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Post by kingpin794 on Apr 8, 2012 13:58:45 GMT -5
Happy Easter folks. Tonight the Spirit host a game for the first time ever on Easter Sunday. Saginaw was hurt by London's PP in game one so naturally part of the recipe for sucess would be to limit the penalties. Also we need to get after Houser early. The longer it takes us to score the more he will get settled in and the harder it will be for us to get a W.
GO SPIRIT!!!
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Post by spiritrock on Apr 8, 2012 20:37:24 GMT -5
Congrats boys on the win!! Hmmmm I read on The noof that "Knights crucify the Spirit 5-2"? Well, how does it feel London. ;D
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Post by kingpin794 on Apr 8, 2012 21:02:41 GMT -5
Great game by the Spirit tonight. They gave up two PP goals but evened that out with a couple of their own and a shorty. Jake was great. Again. It's a best of five now.
By the way what was with Lodon tossing water bottles on the ice at the end of the game? What a bunch of crybabies.
Side note: Spirit first round pick Jeremiah Addison was in the building tonight.
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Post by eric8199 on Apr 8, 2012 21:53:34 GMT -5
I think based on the Spirit's play tonight, the rest of the league should be a little concerned about this team. I know it's just one game, but we dominated one of the best teams in the league. If we stay out of the box, I think we can beat them. We were the better team even strength. Let em have it boys! Go Spirit!!!
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Post by spiritfan8 on Apr 8, 2012 22:04:39 GMT -5
Ho,hum. Another day, another win over Lon--what's that?? Our first win over London this year? Our first ever win over London in the playoffs? Oh. Then let me rephrase.
THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In the Battle of Special Teams today at the Dow, the Spirit emerged victorious 5-2. The Spirit were 3/12 on the PP, plus a shortie and a 5 on 5. London was 2/6. there were a LOT of penalties called, obviously. Many were warranted. Some were pretty shady. (Terry Trafford--a check to the head?? SERIOUSLY?? Whether he touched him at all was questionable, but he sure didn't touch the guy's head) London got whistled on some cheapies, too, but apparently they didn't get the memo about the Spirit's PP being nearly as dangerous as their own, since they kept up their endless parade to the box. I'm guessing both teams are going to hear a heartfelt plea from their coaching staffs tomorrow to take fewer penalties...
The Spirit played an excellent game. Frankly, I have very little to criticize, aside from the already mentioned penalties. It really looked like it was going to be a night where the team got every possible opportunity and just couldn't get it done. But once the first goal went in, it seemed to get the monkey off their backs. The D was outstanding. The Kinghts had 22 SOG. Great job, guys. The PK did the job for the most part--if we give up 2 PP goals to London and nothing else, I am certainly a happy camper. Paterson once again had a good outing. It's early, but so far he has looked like a guy that lives for the big moments.
One penalty that WASN'T cheap was the check from behind by Mr. R. Rupert. How was that not a 5?? BIG props to Trafford for not hesitating a second before jumping in and getting in some good shots. Also a really nice gesture by Rupert on his way down the tunnel, and I mean "gesture" literally, because it certainly looked like he was flying the double eagle to the fans. The guy just oozes class. It was nice of the rest of the Knights to try to make amends for his behavior by tossing some plastic bottles on the ice that were no doubt filled with Easter treats for our boys.
So the series is tied and it's back to London tomorrow night. The problem, of course, is that the Spirit MUST maintain this level of play. Any falloff against a team as talented as the Knights will be fatal. But I'll worry about that tomorrow--for now, I'm just going to enjoy the W.
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Post by bcspirit72 on Apr 8, 2012 22:07:21 GMT -5
Well I guess that will be the last of Ferguson and Faist for the western conference playoffs. Thought they called a fair game when you pull players down you are going to get called. Great game by the boys to stay away from the retaliatory penalties that come back to kill you in the Playoffs. London just lost their cool especially the Ruperts as the game progressed why in the world would you jump up to target the head of Carlos Amestoy he is the smallest guy on the ice. I really think the hit on Ross could have been a major instead of a double minor as it was just a dangerous and dumb hit to make especially that late in the game. Hunter should be thankful for that call or he could be seeing if Rupert gets a game off for his efforts. Great game by the boys now hopefully they can ride the momentum into JLC tomorrow night and sneak out with a win.
Kingpin I was wondering the same thing hopefully Hunter has to donate some money to the league for that garbage and I am glad no one got tripped up by the garbage on the ice as play was still going when the first two bottles hit the ice.
On to game three.
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Post by eric8199 on Apr 8, 2012 22:12:38 GMT -5
Well said Spiritfan. London just oozes class. Wait, no, that's not it, but they definitely ooze something.
We certainly couldn't say the refs were against us tonight with London's revolving door to the penalty box. I was concerned when we not only didn't capitalize on the first four power plays, but when we hardly did anything the first three. Was good to see the hard work pay off for Trocheck to out the biscuit in the basket to start the scoring. Not only did we beat London, but we never trailed in this one. Which is good, because I think once London gets ahead, it's see you later. We need to take the momentum and back it up tomorrow. We don't have a good record in their building, but stats don't really mean anything in the end. Let's come back to Saginaw Wednesday with a 2-1 lead in the series.
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Post by SaginawGensFan on Apr 8, 2012 22:46:46 GMT -5
Rupert HAS to be suspended for that hit, and after the suspensions handed out all year for similar hits, it has got to be more than one game - we should not see him the rest of the series.
And the coach should be fined or suspended as well for the water bottle throwing. Absolutely NO PLACE in the game for that. You win some & you lose some. Was the officiating bad? YES! But it was bad both ways. I don't know if you can argue any of the calls against London tonight. But they missed a handful tonight as well (on both sides).
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Post by spiritfan8 on Apr 8, 2012 22:53:07 GMT -5
I would suggest as well that a game or two should be tacked on to that suspension for flipping the fans off. Precedent has been set with that one before.
Of course, it was probably never set with anyone from London...
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Post by bcspirit72 on Apr 8, 2012 23:13:57 GMT -5
Spiritfan8 if anyone shot pictures or video with their phones I would forward the pictures or video to Branch and Baker.
mailto:dbranch@chl.ca
mailto:tbaker@chl.ca
I seriously doubt the OHL will do anything about it but it should still be reported to make the league aware.
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Post by donjohnson on Apr 9, 2012 7:25:26 GMT -5
With regards to Rupert...if there's a suspension, it shouldn't be for more than a game...it was a hard illegal hit but hey, it's hockey. The only part that bothers me was that it was at the end of the game when the game was out of hand. As far as his hand gestures, it didn't look to me like he was flipping the bird. I was standing at the same end just not that corner and it looked like he was either shooting guns or had 2 fingers out on each hand. If he was in fact giving the finger, he should be suspended for that vs. the hit on the ice. While concussions and injuries are serious, they come during the speed of the game, giving the finger going off the ice is an image problem and that costs teams ticket sales and everything's always about the almighty dollar so he may get one for that.
Great win last night...London's still a better team than us but maybe we can sneak one more out and get an extra home game this Saturday (since I originally picked them in 5)
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Post by ricardo on Apr 9, 2012 10:12:11 GMT -5
I though the first two penalties on the Spirit, which lead to power play goals by London, were terrible calls. The first against Amestoy was when he and a London player were battling for the puck in the corner with Amestoy getting to the puck first. All and all I thought the Spirit did a good job of avoiding penaties, but the referees didn't see it that way. As for the call on Rupert, don't forget in addition to the double minor and five for fighting, he got a 10-minute misconduct, which I assume was for the hit. Since they playagain right away tonite, would there be a suspension call that quick?
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Post by donjohnson on Apr 9, 2012 10:25:24 GMT -5
he got a 10-minute misconduct, which I assume was for the hit. I think that sometimes referees make calls to avoid suspensions. For example, when there's two fights going on at the same time, sometimes they'll give one pair a double roughing minor instead of a fighting. In this case, they easily could have given him a game misconduct but only gave the 10 knowing that it was the end of the game and out anyways but a game misconduct would probably draw automatic review from the league. I'm just speculating of course but it may have some merit. |
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Post by spiritfan8 on Apr 9, 2012 11:12:27 GMT -5
That was my thought also, dj. Game Misconducts in an incident like that also involve time spent by the officials reporting to the league after the game and filling out e-paperwork, so I'm of the opinion that there are officials who prefer this route.
As far as the hand: there were four of us on that end, opposite side of the tunnel, who simultaneously said "Did you see that?" as Rupert left. But hey, I'm old. The vision might be going...
I know a lot of us aren't fond of Kirk Cousins (with good reason!), but I never saw him pull anything like this. Worth noting that one of the Rupert brothers got suspended for going after Cousins when he was down and defenseless earlier this season. Anybody that can make Cousins into even a semi-sympathetic figure definitely has an image problem!!
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Post by stcpopeye on Apr 9, 2012 12:12:15 GMT -5
My comments on that good ol' place "thenoof"
Dear London Knights/over the top fans of them,
While you may not realize this is the case, you are not the center of the hockey universe. When your team steps on the ice, they do not deserve an unfair advantage, when they take a penalty, they deserve it just as much as somebody from Saginaw, Peterborough, Kingston, etc. Please do not feel that you are entitled to every call simply because you believe nobody outside of the JLC deserves any respect or should even think about stepping onto the same ice as your beloved Knights. When you stop living in your own little bubble over there, you will realize that there are other teams in this league that have players with just as much talent if not more, and the fact of the matter is, you got outplayed last night. I sincerely hope Saginaw takes this series not only for them, but for all of the other teams/fans of teams in this league that are sick of the arrogance.
Sincerely,
The Rest of the OHL Fans/teams
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