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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 6, 2021 10:28:58 GMT -5
Fairbrother will have a team and league to return to in March, if the Habs don’t sign him to either and ELC or AHL deal to stay in Laval.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 6, 2021 11:51:15 GMT -5
Another Ikonen sighting. Nice assist today. Game still underway. Have I mentioned lately how much I hope to see a great bounce back season from Ikonen? Cheering for the underdog.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 6, 2021 12:01:39 GMT -5
Thanks to Grant, this is an extended clip of Biondi’s shift last night that lead to his goal. He does a lot of good things on this shift. This is how you stay in the lineup and get the coach’s eye as a freshman on the fourth line. It was also his first stretch of points in B2B games and his 4th point in his last 6 games. It is a big jump from high school hockey to college hockey on a team that has a very strong lineup. The skating is still a tad clunky, but hopefully he can get some guidance on that front along the way and develop a more efficient stride. He has a decent frame too, so added strength should add some power to the stride.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 6, 2021 17:24:12 GMT -5
From Daniel Linn’s YouTube channel, here are highlights of Tuch’s game last night. He did not record any points, but played a strong physical game and was a big screen on one of BU’s 3 goals.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 6, 2021 20:52:32 GMT -5
A superb first period for Caufield again tonight. Two great assists. The first was a blast from the right point (he plays there on the PP). It was tipped right in front. The second was superb deception. He sneaks in again into the slot, takes the feed, and everyone including the goalie over commits thinking shot (it is CC after all), then he slides a sublime pass to Holloway who pots it into the gaping net. The only sad part for CC is that Holloway has three points in the period to end up one ahead of Cole in the NCAA points race.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 6, 2021 20:56:49 GMT -5
This may be boring for some (lol), but another two point period for Farrell too. He cracks the 50 point mark with 1+1 so far.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 6, 2021 21:01:21 GMT -5
You know what can help a tight 1-1 game between #11 BU (Tuch’s team) and #1 BC? Two straights goals by Tuch, that’s what.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 6, 2021 21:37:11 GMT -5
Farrell with his third point, on Coronato’s Hat trick PP goal and fifth point for him. Welcome back Matt.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 6, 2021 21:40:05 GMT -5
Wisconsin on a roll. They came into the Twin Cities hot, and they now lead 6-1 after two. Even Gorniak is getting into the beat down.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 6, 2021 22:03:10 GMT -5
8-1 now with Gorniak with some wheels and superb effort to feed Caufield in alone, and he does the rest.
Gophers have three goalies dressed. Odd to see shots of the bench with two goalies in full gear and helmets chatting while they clearly have another in the crease.
Huge sweep for the Badgers. Holloway was great tonight. Good for the Badgers. Great for the Oilers.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 6, 2021 23:16:21 GMT -5
What a rush. Great day for the kids. Olofsson also had an assist, but I could not track down video. Oh well. Norlinder has been held without a point since returning from a hamstring injury. His ice time and deployment keeps increasing each game.
After two stinkers against the Sens, this is a bit more fun lol.
It can be a bit of feast or famine with the prospects. Today/tonight was a gluttonous cornucopia of good performances and highlights thereof.
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Post by Habs_fan_in_LA on Feb 8, 2021 4:29:29 GMT -5
8-1 now with Gorniak with some wheels and superb effort to feed Caufield in alone, and he does the rest. Gophers have three goalies dressed. Odd to see shots of the bench with two goalies in full gear and helmets chatting while they clearly have another in the crease. Huge sweep for the Badgers. Holloway was great tonight. Good for the Badgers. Great for the Oilers. I'm always cautious discussing a fellow HabsRus member, but here is a big thank you to NWT. Always knowledgeable, insightful and prolific. Thank you for the wonderful work you do!!! Greatly appreciated. |
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Post by BadCompany on Feb 8, 2021 8:28:56 GMT -5
I'm always cautious discussing a fellow HabsRus member, but here is a big thank you to NWT. Always knowledgeable, insightful and prolific. Thank you for the wonderful work you do!!! Greatly appreciated. I'll second that! |
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Post by BadCompany on Feb 8, 2021 8:35:02 GMT -5
You know what can help a tight 1-1 game between #11 BU (Tuch’s team) and #1 BC? Two straights goals by Tuch, that’s what. I'm happy to see that the concerns over his offensive output were greatly exaggerated! Of course it's early, but the early reviews on this pick were that he had no offensive ability at all, so it's nice to see him scoring at a pretty good clip for a freshman. I wanted Holloway in the draft, with one of the reasons being that he is the style of player that we did not have much of in our prospect pool. Not the only reason, but it did play a part. My fear with Tuch was that Bergevin/Timmins wanted Holloway too, and after he went to the Oilers they decided to fill that missing style link by forcing a pick on a player that they shouldn't have, simply because they missed out on his much better brother-from-another-mother in the first round. But these early reports are encouraging, as it seems like Tuch may have been worthy of a 2nd round pick after all. Time will tell, of course, but it looks good so far. |
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 8, 2021 12:26:15 GMT -5
You know what can help a tight 1-1 game between #11 BU (Tuch’s team) and #1 BC? Two straights goals by Tuch, that’s what. I'm happy to see that the concerns over his offensive output were greatly exaggerated! Of course it's early, but the early reviews on this pick were that he had no offensive ability at all, so it's nice to see him scoring at a pretty good clip for a freshman. I wanted Holloway in the draft, with one of the reasons being that he is the style of player that we did not have much of in our prospect pool. Not the only reason, but it did play a part. My fear with Tuch was that Bergevin/Timmins wanted Holloway too, and after he went to the Oilers they decided to fill that missing style link by forcing a pick on a player that they shouldn't have, simply because they missed out on his much better brother-from-another-mother in the first round. But these early reports are encouraging, as it seems like Tuch may have been worthy of a 2nd round pick after all. Time will tell, of course, but it looks good so far. First, on Holloway, I am sure he was on the Habs radar. He was on mine, but I did not see him dropping to 16th nor past the Oilers. He has really had a good season and is showing some improvement in a number of areas that were questions prior to the draft. Now to the Habs guy. A number of scouting reports did question his offensive abilities and there were knocks on his skating a bit. Pierre McGuire was pretty high on this kid and was saying all year how good a fit he would be with one of the Habs second round picks (they had three at that time). Prior to the playins, with the 39 and 40 picks, that seemed way too high for Tuch for me. There were bound to be two more skilled guys available as it was a decent second round. When those picks dropped to 47 and 48, I still felt that there would be more skilled guys available. Most public scouting services had Tuch later than when the Habs were picking, but interestingly enough Bob MacKenzie and his final draft list from scouts input had Tuch right around the Habs picks. I will be honest, when they picked him I was a tad disappointed that they had left more skill and talent on the table with a number of prospects and that they had gone for need by drafting the big guy. He screamed bottom six winger to me and there were potential top six talents or top four defenders still available. I had watched his games at the Five Nations U18 in February with the USNDP team, and thought he would be a decent pick, just not that early. Well, then he goes to Boston University and their season was delayed until January so he was still an bit of an unknown commodity in terms of how he would adapt to the higher calibre of play. All he did was secure a top six spot alongside Skoog and Mastrisomone. He also played well. He has been physical, he is good on the forecheck, he brings a net front presence, and biggest of all, he now has 7 points in 8 games as a freshman. He is still raw, but it is a very promising start. His two goal performance on Saturday was particularly impressive. It was a tight 1-1 game against their biggest rival Boston College who were #2 in the NCAA. The first goal showed good offensive awareness on a two on one, a nice one timer finish, and his ability to keep up with the play and be open. On his second goal, he just flew down the wing on a break and crashed the net far post and tapped in the goal, all in motion. He won positioning on that play due to hustle and size. Yup, count me among those who underestimated him and his offensive abilities. It is very early and he is still raw, but the early signs are promising. He is developing and adapting to a higher level of hockey. That is what you want to see in a prospect. Oh, and he is still young, so he is going to get stronger and grow into his body. He definitely fills a void in that there were no other prospects like him in the pool. And we all know that good power forwards are like unicorns. So far so good, but it it is darn early! |
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 9, 2021 11:42:28 GMT -5
23rd of the year for Gordin. In the last minute of the first to tie it up at 2-2. He intercepts the pass and makes a nice move to set up his goal.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 9, 2021 12:40:10 GMT -5
Ikonen with an assist on the PP. He is in the bumper position where he absolutely rips a shot that rings off the post, back to his guy that fires it into the gaping cage. Close to a really nice amazing goal, but he still gets the assist. #11 in green.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 9, 2021 14:39:45 GMT -5
But he did not put up big points at the WJC...  |
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 10, 2021 16:46:12 GMT -5
With an assist today, Olofsson now has 11 points in his last 13 games. Neither his assist nor the goal are going to win any style points, but you take them anyway as they make up for all those bad bounces you encounter along the way.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 10, 2021 16:59:01 GMT -5
Needless to say, Joni Ikonen not being in the lineup for Ilves game today set off a bit of an obvious reaction across the Habs prospect watcher community. OMG, he is not injured again, is he? His team confirmed that it is a planned rest day to avoid him playing b2b as they ease him back into the lineup after such a long pause. Load management.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 11, 2021 16:47:37 GMT -5
Farrell keeps his point streak alive with this nice feed back to his open defender. End of first tied 1-1.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 11, 2021 17:33:37 GMT -5
Farrell with another setup. PP assist. Steel up 3-1 after two.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 11, 2021 18:37:09 GMT -5
Farrell with his third assist in the third, to finish the game with one in each period. A sweet pass to Coronato for the easy tip. Three apples in the 5-1 win. He pads his USHL assist and points lead. He and Coronato don’t play together five on five these days, but they do get to work their good chemistry together on the PP.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 11, 2021 20:05:41 GMT -5
Kinda cool. A new league single season points scoring streak.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 11, 2021 22:46:04 GMT -5
This is big news for the draft in 2021. The biggest best on best tournament before the draft (if and when it happens). With so many regular seasons all messed up, this will be an even bigger deal than usual for scouts. Being in the USA, it also means any games that TSN will cover will not be in the middle of the night!
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 12, 2021 22:30:07 GMT -5
Struble still out with an undisclosed injury, but Harris and his squad hit on all the right cylinders tonight. He had two sweet cross seam PP assists to McDonough tonight on his hat trick night. Great feeds and great one timers. They were eerily similar. If it ain’t broke...
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 13, 2021 20:48:12 GMT -5
Tuch with an assist in BU’s 5-1 win tonight.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 14, 2021 0:39:41 GMT -5
Harris with three assists tonight. He ends up with a five assist weekend. He is such a good distributor of the puck from the point. Here is one of his assists tonight, setting up a lovely one timer goal.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 14, 2021 5:46:50 GMT -5
Guhle (East Division) and Fairbrother (US Division) both have start dates now. Hopefully they can also get some action in with the Rocket in the interim to help their readiness. I expect Guhle will for sure once he is cleared from his minor injury.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 14, 2021 12:26:33 GMT -5
The two hottest prospects, Caufield and Farrell, had a rare hiccup and were both held pointless in action on the same day yesterday. I guess this is the price you must pay to appease the hockey gods and have the Habs beat the Leafs in regulation.
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