are we too small

[RWAH]

I know we are tring to get bigger but the Saskatoon game looked like the team is playing scared. If you are scared you don't want to be agressive and you don't win battles for the puck or races to the puck. On Wednesday it looked like that to me. If you play scared you wont play hard a full 60 mineutes
What is everyones opinion?

[Some_Arrogant_Jerk]

yes. we need a goon, been saying that for years. Though I doubt thats a reality knowing the way the game is swirling down the bowl...

at the very least it wouldnt hurt to have somebody above 6'2 upfront that isnt a euro.

[patsdude114]

We get outshot every game cuz our defense is too inexperienced....outside of Jobke & Fenske where is our experience? We got two 18yr olds in Pilton & Hak who have played about 100 games in total but in a 6th Dman role so limited ice time.... then u look at our 17yr olds in Hand, Burroughs, Williams outside of Burroughs no 1 has any experience either, Burroughs played as a 6th Dman last year & saw limited ice time as well as we had a very deep defense last year.

All of a sudden we have 5 Dman who saw limited action (or no action at all) & they are forced into situations that maybe they are not truely ready for game in & game out. Then throw in Mumby who is a raw 16yr old rookie who has to be eased in thru out the season & it spells for disaster just like we are seeing now.

Once we get into the offensive zone our forwards generate a good cycle & forecheck but the biggest problem is this team breaking out. Other teams know we have little experience on our backend & they forecheck us hard hoping for these young kids to make mistakes which is happening game in & game out.

Our defense will be very good next season & the year after easy but this year is alot of growing pains especially early in the year.

Look at our 3 17yr olds in Hand, Burroughs & Williams these 3 will be very dominate come next year & there 19yr old year & whoever comes back as a 20yr old as well.... Burroughs shows some flashes already since he has a year under his belt already. Williams makes some great decisions with the puck on the blueline & is by far the most offensive out of the 3.... Hand is more of a Two-way Dman who is still finding his way in this early season.

With our 18yr olds Pilton is still trying to grow into his body, at times he looks pretty clumbsy & then there are times where he looks like he is a seasoned vetern. He has a good stick with his reach & surprisingly he has a pretty good 1timer as well which i have saw a couple times now in the past few home games. Hak is the physical guy out of every guy i have mentioned so far, i think he skates fairly decent as well but again has little experience which is hurting him in pressure situations.

In my eyes the Pats are right where i predicted/thought they would be in the lower part of the conference just trying to stay in the pack until after xmas where hopefully these young kids will be starting to make some progress in a positive way.

I do agree to some degree that we need a tougher guy whos main job is to drop the mits, Dyson Stevenson is more useful on the ice then sitting in the box from standing up for his teammates every game. Stevenson will fight anyone always has thru out his career so far & that wont change. A tough guy will not change how this team competes for 60mins tho, as there is more to it then being scared.... i think being scared is a soft excuse. It just comes down to playing too much in our own end due to the inexperience on the backend & playing defense takes alot out of ur energy level.

Also it doesnt help that Stephenson is out with a long term injury either, on a team that is rebuilding he was/is a guy who needed to lead this team each & every game which in my eyes he was just starting to do before he got hurt.

I think come closer to trade deadline there will be trade value placed on all 3 of our 20yrs olds....Jobke is almost avging 1pt/game (11gms 10pts for a Dman on a weak team is very good) Scheidl is getting 1pt/game & his speed & willingness to take the body would be a welcomed addition to any club in a playoff race... & then there is Hewitt who is the soul purpose of this team being in every game so far this year (minus the LETH game)

[lordstanley]

Is Stephenson out with a ACL tear ? if so that sucks cause last year Nicholls had 30 goals in 40 games then got a acl injury where he was out for 6-8 weeks and was never the same after that

[patsdude114]

Heard he had a tenden tear just like D'amico both freak accidents from being stepped on with a skate. Just what I heard not sure if its true but either way has to deal with his foot

[RWAH]

Pats dude very thoughtfull post, Thank You. Missed reading it till after the Calgary game so will watch it in the PA game. I do think though that we are being pushed around and no one on the team is pushing back. Christoffer seams the only player that does not take the pushing from the opponents.

Its very true the other teams are aggressively forchecking us, giving our d no time or space and we do not handle that well.

[patsdude114]

I found tonite the Hitmen pressured everybody on the backend besides Jobke, cuz they know he is the only guy who can make a solid play.

Another thing I really noticed tonite is that when I go to a pats game its like watching fishing on tv, we just fish our sticks around hoping to knock the puck free instead of putting the body into someone. When I say put ur body into someone I don't mean it has to be a huge hit just enough to separate the guy with the puck is alll that's needed.

Another game yet tonite where Hewitt keeps us in the game to give us a prayer. We lost 4-1 with 2 empty netters. I'm starting to see why SC just gave away Rossingol the guy is extremely soft.

I'm starting to see a lot of Landon Peel on the Pats in 1 certain player & that's Ortynski, he plays scared out there just like Peel did. He let's the other guy beat him to the puck just so he doesn't have to engaged in a battle along the boards. I think its best for his development if he is sent back down to midget for the rest of the year. Ty McLean may be small but he doesn't fear the bigger guys.