Blades playoffs

[lordstanley]

(5) Saskatoon Blades vs the (4) Medicine Hat Tigers

Here you have it what do you guys think ?

Lets keep the whole playoff thread here i will have a prediction tomorrow when i look at things a bit closer

[JMoney1988]

Well, hopefully regular season success can translate into playoff success....., well at least we get to see cocky (hunter ****rocks) again.........

[lordstanley]

Well, hopefully regular season success can translate into playoff success....., well at least we get to see cocky (hunter ****rocks) again.........

Haha yeah it is gonna be a great series we are gonna need the sutter burns and paradis line to do there job for sure

[JMoney1988]

Season Stats
I just thought I would look at the season stats overall between the two....

Offense
253/674=37%-Top line (Etem, Shinkaruk, and I assuming Valk)
181/730=25%-Top line (Nicholls, Stransky, Olsen(also switching players around/injuries)) We scored 56 more goals than they did.......

Goals For
255-Medicine Hat-both offense's are pretty even
268-Saskatoon-both offense's are pretty even

Goaltenders
Tyler Bunz-39-17-2-3 (Had a great year for the Tigers)
Andrey Marakov-29-21-1-1 (Had a good year, but fatigue set in and affected his numbers)

Defense(Points)
Medicine Hat-175
Saskatoon-191 (this might a key come playoff thing, they accounted for 26% of the offense)

Season Ending Records
Medicine Hat-42-24-2-4 for 90 points
Saskatoon-40-29-1-2 for 83 points

Blades won season series 3-1

[Billy Blade]

I don't really buy the fatigue factor on Makarov, Bunz played 61 games this year for the Tigers and he was fine. I think Andrey was such an unknown coming in that he caught everyone by surprise. As the season wore on, other teams started to figure him out, watch film, and see how he can be beaten. The purpose of this isn't to bust on Andrey, because I do believe he's a solid goaltender who can carry the load, it's just that he is beatable and the defense will need to be solid in front of him to be successful.

With that said, I also believe that the Blades are a deeper team than the Tigers, and hopefully they will be able to shut down the Hat's one big line, which often happens in the playoffs to teams like the Tigers. If they are successful in doing so, I think the Blades can move on in six games. We shall see!

[curwie]

I don't really buy the fatigue factor on Makarov, Bunz played 61 games this year for the Tigers and he was fine. I think Andrey was such an unknown coming in that he caught everyone by surprise. As the season wore on, other teams started to figure him out, watch film, and see how he can be beaten. The purpose of this isn't to bust on Andrey, because I do believe he's a solid goaltender who can carry the load, it's just that he is beatable and the defense will need to be solid in front of him to be successful.

With that said, I also believe that the Blades are a deeper team than the Tigers, and hopefully they will be able to shut down the Hat's one big line, which often happens in the playoffs to teams like the Tigers. If they are successful in doing so, I think the Blades can move on in six games. We shall see!

Bang on! I don't buy that fatigue talk either. I think he's gonna be huge in the clutch though. He's already proven to be a big game player with 58 saves in the gold medal game for Russia. Let's hope that's a trend with him!

[auch07]

I too don't buy the fatigue talk but NEVER forget about the time following an injury like he had especially in the case of a goalie. Look at his play of late....he finally is coming back into form following the concussion. He was not the same goalie for quite awhile after he came back from that no matter what anyone says. Not to mention he has to be thinking in the back of his head what if it happens again. It is gonna get into his mind and hamper him a bit no matter how hard he tries.

As for December....that was not fatigue. That was simply the whole team just not clicking and taking things for granted due in large part to the play of Makarov and a few others early on. Fortunately they were able to get that situation sorted out over the Christmas break.

[wango tango]

the blades have 9 players with 40 or more points.
the tigers have 5 players with 40 or more points.

saskatoon regular season home record 24-11-0-1.
saskatoon regular season away record 16-18-1-1.
medicine hat regular season home record 19-14-1-2.
medicine hat regular season away record 23-10-1-2.

blades goals for and against at home: 161 goals for, 127 goals against.
blades goals for and against away: 107 goals for, 123 goals against.
tigers goals for and against at home: 126 goals for, 108 goals against
tigers goals for and against away: 129 goals for, 101 goals against.

saskatoon home power play 23%, road power play 20%.
medicine hat home power play 24%, road power play 24%.
saskatoon home penalty kill 80%, road penalty kill 80%.
medicine hat home penalty kill 78%, road penalty kill 76%.

blades scoring by period.
1st - 86 gf, 71 ga. 2nd - 92 gf, 92 ga. 3rd - 86 gf, 84 ga.
tigers scoring by period.
1st - 86 gf, 64 ga. 2nd - 74 gf, 65 ga. 3rd - 89 gf, 74 ga.

saskatoon shots by period.
1st - 872 sf, 766 sa. 2nd - 776 sf, 897 sa. 3rd - 729 sf, 801 sa.
medicine hat shot by period.
1st - 727 sf, 778 sa. 2nd - 736 sf, 806 sa. 3rd - 766 sf, 743 sa.

what all this means to me....

the tigers have a lot of scoring, but it's concentrated. based on their record do the tigers not feel as much pressure on the road? keep things simpler? the tigers special teams, overall team, and systems play are pretty consistent both home and away.

the blades have to stand up to the tigers 1st period blitz, get the early lead, and keep it through the 2nd, before the tigers start to lock down the chances in the 3rd.

the tigers will ride etem, shinkaruk, and bunz. if the blades can limit the first two, and get to the third they can pull off a first round upset. the two teams are pretty evenly matched.

[Shortys]

What's everybody's thoughts on how Bunz impaired driving trial set for March 22nd, the day before first game, will affect his play? His head might not be in the game no matter the outcome of the trial.

[dagley]

What's everybody's thoughts on how Bunz impaired driving trial set for March 22nd, the day before first game, will affect his play? His head might not be in the game no matter the outcome of the trial.

never even heard about that