Radio for US U-18 game?

[Drew]

I thought that he was the best player on the ice by far.  His behind the back pass to Moulson for the second goal was fantastic.  Overall, I thought that the offense looked pretty good, though the power play was a little off.  Salema showed a couple nice shots from the point.  The defense on the other hand was a little soft in my opinion.  There seemed to be a lot of confusion and poor puck handling...no doubt coach will work on that by next weekend.  Both goals that were scored against us were pretty soft as well.  I didn't see the first goal well, but the second goal against McKee was due to him not getting in position fast enough.  But otherwise I thought that he played very well with the other chances tonight.  I wonder why we didn't see Chabot?  I figured they'd give a period for each one.  Overall, I thought the team looked good and am just happy that Bitz is drafted by the Bruins:)  Though I must say that the view from O is a bit of a shock from what I am used to...

[smallperson]

YUP, GRANT..... GOOO BYRON BITZZZ!!!

[Will]

I pretty much agree with Avash.  The first goal should definitely have been stopped by Marr--he should have leapt on top of it, but it stopped right behind him and he didn't see it, letting the Under-18er in to score easily.  But McKee was really on top of things for his half of the game.  Also, I really like his mask (two green robed skeletons with battle axes). :-D

[Section A]

Boxscore: http://www.collegehockeystats.com/0304/boxes/mcoru181.o25

Didn't really have time to comment much on the game in my earlier post, so I'll say a couple things right now. I liked how the Hornby-Abbott-Abbott line came into the game almost immediately and fired the crowd up with a quick goal after some very high energy play. It was great. The number 1 line of Moulson-Vesce-Bitz was fantastic too, of course. However, I did think that Bitz was a little slow at times (sorry to all the inexplicable Bitz fans?) and tended to lose his balance often. Another thing I liked - Salmela's shots from the point during the PPs. Though they may not be the lasers that Murray (also #6) had, every single one of Salmela's was on target.

McLeod, Stachurski, and Pajerski (and Chabot, as was mentioned) didn't play in the game. It's too bad that some of the people who DID play tonight aren't going to be able to dress for every game. For example, I actually thought Iggulden and Varteressian (who, along with Wallace, looked bigger than I remember them being) played really really well, but with Pegoraro potentially centering the 2nd or 3rd line, one of them may not get much playing time during the regular season.

Finally, underrated player of the game: Downs. +4. He and Cook are really a great pairing, and were definitely the most comfortable out there.

[calgARI \'07]

Conversely, the third pairing of Glover and Gleed was brutal.  They did not get much ice time and struggled a lot when they did, especially Gleed.  Since Schaefer dressed 7 D tonight, it seems pretty obvious that he'll go with Glover and Salmela as his fifth and sxith D.  I would be surprised if he made them a pair though.  He will likely break up the Downs-Cook combo.

[Greg Berge]

Any comments on McCutcheon?

[profudge]

Drew-   second goal was against Marr and not McKee - I believe.    
Kudo's for the team starting to come together quicker than I had hoped.   We showed real good cycling in offensive zone...  some excellent passing on occassion!  We did take a couple of stupid /careless penalties but our penalty kill was pretty fair!     If we can keep improving as a team -  this year should be interesting and rewarding for both the team and us the fans.    The freshman looked comfortable for so early in the year -  Wallace and Ryan O'Byrne looked like a good pairing as did Cook and Downs  after that the defense was a shade weaker.  Time and experience will imrove this situation.  

Go Big RED!



Post Edited (10-26-03 09:03)

[Drew]

right...sorry about that.  My mistake:-P

[Section A]

In our last 7 exhibition games (so, since 98-99), we've averaged over 45 shots a game  ::nut::

I'm bored....



Post Edited (10-26-03 14:11)

[Will]

Avash '05 wrote:

In our last 7 exhibition games (so, since 98-99), we've averaged over 45 shots a game  ::nut::

I'm bored....

You're bored?  You'd rather us have more or less shots on goal in exhibition games? :-D

[calgARI \'07]

He clearly has a lot of offensive upside.  He made an amazing pass on the Hynes goal.  He has great vision, hence why he played the point on the second powerplay unit.  That said, he did mishandle the puck leading to a short handed goal.  His far and away weakness is his skating.  He really labors around the ice.  His offensive upside more than compensates.  He will produce a good amount this year and will likely get a regular shift on the Pegoraro line or the Abbot line.