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Post by seventeen on May 16, 2009 22:44:00 GMT -5
Thought it made sense to have a thread about the Mem cup. I watched game 6 of the Kelowna / Calgary series where Kelowna won in OT. It was one of the best hockey games I've seen in a long time. Terrific hitting, good technical play, every kid giving it everything they had. The studs on Kelowna are Tyler Myers of course (hard to miss a 6' 7" player), Jamie Benn (a guy I really, really like...a DAllas draft choice) and the Flames' Michael Backlund. There are a number of supporting cast players. I see that both Tyson Barrie and Colin Bowman (Rockets defensemen are listed in the top 100 for the draft as per THN. There's another older kid called Grantham, I think, who is their tough guy, but has some decent hands too.
Ryan Ellis of Windsor is listed as #17 in the THN preview but #13 by ISS. I'd be giddy if we could get him, even if we do need a big centre. Trade two or 3 of our defense prospects for a center prospect.
I've taped the Windsor/Drummondville game, so though its over I haven't watched it and don't know the score, so I won't comment on it. Kelowna got off to a good start yesterday over a flu weakened, rusty Rimouski club. Fortier got an assist on the lone Oceanic goal.
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Post by Anardil1 on May 17, 2009 12:49:07 GMT -5
I watched a good portion of the Oceanic-Rockets game, and let me tell you, Rimouski had no business being part of the tournament. If not for their goalie Gougeon, the score could have been 15-1 EASILY. Maybe they were rusty, flu ridden or whatever. They didn't look like a worthy team. I guess we'll see today when they play Windsor.
Now about yesterday's game, Windsor against Drummondville. What a game! Two evenly matched up teams, lots of hitting, back and forth action and great goaltending. I really liked Gabriel Dumont for Drummondville. Courageous little guy, always in the traffic, creating chances. Of course, Kulikov was great (potential Markov IMHO). Couturier was great for a 16 y/o. His skating is worse than Latendresse's but man, is he strong along the boards! And eligible only in 2011! Plenty of time to improve his weakness. I liked what I saw from Dany Massé. Also glad that the Habs didn't touch Riendeau.
For Windsor, I liked a lot of players, but nobody stood out like Taylor Hall. This guy can skate like the wind and the puck acts like it's glued to his blade. This guy is deserving of his potential 1st overall hype for 2010. Very interesting prospect!
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Post by jkr on May 17, 2009 20:29:30 GMT -5
Rimouski turns it around today & beats Windsor 5-4. They are 1-1 and Windsor is now 0-2.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on May 17, 2009 21:09:25 GMT -5
First time in 89 games this season Windsor loses two in a row. Rather incredible.
Tough road to hoe against Kelowna in a must win game to stay alive. Go WHL Go!!
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Post by seventeen on May 17, 2009 23:00:23 GMT -5
Kinda tough on Windsor. The puck just hasn't gone their way, though usually, that's because you're not playing quite well enough. Their goaltending has been off and on. Engelage has made so excellent stops and then he takes a coffee break on a penalty kill and lets some guy score from a horrible angle after Ellis made a great block on the first shot.
Speaking of Ellis, that kid has to have the highest hockey IQ of any young man I've seen in a while. He's playing the game several moves ahead, just like Markov. And what a shot. What did Windsor hit...3 posts and crossbars today? If Taylor Hall was available in this year's draft I'd pick him #1. You'd never expect him to be 17 1/2 years old. Wow.
PS. You have to think Philly is really enjoying that third round pick from last year, Marc Andre Bourdon. Yeah, he's almost 20, so a bit older than many of the other kids, but he's another Scott Stevens. Great hitter and not bad all around either.
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Post by Anardil1 on May 18, 2009 11:29:33 GMT -5
About Ellis, he is quite the intelligent player. That being said, I hope he is picked before the 18th pick. He sure would look good on the pp, but I think that now is the time to concentrate on getting the roster bigger and grittier. Gainey took a calculated risk, thinking that the "new NHL" would be geared to a skating, puck possession game. It has become that, somewhat. However, as the playoffs have shown, size and grit are still integral components to winning.
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Post by seventeen on May 19, 2009 0:22:30 GMT -5
Kelowna over Drummondville 6-4. The score, to me, was closer than the play. Kelowna had a goodly number of very good chances to score, many more than the Volts. Benn and Myers are absolute powers. Jamie Benn with 4 goals and an assist. Myers dominates, best d-man in the tournament and that's saying something, considering how well Bouchard and Ellis are playing for their teams.
Kelowna is doing it with solid performances from most of their players. If Backlund gets his game together (he's been mediocre so far), they will be very tough to beat. The weak part to that team, as it is with the others, is goaltending. Guggenberger will be lucky to make the AHL. He's ok as a juniour but sure gives up a lot of goals. None of the goalies have looked that good so far.
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Post by seventeen on May 21, 2009 0:37:36 GMT -5
Don't know about you guys, but I wasn't impressed with the play of Olivier Fortier for Rimouski. I can't see him as anything other than a checking centre and I doubt he could outplay Lapierre for that role. I thought he was a better skater. Not that he's bad, he's above average, but for some reason I thought he was a speedster, which he's not. Darn.
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Post by seventeen on May 21, 2009 0:39:29 GMT -5
There's a story going around that after the Mem cup, the habs will announce the signing of Guy Boucher of Drummondville as coach of Hamilton. If so, that's a good step. He seems to get the best out of his players, and had success at the WJC, running the PP.
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Post by Anardil1 on May 21, 2009 18:42:02 GMT -5
Don't know about you guys, but I wasn't impressed with the play of Olivier Fortier for Rimouski. I can't see him as anything other than a checking centre and I doubt he could outplay Lapierre for that role. I thought he was a better skater. Not that he's bad, he's above average, but for some reason I thought he was a speedster, which he's not. Darn. I have to agree. He's left me feeling like he's nothing more than a career AHLer. Not impressed at all. Massé on one leg is showing tons more NHL potential. And as a side note, I REALLY want the Habs to get their hands on Gabby Dumont. This guy is a little ball of hate. He probably won't score much, but he's the perfect style of player for the bottom 2 lines. He was the only player on the Volts last night that showed up (besides goalie Cousineau.) |
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Post by NWTHabsFan on May 21, 2009 23:00:39 GMT -5
I do look forward to see what Masse can do on two healthy knees.
Fortier's CHL career is now over as the home team could not hold off the Spitfires with a 4-2 lead going into the third, as they gave up 4 unanswered to lose tonight's tiebreaker. Too bad, but you always knew that Windsor would not roll over.
Windsor gets their third straight do or die game against Masse and Drummondville next.
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Post by seventeen on May 25, 2009 20:22:32 GMT -5
Kelowna's achilles heel does them in. Three goals on 3 shots against Goofenberger and the game's over. Brown played well afterward and it looked a bit more promising when it went to 3-1, but frustration penalties cost the Rockets. Both good teams, but I'd sure like to see a 7 games series between these two.
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