**Official Round Two vs. Kootenay Thread

[localguy]

Coaching. Why is our third line getting so much ice? They can not control the play, or keep the puck out of our zone. I don;t want to see two rookies on our power play, or getting all that ice, and doing nothing with it. Our fourth line needs to play. When they are out there (which isn't nearly enough), they play physical, create chances, and work, why don;t we use them? They came out and scored the first goal in game 6, and then they hardly play, yet with their very limited ice time, they have more have a goal. How many points do our other rookies have? I am so frustrated with seeing the same players make the same mistakes. The goal is to develope all your players, not two guys who you think might be something (but have done very little). And, May really needs to pick up his game, where are those crisp tape to tape passes? They have been replaced with lazy clears, and turn overs. Where are the 5th and 6th d-men? We were doing great when we were rolling 4 lines, and 6 d, then we revert back to 4 d-men, and 2 lines, and low and behold we blow a 2 goal lead. Not surprised at all, I have seen it happen too many times before. Hopefully that was just a jitters issue.

[Tiger Trauma]

Damn was that ever a frustrating game to watch! I was extremely disappointed in half of the club. It was like they half of them were sitting at home watching the game on tv! Boychuck was horrible to the worst possible extent tonight. Absolutely ZERO hustle from him. And in the dieing moments of the game when they needed to pressure they looked like they just wanted to get home and watch some OC reruns or something! What happened to the energy and passion in the first series Canes?! Were was the physical game? The speed? At least half of the team was just along for the ride with the only true exception in my mind being Hotson who was great all night long as well as Craig who seemed more interested in hustling than most forwards did.
Go Canes!

Your quote echo's my sentiments I felt, after watching the tigers loose to Kootenay in game1 in the first round.


Kootenay is playing the trap really well. They support each other so well that it makes it really difficult to get clean rushes up the ice.

What the tigers tried to do was rifle passes up the boards to a winger playing high who would chip it in to kootenay's end, to try to stretch the trap out.

IT worked not bad, but it also led to alot of icings. Kootenay still made life difficult cause they had three guys down low putting pressure on the 2 Dmen and center.

THey really try to limit the gap control and it works well with them, as they are smart with the puck, and rarely get caught out of position.

[O&C]

Your quote echo's my sentiments I felt, after watching the tigers loose to Kootenay in game1 in the first round.


Kootenay is playing the trap really well. They support each other so well that it makes it really difficult to get clean rushes up the ice.

What the tigers tried to do was rifle passes up the boards to a winger playing high who would chip it in to kootenay's end, to try to stretch the trap out.

IT worked not bad, but it also led to alot of icings. Kootenay still made life difficult cause they had three guys down low putting pressure on the 2 Dmen and center.

THey really try to limit the gap control and it works well with them, as they are smart with the puck, and rarely get caught out of position.

What you described is almost exactly what we seen last night from the Ice. There forcheck and neutral zone pressure was outstanding and really shut down the Canes. A big part of that was the fact that our best players were are worst players last night and the two goals we did score came off of the rush. Guys like Boychuck and Scievouir didnt seem the least bit interested in skating at all. But like you said, we either took icings trying to clear our zone, or we coughed the puck over at our line.

No offence, but if the Canes cant ajust to this, they are going to end up like the tigers very quickly. And the reason that Dyk is playing the third line so much Local Guy is because the first line was absolutly brutal last night. There were times where Zach could have taken two more strides and done somthing with the puck but decided to... skate to the bench half of the time. And the number of halfassed clearing attempts in the third after we went DOWN 3-2 boggled my mind.

Go Canes!!

[localguy]

And the reason that Dyk is playing the third line so much Local Guy is because the first line was absolutly brutal last night.

Go Canes!!

The third line wasn't that good either, they just got knocked off the puck, and the wingers are afraid to go into the corners. Did we see the fourth line in the second half of the game? No. When you are looking for energy from somewhere, and the team is playing lousy you got to your fourth line, look what they have done when they have played. The second and fourth lines have been our most consistent pretty much all year. For whatever reason, they took two fourth line guys, moved them up to third line, with two different vets with the same results, no points or impact. I just don't get it. When we had our good games against Brandon, like game 1, and game 6, who got the team going? 4th line, fight and goal. I wouldn;t be surprised if the guys on that line don't even want come back next year, good players, but they aren't being developed. Look at last year, not one member of our fourth line are here anymore, why? They didn't develope, or have any confidence, not because they were bad, but because they never played. You can;t build your future by dressing them and letting them watch the game form the bench, then expect them to go make a big play or a big hit in the 3 shifts a game they get. I read an article on the Giants, and the reason they continue to be successful is because not matter the situation Don Hay rolls 4 lines. It's how you build team depth. He said the diference in their 1st mem cup appearance and their second, was that he didn't panic, and shorten his bench. In the second one, he played all his guys. The playoffs can be long, but if you play a short, guys get tired, and that's how things looked last night, tired. Don't get me wrong, there is a time to shorten your bench, but it's not after the first period, more like in the last 5 or 10 minutes. Our top four d-men, look tired, and they should, they are playing a lot, which causes lazy clears, and poor decsions. Give the 5 and 6 guys more shifts early in the game, so they can use the top four late. I haven't seen the bottom 2 d-men struggling, they are playing just fine, so let them. It to me shows a lack of confidence in your squad, and the players also see that, and in turn struggle. I don't want to take anything away from Kootenay, a real good team, but, also a team (coach) that let;s all their guys play, a big difference maker.

[hurricaneflag7]

I know they played very bad tonight and did not have the effort like they had the first round......hopefully they can bounce back Saturday with a good effort and make the series even

GO! CANES! GO!

[sbtatter]

Your quote echo's my sentiments I felt, after watching the tigers loose to Kootenay in game1 in the first round.


Kootenay is playing the trap really well. They support each other so well that it makes it really difficult to get clean rushes up the ice.

What the tigers tried to do was rifle passes up the boards to a winger playing high who would chip it in to kootenay's end, to try to stretch the trap out.

IT worked not bad, but it also led to alot of icings. Kootenay still made life difficult cause they had three guys down low putting pressure on the 2 Dmen and center.

THey really try to limit the gap control and it works well with them, as they are smart with the puck, and rarely get caught out of position.

Ha, when Kootenay came into Bdn at the end of the season this was exactly how they beat us. It felt like our guys weren't trying, but actually the system the Ice use just throttled our team and we had to resort to long stretch passes which in turn led to a lot of icings. They play a boring, but effective style! But if any team likely have the speed and skill to figure the ice out, it's the canes top 2 lines.

[O&C]

I am very interested to see how the Canes come out tonight. Because, like Sbatter said, Kootney's style is very easy to play down to, which eventually leads to mistakes that end up in the back our your own net. One thing i did notice from last night was that the Ice would send in two forcheckers into the Canes zone and totally destroy the break out before it even happend. But because of the extra man down low, another one of our guys should be open further up the wing. I would like the see one forward hustle back and help with the break out and start skating!! If the Canes start to skate and use their speed Kooteny WILL start to take more penalties. In fact both Canes goals last night were the result of speed and forcing the Ice to take penalties.

And although i dont totally agree with you Local Guy, i would love to see more fourth line on the ice tonight. Esspecially like you said, in the first. And i never thought i would say this but i cant wait to get Versteeg back in tonights game. The Canes need to bring a physical presence once again like they did against Brandon. The team and the fans all got an energy boost after the hit on Boomer last night and i think that play's a big part in the game. Here's to a 60 minuet game from our boys!!

[HURRICANE'S ROCK]

Boychuk, Fadden, King and May, along with a few others really need to step it up. May is not good at all either defensively or on offence. I don't know if he is hurt but he does not look anything like the guy we got in January. Don't know what was up with Boychuk, but he was invisible except for his obvious poor play. King could have played a lot better also. Paul McDonald is useless and scares me out there. Guys walk around and through him all the time. Play Yadlowski. He can't be worse than McDonald. Kudo's to Wuchteral. He is really bringing it. Chorneyko lays out Boomer and then hardly plays after that. Braes, Bancks and Iwanski et all showed a lot of effort and that line was way better than our top line, but do they have to play half the game?
The Ice play great positional defensive hockey and I think guys were getting frustrated. Amazing as it is, with all those passengers last night, we were in this game and if not for a few Lazaruk saves at timely occasions ,we could have won this. It ain't over and I'm not jumping off the bandwagon but tonight a lot needs to change.
We are no the only ones in this boat. All 4 of the higher seeded teams lost last night. How do you think the Tri-City fans feel today?

[Spungy]

What you described is almost exactly what we seen last night from the Ice. There forcheck and neutral zone pressure was outstanding and really shut down the Canes. A big part of that was the fact that our best players were are worst players last night and the two goals we did score came off of the rush. Guys like Boychuck and Scievouir didnt seem the least bit interested in skating at all. But like you said, we either took icings trying to clear our zone, or we coughed the puck over at our line.

This is funny this is how it feels when we play the Hitmen. for me anyhow.

[O&C]

I dont know what to say to tonights game but wow.... I am both exteremly happy with the win and sickeningly dissapointed in how it all came about. No offence to the Kooteny Ice, but when the Canes play their game, no one can stop them and i honestly believe that with all my heart. And for 43 minuets, that was exactly what we seen. We out played, husteled, shot, checked, chanced Kooteny and were definatly the better team. But all it took was a couple BAD BAD calls/miscalls by the refs and it ALL went to hell! Give the Ice a ton of credit for pulling it off, but the Canes did it to them selves/with some help from the officiating.

What this team needs to learn from this, and i meen NEED to learn, is that they cant play a defensive game. That isnt their identity and it will be their downfall if they continue to try. As soon as that defiensive mind set sets in, they stop forchecking and hustling and just let the Ice come to them. vc124 I dont know what to say other than stick to the game plan! Please, if any hurricanes are reading this, do us ALL a favour and just stick to the plan, because for the life of the team, you just simply cant play defensive oriented hockey!!!

PS. To Fadden and Scievier.... W T F were you thinking fighting!!! Awsome job for sticking up for you team-mates, but you can do a much better job of that by not fighting and being removed from a critical part of a hockey game...