Pats vs Rebles Game #64

[patsdude114]

Tonites game between the Pats & Rebels have a direct look on the standings with a Pats win tonite would give them a 13pts lead on the Rebels (baring its a regulation win) & would almost certainly assure the Pats a spot in the playoffs baring a huge melt down & not another loss for the Rebels for the year. Which is highly unlikely for both teams.

Im looking forward to seeing Inglis play tonite, he has worked out great for the Rebels avg'ing almost a point/game 22pts in 26games & bringing everything to the table on a regular basis. I still think the Pats should of went & traded for him even with his problems off ice in PG, lets face it the kid didnt want to be there & was willing to do anything to get out of town. These kids rebell when there not happy & thats what he did & really who would blame him when playing in PG of all places, PA seems like a much better place to be then PG.

Davidson is expected to be back in the lineup tonite for the blue & white... the team played great in 3 games without him defensively & adding him back into the lineup only makes us stronger yet. Burroughs played exceptionally well in Davidson absence gave the fans a taste of what to see from him next year & in the years to come. Burroughs could easily be a late 1st rd pick into early 2nd rd pick next season, this kid sees the ice so well, has hands, patience, skill, physical play & isnt afraid to drop the mits everything the NHL scouts look for in a player.

I have a feeling we may see Beukeboom tonite between the pipes, if not tonite forsurely on sunday against the Raiders, altho the Raiders have given us problems at times this year which is why i think tonite may be his game.

[patsdude114]

Im sure everyone in the right mind knows why the Pats lost this game, at times didnt seem like many were interested in playing tonite but most definately the player the least interested i thought was Hewitt... midway thru the 1st when he let a harmless shot squeak thru him & just sit right by his skate without knowing where it was i knew it was going to be a rough nite for him.

Altho he did make some great saves but the 3 soft goals out weighs the saves. Im not getting on his case by any means just hard for a team to keep trying to push back after we pull within 1 only to see another softy go in.

I really like Inglis tonite for the Rebels thought he was the best player on the ice for both sides. Petrovic played an extremely soft game at times he seemed not interested in playing tonite either. Dubnyk made some great saves as well, the 1 pad save he made early in the 1st on Scheidl was a great save.

This Pats team just confuses me at times how we can play so great against every team above us with our compete level but as soon as we play a team well below we stink the joint out. Too many loses to PA, LETH, RD are hurting our chances to get home ice advantage this year.

Did anyone also notice that Marantz never returned to the game after he hit the post in the first 5 mins of the game? I didnt have a good angle on it but it looked like he took a slash on the wrist as he released his shot. He was a big lose to our team tonite, almost think the players were more worried about him as we did come out flying & then things tailed off once Marantz left the bench.

[RWAH]

Pats dude you posted earlier that Beukeboom needed to play some games through the last 10 games. The last time Hewitt played poorly Beukeboom got two starts in a row, a 4 to 0 shutout win against Swift and a home loss to Lethbridge. When Hewitt started after those two games his play was great (6W 2L 1otL). Maybe Buekeboom should get both games this week end. At the very least the Sun. game against P.A.

[Fight Guy]

Sounds like Marantz left with a leg injury. I noticed after what I believe was his first shift, he was hit "from behind" into the boards to the right of Hewitt, and it looked kind of awkward and he went straight to the bench after, looking in pain I thought. And it wasn't a penalty hit. It was just to the numbers, but wasn't penalty worthy. Then Marantz came out for one more shift, then went off slowly after that one too. I wonder if he didn't get hurt on the first shift, then tested himself out after, and realized he couldn't continue??

[Fight Guy]

Also...Volek needs to learn when to play the body and when to play the puck. He seems to be making the wrong decisions at the wrong times. Noticed it more than a few times over the past few games because a couple of them could have been more costly if not for Hewitt and the D.

And I CAN NOT HANDLE the powerplay with Weal and Marincin on the point. Weal needs to be getting to the net more with his puck handling and shooting skills. He's good on the point moving the puck, but I feel he'd be more useful closer to the net. I know this has been the case all season, but it still pisses me off. And Marincin needs to shoot more often! It bit him in the ass last night when he didn't take the opportunity he had later in the game. Get the shot toward the net, and try and bang it in. Perfect play not always needed.

And all together, a lot of the players didn't seem all that interested in this game. Others played very well, as they always do.

[patsdude114]

Our PP has pissed me off all season long, i havent said this before nor have i seen anyone else say it but our PP was better under Hunt then it is under Conacher.... even Davidson was more effective with a Hunt ran PP then he is with our PP now, he just seems uninterested in putting pucks towards the net like he has in the past 2 seasons.

He used to be very effective with making a play to create a lane towards the net for a simple wrist shot to create a rebound this year it just hasnt been happening.

There has only been 2 differences for this team & thats better defensive play (which is the main reason we r where we r) & our forecheck but that wasnt hard to make better cuz last year we had ZERO forecheck.

Im still happy with how our team has played all season long, there is still room for major improvement, we pass up too many shooting chances & our PP has been a work in progress all season long which does fall back onto passing up shooting chances.

[Fight Guy]

I recall a stint of maybe two weeks where the powerplay looked good. And that was when Weal wasn't on the point. Oh...and they were shooting constantly, and getting rewarded for it. But then shortly after, it went back to the same old thing.