A really nice road win in Everett Friday night was followed by a really ugly loss last night to the Kootenay Ice. Seattle hasn't played too many games like the one they did last night. I think you could safely argue that they have been pretty competitive in every single game until the one last night.
Some thoughts...
- Friday night in Everett they won because I didn't go to the game (of course). I still haven't seen a win in Everett and as long as the Tbirds keep winning up there while I'm not at the game I will happily stay away and pay the $7 for the crappy online video feed.
- Friday night was also a pretty solid effort in all phases of the game. They were able to get the puck on net, get some timely goals to open each one of the periods and they were solid defensively, only allowing a pretty backdoor Power Play goal by Ryan Murray.
- Last night was a bit of the complete opposite. Seattle lost the battles in front of the net and allowed the once league worst Ice Power Play to win battles in front of Calvin Pickard and convert on 3 of 3 chances. In terms of technique, Seattle was getting caught behind the Ice forwards instead of getting in front to block or on the side to lift sticks, etc.
- Quick word on fan behavior. I have a fan that sits near me, I know him... he plays hockey against me occasionally. I don't have a problem with this guy, we're friendly, etc. So I hope he doesn't read this and become offended. This particular fan has made it quite obvious over the years that he hates Coach Rob Sumner. He obviously thinks Sumner is a bad coach and from time to time attempts to let Sumner know about his displeasure during games. Last night after Calvin Pickard was pulled in favor of Michael Salmon this fan proceeded to yell at Sumner sarcastically for pulling Pickard "Yeah Sumner, it's Pickards fault, pull Pickard, that's the answer!" This yelling proceeded to continue for a good couple of minutes until a few fans started telling this fan to shut up. Angry fan didn't like this and proceeded to tell said fans that "if they played hockey they could tell him what to do". Fine... not a problem. Quite frankly I don't really care what fans do... yell all you want, you paid for your ticket. But.... if you're going to yell and tell everyone how smart your hockey knowledge is... you had BETTER be right. And in this case, angry fan is completely wrong. Sumner didn't pull Pickard last night because it was "his fault" that Seattle was down 5-1... you pull your starting goaltender out of there so that he doesn't have to keep getting punished when the team in front of him isn't playing well. You hate Sumner... I get it... but if you're going to yell and scream and tell everyone how smart your hockey knowledge is, you should try to be correct.
- Speaking of Pickard. Obviously a tough night for him and it's really too bad that it had to come on his Bobblehead night. The 5th and final goal was a bit of a soft one but the others were certainly not his fault. What you have to love and appreciate about Pickard is how much he cares. You could see the anger and disappointment on his face as he sat on the bench. Part of what makes Calvin so great is that you know how much he cares, you know how much he loves to compete, you know how much it burns at him to have a game like that. It doesn't matter if it happened on Bobblehead night, he probably doesn't care about that. He's mad because he cares deeply about winning and about his team and that's exactly why you don't see him have very many nights like last night. It's exactly why I would expect him to bounce back strong on Tuesday.
- I was absolutely utterly shocked we didn't see multiple fights last night. I could easily be wrong but it just didn't seem like Kootenay wanted to drop the gloves. They were chippy... there was multiple "chat rooms" but no fights. Doty tried to get into a few scraps and wound up getting a double minor for roughing that led to two Ice goals. You take the good with the bad with Doty. We can't all hope for Doty to fight all the time and then be upset when he picks up the occasional penalty that hurts the team... it comes with the territory and for the most part Doty has been excellent.
- I always listen to the post-game show to hear what Sumner and the Seattle "star of the game" has to say. Most of the time you don't really get anything of substance but occasionally you get some gems. What I love most is when players are honest. Last night Charles Wells was honest. Paraphrasing... he said the team played like crap and he wasn't really sure why he even deserved a "star". Good on him... I need more players being honest and less "canned" answers.
- The lone bright spots... nice snipes out of Lockhart and Bobbee to bookend the scoring.
- Seattle has slipped to 2nd on the PP and 13th on the PK. Seattle's goal differential would suggest that this team might regress back towards .500. Let's hope that isn't the case.
Hockey Challenge 2014
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9 comments :
I think everyone left in the building was cheering when Wells made that comment.... How Kootenay doesn't get all 3 stars is beyond me. As much as the 3 stars of the game is a joke, it would be nice to actually have the 3 best players on the night get them for a change. Also I think it is time for a change on defense I know Ramsay is dealing with family issues but his level of play since he has been back is lousy at best, he has been a huge liability playing confused, slow and has pretty much lost any physical presence he had. Maybe he needs more time away to get himself together, but right now I would rather see Baecker of Frank get playing time and experience instead of constantly looking up to see Ramsay staring at the puck behind Pickard.
Ramsey is not the same player that he was last year. It almost looks as if he has lost the fire and drive that he exhibited so much last year.
Speaking of defense, what are your impressions of Sutter? My girlfriend points out to me every time he flubs a pass or pinches at the wrong time. I defend him by telling her to give him a chance, I think he has a big upside and could be a dominate defender, am I wrong?
stoykoj, I had to laugh while reading your comment. I find myself defending Sutter to my wife too. I hope we are right!
For Sutter, I think that for most of us, it is easy to forget that he only has 20 some games worth of experience in the WHL. He does not have the physical play that you would expect from someone his size and yes he does make some mental mistakes timing wise, but from what I have seen so far, he is improving. He has good skating abilities and I think he can handle the puck well. If he can find the balance between the physical play and technical play, he will be a solid base for any defense.
I like Sutter's game. Is he polished? Not yet... but I believe his decision making is improving at a very fast pace and as his skating skills get better he will improve dramatically.
I'd still label him a work in progress but I like the progress we're seeing.
Hahahah...I'm always complaining about Sutter to my boyfriend. I have to keep reminding myself that he is an import player and, from what I understand, the US/Canada game is much more physical - so he's not used to hitting and getting in there like some of the North American kids.
I agree about Ramsay - I think he needs to take some time to get himself together and give Frank and Baeker some playing time.
I am on the end of the ice where they do the stars and almost choked on my soda when Wells said that...glad to see that someone was stepping up!
I love it! My girl and I were having just this very conversation about Sutter on Saturday night as well. I'm definately not a fan. She sees his potential. I'm still not convinced. The kid shows the occastional sign of brilliance but his poor decision making gives me flashbacks to Warg. Noebels though..that kid continues to impress.
Along the topic of fans with zero knowledge, we had two gentlemen sitting near us Saturday who obviously were attending their first hockey game and definately were a beer or two above their limit. I'm usually fairly tolerant of folks when it's obvious their first game. These guys though....all over Calvin. Screaming at the top of their lungs when he got pulled about how he sucked. Yelling about the lack of effort and how they should take a pay cut(ummm....)The best part though is that they kept calling the puck a ball. 'If that goalie lets another ball in the net he should get fired! 'Come on guys, go for the ball!' I kid you not. Over and over and over again. It's like going to an M's game and yelling for the guy at the plate to hit a touchdown. A couple of folks around us tried to educate the lads to no avail. If you cant handle your alcohol it is probably best that you dont drink in public.
Props to the folks who tried to lend them a clue but I'm afraid it was a lost cause.
After Sutter's game tonight against Tri-Cities (there were at least two, if not three goals that could be directly attributed to Sutter's horrible play), it'll take a whole lot of convincing for me to see why that guy gets so much ice time.
No excuses... he was absolutely horrible tonight.
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