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Post by NWTHabsFan on Dec 17, 2006 12:04:18 GMT -5
Last night was Corey Locke's turn to shine as he had a four point night in a big 4-1 win in Syracuse for the Dogs' third in a row. Corey had a goal and three helpers which was good enough for the second star, Halak got the win and was the first star, Kosty had a helper to keep his point streak going, and Big Biron blasted another goal for his third point in two games since donning the baby bleu-blanc-rouge. Good night all around for the boys in Montreal and Hamilton. www.hamiltonbulldogs.com/index.php?module=newser&func=display&nid=414 |
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Post by habmeister on Dec 19, 2006 2:24:45 GMT -5
where is the "fire don lever" crowd now? haha sorry i just had to, a lot of new faces and probably a new system to most of them. it came down to their talent coming through and clicking as a team. they now look poised as the big club, for a long playoff run.
i like this stat from the bulldogs, 28 GP and 68 GA. 2.42 GAA
Halak
1.49 GAA 2nd in the AHL is 2.06
.950 Save % (is that even possible!?) 2nd in the AHL is .929
5 shutouts in 14 games. that is very huet like.
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Post by montreal on Dec 19, 2006 13:54:36 GMT -5
where is the "fire don lever" crowd now? haha sorry i just had to, a lot of new faces and probably a new system to most of them. it came down to their talent coming through and clicking as a team. they now look poised as the big club, for a long playoff run. i like this stat from the bulldogs, 28 GP and 68 GA. 2.42 GAA Halak 1.49 GAA 2nd in the AHL is 2.06 .950 Save % (is that even possible!?) 2nd in the AHL is .929 5 shutouts in 14 games. that is very huet like. I am still not a fan of his. I see almost every game so far, just don't agree with a lot of things he does. It's good to see them play so much better, with the addition of Biron, hopefully he can get the PP going cause it's been downright brutal. The goaltending has been really good so has the PK. The team has a lot of hard working players, guys like Chipchura, Lapierre, Lemieux, Cote, Grabovski, etc.. as well as talent as the Milroy Grabovski Kostitsyn line has been great. Plus putting Benoit/Groulx in the press box helps the defensive play since they are shaky in their own end. |
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Post by seventeen on Dec 20, 2006 0:43:27 GMT -5
Thanks Dan. What don't you like about Halak? I know that Hasek had his detractors because his style of play was different, when he first came to the NHL. Is that a fair comparison or do you think Halak has been lucky?
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Post by Rimmer on Dec 20, 2006 7:45:39 GMT -5
seventeen, I understood it as montreal expressing his opinion about Lever, not Halak. but I may be wrong...
R.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2006 11:17:52 GMT -5
where is the "fire don lever" crowd now? You're as good as your goaltender. |
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Post by habmeister on Dec 20, 2006 14:48:09 GMT -5
i just find it really hard to believe that bob hires smart people at every position in the organization and then hires someone who isn't to develop the prospects on the farm?
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Post by montreal on Dec 20, 2006 16:27:12 GMT -5
Thanks Dan. What don't you like about Halak? I know that Hasek had his detractors because his style of play was different, when he first came to the NHL. Is that a fair comparison or do you think Halak has been lucky? No I like Halak a lot, although he does tend to overhandle the puck here and there, making some scary moments but I've been a fan of his all long. One of the scouts at McKeen's said to me that we got a huge steal in Halak on draft day. All I knew of him was that he got the Silver at the U-18's but in following him since being drafted his stats have been so impressive, and he was really good in the games I saw in Lewiston, Long Beach and Hamilton. The funny thing is that I didn't really care for him at the development camp 2 years ago. I thought Danis was much better and I felt that Christopher Heino was the biggest surprise of the entire camp, he was more impressive then Halak imo. Halak's style has improved, so he's not staying so deep in his nets, he's more aggressive now then when he was at the development camp 2 years ago. But to a degree I think Halak's stats can be overrated. I think much of the time he's been good, made the saves he's had too, but in some of those SO's he hasn't needed to be great. That said he's stopping the puck no matter how you slice it and that's all that counts. I really dislike Lever, perhaps it's just personal but I hate the way he calls out players in interviews, although it's not a big deal he just says things that I think he should keep in the locker room, but that was more last year then this year. I never understood how he can juggle his lines so much and what roster moves he makes. Last year James Sanford was flipped in and out of the lineup, yet he was leading the team in scoring for defensemen. Yet Andre Benoit who was in the middle of a massive slump was getting a regular shift. Perhaps there was something going on off the ice with Sanford or other problems that weren't released, but the moves often left me puzzled as a fan. This year it was more of the same, as Danis was really struggling early on, in his first 7 starts he let in 3 or more goals in every start losing 5 of 7 over about four weeks. Lever kept putting in Danis who was clearly not on his game; like the Hershey game where he turned the puck over while trying to pass it up ice way, way out of his crease, with seconds left in a tie game, what a crushing loss it was as the Dogs outplayed them early on but Danis couldn't hold the lead. Halak only appeared in 2 games during October, and while the first game wasn't good at all, he was much better in the 2nd game. It's more of a fan thing as I can understand wanting to go with Danis who is more proven but with the way Halak played last year in Hamilton, and with Danis giving up 4 or 5 goals at a time (26 goals in 7 games almost all were home games) I think it's natural to have questions as to why he is playing someone that is clearly struggling. Lambert has only played in 9 games, yet he's had 2, 2pt games, with 4 goals. I'm not a big fan of his, but with Manlow going pointless in most of the games he played early on, it's not uncommon to wonder what's going on, same with Mathieu Aubin who in his first five games played he had four points, but those five games were over five weeks. Plus in watching most of their games, I can not beleive just how bad that PP is. You would hear Lever or Willis say how they were spending all this time working on the PP in pratice but it would rarely show, I mean it was downright brutal and was costing them games. But it has improved of late, and the team is winning but I'll likely still have my doubts about Lever but my opinion is meaningless, and I'm sure Gainey put him there for a reason. |
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Post by chief6 on Dec 20, 2006 19:29:47 GMT -5
where is the "fire don lever" crowd now? Still hate Lever. I also agree with just about everything Monreal said about him in the above post. One positive thing I think can be said about Lever, is that he seems to prepare these guys for their callups. J-P Cote played very well in his callup last season, as did Yann Danis. Jonathan Ferland had a strong effort in his callup last season. Andrei Kostitsyn was good during his time in Montreal this season, and we all know how Max Lapierre fared during the last week. These guys are all very talented, and they're all very important to the Bulldogs' success, but as individuals, they've been able to stand out and make the jump. Or, maybe they're just successful despite Lever, and Gainey uses that as the litmus test to see who gets called up? |
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Post by habmeister on Dec 20, 2006 23:55:32 GMT -5
hmmm, maybe he's just seeing who's mentally tough enough to make it in the bigs and who will step up in the playoffs? you also said that he seems to prepare the guys for their callups, thats basically the most important part of his job description right?
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Post by seventeen on Dec 21, 2006 0:58:33 GMT -5
What you said about Lever, Dan, reminds me a lot of my criticisms of Therrien. There was no rhyme or reason as to the ice time he gave people. If a young guy had a great 1st period, he'd sit the rest of the game. If a vet stunk out the joint, he'd play him more. It was so frustrating. He rewarded poor play and I couldn't condone that. Seems like Lever has MT'itis. Calling out players in interviews is a sign of inexperience and is a very foolish strategy. Compliment your players publicly and work with them privately to make them better.
Tough game against the Moose tonight, a 2-1 loss. Halak in goal, but he was 3rd star.
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Post by seventeen on Dec 21, 2006 1:00:08 GMT -5
seventeen, I understood it as montreal expressing his opinion about Lever, not Halak. but I may be wrong... R.  You weren't wrong, Rimmer. Dan explained himself very well, just above. |
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Post by montreal on Dec 21, 2006 1:39:50 GMT -5
What you said about Lever, Dan, reminds me a lot of my criticisms of Therrien. There was no rhyme or reason as to the ice time he gave people. If a young guy had a great 1st period, he'd sit the rest of the game. If a vet stunk out the joint, he'd play him more. It was so frustrating. He rewarded poor play and I couldn't condone that. Seems like Lever has MT'itis. Calling out players in interviews is a sign of inexperience and is a very foolish strategy. Compliment your players publicly and work with them privately to make them better. Tough game against the Moose tonight, a 2-1 loss. Halak in goal, but he was 3rd star. Well he's toned down calling out players in the pregame interviews, although I don't listen to too many these days. The team has had such a turnaround after starting 2-6, I can put up with some questionable decisions. I'm huge fan of the Dogs, so it's hard not to react like a fan would instead of clear thinking. As for tonight, I thought Halak was better in nets then a couple of the SO's he's had. He made some good saves, got the 3rd star. Both goalies were impressive tonight. Too bad cause it almost made it the shootout and I was hoping to see Grabovski in the SO, he had a good game with some flashy plays although he was held off the scoresheet. |
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Post by seventeen on Dec 22, 2006 0:06:34 GMT -5
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Post by montreal on Dec 22, 2006 0:45:56 GMT -5
The play of the Year would have happened if Kostitsyn could have pulled off a sick deke but the veteran goalie was too smart and poke checked it. This was after Kostitsyn already scored a goal in the SO in a really nice move. His goal in regulation was just luck, deflected in off a skate. Lever got tossed from the game, great job by him, I loved cause Langdon is a horse's ass. Kostitsyn got a weak, weak call for interference late in the game. They had to hold up the game while Lever walked across the rink, fans were giving it to him so he waived and was clapping, funny stuff, I give him full marks for that. Langdon might be the wrost ref in the AHL. Danis was a little shaky on the SO's but then he ended up making some nice saves as well. Great win for the Dogs to come from behind and then steal 2 pts, getting 3 of 4 pts in back to back road games against the team that is trying to catch them, Dogs stay in 2nd and have several games in hand on the Moose, after tomorrows game they got to face the Moose again. |
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Post by HabbaDasher on Dec 22, 2006 10:15:11 GMT -5
Just playing Devil's advocate: could Lever be calling out players publically to see how they handle criticism? If you play badly in Montreal, it'll be in the papers, and the press will ask you about it. Also, someone mentioned Gainey has put smart hockey people in all positions within the organization. Why would Lever still be in Hamilton if he was doing a bad job? Doesn't make sense.
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Post by M. Beaux-Eaux on Dec 22, 2006 10:20:46 GMT -5
Just playing Devil's advocate: could Lever be calling out players publically to see how they handle criticism? If you play badly in Montreal, it'll be in the papers, and the press will ask you about it. Also, someone mentioned Gainey has put smart hockey people in all positions within the organization. Why would Lever still be in Hamilton if he was doing a bad job? Doesn't make sense. Smarty pants.  |
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Post by habmeister on Dec 22, 2006 15:04:55 GMT -5
Just playing Devil's advocate: could Lever be calling out players publically to see how they handle criticism? If you play badly in Montreal, it'll be in the papers, and the press will ask you about it. Also, someone mentioned Gainey has put smart hockey people in all positions within the organization. Why would Lever still be in Hamilton if he was doing a bad job? Doesn't make sense. Smarty pants. exactly, basically adds to what i said above. gainey probably said to publically call them out, be hard on them, prepare them for the pressure cooker that is wearing the bleu, blanc et rouge. see if they can handle it, the ones that can get called up, the ones that can't get dealt. bob is no dummy. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 22, 2006 15:37:44 GMT -5
Yes, of course, there are people here who think they can do better.  |
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Dec 22, 2006 17:22:06 GMT -5
Getting three out of four points against the Moose was good. Too bad they also got three points out of the deal as well. Good road points, and now they are at home tonight against Albany for their third in three, with the next matchup after that against those Moose Poopies again.
Grabs and Kosty have some serious mojo going this season. They are both making a strong case for a move to the big club next season.
Danis with another solid outing, so a nice problem to have with two goalies playing well in the farm.
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Post by montreal on Dec 22, 2006 18:14:55 GMT -5
Just playing Devil's advocate: could Lever be calling out players publically to see how they handle criticism? If you play badly in Montreal, it'll be in the papers, and the press will ask you about it. Also, someone mentioned Gainey has put smart hockey people in all positions within the organization. Why would Lever still be in Hamilton if he was doing a bad job? Doesn't make sense. I don't think that's the case. Gainey is MR Class, personally I can't see him asking a coach to do such an unclassy thing. That's only my personal opinion as someone that has been a huge fan of the Dogs since we arrived in Hamilton. Perhaps I am putting too much into this and like I said he hasn't done it that much this year, and last year the team struggled so much perhaps it got to him. I talk to some season ticket holders in Hamilton and many of them weren't too happy with Lever last year. But Gainey hand picked him and he's had a lot of experience coaching at different levels and we all know Gainey knows what he's doing. I didn't see anyone say they could do a better job unless your talking about something outside of this thread. I don't see anything wrong with not agreeing to what the coach is doing, as a fan I am just expressing some concerns, no harm in that. The team has been much better then last year, so whatever he's doing it's working. |
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Post by M. Beaux-Eaux on Dec 22, 2006 18:44:59 GMT -5
Just playing Devil's advocate: could Lever be calling out players publically to see how they handle criticism? If you play badly in Montreal, it'll be in the papers, and the press will ask you about it. Also, someone mentioned Gainey has put smart hockey people in all positions within the organization. Why would Lever still be in Hamilton if he was doing a bad job? Doesn't make sense. I don't think that's the case. Gainey is MR Class, personally I can't see him asking a coach to do such an unclassy thing. That's only my personal opinion as someone that has been a huge fan of the Dogs since we arrived in Hamilton. Perhaps I am putting too much into this and like I said he hasn't done it that much this year, and last year the team struggled so much perhaps it got to him. I talk to some season ticket holders in Hamilton and many of them weren't too happy with Lever last year. But Gainey hand picked him and he's had a lot of experience coaching at different levels and we all know Gainey knows what he's doing. I didn't see anyone say they could do a better job unless your talking about something outside of this thread. I don't see anything wrong with not agreeing to what the coach is doing, as a fan I am just expressing some concerns, no harm in that. The team has been much better then last year, so whatever he's doing it's working. Gainey is indeed a man of honour and firm principles, but he is also shrewd, pragmatic, and politically savvy (or he wouldn't be occupying the Habs' GM chair and be an excutive of the club). Perhaps when he retires he'll write "The Art of Hockey" (which I wouldn't be surprised to see translated into Chinese and become a bestseller over there—The Little Bleu Blanc et Rouge Book). He pulls the Lever, not the other way around, and if he's not getting the expected results you can bet that the Lever will be replaced. |
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Post by seventeen on Dec 23, 2006 1:39:07 GMT -5
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Post by chief6 on Dec 23, 2006 9:04:09 GMT -5
you also said that he seems to prepare the guys for their callups, thats basically the most important part of his job description right? From the Canadiens' perspective, yes. From a Bulldogs' fan and season ticket holder, it wasn't a lot of fun to drive to the arena last year knowing the guys were going to get hammered every time out. The Dogs success this season has made gameday a lot of fun, but the play-by-play team was a little premature last night to say this team has the potential to be as good as the 2002-03 team that went to the Calder Cup Final. Anyway, on last night's game, I just wanted to mention that J-P Cote was an animal last night. He played very, very well. Three plays can really sum up his night. In the second period, he took away a breakaway without knocking the Albany player down at all. Simply sweeped the puck away from him. In the third, during a penalty kill, he blocked a shot, the puck went to the winger at the half-board, J-P took one step and blocked the winger's shot too. Late in the third, also killing a penalty, J-P blocked a shot that decked his halls, so to speak and didn't even flinch until the puck was safely outside the Dogs zone. Great game by J-P. |
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Post by Cranky on Dec 23, 2006 14:40:27 GMT -5
you also said that he seems to prepare the guys for their callups, thats basically the most important part of his job description right? From the Canadiens' perspective, yes. From a Bulldogs' fan and season ticket holder, it wasn't a lot of fun to drive to the arena last year knowing the guys were going to get hammered every time out. The Dogs success this season has made gameday a lot of fun, but the play-by-play team was a little premature last night to say this team has the potential to be as good as the 2002-03 team that went to the Calder Cup Final. Anyway, on last night's game, I just wanted to mention that J-P Cote was an animal last night. He played very, very well. Three plays can really sum up his night. In the second period, he took away a breakaway without knocking the Albany player down at all. Simply sweeped the puck away from him. In the third, during a penalty kill, he blocked a shot, the puck went to the winger at the half-board, J-P took one step and blocked the winger's shot too. Late in the third, also killing a penalty, J-P blocked a shot that decked his halls, so to speak and didn't even flinch until the puck was safely outside the Dogs zone. Great game by J-P. We need Cote to develop to a top four. Chances are we are going to lose either Markov or GQ in the off season. |
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You weren't wrong, Rimmer. Dan explained himself very well, just above. 
