Rebels-Tigers: Game four thoughts and opinions

[Rebel66]

Why the heck couldn't I find the time to write some thoughts on last nights game? That would have been much more enjoyable to do from my perspective. :)

Oh well. C'est la vie.

Not much of a recap, just some entirely random thoughts:

-The Rebels were absolutely trounced 6-1 by the Tigers tonight squaring the series at two games each.

-The Tigers thoroughly deserved their win tonight but for a time it looked like a finely balanced hockey game again. 1-1 until part way through the second and it looked like anyone's game. Then Dion Phaneuf made an absolute horrendous error of judgement that directly resulted in the game winning goal. It all went downhill for the Rebels from there. (I guess there could be the arguement that things started going bad when top scorer Morris took a blatant knee and probably hobbled out of the playoffs and his junior career but more on that later.) Phaneuf for some insane reason decided not to play the puck in his own zone because it had been hit by a Rebels high stick. I'm guessing that he intended to let a Tiger touch it and then take it off them but who knows? It went badly wrong and tick-tack-toe a nice passing play by Psumy to MacArthur and a brilliant pass to Meyer who buried it past Leslie. Nice looking goal, brutal brutal play by Phaneuf that turned the game on its head.

-Referee Klein had an absolute stinker tonight. He missed several blatant dangerous plays that could have resulted in serious injury, made some calls up out of thin air and just completely lost control of the game. He did this both ways and just seemed utterly incompetent to me. The referee the night before, McLean, did a much better job at letting the players play while making calls as necessary. Sure he wasn't perfect but overall he did a good job.

-It will be especially interesting to see what the league does with Blanshan who took Morris likely out of the playoffs with a knee only three minutes into the game tonight. He received a minor penalty for what should have been an obvious, in my opinion, major and game misconduct call. Was that a turning point? Possibly. The Rebels losing their top scorer and the Tigers having a top defenceman for the entire game must have had some affect. (Well after checking my stats sheet Blanchan did have a good affect to the tune of being a plus three on this night.) Add that to Neiszner receiving a league suspension at 5pm and the Rebels were threadbare of front end players only three minutes into the game. On that note why did the league wait until 5pm to impose this suspension? Surely that gives the Rebels little time to prepare a replacement player. It just seems a little bush league to me. Maybe they received the game tape late but the league office is only 1.5 hours down the road for pete's sake.

-Just to be fair after my rant about the Morris incident, Block was also the victim of a bad hit (knee?) that didn't even result in even a minor penalty. Block was able to return. Like I said, ref Klein was bad both ways.

-After saying all that, I don't want to get away from the fact that the Tigers did fully deserve their convincing victory. Their best players were their best while the Rebels best were very very poor. The Tigers played with passion, gusto, and were not leaving Red Deer without a win. Credit where credit's due.

-Met some good Tigers fans. Extremely passionate about their team. Great to see.

-Nastiuk looked very solid in net for MH. Doesn't look like he's been away to me.

-How on earth did Robertson not get a star or Marr for that matter? I thought both were simply outstanding tonight. Don't get me wrong Barker and MacArthur played very well but those two were a little better imo. Marr was the most influencial player on the ice, and finished a fine evenings work with a goal, an assist and a plus four rating. Outstanding effort! Meyer certainly deserved his star though. In fact I thought that the entire Tigers crew played very well and I could probably make a positive remark on any number. Not one passenger on that team tonight.

-For the Rebels things were certainly not as rosy. There were lines that I've never seen before in every area given the circumstances and they just didn't click that well. On a postive note I thought that Flatters tried hard in an unfamiliar forwards role. He at least tried to take the body and generate something. The line of Johnson-Rome-Sutter played reasonably well. In fact I really like how Johnson and Rome have both picked their games up so far in the playoffs. Brandon Sutter looks like a star in the making to me too. Must be something in the genes because for a, just turned, 16 year old he looks like a seasoned veteran out there. Mikko Kuukka was solid out there again tonight and was blocking shots and joining the rush at times.

-I heard Brent Sutter on the post game show laying into Fraser, Wick, and especially Phaneuf for tonight's performance and I can't say I blame him. They were horrendously outplayed by the Tigers top players tonight. The adage, 'Your best players have to be your best players' is especially true in the playoffs. Apart from Kuukka who performed quite well the Rebels top guys have not been their top guys.

-I guess one positive from the Rebels perspective is that the Tigers don't get extra points for a big 6-1 win. It only counts the same as the OT win the Rebels achieved the night before. You can leave that game behind and move on. Series now tied up at two and all to play for. One things for certain whichever teams ends up winning will know that they've been in a battle and then some.

-Why didn't I write after the OT win the night before again? That really sucked.......but, hey, at least you can't say I hide after a bad loss!

That's it from me.

KEEPING THE FAITH!
GO REBELS!

edit: For spelling

[WHL Rules]

Thanks for that recap rebel66 :wave:
Just yesterday I mused that there haven't been any of your post game reports lately, but I guess sometimes real life gets into the way.

What a bad surprise this morning when I locked into the internet just to find out that the Rebels lost this game 6:1! I had a feeling that they might loose, but 6:1 looks more like a slaughter. Well the series is still tied, so nothing is lost yet.
It will be interesting to see how the Rebels (especially the vets) will respond on Friday.

[D.A.]

Two comments of agreement and two other random items from me:

1. Phaneuf was awful. And really, has he done much at all in this whole series? I know he's going to get extra attention and all that, but there's no reason why he should be one of the worst +/- on the team.

2. Klein was also awful. I'm usually pretty lenient on the refs (I thought McLean did a great job the night before), but that was pretty bad. So bad that people starting throwing beer at Klein from section W. Unfortunately, they were at the back of the section, which meant that all that happened was that all of section V got a beer shower. Pretty funny if you're not in section V.

3. Will Blanshan get suspended for something far worse than what Neiszner did?

4. All credit to Medicine Hat, though. They have one of the most talented and exciting teams to watch that I have seen in years. If the Rebels manage to pull this off, I will be pleasantly surpised.

[grumphy]

Tigers 6-1------I said to the wife after listening to the game, that this might be similar to prodding a grizzle bear in the ass with a pich fork to see if he's sleeping-----hope not, but it's going to make the rest of this series a lot tougher for our cats----me thinks. :rolleyes: Would not have wanted to be in that Reb's dressing room after that one :laugh:

[tiny]

Tough game for us. We were without Neiszner because of a VERY questionable decision by the league to suspend him, then lost Morris to a knee from Blanchan (I hope the league is consistent), and then Phaneuf had a brain cramp to allow the go ahead goal.

When our line are that messed up, Klein looses control of the game (both teams), and Jesse is the only one to score...we are in big trouble.

Hopefully we can compete again Friday.

the MH fans I saw here were great...no fights ;)

[CatFan]

If so I'll come visit again. Also I'm hoping for a bus to Red Deer on Sunday and if so I'll be there!

[rdreb]

I will be there on friday with a few friends.As for tiny and the wife i'm not to sure. Shinny will not be in the hat.
You can come and say hi to me, i will have my stepp jesery on,when you come to say hi you can bring me a beer lol :clown: :clown:

[CatFan]

I will look for you!!

[tiny]

but I'd be glad to buy icecream Sunday.

[Nature Boy]

I thought that the game was pretty good until Phaneuf had his brain cramp. I mean yes he touched it with a high stick but you always take the whistle when you are that close to your end. I thought that Sutter's post game comments were appropriate. The Rebels best players were there worst players. Hopefuly with all of that rest they will come back hard in the Hat. I thought that Klein had lost total control of the game. He never was calling the right calls and then makes up players numbers and calls them when they weren't even involved the the play. He gave that game to the Tigers. I thought that the ref the night before was way better he actually let them play. As for Niezners hit I thought that it was clean and so did league officials but the Tigers sent the game tape in and they suspended him two hours before the game. I thought that we really missed Niezners faceoff precense and his grit. I hope that Sutter will send a tape of last nights game. I thought that Blanschan should have got a five and a game. Morris had him beat and he lead with his knee and knocked morris out for the rest of the playoffs. I hope that Blanschan gets suspended for more then one game. Now that I seen both incidents on tape, Neizner didn't deserve a suspension and ther was no penalty and as for Blancshan he got a penalty and it was bad. I thought that Flatters played a good game. In the third period he was hitting everyone and trying to make and impression.As of yet Blancshan hasn't been suspended.
Go Rebels Go
Nature Boy

[grumphy]

I thought that Klein had lost total control of the game. He never was calling the right calls and then makes up players numbers and calls them when they weren't even involved the the play. He gave that game to the Tigers.Nature Boy
I sure as hell agree with the first part of this statement-----but Kline giving us the game is just a tiny bit of a streach---me thinks ;)

[CatFan]

Is that tailgate party still on for Sunday night?