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Post by davidmoz on Aug 31, 2016 21:27:42 GMT
Thoughts on the first game? I'll give mine after some sleep.
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calv
New Member
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Post by calv on Aug 31, 2016 22:43:12 GMT
Clemente - Didn't impress much in his first outing, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt for now but I have reservations based on his previous stats.
Ehrhardt - Good along the boards and was nice and physical. A bit hit and miss on the puck though.
Johnson - Looked good in flashes, appeared to shy away from physical play a bit (it is pre-season afterall). Looks like he could be fun to watch on the PP, but didn't have an amazing game imo.
Pacha - Typical self
Phillips - Great game
Swindlehurst - fanned on a couple of pa-sses early on, but looked relatively a-ssured otherwise.
Varley - Didn't notice him too much, which is probably good for a stay-at-home d-man. Doesn't look that tall, but looks quite a big unit.
Bissonnette - Impressed me greatly, seemed to be involved everywhere and has a good pa-ss.
Cartier - Another who impressed me, although he maybe drifted in and out of the game a little. I'm expecting him to be a few player this season
Dickin - Looked okay
Harding - Started slowly, but got better throughout the game. Lacks a bit of size and was sometimes eased off the puck a bit too easily, however it was great to see him get a 1+1 and I think he played very well. Having him as a 10th forward is a promising sign.
Heatley - Probably the biggest disappointment of the evening for me, I was expecting more.
Neilson - It's going to be interesting watching him play. Has an interesting skating style that makes him look a bit awkward when he moves around. Doesn't look like he'll contribute too much offensively, but I think he'll improve (in that aspect) over time.
Prince - Had an okay game.
Valcak - Played well although I still feel he has the occasional tendency to be a little bit selfish in my opinion.
Trabucco - I didn't notice him too much until he popped up and scored. More to come, I'm sure.
Overall, I think there's plenty of reason to be positive and there was, at times, some good link up play which will only improve with playing time. I have some reservations about the defence, but this was the first pre-season game for the team and Blaze have been together for 4 games there's still plenty of time for improvement.
Interesting to see the tactic of leaving a player high and playing a long stretch pa-ss to catch the Blaze out was used a number of times.
The crowd was pretty good this evening I though, I was not expecting that many for a midweek pre-season game
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Post by Chris68 on Sept 1, 2016 8:14:45 GMT
I'll add a few comments.
Pacha..shocking. cost us goals. Needs to really up his game.
Varley..impressive debut. No nonsense d man with a cracking shot.
Erdhart...cool and calm.
Phillips...not missed a beat.
Clemente... needs to settle as a game is much different to training. He wasn't happy at all
Some pacy forwards and Heatley is such a relaxed skater. Never out of position but needs his legs. All the players looked tired but they skated yesterday morning. All in all a good performance against a team that 2 seasons ago were the champions.
Now my complaint. We have Mike Morin on the bench so let's use him on the bench. Don't stick him there to appease the old time fans. Let him manage the bench lines etc. That game should have been shut down with 8 minuted remaining.
The loan guys from widnes and the Aces neve put a foot out of place.
Sheffield will pull us to pieces.
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Post by davidmoz on Sept 1, 2016 10:12:17 GMT
Won't go through every player, but...
Ehrhardt looked pretty good, was good at pSteelering the puck out of our end. Made one or two fluffs, but I think him and Johnson will work well together, and he'll be a good physical defender.
Great game by Paul Phillips, putting him with Swindlehurst might turn out to be a great defensive pairing.
Pacha didn't have his best game- as has been pointed out, cost us some goals- what he was doing for I think it was their 6th goal I'm not sure, seemed to just skate round by one of their players but made no attempt to take the puck. Not sure about him and Varley as a combo, neither has a big physical presence.
Bissonnette looked good, great ist for Phillips' first goal, think he'll be a good player for him. I get the feeling if him and Trabucco end up on the same line at a lot and can 'click', they'll be good together.
I didn't really notice Cartier much either until his goals, his second one was good though (first was one scrappy).
Heatley and Neilson didn't have the impact I'd hope given the hype by others, but time will tell...
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Post by 51monharris on Sept 1, 2016 10:28:38 GMT
Over all i was disappointed in our performance. I know it's our first game but still, we need to close games down. We shipped far to many goals last year and was hoping we'd sort that this year, but after watching that last night I think we have a way to go. Hopefully over the next few weeks the team will settle down and thing will start to click.
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Post by Chris68 on Sept 1, 2016 13:54:25 GMT
I agree Si with some of it. But Coventry are 3 games in and 2 seasons ago were the champions. But we should not be shipping 6 goals at home....ever. That had to be the last tone that happens this season but Sheffield will be about 5 games in front of us....
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Post by 51monharris on Sept 1, 2016 16:17:24 GMT
Yer, I know it's a marathon not a sprint and technically the season hasn't even started yet. I think you have to start as you mean to go on tho and We could've won that game and build confidence in what is almost a new team again. Like I say in a few weeks we'll all know a bit more about the systems/lines etc and hopefully we'll play much better.
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Post by metroboy on Sept 1, 2016 20:09:30 GMT
Let's put this into context prior to last night had a grand total of six hours practice. Blaze were playing there 4th game of the pre season and no doubt practice as well and have only lost one to Devils who have spent big. To be honest if it hadn't been for that dubious last penalty against us we would have won .The guys were back on the ice 8:30 this morning with D practice top of the agenda.
I personally think we will be very competitive and will surprise a few.
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