, he's as focused and determined as in the playoffs." (Herald)
Speaking of MacKenzie:
"We had a few noogies for him for last year when he first walked in," said Tri-City coach Jim Hiller, referring to MacKenzie's play in Calgary's 4-1 series win over Hiller's team in the WHL Finals. "He's a premier defenseman in this league. We knew that from last year. It's nice to have him in our colors."
It still wasn't a sure thing that they'd have him in Tri-City colors on Tuesday night.
"They left it up to me," MacKenzie said. "I was a little tired, but I pounded an energy drink and rushed into my undergear. I missed the first five or 10 minutes of warmups." (Examiner)
Noogies LOL!
I was listening to the post game show tonight on the way home from another public execution when Westie mentioned something along the lines of our boys being 14-2-0-1 at home. Here are some numbers for ya.Those are some damn sexy numbers. Huge thanks to Effbomber for doing the grunt work. I can only imagine what else Carter Ashton is going to bring to the table (or to the ice, rather) but it'll be good stuff.
In 17 home games this year, we are outscoring opponents 83-36. Outshooting them 625-491. Our goalies have combined for a 2.05 goals against and a .929 save percentage. Opponents 'tenders: 4.73 GAA, .870 save percentage.
Goals by Period
1st: Ams 26, Opp 7
2nd: Ams 31, Opp 14
3rd: Ams 25, Opp 14
(and 1 shootout goal a piece)
Shots by Period
1st: Ams 229, Opp 144
2nd: Ams 203, Opp 185
3rd: Ams 188, Opp 159.
(OT & SO: Ams 5, Opp 3)
Then he mentioned the streak. 9 game home winning streak. Outscoring opponents 53-15. Outshooting 370-268. Goalies have combined for a 1.65 GAA and a .944 save percentage. Opponents 5.72 GAA, .859 save
And finally,
Goals by Period (during the streak)
1st: Ams 15, Opp 3
2nd: Ams 22, Opp 5
3rd: Ams 15, Opp 7
(1 shootout goal for Ams)
Shots by Period
1st: Ams 129, Opp 78
2nd: Ams 123, Opp 101
3rd: Ams 115, Opp 88
(OT & SO: Ams 3, Opp 1)
Add to that we are 18 of 59 (30.5%) on the power play during the win streak.
11 comments:
Very cool stats. Thanks, Eff. It seemed like the second period was a problem for the Ams the last couple of seasons. Apparently that's not the case this year. They're no longer the comeback kids because they don't have to be.
I really like it when new players and opposing teams talk about how great the fans are here. I know part of it is the building design (one of the FEW good things about the Toy), but that place is LOUD. Even on a Tuesday night against a fairly uninteresting team like Seattle. I'm not sure how many people in that building knew that MacKenzie played on the team that killed the Ams in the playoffs last year, but the welcome they gave him was impressive. Kinda lol'd at him showing up ten minutes before warmies and playing anyway. Hockey players are their own special breed.
Regarding the hit on Jordan, they did call it a 2 minute charge. But what's odd is neither ref had their arm up immediately after it happened. They called it AFTER the ensuing fight. Another case of penalizing based on injury? Or did Hiller convince them they should have called it? Or were they initially frozen by the horror and could only bring themselves to react a minute later? I missed the hit so I can't offer an opinion. I just hope Mess is okay. :( I thought my "big money, no conkys, no conkys" tweet was funnier than the Sumner one, but maybe it was too obscure. Or just not funny. (Reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUjkPHltzNA&feature=related)
I love that Coach calls Marcus Little Mess! He probably likes that better than Behbeh Mess.
Sumner has always been a little insane. I know he's been kicked out of a game at least once here. I guess the bench penalty was enough to calm him down last night. I actually do feel really bad for most of their players, just not him.
Schmidty had a hot game! So did Moline! And Conrad!
Other players really need to stop fighting Neal Prokop. Whoever that was got a few good hits in, but Prokes pummeled that kid. Poor life choices, people.
Can't wait to see Ashton. I freaking love this team.
The Big Money No Conkies was good too, but I had to pick just one for my favorite LOL
And you're right, they did make the charging call later. Which yeah, weird. I didn't hear what Sumner was saying, but his anger was probably about the delay of the call. Who knows, he's nuts. I was waiting for him to climb up on the boards again.
Heeeeey, David Conrad already has as many goals and more assists halfway through this season than he did in all his time with the Chiefs. Rawr.
I knew there was a reason I chose him to be one of my hockey BFs this season!
Dave - I have a request/favor/suggestion. Westie interviewed Bob Tory on the radio yesterday about the trade deadline and it was played in the 1st intermission break. Unfortunately, I missed it. Do you think it would be possible to post the audio of the interview here? I'd love to hear his thoughts on the deadline and stuff. If you can get it that'd be awesome.
Thanks
Can do later today. My sis captured the interview and sent to me, I just haven't had the chance to listen to it yet--and we all know I have to add my 2 cents :)
I couldn't make it to the game, so I listened to Westy the whole time. He said that at the time of the hit on Big Mess, neither ref was in a great position to see it, hence, no raised arm. Westy predicted that one of the linesman would make the call, but then it should have been a larger penalty than 2 min - that's the part that Westy didn't understand.
There was an interview with Tory during the first break. He sounded REALLY excited about the team that he has put together. Phrases like "buckle your seat belts" and "we'll be playing hockey for a long time". The tone of voice gave it away too.
Tory also mentioned that he was trying to go after D-men at the trade deadline last year, but couldn't arrange anything. This year, he was looking at 4 different guys. By the time he settled the MacKenzie deal, nothing else was available. Talks about MacKenzie have been ongoing since October. I would HATE to be a GM! Ugh to prices on people's heads!
I can't remember if it was during the pregame coach's corner or Tory's interview, but the summary of thoughts about the trade deadline: not as many trades as usual; high prices and high profiles when there was a trade; small market, lots of buyers.
I really need to get an AM radio to take to the games. Watching the games is awesome, but I really miss Westy's commentary!
Yay for numbers! Thanks, Eff! I've been meaning to do something like that, but that's what I do all day at work...
Marissa & Westy make a good point. Linesmen are only supposed to be able to call majors. Huh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JveXISXEfQ&feature=player_embedded
Video of the hit.
Blown up it appears that Doty aimed his shoulder for Jordan's head. Guess what, that's illegal now. The league should review it.
I agree. I watched it several times yesterday, analyzing it. Sickening.
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