Pats vs PG & RD

[patsdude114]

Well this weekend is the 1st 2 games of a 7 game home stand and the Pats need to go no less then 5-2 during this stand... a 6-1 record would be much better but I have this feeling will put up at least 1 stinker game.

If the Pats want to keep pace at all in this tight playoff race it starts tonight against the Cougars. Will be interesting to see who the coaching staff starts in goal tonight, the last 3 games has been Wapple and the home crowd has yet to see him in action (unless you have watched webcast games). I for 1 hope Wapple plays, the 2 losses in CGY & EDM were not his fault he gave the team every chance to win both games.

McVeigh is off to a very slow start with the Pats, in 4games has 0pts and a -3 rating, hoping tonight he can start to find a groove with the team

[chopper]

Wapple wasn't the reason we lost for sure. He quite simply needs his defence to pick up their play considerably. At times McVeigh has looked ok but I think he needs to get into a rhythm with a set line. They have to get McVeigh and Leier going similar to what they had last year in the Hat. I know guys like Vanstone get all ga ga over the "new style" of hockey being played, but we need defence since that wins games. I truly feel that a concerted effort on defence the rest of the way should be a priority. You can't go far when your giving up 20 more goals than you've scored to date. It doesn't work.

[patsdude114]

To be fair our goals against compared to goals for is abit inflated & tough to really judge by stats a lot. Most teams that give up as many more goals the scored are not above .500 we win a lot of close games by 1 or 2 goals & when we lose well more times then not we do it in fashion giving up 5 or more. Were a lot like Seattle as they are the same basically.

[patsdude114]

Tonight had very little negatives on the Pats side, yes in the 2nd period (again) we came out alittle flat footed but we did find our legs again and start to take it to them again.

PG is a very bad team all around, my god I used to think we were bad defensively at times PG is just all around terrible in their own end. Big slow defensemen, they don't have a good mixtures of guys that can skate compared to size. The only skilled forward PG has is Fiddler after him they basically have nothing, ok Tkatch is alright as well.

It was nice to see Schacher show some toughness tonight and jump in when Brooks was getting slashed just as the line brawl broke out. Schacher all around played a good game I thought kept things simple, I would still like to see him be abit more physical for his size.

Anyone know why Burroughs was out? Injuried/sick or just sending a message to the leadership group that they gotta be better...

nevermind just seen on Phil's blog that Burroughs has a nagging hand injury

[Bighat]

Broken thumb

[RWAH]

think it is the ring finger. He has played with it but the Doc. said he need to rest it. He said tonight in the stands "maybe next week end"
Good for MacAuley and another shut out. That 6 to 1 loss to Koot was not his fault>

[patsdude114]

Good for MacAuley and another shut out. That 6 to 1 loss to Koot was not his fault>

I don't think one person ever blamed MacAuley for the loss to Koot he was the only one who showed up to play that night. He wasn't tested much last night but the few times that he was he made some good saves, he got lucky on the Fiddler wrap around attempt in the early 3rd period but other then that he made every save look routine.

[RWAH]

I thought it was an easy night for MacAuley. PG did not get many quality scoring chances, but he stopped the ones they had. At times he looked awkward, once in the east goal moving (more like crawling) from side to side. And once in the west goal when he fell over while the play was at the other blue line.
It looks like the compete between he and Wappel could be what we need.

[patsdude114]

And once in the west goal when he fell over while the play was at the other blue line.

Ha I had seen that as well when he fell over for no reason, he got up & was looking in the crease with his skate like he hit a rut or something. But never got an offical to check it out so I figured it was just his 6'6 clumsy frame was all lol

Wapple is definitely pushing MacAuley a lot more then Schiender ever did (& that's no knock on Schiender he's just 16 after all) I was hoping to see Wapple once this weekend live instead of just webcast games but after MacAuley's Shutout last night I fully expect him to get the call again.

[chopper]

MacAuley always plays awkward but at least its not the one shot one goal thing anymore. He pitched a shutout so you have to give that much credit. The best things about the game were that we got the 2 points and Leier maybe got off the the shnide.

PG did not look good at all but neither did we last Friday night. We've also taken an 8-0 licking a little while back. These things do happen and we've been through it. Hopefully they can dig down and surprise Brandon tonight.

It's over and done with and time to focus on Red Deer. I think this game will be a lot tougher. We likely won't gain ground on Brandon but we don't want to lose any. Those three games they have in hand are looming large.

[Bighat]

Wapple will start tonite.

[calcheyup]

Pats controlling the play so far against RD.

Question for Regina fans, how do you guys stand the radio play by play guy? He's literally shouting the entire time. "FACEOFF TO THE LEFT OF BARTOSAK!" Guy is commentating like someone is on a breakaway all game long. Luckily the option to switch radio feeds exists.:D

EDIT: Unconscionably bad play by Stevenson. Lucky goal for RD.

[Bighat]

Should have started wapple

[patsdude114]

Should have started wapple

Please tell me how Wapple would of changed that game? Yes the 1st goal was bad as MacAuley was very slow to cover it up but what goal after that did he haave a chance on? We fell asleep for 5mins & gave up 3 goals, the goal that changed the tide in the game was the play Zgraggen over skating the puck we had a 4on2 going on attack but he ove skates it for a 3on0 after that it waas kaos for the rest of the period.

We didn't score a freaken goal on 41 shots, we busted our arses off basically for 55mins but couldn't buy a goal. Our PP had endless chances this loss was not on MacAuley no matter which way you slice it. He was pulled to start the 3rd as a wake up call for the team to get back to work as we ended the 3rd completely lost

[chopper]

MacAuley wasn't to blame for the loss regardless of the early screw up. The team provided him with zero offensive support. There were a ton of mistakes made by a number of guys. Red Deer feeds off of those and they may have the best goaltender in the League. I mentioned before that Red Deer always takes off in the second half and it appears they are again. Bottom line is we were .500 on the weekend which I expected. Some of the issues are fixable while others may not be. Our home stand is now down to five. We absolutely need 10-12 points.

[RWAH]

We seem to not be able to handle any team that pressures us and has a fast transition.
What was with changing the tenders every second shift through the third period. Good make work for the time keeper and statistician but I can't see it any benefit for the team Any comments?

[dsquared]

We seem to not be able to handle any team that pressures us and has a fast transition.
What was with changing the tenders every second shift through the third period. Good make work for the time keeper and statistician but I can't see it any benefit for the team Any comments?

If you noticed it was when the Rebels had one man in the box. My theory is that MacAuley is the faster skater and if a second penalty was called then he would get to the bench faster than Wapple so as to get the extra skater on and then maximize the 2 man advantage time. The other thing was that it started after the Pats burnt their time out - the shuffle bought them extra time for 1st power play grouping to catch their breath.

[patsdude114]

The 1st time we changed we changed goalies was to just buy alittle extraa time on the PP to give the unit a few more seconds of rest other then that I have no idea why he did it a few more times. Maybe to get the attention on him instead of on the team.

We look for too many pretty plays on the PP, look off way to many chances to get the puck towards the net. We don't have no net presence on the PP so the goalie gets to see virtually every shot, I've been wondering what would happen if we put Schacher infront of the goaltender on the PP kind of like what the Bruins did a few yrs ago with Chara. Schacher is a big guy seems some what strong it would take 1 Dman to try & move him which would basically put the more skilled players on a 4on3 PP instead.

[chopper]

The 1st time we changed we changed goalies was to just buy alittle extraa time on the PP to give the unit a few more seconds of rest other then that I have no idea why he did it a few more times. Maybe to get the attention on him instead of on the team.

We look for too many pretty plays on the PP, look off way to many chances to get the puck towards the net. We don't have no net presence on the PP so the goalie gets to see virtually every shot, I've been wondering what would happen if we put Schacher infront of the goaltender on the PP kind of like what the Bruins did a few yrs ago with Chara. Schacher is a big guy seems some what strong it would take 1 Dman to try & move him which would basically put the more skilled players on a 4on3 PP instead.

There is a lot to be said for doing this type of thing. Truth be told we really didn't have a sniff on 8 PP's including a long 5-3. We're way too cute. Bartosak is very good but most of our shots were from the perimeter and he had a good look at nearly everything. There were only a hand full of grade "A" chances. A big guy battling in front and get some shots through the seams wouldn't be worse than last night.

Our second unit PP was pretty effective whenever Hanson was out there. At least he battling out front and it was effective.

Brooks and Kammerer were on, couldn't clear the zone and Sinitsyn took a penalty. It cost a goal. Less than one minute in the period Brooks and Kammerer on again. Again they can't clear the zone and Feser scores. It's a rookie move to have your weak 4th line on with less than a minute left in a period. Dixon spoke about the poor defensive zone coverage and he is right on. IMO the overall play of our defence hasn't progressed the way it should have. I don't know anything about Bill McGuigan but I understand he runs the defence....