Rebel66
02-06-2005, 11:41 AM
Well I can see why the Ice have done so well this season. Good solid road win for the visitors. Played their system to a tee in the third period when up by two.
The Rebels didn't exactly help themselves in this one though. Leslie certainly should have had the first goal cheating away from his post and letting a weak one past him. Then Kuukka throws a blind pass on the powerplay giving the puck up to the worst player possible, Nigel Dawes, who sealed the deal.
Speaking of Dawes, is that guy a goalscorer or what? That was a class goal all of the way. He froze Leslie by doing a little fake shot then blowing one by him through the five-hole. A goalscorers' goal if ever there was one.
I thought that Taylor Dakers had an excellent game in net for the Ice. Made some excellent stops and was solid throughout. Who needs Glass anyway?
Leslie, on the other hand, suffered his first loss as a Rebel and although decent for the most part did give up that crucial first weak goal.
There were a number of other good performers for the visitors. Adam Cracknell scored a pretty goal, finishing well on the deke, after being released by Ben Maxwell. Maxwell finished with a couple of points and looks to be a promising player. Roman Polak was solid at the backend and Brett Sutter showed a good work ethic, something his uncle could surely appreciate. All in all though it was a just a real solid team performance and that is one of the reasons why the Ice have done so well this campaign. They play together as a team and play their system very well. Nothing overly flashy about this squad. They just get the job done.
For the Rebels, they actually did play with some jump in this one. Sure there were too many breakdowns resulting in odd man rushes but against a different team they may have had a different result. They also missed a number of gilt edged opportunities none moreso than Ashton Rome's blast that missed a open net, while on the powerplay. That looked labelled all of the way and I couldn't believe it when the puck whistled wide.
Roman Wick had a decent performance setting up Fraser perfectly for the Rebels only goal. In fact the entire top line (Fraser-Wick-Morris) tried very hard to get something going and on another night they might well have done so. Morris had his points streak snapped in this but as the Ice know all streaks must come to an end eventually.
Tough night for Walker and Vandemeer, at least on the stats front (+/-). Both were minus three in the game but really I don't believe that is truly indictive of their play. Two of those goals were of the bad variety as stated above.
Anyway, to wrap up, I can see the Ice doing really well in the playoffs if they continue to perform with that system, and take their chances as they did last night. Playing with the lead allows them to shut the game down quite nicely. Their team concept is excellent plus they have a genuine sniper in Dawes and a great goaltending tandem. Looking good in Iceland.
The Rebels look fine too. They're playing well, just need to perform a little tighter cutting out the few breakdowns that decide a game like this one.
The Central division is unreal now. The Rebels are in fourth place but are only three points out of first. Every game is a must win. Speaking of which, Wednesday's game against the Tigers is HUGE. Looking forward to that one!
That's all for now....
edit: for spelling.
The Rebels didn't exactly help themselves in this one though. Leslie certainly should have had the first goal cheating away from his post and letting a weak one past him. Then Kuukka throws a blind pass on the powerplay giving the puck up to the worst player possible, Nigel Dawes, who sealed the deal.
Speaking of Dawes, is that guy a goalscorer or what? That was a class goal all of the way. He froze Leslie by doing a little fake shot then blowing one by him through the five-hole. A goalscorers' goal if ever there was one.
I thought that Taylor Dakers had an excellent game in net for the Ice. Made some excellent stops and was solid throughout. Who needs Glass anyway?
Leslie, on the other hand, suffered his first loss as a Rebel and although decent for the most part did give up that crucial first weak goal.
There were a number of other good performers for the visitors. Adam Cracknell scored a pretty goal, finishing well on the deke, after being released by Ben Maxwell. Maxwell finished with a couple of points and looks to be a promising player. Roman Polak was solid at the backend and Brett Sutter showed a good work ethic, something his uncle could surely appreciate. All in all though it was a just a real solid team performance and that is one of the reasons why the Ice have done so well this campaign. They play together as a team and play their system very well. Nothing overly flashy about this squad. They just get the job done.
For the Rebels, they actually did play with some jump in this one. Sure there were too many breakdowns resulting in odd man rushes but against a different team they may have had a different result. They also missed a number of gilt edged opportunities none moreso than Ashton Rome's blast that missed a open net, while on the powerplay. That looked labelled all of the way and I couldn't believe it when the puck whistled wide.
Roman Wick had a decent performance setting up Fraser perfectly for the Rebels only goal. In fact the entire top line (Fraser-Wick-Morris) tried very hard to get something going and on another night they might well have done so. Morris had his points streak snapped in this but as the Ice know all streaks must come to an end eventually.
Tough night for Walker and Vandemeer, at least on the stats front (+/-). Both were minus three in the game but really I don't believe that is truly indictive of their play. Two of those goals were of the bad variety as stated above.
Anyway, to wrap up, I can see the Ice doing really well in the playoffs if they continue to perform with that system, and take their chances as they did last night. Playing with the lead allows them to shut the game down quite nicely. Their team concept is excellent plus they have a genuine sniper in Dawes and a great goaltending tandem. Looking good in Iceland.
The Rebels look fine too. They're playing well, just need to perform a little tighter cutting out the few breakdowns that decide a game like this one.
The Central division is unreal now. The Rebels are in fourth place but are only three points out of first. Every game is a must win. Speaking of which, Wednesday's game against the Tigers is HUGE. Looking forward to that one!
That's all for now....
edit: for spelling.