Scout
03-24-2008, 09:59 AM
Courtesy Alan Caldwell:
Monday, March 24, 2008
Monday notes
So, all eight playoff series have played two games now, and we have six 2-0 counts and two that are tied 1-1. No real surprises in six of the series, I don't think, but I'm not sure how many folks expected Kelowna and Kootenay to be up 2-0 after opening on the road. Both those teams went into opposing barns and took two games from their higher-ranked opposition and now I'd say both the Tigers and Thunderbirds are in a spot of trouble. They're both more or less now faced with having to win the next two games on the road or else they'll either be eliminated or, at a minimum, down 3-1.
The Tigers in particular must be really down in the dumps about game two of their series....they were winning 3-2 until the Ice tied the game with 0.2 seconds left in regulation, then won it just 33 seconds into overtime. Think, the Tigers were TWO TENTHS of a second away from being tied 1-1 in the series. But I guess that's why games are 60 minutes long and not 59:59.
And another note from Tiger-land....they failed to sell out their building for either Friday or Saturday's games. Not a big deal in most cities in the league, but the Tigers had sold out 228 straight games before Friday. The last time they failed to sell out a game was February 25, 2003. The end of the streak is being blamed on a number of season ticket holders failing to buy their playoff ticket packages, and walkup crowds in the Hat are poor because casual fans have become accustomed to usually not being able to get tickets, so many don't bother. But the news should be out in the Hat now: there are tickets available for Tigers playoff games this year. Should the Tigers win at least one game in Kootenay, then the Tigers host a game 5 on Friday. That one should be sold out if the fans want to avoid the fairweather label.
Apparently Kelowna has now won six straight playoff games in Seattle. If that keeps up then the Birds better take both those games in the Little Apple or they could be eliminated by game five.
The Pats/Broncos series is getting nasty; the Broncos have lost two of their top four defencemen in the first two games due to what they believe are dirty hits from the Pats. Michael Wilson was knocked out in the first game by a hit from Brett Leffler, and in game two it was Jesse Dudas going down (with a suspected broken wrist that could end his season) after a hit by Jordan Eberle. Leffler was suspended pending review by the league after game one and missed game two; his suspension length will be finalized probably today. No word on whether Eberle will also be suspended but if so, it would go a long ways towards softening the blow to the Broncos of losing a couple top d-men, since Eberle is a key player for the Pats.
The Silvertips and Wheat Kings are both down 2-0 after the opening weekend games in Spokane and Lethbridge, respectively, but they are in better situations than other teams like Kamloops and Chilliwack, who are also down 2-0 after opening on the road. Why? Well, the SPO-EVT and LTH-BRN series are using the 2-3-2 format instead of the usual 2-2-1-1-1, which means the Silvertips and Wheaties now get to play three straight games at home instead of just two. Of course they still have to win at least one of the first two or else the third home game doesn't matter, but it's a good chance for them to get to at least 3-2 down (or even 3-2 up!) in the series before having to go back on the road.
On the topic of Chilliwack, I see that disallowed goal in game one is generating a lot of controversy. It's easy to see why; had it been allowed, the game would have been 2-2 and maybe the Bruins might have eventually pulled it out. I know nobody from Chilliwack will care what I think, but I saw the game on Shaw and my unbiased opinion as a fan of neither team is that the right call was made. Santorelli clearly interfered with Sexsmith in the crease and prevented him from making the save. Santorelli didn't do it on purpose, and Sexsmith didn't take a dive or embellish the contact. It's just something that happens....a player gets bumped and falls down, and in this case he fell into the crease and took out Sexsmith. That's not cause for a penalty (because the contact was incidental), but it is definitely cause for disallowing the goal.
Things apparently got a little out of hand late in game two in Tri-Cities on Saturday. Kamloops coach Greg Hawgood ended up having a "friendly" chat with some Americans fans behind the Blazer bench, and Americans coach Don Nachbaur desperately wanted to have a chat with Hawgood after the game but was unsuccessful. The scoresheet doesn't show a bunch of penalties so I'm not sure exactly what transpired to get folks all worked up, but we'll see if things carry over into game three.
Of the eight series, four teams have already given up the home ice advantage they played all season to get. I mentioned Seattle and Medicine Hat already, but Calgary and Regina have also lost their home edge after splitting the first two games of their respective series at home. The Hitmen and Pats are now forced to win at least one game in Moose Jaw and Swift Current, respectively, in order to win their series. Still not as bad as the Tigers and Thunderbirds though, who will have to win two games in Kootenay and Kelowna in order to advance.
I think I managed to mention every single series in these notes so far, and all of these notes add up to one thing: there are no dull series going on in this first round. Seattle/Kelowna play their game three tonight and everyone else plays their game three tomorrow and things are only going to get more interesting.....
Away from the WHL for a commentary here.....this video is from the QMJHL, but it's well worth checking out. It's video of a brawl between the Quebec Remparts and the Chicoutimi Sagueneens during Chicoutimi's 10-1 win over the heated rival Remparts on Saturday night. With the score 7-1, a line brawl breaks out; Remparts goalie Jonathan Roy - the son of Remparts coach and NHL Hall-of-Famer Patrick Roy - can be seen challenging Chicoutimi's goalie, Bobby Nadeau, from center ice. Nadeau isn't interested and Roy is restrained by the refs. But then, allegedly after some verbal encouragement from daddy on the bench, Roy Jr breaks free, skates all the way to the other end of the ice, and proceeds to pummel Nadeau, who doesn't want to fight and does nothing but try to cover up. He then salutes the Chicoutimi crowd with a double-bird salute before engaging another Chicoutimi player in a nothing fight.
Besides the fact that Roy Jr is a brutal goaltender who probably wouldn't even be in the league if his dad wasn't his coach (how about that sterling .866 save % this season), his actions are pretty deplorable. I like a good fight, including a good goalie fight, but skating 200 feet to rain punches on a guy who doesn't want to fight and didn't do anything to deserve it is about as classless as they come. And he did it to make dad proud....what's even sadder is that he probably succeeded on that front.
If this brat suits up again this season, then the QMJHL didn't suspend him long enough. Wouldn't hurt to have dad miss a few games too.
Incidentally, this game was also an extremely rare example of a team using three goaltenders in a game. Quebec's #1 goaltender, Kevin Desfosses, was injured earlier in the game, which is why Roy was in net to begin with. He got thrown out for the brawl, which forced the Remparts to dress a 16 year old midget callup, Mikael Audette, for the third period. Which really is further example of how stupid the Roys are....Audette did OK, but what if he were a kid who was grossly unprepared for the QMJHL? What if he got hurt because he shouldn't have been out there? For Roy Jr to get himself tossed when there was no backup goalie on the bench....dumber and dumber.
This kind of thing (dressing a player in mid-game who wasn't on the original 20-player game lineup) is only allowed for goaltenders, which is why you don't see it very often. If it were up to me though, I'd only allow it when both goalies are hurt....not when one or both of them get thrown out for being idiots. In my world Quebec would have had to play the whole third period with no goalie....not that the outcome of the game would have been altered.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Monday notes
So, all eight playoff series have played two games now, and we have six 2-0 counts and two that are tied 1-1. No real surprises in six of the series, I don't think, but I'm not sure how many folks expected Kelowna and Kootenay to be up 2-0 after opening on the road. Both those teams went into opposing barns and took two games from their higher-ranked opposition and now I'd say both the Tigers and Thunderbirds are in a spot of trouble. They're both more or less now faced with having to win the next two games on the road or else they'll either be eliminated or, at a minimum, down 3-1.
The Tigers in particular must be really down in the dumps about game two of their series....they were winning 3-2 until the Ice tied the game with 0.2 seconds left in regulation, then won it just 33 seconds into overtime. Think, the Tigers were TWO TENTHS of a second away from being tied 1-1 in the series. But I guess that's why games are 60 minutes long and not 59:59.
And another note from Tiger-land....they failed to sell out their building for either Friday or Saturday's games. Not a big deal in most cities in the league, but the Tigers had sold out 228 straight games before Friday. The last time they failed to sell out a game was February 25, 2003. The end of the streak is being blamed on a number of season ticket holders failing to buy their playoff ticket packages, and walkup crowds in the Hat are poor because casual fans have become accustomed to usually not being able to get tickets, so many don't bother. But the news should be out in the Hat now: there are tickets available for Tigers playoff games this year. Should the Tigers win at least one game in Kootenay, then the Tigers host a game 5 on Friday. That one should be sold out if the fans want to avoid the fairweather label.
Apparently Kelowna has now won six straight playoff games in Seattle. If that keeps up then the Birds better take both those games in the Little Apple or they could be eliminated by game five.
The Pats/Broncos series is getting nasty; the Broncos have lost two of their top four defencemen in the first two games due to what they believe are dirty hits from the Pats. Michael Wilson was knocked out in the first game by a hit from Brett Leffler, and in game two it was Jesse Dudas going down (with a suspected broken wrist that could end his season) after a hit by Jordan Eberle. Leffler was suspended pending review by the league after game one and missed game two; his suspension length will be finalized probably today. No word on whether Eberle will also be suspended but if so, it would go a long ways towards softening the blow to the Broncos of losing a couple top d-men, since Eberle is a key player for the Pats.
The Silvertips and Wheat Kings are both down 2-0 after the opening weekend games in Spokane and Lethbridge, respectively, but they are in better situations than other teams like Kamloops and Chilliwack, who are also down 2-0 after opening on the road. Why? Well, the SPO-EVT and LTH-BRN series are using the 2-3-2 format instead of the usual 2-2-1-1-1, which means the Silvertips and Wheaties now get to play three straight games at home instead of just two. Of course they still have to win at least one of the first two or else the third home game doesn't matter, but it's a good chance for them to get to at least 3-2 down (or even 3-2 up!) in the series before having to go back on the road.
On the topic of Chilliwack, I see that disallowed goal in game one is generating a lot of controversy. It's easy to see why; had it been allowed, the game would have been 2-2 and maybe the Bruins might have eventually pulled it out. I know nobody from Chilliwack will care what I think, but I saw the game on Shaw and my unbiased opinion as a fan of neither team is that the right call was made. Santorelli clearly interfered with Sexsmith in the crease and prevented him from making the save. Santorelli didn't do it on purpose, and Sexsmith didn't take a dive or embellish the contact. It's just something that happens....a player gets bumped and falls down, and in this case he fell into the crease and took out Sexsmith. That's not cause for a penalty (because the contact was incidental), but it is definitely cause for disallowing the goal.
Things apparently got a little out of hand late in game two in Tri-Cities on Saturday. Kamloops coach Greg Hawgood ended up having a "friendly" chat with some Americans fans behind the Blazer bench, and Americans coach Don Nachbaur desperately wanted to have a chat with Hawgood after the game but was unsuccessful. The scoresheet doesn't show a bunch of penalties so I'm not sure exactly what transpired to get folks all worked up, but we'll see if things carry over into game three.
Of the eight series, four teams have already given up the home ice advantage they played all season to get. I mentioned Seattle and Medicine Hat already, but Calgary and Regina have also lost their home edge after splitting the first two games of their respective series at home. The Hitmen and Pats are now forced to win at least one game in Moose Jaw and Swift Current, respectively, in order to win their series. Still not as bad as the Tigers and Thunderbirds though, who will have to win two games in Kootenay and Kelowna in order to advance.
I think I managed to mention every single series in these notes so far, and all of these notes add up to one thing: there are no dull series going on in this first round. Seattle/Kelowna play their game three tonight and everyone else plays their game three tomorrow and things are only going to get more interesting.....
Away from the WHL for a commentary here.....this video is from the QMJHL, but it's well worth checking out. It's video of a brawl between the Quebec Remparts and the Chicoutimi Sagueneens during Chicoutimi's 10-1 win over the heated rival Remparts on Saturday night. With the score 7-1, a line brawl breaks out; Remparts goalie Jonathan Roy - the son of Remparts coach and NHL Hall-of-Famer Patrick Roy - can be seen challenging Chicoutimi's goalie, Bobby Nadeau, from center ice. Nadeau isn't interested and Roy is restrained by the refs. But then, allegedly after some verbal encouragement from daddy on the bench, Roy Jr breaks free, skates all the way to the other end of the ice, and proceeds to pummel Nadeau, who doesn't want to fight and does nothing but try to cover up. He then salutes the Chicoutimi crowd with a double-bird salute before engaging another Chicoutimi player in a nothing fight.
Besides the fact that Roy Jr is a brutal goaltender who probably wouldn't even be in the league if his dad wasn't his coach (how about that sterling .866 save % this season), his actions are pretty deplorable. I like a good fight, including a good goalie fight, but skating 200 feet to rain punches on a guy who doesn't want to fight and didn't do anything to deserve it is about as classless as they come. And he did it to make dad proud....what's even sadder is that he probably succeeded on that front.
If this brat suits up again this season, then the QMJHL didn't suspend him long enough. Wouldn't hurt to have dad miss a few games too.
Incidentally, this game was also an extremely rare example of a team using three goaltenders in a game. Quebec's #1 goaltender, Kevin Desfosses, was injured earlier in the game, which is why Roy was in net to begin with. He got thrown out for the brawl, which forced the Remparts to dress a 16 year old midget callup, Mikael Audette, for the third period. Which really is further example of how stupid the Roys are....Audette did OK, but what if he were a kid who was grossly unprepared for the QMJHL? What if he got hurt because he shouldn't have been out there? For Roy Jr to get himself tossed when there was no backup goalie on the bench....dumber and dumber.
This kind of thing (dressing a player in mid-game who wasn't on the original 20-player game lineup) is only allowed for goaltenders, which is why you don't see it very often. If it were up to me though, I'd only allow it when both goalies are hurt....not when one or both of them get thrown out for being idiots. In my world Quebec would have had to play the whole third period with no goalie....not that the outcome of the game would have been altered.