Rebels-Blazers: Jan 16 2005. Some comments

[Rebel66]

The Rebels win their most lopsided game in a long while 7-0 over the hapless Kamloops Blazers.

This was ugly from the get go for the BC team. Shots were 4-0 Rebels with less than two minutes on the clock and 12-1 at one point in the first. In fact except for about six shots on one powerplay the Blazers were limited to only three shots on goal in the first two periods. Scoring for the Rebels were Ty Morris (of course) with two, Roman Wick also with a pair, and singles for Henituik, Neiszner, and Walker.

Comments:

-Dubnyk was yanked for the second game in a row after giving up four goals. He showed his absolute disgust with the situation by flinging his stick into the players bench before throwing himself in too.

-This could have been worse as the Rebels hit the iron at least three times.

-Ty Morris continues to put up the points for the team proving to be one of Sutter's most astute trades. 14 goals 22 points in 18 games says it all really.

-Roman Wick also continues to impress. 20 goals on the season for him now and I really admire how he is willing to dig and grind for the puck. Not what you would expect from a Swiss hockey player at all. A mixture of skill and some grit. Nice.

-Teddy Vandemeer had some great shifts tonight I thought, working tirelessly and creating some really nice chances that unfortunately went begging. He did manage an assist on Henituk's late powerplay goal.

-Jared Walker also showed tonight the player he can be when on form. Lot's of drive and hussle and no little skill. Good outing for him.

-First look at new backup goalie, Andrew Leslie, was a good one. He wasn't severely tested but he made the saves when he had to, looks to be technically sound, and also very composed. I've got high hopes for him.

-Really I could say any number of good things about the Rebels tonight as it was that sort of night. Everything clicked and a tired, undisciplined Blazers team made the job that much easier.

-The Rebels ended up 4 for 11 on the powerplay and the Blazers coach was not happy with the state of affairs, giving it to referee Byblow on numerous occasions. There is little doubt though that Kamloops tonight was one seriously P.O.ed team that wanted no part of being in Red Deer. They wanted on the bus and on the way home. Some players were simply out of control tonight.

-Matt Kassien had an eventful evening. First deciding to fight with 16 year old rookie Tanner Gillies then taking the instigator pen against reknowned fighter Joel Henituik who he continued to pound on long after Henituik was badly beaten. Really classy stuff.

-Not much else I want to say about the Blazers performance. It wasn't pretty whatsoever, let's leave it at that. Good to see the Rebels stand up against the antics though and hurt the team where it matters most.

Anyway it's late. That will have to do for the comments....

[Tinner]

...all these trades work out not only for this year, but for the next 2 years as there won't be a lot after that. These trades have depleted the draft picks of next year.

That said, as I stated earlier, Roman Wick has a chance to lead this team in scoring, but the trade bringing Morris in may just end that thought....and thats good.

What has happened to Tyler Johnson, seems to have been off the pace lately.

Is Vandermeer going to continue to improve his game or is it a case of "what you see is what you get".

Will Rome and Pieper give us enough balance to stay in the hunt.

The swing into Sask. next week may tell a story or two.........

[D.A.]

Some additional comments:

-Imagine what the shots and score would have been like if Sutter hadn't switched to playing the kids for most of the last half of the game!

-power plays were 11-3, but this only reflects reality. In fact, it could have been worse - how does Vandy get a goaltender interference penalty for being crosschecked into him?

-Leslie let out a couple bad rebounds, but otherwise looks really good. Could he end up being our #1 goalie down the stretch?

-I thought Knackstedt looked really good tonight with the extra playing time. Even won a fight!

-Kassian... What a tough guy. I guess he had to pound on a submissive Henitiuk to make up for losing to a 16-year-old.

-Are the Rebels set to go on a run like last year?

[D.A.]

Rebel39 said: "These trades have depleted the draft picks of next year."

Actuallly, all we've lost for the 2005 draft is a third rounder and a 6th rounder. The 3rd pick bought in Leslie, which I think was well worth the price. And the 6th pick helped get Morris here, which also seems like a good deal. I don't think we'll have any trouble at the draft with two spots missing.

[Kassian]

Kassian is having trouble finding dancing partners. I highly doubt he lost to Gillies. So I doubt him beating up on Henitiuk had anything to do with that. Probably more or less because of the score, and the fact that it is his job.

[Shinyshoes]

The funny thing about the Kassian-Henituk Fight is that even after Henituk took 10-15 Shots from Kassian with his head down, Henituk stood up and looked down at Kassian as if to say "Is that all you got?". From the ammount of shots Kassian threw, Henituk Should have been a bloody mess. Guess Kassian Needs some lessons on how to throw a punch that does some damage.

Back to the game though, I thought Knackstedt and Vandermeer were Awesome tonight. I hope those 2 boys can keep up the pace and deliver like that on the Sask trip next weekend.

This is turning into a fun team to watch. Going to be a barn-burner for the rest of the season.

[Rebel66]

Some additional comments:

-Imagine what the shots and score would have been like if Sutter hadn't switched to playing the kids for most of the last half of the game!

-Leslie let out a couple bad rebounds, but otherwise looks really good. Could he end up being our #1 goalie down the stretch?

-I thought Knackstedt looked really good tonight with the extra playing time. Even won a fight!

-Are the Rebels set to go on a run like last year?

That's what I really like about Sutter. He's always willing to play the kids, giving them some experience, when the situation arises. I wonder though whether he was tempted to run up the score even more given the Blazers, shall we say, borderline play? I noticed after one incident he threw the first PP unit out but after that played the kids. Sutter is way too professional to allow emotions to totally take over though, not wanting to lose a good opportunity to play the kids.

Yeah, there were a few juicy rebounds left out there by Leslie but overall I was pretty happy with his play. He just gave me way more confidence than Peeters. That said, it will be interesting to see how he plays when he has a tougher test than this one.

Jordon deserved his third star selection, playing very well I thought. I think that he should be a pretty good player in this league. Loved how Ty Morris gave him a pat on the head after his fight when Morris also ended up in the penalty box. There just seems to be a really good team spirit now.

Re: Another run? You can certainly never count them out. I think they are in a much better situation than they were a month or so ago. I like the trades Sutter has made and I like how the team responds to adversity.

[Kassian]

The funny thing about the Kassian-Henituk Fight is that even after Henituk took 10-15 Shots from Kassian with his head down, Henituk stood up and looked down at Kassian as if to say "Is that all you got?". From the ammount of shots Kassian threw, Henituk Should have been a bloody mess. Guess Kassian Needs some lessons on how to throw a punch that does some damage.

Yeah, right. Watch his scrap with Tommy Maxwell. Go ask Tommy if he feels the same way. Left the ice a bloody mess...

[Shinyshoes]

Yeah, right. Watch his scrap with Tommy Maxwell. Go ask Tommy if he feels the same way. Left the ice a bloody mess...

Im not going to get into a battle with you of "Who is the better fighter than who". All I am saying, is that in the 2 fights in RD he was in, Kassian didnt show me he is a prime time fighter. Took on a rookie, and a vet who VERY rarely fights. IMO, Lost to Gillies, Albeit not much of a fight, and failing to do any damage to Henituk, who he had the obvious Advantage over in the fight.

I havn't seen any other of his fights this year, but from what his reputation reads, he should have been able to do a hell of a lot more than put his team down a man for instigating the fight.

Just My opinion

[Kassian]

How did he "lose" to Gillies? Please explain. I find that extremely hard to believe since he is considered the best fighter in the league by many people.

From what you said originally about his scrap with Henituk it seemed like a pretty one-sided affair (as it should be, non-fighter vs a fighter). So I don't understand what you are saying now. Maybe he should've crushed both of them. But sometimes it doesn't work out that way.