Saginaw vs Kingston 2-27-08

[bpfox]

Actually you don't have to leave the ice. If you can put your helmet back on it's allowed as long as you don't engage in the play while it's off. The problem was Jack put the helmet on but his chin strap wasn't secured. The ref warned him and he was trying to put it on but stopped to play the puck and ref blew the whistle. If Jack had secured the strap prior to playing the puck there would have been no call.

[spiritfan8]

Really?? OK. Everyone around me has always said you have to leave the ice regardless. And I can remember Brett Hull getting a penalty in the Olympics for almost exactly the same play........

Just read the game summary on the Spirit site. It doesn't apply to tonight's game, but--the Shocks v Saves charity game on Saturday was going to donate all proceeds to AEDs for area rinks and schools. In light of events of the past week and the fact that we are playing Windsor, part of the proceeds will be donated to the Spitfire Foundation in honor of Mickey Reynaud. Classy.
I was listening to Fic on the way home, and didn't catch it all, but he said something about Combs' goal tonight--I thought--setting a Spirit record for points. Is this correct??

EDIT: Wow. Just read the comments on the NOOF re: Hounds/Sting. It sounds like it was even worse than the 9-0 score. Let's see if the Sting can bounce back from this drubbing as well as the Spirit did from their 10-2 shellacking courtesy the Sting. Rangers/Storm on the other hand was apparently a tight well played game.

[bpfox]

More often than not a player will head to the bench right away so as to not put his team down a player. Since you cannot engage in the play without a helmet. Jacks problem was his chin strap was not secured and he was warned about it. The whistle didn't blow until Jack played the puck with the chin stap not fastened. If it had been for not leaving the ice the whistle would have been blown sooner and there would have been no reason for the ref to warn him about the chin strap.

Yes, the Sarnia folks are freeking out. Some of them need to be put on 24 hour guards for their own protection. Kind of funny about the Rangers/Storm game as the score was announced in the arena as being 2-2 at the second intermission only to have the final score be 2-1 Kitchener.

I was thinking about the upcoming Windsor game. There will no doubt be a ceremonial puck drop at the beginning of the game. It could be the first for Windsor with out it's captain. I am not sure Windsor will name a captain for the remainder of the season. It would be nice if they had alternate captains from both teams do the puck drop. I am sure Ryan McDonough wouldn't mind.

[acin]

Windsor plays tomorrow so it'll be their second game.

[johnt]

Like SF8, I also thought that a player had to skate directly to the bench if he loses his helmet. We were incorrect.

From OHL Rule Book:

Rule 22 Protective Equipment:

(b) If a player should lose his helmet during the course of play, the player must immediately put it back on and fasten chin strap or leave the playing surface. Failure to do so will result in a 2 minute penalty for playing without a helmet.

(e) Players must wear their helmets in such a fashion that the chin strap of the helmet is securely fastened under the chin. Failure to properly wear the chin strap shall result in that player being ordered off the playing surface.

BPFox was dead on correct in his explanation.

[MidlandSpiritFan]

bpfox said:

I am not sure Windsor will name a captain for the remainder of the season.

If I'm not mistaken there is a post in 1 of the 2 Renaud threads on the NOOF that Windsor in fact will not have anyone wear the "C" on their jersey the rest of this season.

[sagdude]

Is it just me or did Combs make several stupid blind passes lastnight that went directly to a Kingston player's stick or resulted in a turn over?

I saw at least 4 bad, no look, throw the puck wherever....... If he does that against a Kitchner, Soo, London the results could be ugly!

I thought Sol played a decent game for not getting any ice time in last few months. D continues to impress for as young as they are. IMO.

[eric8199]

Combs is not the only one who's been making blind passes lately, that aren't connecting.

Despite the win, the Spirit did not look like they were taking the game seriously in the first and third periods. They played well, and got shots, but they weren't trying that hard a lot of the time.

Murray is the ONLY reason we didn't blow out the Frontnacs.

It was an ugly game, but Kingston was uglier than us, so we were fortunate.

Davis did make some questionable calls last night. For a one-ref game, there were A LOT of penalties, and some were pretty weak. Ah well. At least he was consistent, he didn't' let much go, and it cost both teams pretty equally at different times.

The issues with the scoreboard etc were ridiculous. Should never happen. The guy next to me yelled, after the second one, "We have to work tomorrow!" Pretty funny.

[acin]

You're just noticing combs trying to send blind passes to where players *use* to be? He's been doing that for the majority of the year and quite a few have resulted in short handed goals. Sometimes it seems like he's making selfish plays and shooting the puck from bad angles when other guys are open.

Can't really complain when he has 89 points I guess.

[eric8199]

This was one of the things I was talking about in the NOOF discussion for the Oshawa game, and I got ripped apart for it. I'm a big Combs fan, and sure he's got the numbers, but he hasn't been playing up to expectations this year. He also has not impressed me very much. You can look at stats all you want, I'll continue to look at what I see on the ice.

Another thing, why won't anyone pass to Jarram??? The last two games I've watched, he'll be wide open, and players will NOT pass to him. I've been impressed with his puckhandling lately, which is much better than his first couple games. I can understand if there's another option, you may not pass it to him, but I've seen many plays get broken up when Jarram is WIDE OPEN and the player passed to someone who is covered and coughs the puck up. I might be looking at this a little deeper than I should be, but just something I've noticed.

[sailordog]

johnt

Where did you get a copy or a chance to see the OHL rulebook

[johnt]

sailordog said:

Where did you get a copy or a chance to see the OHL rulebook

So far as I know and based on an attempt to obtain one from the OHL home office a couple of years ago, the league doesn't sell or distribute them to the general public. Don't understand why. Other leagues go so far as to put them on their websites.

A "friend" gave me a copy a while back. A couple of things have changed, but basically it is a current document.

BTW, some things are *not* covered in the rule book. These rules/rulings must somehow be made available to officials in the form of notices, bulletins, or whatever.

If someone knows where to obtain an OHL rule book for this season, I'd appreciate hearing about it.

[spiritfan8]

Thank you, bp--by the wording of the rule you are 100% correct--I appreciate knowing.

eric--I was one who disagreed w/ you on the NOOF, and I still do. The key words here are"living up to expectations". I suspect in their wildest dreams the coaches did not see a 100 point season coming from Combs (and barring disaster, he'll get one). Do I think he could handle the puck better? Yes, I do. And as for the passing, I have seen a LOT of bad passes lately, from Combs and from everyone else. That part of the game really needs work. In short, I think there are definitely weaknesses in Combs' game (and I haven't even mentioned his skating!!) but I don't think you can say he has not lived up to expectations.

[eric8199]

Spiritfan8, you are entitled to disagree, and I see your point. The thing with Combs is that you can see how he's playing that he could do so much better. He's got the points, and obviously they weren't luck, but still.

My argument on the NOOF, although I didn't necessarily express it correctly wasn't so much that those guys weren't producing, just that there are a lot of people on our team that ARE producing, to the point that when the big names leave, I don't think we'll be in as bad of shape as people think. I also still do not think that this team is performing as badly as everyone else in the league believes. I think the fact that we are so under estimated is what will allow us to go somewhere in the playoffs if we take advantage of it.

Our team is not feared. The team that gets matched up with us in the playoffs will be looking towards the next round before we play our first game. We need to use that to our advantage.

Murovich, Swarz, Peckaitus, these guys are going to be stars in this league...especially Murovich. He impresses me more every game.

Obviously I don't want to lose Combs, McDonough, Daniels, Zaborsky etc...but they aren't the ONLY ONES who are producing on this team. I have seen a lot of wasted shifts with some of these guys on the ice. Not that the others haven't been the same, but losing those guys next season will NOT be the end of the world.

Anyway, I love our current team, there isn't much I would change about our lineup. I hope we keep Todd Watson around for a while, I think he's done a great job at building a team that can contend this year, when no one thought/thinks we would/will.

[spiritfan8]

I can also respect your argument, eric--we probably aren't as much in disagreement as we originally thought.
I just read a rather startling stat on the NOOF--since sometime in December, the Spirit have the 8th best winning percentage in the LEAGUE--not just in the West. But you are right. No one pays any attention to us (except the Soo)----and that's OK. Until we do something in the playoffs, nobody SHOULD pay attention to us. But there's nothing that says we can't use that inattention to our advantage.
Don't want to be putting the cart before the horse here. We still have a tough schedule the rest of the way, and it's all about positioning now. If we end up 8th, we will have blown a golden opportunity.