The Week Ahead.

The Americans are getting some much deserved rest this week, no games on slate until next Saturday for the guys. The Red Deer Rebels are beginning their trek through the US division this week starting with Seattle and moving onto Portland on Friday.

Red Deer enters the week in 2nd place in the Central Division at 11-5-0-0. they are currently riding a 3 game winning streak and are 7-3 on their last 10 games. The stat that jumps out to me is the amount of penalties they take. They boast the second highest PIM total in the Eastern Conference (335). (Americans at 240 on the year so far)

They must have a great penalty kill, looking through the box scores, they rarely give up PP goals, but convert on opportunities they have on the PP. Two guys on the team, Byron Froese and  Andrej Kudrna, are tied for first in the league with 7 PPG each!  (Adam Hughesman has 5 for the Ams)

Look for the Americans to try and take advantage when given the opportunity who have scored on the PP in 4 of the last 6 games, including the last 3 straight.

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Seeing as how there are 0 games for the next week, there wont be much Americans news. The boys are looking forward to a week of practice after the long month to get ready for Red Deer.

"It's good to get to relax a bit," said Justin Feser, who had a goal and an assist. "We can practice, go over things that we need to work on. We can regroup and get ready for the games we have coming up in November." 


Feser pointed out a couple of places the team can improve.

"We need to develop a strong work ethic, playing a full 60 minutes," he said. "We just need to get a good start to games and not fall behind and always be the team that has to catch up, get the game to overtime or a shootout. We also need to practice on not giving the puck away easy." (Examiner) 


The Americans have had to come back in each of the last three games. Seattle buried us a goal at a time and each time we would scrap back for the tie. That game was won on the last shot in a shootout, same as the next in Everett. (We did go up 1-0 in that game but Everett scored the next two) the game against the Cougars had the same idea, clawing back one goal at a time.

I will be collecting updates throughout the week, and we will track Red Deer's progress through the US Division.


-Chase

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UPDATE: Nikita Kardashev


From The World of Junior Hockey:

Corpus Christi IceRays’ General Manager Pat Dunn announced today that the team has acquired 18-year old defenseman Nikita Kardashev. The native of Minsk, Belarus becomes the second foreign-born player on the IceRays’ roster in addition to Marco Wieser.

Kardashev was the 55th overall selection in 2010 CHL (Canadian Hockey League) draft by the WHL’s Tri-City Americans. The 6’1, 185 pound defenseman represented his native Belarus in the most recent U-18 World Junior Championships that were held in Belarus.

“We hope Nik will make an impact for us on the blue line,” said head coach Brent Hughes. “He’s a skilled player who moves the puck and his feet well.”

Kardashev played his first two games over the weekend in Wichita Falls.

-Good luck to a kid who never even hit the ice for us in the regular season. Glad he got picked up. 

Shootout...again

Well, lasts nights game was interesting. I was just glad for the fact that we even had a game to be honest. This was a highly anticipated game considering the onslaught that happened last week. (Friday Ams win 7-3, PG wins 8-3 on Sat)

At the drop of the puck, it seemed we started on our heels a bit. PG attacked and held the zone pretty well and we weren't able to mount any type of offensive pressure. Turnovers in the neutral zone plagued the team (more on that later) and the Cougars took advantage early: What happens when a team starts slow and caught off guard? that's right...penalties. Ams took one right off the bat and PG took advantage. Martin Marincin shot one from the top of the slot that was redirected off a D-man, looked like Ows had no chance at stopping it. 

From there, more turnovers and missed opportunities until a PP game midway through the first. Sutherland put a shot on and Feser grabbed the rebound and buried it. 

Much like the game in Seattle though, it seemed as soon as the Americans scored to tie it up the Cougars came back to notch another. At about 5:30 to go in the first  Brock Hirsche batted one out of the air past Owsley (doing his best World Series impression harhar), and the period would end 2-1. 

Here's what we (Jess and I) noticed, If any of you were at the Game last year against the Cougars, you may remember how ridiculously hard it was to tell who was on what team. PG and TC's uniforms are so much alike it was hard to differentiate and I'm sure it had an effect on passing etc. -Fast forward to this year, I think we realized that and wore our red third jerseys, but I dont think it helped. I saw more turnovers, just blatant bad passes to the opposite team from our guys.This team doesn't turn over quite that much. It was just odd, and something that happened all throughout the night. 

Start of the second...from the Americans website: 

"Tri-City, though, found a response in the early goings of the second period.  Just 4:11 into the frame, and from inside the slot, Jordan Messier let a shot go that eluded Rimmer, tying the game at 2.  But, 1:42 later, former Americans’ forward Spencer Asuchak gave the Cougars the lead again, when he banged in his own rebound past Owsley. "

So just when we feel all good about ourselves, we give up another goal, to an Ams alum no less, and PG takes a 3-2 lead. 

I did want to mention though that after watching the play of Brooks Macek, and continuing to wait to see more of the numbers he created last year...its getting a little frustrating. Ill be the first to say, "Give 'em a break, they're kids, but I gotta tell ya, Macek had a decent breakaway chance, knowing the d-man was right on his heels and he didnt pull the trigger. Instead he let the guy poke check it away, a sweeping stick still standing no less, and ended the threat. I cant help feeling like he's trying to do too much with the puck. We;ve seen it several times this year already. One too many moves...it'll come...soon hopefully...


Onto the third and this was interesting. still down 3-2: 


"Messier connected for his team-leading 11th goal of the season.  Following a 3-on-2 breakaway, Zak Stebner fired a shot on Rimmer.  Stebner’s rebound bounced out into the near corner, where Messier corralled the puck, then launched a near-impossible angle shot on goal.  Somehow, the puck found its way over Rimmer’s blocker and into the net, tying the game at 3."

Now I may be wrong, which I don't think I am, but I could be. From my vantage point (Section X 3rd row) Messier shot it on Rimmer and he let a rebound go off the pads out to the bottom of the faceoff circle and Messier grabbed it back and fired (no shit about the impossible angle) it in. It was seriously as if he shot from an inch of the red line...So I'm not sure about Stebners shot. I know he got an assist but I think it was from the other end of the ice. Video replay will help later. (unless you're Bud Selig and you refuse to join the new century) 

 So Tied we went into OT, I really didnt want a shootout. Ams have had enough of that this week. Seattle and Everett games both went to shootout and we won both. Eventually, ones not going to go your way, and thats where we found ourselves. Messier missed his chance at a hatty and the Ams lost their first home game of the season. A month in and we've only had 5 home games...I'm looking forward to January (9 home games) 

"This (win) feels good," said Asuchak, who had all of 10 goals last year. "I wanted to take it to them and show them what they are missing. We proved ourselves here tonight."

Read more: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2010/10/31/1231316/tri-city-falls-in-shootout.html#ixzz13xE7YU1w

Coach had this to say: 

"I wish we'd had a little more in the tank," said Tri-City coach Jim Hiller. "You don't want to lose that point in the shootout. They (PG) have a really strong offensive team. Prince George scores a lot of goals and they can score in a hurry. You have to be on your toes."

Inglis- who scored the winner for PG: 

"I knew I was going to score when I went out there,"

        It really did look like trouble as soon as he took the puck. I wanted to say something (as we have found out I have pretty major sports psychic skills) but I kept my mouth shut. As soon as he sped out wide, dangling the puck on his stick with one hand I just knew it... and he got it. 

3 Stars:
1, Jordan Messier, Tri-City
2, Martin Marincin, Prince George
3, Charles Inglis, Prince George


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Did you all get your banner magnets? they look like this:

Apparently they are giving out 5 of them, (we have five banners now woo!) over the course of the year.









-Chase
  

Game Day

October sees its final road game of the month (thank the lord) in Everett tonight. I'm so ready for consistent (home) hockey games once or twice a week its not even funny.

Everett has had a rough going as of late and are looking to grab a division win on their "Pink The Rink" night. Special pick sticks and jerseys will be auctioned off in favor of breast cancer support. -Always a good thing. One of the Everett coaches talked about the parody in the western conference:

"Unlike past seasons, there are no easy games in the Western Conference this season," said Everett associate coach Jay Varady, whose team has lost three in a row and seven of its last 10. "It is an extremely competitive conference. Every night your team has to be at its peak performance to win."


Everett has been a tough team and I'm sure they're hungry to get back to winning ways. While westill have guys injured, looks like Everett is going to be back at full strength: 

"Finally, some news on Everett's injury front. Defenseman Alex Theriau, who missed the past three games because of a groin strain, has practiced at full speed this week and should be good to go Friday. Center Clayton Cumiskey and winger Markus McCrea, who are recovering from concussions, have also resumed practicing with the team. Therefore, there's a chance the Tips could be at full strength against the Americans."  -from heraldnet.com's Nick Patterson

We're still down Shinny and Kruise. (Which by the way does every single blogger from other teams have to mention specifically shinnimins suspension when talking about him being out?

Example: "Tri-City will not be at full strength. Center Brendan Shinnimin, who led the team in scoring last season, will be serving game nine of his 12-game suspension for his boarding major taken against Saskatoon's Josh Nicholls. Center Kruise Reddick, who's missed six games because of a concussion, is listed as day to day"-from the same Nick Patterson

Its like people just cant leave it alone, just say, "Shinnimin who is still out on suspension by the league"... something i dont know. Maybe im just tired of seeing it everywhere and Im ready for him to get back.

As far as Kruise goes, it'll be good to get him back. But the fact that they are giving him time is a good sign, its no good to rush players back after a concussion. It helps though when you have a team that is still dangerous without the "top scorers" or captain. Hughesman had this to say:


"There are a few factors that play into it," Hughesman said of his hot start to the season. "We have a few guys hurt and Shinny (Brendan Shinnimin) is suspended. We aren't at full strength. But that's the strength of our team -- it's hard to shut us all down. They shut down Shinny or Kruise (Reddick, concussion) and Mess or (Justin) Feser is there to score. We will score by committee until we get the rest of the guys back."

WE WILL SCORE BY COMMITTEE UNTIL WE GET THE REST OF THE GUYS BACK

             -There's the nominee for Quote of the Week. 

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We have some people over for a Halloween shindig tonight, I may not get to listen the game. Here's to hoping!

Niederreiter Returns to WHL

 News from the NHL Today:

"The New York Islanders announced today that Nino Niederreiter has return to the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League.

The Islanders selected Niederreiter with the fifth overall pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft in June. The Chur, Switzerland, native scored one goal and one assist in his first nine career NHL games. Last year Niederreiter played his rookie season in the Western Hockey League, leading the Portland Winterhawks in goals with 36 and registering 24 assists for 60 points in 65 games. The 18-year-old center also appeared in 13 playoff games with the Winterhawks, notching eight goals and eight assists for 16 points."


So now Nino rejoins an already strong Portland Winterhawks team with WHL Top 10 scorers Ty Rattie (#3 9G-14A) and rookie Sven Bartschi (#9 9G-11A)

We will have to wait a month to see Nino and the Hawks. they will travel to play the Americans on Nov 27th. I'm excited to see this team in action this year, and hopefully we can at least win the season series, if not every game.

-Busy day at work, not able to write up much. Plus there's no games and not much news so there. 

-Chase (one day Jessica will write something on here)

Seattle = Easy win no more

Got to listen to the game last night while carving pumpkins. The boys were in Seattle to face a much improved T-Birds team this week.

I have to admit the accumulation of penalty minutes has gotten pretty crazy. DS (I Mean, We Got Guys...) summed it up today like this:

"Taking a look at the statistics from the awesome and accurate WHL site, leading the D in PIM/game is Tyler Schmidt at 2.20.  Next highest for defensemen is Zachary Yuen averaging 1.47 penalty minutes per game, and Sam is 3rd at 1.38."

Woooo. Either way this road month is almost over and I know the guys are excited. Jessica and I are too. Kudos to them for a big division win last night in which they had to keep clawing at to stay in it. Coach said:

"No question, it's been a long road on the bus," said Ams coach Jim Hiller. "We managed to keep coming back tonight. We put in a workmanlike effort before coming home."


Feser scored the winner in a shootout, after holland tied it up in the second round. Listening to it on the radio, Westies call at first didnt sound at all like he had scored. Took a second to realize he had. Then Feser went backhand over the blocker to win it. Cant wait to see video of it.

Which leads me to the next point. I really like seeing what the Ams (or rshould I say league) has done with the websites. It is hard when your team is on the road to stay connected when watching online is worthless and youre not always by a radio. The integrated video of each game on the teams' sites really helps stay connected. Usually I read the wrap ups of the game first before video is posted, but its still nice to be able to see the way games go down. (Except for last Saturday in PG, I didnt even botherwatching that one).

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Team heads up to Everett Friday, another chance to get some division points. Hopefully we can just win this in regulation. Hate giving up a point to a division team, but I like getting the two for the win.


Last nights 3 Shiny Ones:

1. SEA - 20 Luke Lockhart
2. SEA - 15 Marcel Noebels
3. T.C - 23 Tyler Schmidt

NHL

So last night was the first time the Bruins and the Caps played each other, always a tough time for Jessica and I. Me, being the arrogant Caps fan I am, talked smack all day about how the bruins would lose and had no chance against an incredible home playing team in Washington.

Little did I know that the caps offense would come up flat. I didnt get to watch all of the game, since I work until 6 and we had a hockey game. I caught enough of it though to know that Boston shut down Ovechkin and Boston capitalized (oh god didnt even notice until after i said that) on Washingtons mistakes.

SAD PANDA.

Good thing its a Home and Home so the Caps can even the season series.

-Chase

Back to Action

Ahhhh, its been a couple of weeks, a couple of busy weeks. Not a lot of hockey news to talk about. Well, there is, but whatever.

Ams came back from a road trip (finally) that went pretty well. A little shaky at first, but the team rebounded nicely and finished .500 through the eastern swing. Thats really all I'm going to say about that.

As for Shinnimins suspension - deserved and fair, and thats all im going to say about that...

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BACK TO THE PRESENT

What a game we had last night. A rough, gritty, grind it out physical game against a team that does just that so well. The guys matched Calgary's game plan and it worked. The Americans team known more for its speed, and high scoring ability brought a different game last night and it was wildly entertaining.

The first period saw no scoring as both teams had several chances. The best scoring chance came on an extended (really long) 5 on 3 for the Hitmen. I was pretty nervous but the Ams got several chances to clear, and there wasn't too much of a threat.

-The game went on and I noted several things:

        :Stebner will be a good addition, looks like he spent most of the night perched in fron of Drew, and as a big body, that will most likely be his role, until he at least gets comfortable in the system.

        : With Shinnimin out, Olstad got a lot of playing time last night. I mean awholehueckuvalot. We saw more of his gritty play and seemed to be everywhere on the ice. I noticed toward the end of the game he may have been a little slower, and he didnt win as many face offs. I was also kind of hoping hed pick another mis-match fight...just for entertainment purposes.

       : Yuen had a moment of awesomeness when he came into the zone with no help against two D-Men, deked both of them and ended up in the slot by himself.......and then wiffed and fell. Even though there wasn't a shot it was still a great series of events and Jessica and I both said 'wow'.

       :Drew seemed very focused in net last night, like he had something to prove. Great game for him, I felt he deserved the first star.

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 Finally we got to some scoring:

"With 7:27 left in the period, Zachary Yuen dumped the puck into the right corner, where Macek would drive hard in after it.  Out of the corner, Macek sent a feed to Adam Hughesman, who fired a shot past Juraj Holly.  With his team-leading 8th goal of the season, Hughesman gave the Americans the 1-0 lead."

 Jessica was about to get upset because of the though of OT making us miss Sons of Anarchy...then we scored. Woo! 


Then 6 minutes into the third the guys showed more passing skills when Feser went down behind the net and slipped a pass into the slot for a hard crashing Brooks Macek who found the net.  


At this point I turned to Jessica and said, great now were going to try and sit on it...sure enough the Hitmen won the faceoff and took control in the zone, scoring just a 1:30 after. Just as I finished shaking my head, Holland carried the puck into the zone with a 2 on 2. Holly (the hitmens netminder) expected pass and was in position to stop that and Holland instead ordered top shelf from the boards...a nifty wrister 18 seconds after the Hitmen had scored. 


So we bumped up to 3-1 and the Ams held on for the win. 


Three Stars:
1, Patrick Holland, Tri-City
2, Drew Owsley, Tri-City
3, Justin Feser, Tri-City
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Sam Grist was scratched last night, not sure why, didn't see any injury report or anything. Ill be looking into that.