Opening Weekend Series vs BRN

[Some_Arrogant_Jerk]

Its a pats away game in Brandon. Historically, theyve never gone well. Usually KM has a pretty good handle on things, if you know what I mean...

First game of the season though, and we kept it close. Didn't watch/listen, but at face value its a good start especially for a young team missing some guys.

By the way, Id never pay a dime towards WHL feeds. The quality leaves something to desire and the radio always seem sufficient enough and free to boot.

[chopper]

I have sometimes wondered if I should have renewed my webcast package. The WHL has a long way to go to make this a better experience for fans across the league. Hopefully other recasts are better quality than last nights.

I found it interesting that they did not play one of their two imports (Kammerer) particularly since he is a second year guy. That is highly unusual and it leads one to think there has to be something behind it. I assume he will play tonight.

Usually the first 8-10 games the coaches use to see who they want and who they don't. The trick is to stay about .500 during this feeling out time. A bad start usually means a tough season. As I've said before I don't think our import or 20 year olds are set in stone.

On a different gear, I noticed that Jack Rodewald didn't play last night for Moose Jaw. It a bit surprising to see one of your top scorers out of the lineup while taking a 6-0 kicking. Can't see it other than he being hurt or at a camp.

[sbtatter]

I thought it was a very competitive game. Regina were exactly the same as in the pre season, fast and aggressive, sometimes even having 3 guys in deep on the forecheck. They made life very difficult for Brandon exiting the zone. Bdn started with Quenneville on the point on the PP and Regina victimized him often, so much so that starting in the 2nd Bdn went to rotating 3 d-men on the PP point. Steel was Steel, fast, smart and good, but Bdn were able to hit him more and he coughed the puck up a few times in his own end, but he was still full of poise in the offensive end. They feature him a lot on the PP, dropping the puck to him on their own blue line so he can skate it into the offensive zone, very smart poised guy for a 16 year old.
Wapple seemed down early for the 1st two goals, but he made some terrific saves in close. Regina seem miles ahead of MJ to me based on the pre season games and last night.
Should be a good game tonight, enjoy your home opener!

[patsdude114]

Thanks for your review from a BRN side towards our team you've always been 1 of the most respected BRN fans on this board even though most of the others disappeared to that other board when this site was hacked a few years back.

Im looking forward to tonight's game only 6hrs til I get to the rink for my first coffee at the rink in 2014/15 season and no not that crap Tim Horton's stuff

[Bighat]

Well that was a waste of an evening, I hope we can find someone to play with steel because hunt is no 1st liner he played awful tonite. Was brooks dressed tonite, just kidding time for him to be shipped out. There is a lot of young talent out there but I hope they don't get beat down or burnt out by the end of the year.

[patsdude114]

well the 1st 2 periods were not bad to watch tonight but the 3rd period was very hard to sit thru Im surprised I sat there til the end but I toughed it out.

Brandon just has our number no questions about it, Im not even blaming anything on the ref's, every penalty we got we deserved maybe we should start worrying about our game and stop with the refs

Our best skater tonight by far was Williams followed by Cole or McAmmond.... I also thought Smith played good in his limited role and did drop the mitts which was nice to see for a guy his size. Im not sold on McVeigh at all I just don't think he brings enough to be a 20yr old in this league anymore. D'Amico brings a lot more then McVeigh does.

A week of practicing is definitely needed, im surprised there wasn't any roster changes at all from last night to night. Was really hoping that Kroeker had got into the line up tonight, im starting to wonder if Kammerer is even in Paddock's good side as he was the only vet not dressed for both games (if I recall correctly)

Christoffer has to show more discipline then he has especially tonight. We need him on the ice more then sitting in the box he resulted in 4 of the minor penalties tonight. His fight I have no issues with but 4 minors is not acceptable at all for a 20yr old.

[chopper]

Bighat is right on point about not having anyone who can play with Steel. He needs someone like Klimchuk, if even for a half season so that he can fine tune his game. Playing with no talent could hamper him big time.

Cole and Wagner skated OK, Williams was ok but again a minus player and now -3 in two games. I know my buddy PD114 doesn't think it means much, but it means a lot. Don't get me started on that. Always on the ice for even strength goals is a losing proposition.

Williams along with the rest of the D were soft all night allowing Brandon to stand in the paint. Nobody put anyone on their butts. We may have the softest D in the league.

On the two final goals of the 2nd period(even strength), four of our five players on the ice were veterans. On the 3rd goal we had D'Amico, McVeigh, Gay, Williams, Hilsendager on the ice. Two of these guys were 20 yr olds and couple 2 year vets.

It wasn't the young guys who killed us last night it was the poor play of the vets. Christopher should sit for a game to get the message through that his undisciplined play won't be tolerated. If they don't address it, a message is sent to the young guys.

McVeigh+Christopher better figure out that they're not heavyweights. We had bloody well better find some toughness and soon. Steel took some garbage that can't be tolerated. I stand by my comments that we better find some toughness or bad things will happen.

How can we keep the likes of McVeigh and D'Amico using up 20 year old spots? McVeigh is so soft and D'Amico is terrible defensively. You need much more out of your 20 year olds. They better start their search yesterday. Calgary has a bunch including Padakin.

We need to find a d-man who will knock someone on his keester. We need to find someone to play with Steel. Wardley hasn't been playing so maybe he could fill a role. A true heavyweight. A Calgary scout told me Padakin will likely be moved. Two headed monster.

The young guys did ok. Steel gets a point a game. Smith threw his body around and showed he wasn't afraid to scrap. Cole showed some tenacity and speed. I hope we see Kroeker soon. I think the writing is on the wall for Kammerer. There are better options .

As Bighat says we don't want to see these young guys get worn out or discouraged by not having the support they need.

[patsdude114]

We got outscored 10-3 in 2 games and for a guy like Williams who plays 28+ minutes a games that is going to be very tough to have a plus rating. We you have no offense of course there is going to be minus players as it's a team stay through and through. Your only as strong as the guys on the ice with you as well as the match up your against from the other team.

When I said Williams was our best player it was not giving props to him it was just how poorly the entire team played. There wasn't one vet who played better then Williams last night besides possibly Wapple as he had no help at all.

I said before that it is going to be a long season with a very young roster and I'm standing by that even though I'm not looking forward to it. I had said it could be as bad as MJ had last season and I hope to god it isn't that bad but we don't have any game changers out there just a bunch of young guys trying to find their role.

Our defense is very soft I agree the biggest hit came from Williams right at the whistle of an offside on Gabrielle which resulted in Christoffer fight. Reagan had some chances to really pop a guy along the boards and left off with sometimes not even touching the guy. These guys need to learn to finish their checks as every hit wears someone down.

Either way it's inly after 2 games of the year and last year we got smoked good by SC during our home opener and we eventually turned things around. It can't be easy on the players when we have had 3 new head coaches in 4 years. Everything is always changing and preseason is not long enough to learn new systems and how the new coach wants the team to play. Nothing changes in Brandon year to year so the players are ahead in terms of systems as everything is the same as the year before.

[chopper]

We got outscored 10-3 in 2 games and for a guy like Williams who plays 28+ minutes a games that is going to be very tough to have a plus rating. We you have no offense of course there is going to be minus players as it's a team stay through and through. Your only as strong as the guys on the ice with you as well as the match up your against from the other team.

When I said Williams was our best player it was not giving props to him it was just how poorly the entire team played. There wasn't one vet who played better then Williams last night besides possibly Wapple as he had no help at all.

I said before that it is going to be a long season with a very young roster and I'm standing by that even though I'm not looking forward to it. I had said it could be as bad as MJ had last season and I hope to god it isn't that bad but we don't have any game changers out there just a bunch of young guys trying to find their role.

Our defense is very soft I agree the biggest hit came from Williams right at the whistle of an offside on Gabrielle which resulted in Christoffer fight. Reagan had some chances to really pop a guy along the boards and left off with sometimes not even touching the guy. These guys need to learn to finish their checks as every hit wears someone down.

Either way it's inly after 2 games of the year and last year we got smoked good by SC during our home opener and we eventually turned things around. It can't be easy on the players when we have had 3 new head coaches in 4 years. Everything is always changing and preseason is not long enough to learn new systems and how the new coach wants the team to play. Nothing changes in Brandon year to year so the players are ahead in terms of systems as everything is the same as the year before.

Of the 6 goals scored 4 were on the PP and that was because of undisciplined play. They had two even strength goals scored against them. In a 3-2 game in Brandon he was on for 2 of three even strength goals. He was on for one of the two even strength goals last night. Have you forgotten what his +/- was last first half of the season and how crappy he was playing? He should have been traded but there likely weren't any takers. He is starting this year like last. Had we ended the period 1-0 , who knows.

Reagans soft sloppy play lead to the 2nd goal and for a 2nd year player was not up to standard. Having a bunch of Pk's wears players down but when one d-man is on for three of the five even strength goals against you better raise your eyebrows.

I've been around this game long enough to know when your on for more goals against than goals for, your hurting your club. Ask any good player the stat they're most proud of. When you let a guy around you and don't put a hand on him, and he scores…………

Everybody not just yourself said it was going to be a tough season. That's nothing new. A young team can't afford to have vets playing poorly in key spots. Two easy goals late in a period killed them. It wasn't about match ups but more about poor effort.

When you expect nothing, that's what you usually get...

[patsdude114]

He has logged the most ice out of any of the Dmen in the first 2 games without him Im damn sure the scores would of been worse in both games. He has no experienced defensemen to play with Harrison (42gp) Reagan 29gp) the rest are raw rookies, Hansen hasn't played defense since his bantam/midget years he has looked out of place on defense during preseason and again the last 2 games. He is the 1st Dman out there for any PK and last night he did an awful lot of killing penalties which does wear a guy out much faster.

All im saying is you are looking way to far into a +/- stat when we had zero push back, Wapple held us in the game in Brandon we didn't generate much offense in Brandon either just the score looked better. A +/- stat is more comparable when the team goals for and goals against is close in total numbers.

Also to throw out there his -2 in Brandon were not due to his play at all, he was the lone guy back on a 2on1 on Brandon's 3rd goal (where was the other Dman oh right Zborovskiy fell at the red line) the 4th goal was an empty netter that Brandon scored from the red line. Last night if I recall correctly Gabrielle's 2nd goal with 42secs left in the 2nd period I believe was off an icing call where we couldn't change. All these things don't come into factor with the terrible +/- stat... on that 2on1 goal that Brandon scored Williams couldn't of played it any better he forced the shooter to shoot which he scored on but still gets a minus for playing the play correctly, the empty netter he was the closest Dman on the guy to get rid of the puck he just happened to hit the empty net from center ice and still get a minus cause there was no goalie in net... see where im going with this.................

Williams was a -17 or something stupid like that during the first half of the year but with that said he finished the year at 0 so that means he was +17 in the second half when the games get tougher. You are very fast to jump all over him for his minus play but his plus play there is nothing there and this is why I hate the stat as its always so easy to pick out the negatives but with that said without breaking down each and every minus a player receives to truly see who's fault it is that resulted in the goal scored against the stat is a flaw and always will be a flaw.