Saginaw vs. Sarnia 3-5-08

[acin]

igive1 said:

Not a good effort, many ugly minuses on the recap. Some defenseman really looked bad tonight.

Cough, Crawford, Cough.

[MidlandSpiritFan]

johnt said:

They gave up another shorthanded goal. I think they are leading the league by far.


Actually, the Spirit are tied for second in Short-Handed Goals Against in the OHL this year. We are leading the Western Conference, though.

Kingston has 18, Brampton and Saginaw (including tonight's) have 16. Belleville still hasn't given up a SHGA this season.

What the "H E Double Toothpicks" is happening on these SH goals?? Are the point men turning the puck over (i.e. shots blocked that turn into breakaways)?? Are cross ice passes being picked off?? I suspect there is likely a common cause. Any insights from those of you who see the games would be appreciated.

[donjohnson]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this but did anyone else notice that Comrie was playing forward in the 3rd Period??? I first thought he was jumping into the play too much but then I looked at the rest of the players on ice and Brodie and Crawford were out there as well. Anyone else notice this???

[MidlandSpiritFan]

donjohnson said:

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this but did anyone else notice that Comrie was playing forward in the 3rd Period??? I first thought he was jumping into the play too much but then I looked at the rest of the players on ice and Brodie and Crawford were out there as well. Anyone else notice this???

NO GD!!! I wasn't there!!

Now answer my question about giving up SH goals on the PP!!

[donjohnson]

we get stuck in the corners jamming from the puck, they get it easily and instead of clearing, make a rush up the ice. We're doing a lot more "dump-ins" on the PP instead of carrying the puck into the zone...we've got 2-3 guys with aggressive momentum going below the goal line and if the other teams are playing it cleanly, they're able to carry out (with numbers) back the other way. We're also a little slow on our passing which leads to the defense getting in position easier and blocking a lot more shots...sometimes those strange bounces off of the shinpads have led to SH scoring opportunities...happy?

[spiritfan8]

There have also been a fair number of good old turnovers at the blue line--either the D can't keep the puck in front of them and it goes out, or bad passes that lead to a breakout.
Not to knock Zaborski, because I really like him--but when he is on the point for the PP, these blue line things seem to happen more often. A good case for a D man on the point, which I believe was discussed in a previous thread somewhere.

[MidlandSpiritFan]

donjohnson said:

we get stuck in the corners jamming from the puck, they get it easily and instead of clearing, make a rush up the ice. We're doing a lot more "dump-ins" on the PP instead of carrying the puck into the zone...we've got 2-3 guys with aggressive momentum going below the goal line and if the other teams are playing it cleanly, they're able to carry out (with numbers) back the other way. We're also a little slow on our passing which leads to the defense getting in position easier and blocking a lot more shots...sometimes those strange bounces off of the shinpads have led to SH scoring opportunities...happy?

Thanks for the explanation. I can understand 2 guys down low trying to outnumber a D-man 2 to 1 to force a turnover but there should NEVER EVER be 3 players down low (even below the hash marks on the face off circles let alone below the goal line) on the PP. Me thinks the coach has some "splain'in to do" to his PP unit.

[eric8199]

I have noticed the excessive use of dumping the puck in this season, on the PP and even-strength. I'm aware that North American hockey generally uses a dump and run sort of strategy, but if it doesn't work, common sense would say try something else.

Time and time again I see the Spirit dominating the game as far as possession, but they skate to the blue line, dump the puck in, it is picked up by an opposing player and sent right back out of the zone. Then the Spirit proceed to make the EXACT SAME PLAY again, followed by the other team clearing the zone again. As a matter of fact, this a lot of times, IS our PP. Dump in to opposing player, puck cleared, dump in, puck cleared. We don't get a chance to set up sometimes until 1:30 into the PP, because we continue to fail at the dump and run attempts. In the meantime, we tire our guys out, skating from end to end three or four times, before the PP can start. THEN , we spend WAY too much time passing and not enough time shooting on the PP. One preferred pass that our players use is to try to pass THROUGH an opposing player, ultimately giving him possession of the puck to either a) clear it or b) attempt to score short handed.

It's almost like our guys are practicing PP situations against no one, and don't know what to do when the other team is actually there.

And then, every now and then, our PP is flawless. It's weird.

I did not get to the game last night, unfortunately. I had tickets, but wound up working in West Branch until 9:00 instead. Not glad about the loss, but at least I didn't waste the gas to watch our team come back from being down 3-0 only to lose by three goals anyway.

[johnt]

donjohnson said:

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this but did anyone else notice that Comrie was playing forward in the 3rd Period??? I first thought he was jumping into the play too much but then I looked at the rest of the players on ice and Brodie and Crawford were out there as well. Anyone else notice this???

Yup!!! Adam also played a couple of shifts at forward last Sunday in Plymouth. Surprised that no one had mentioned it until now.

[donjohnson]

i personally have no problem with dump and chase during even strength but on the PP, it's tough. If you were around for the first season (with Denny D) that's all we did on the PP and it was awful. The problem is (and i hope i don't offend my "4th liner buddy") that we aren't talented enough to carry through the neutral zone and set up that way. We've actually had a lot of trouble lately simply clearing our own zone. I don't know hockey passing enough to know how to solve it but i think it's simply a talent situation...don't forget, for the last 2 weeks we've been playing the top competition in the OHL so it should be a little tougher on the PP because the defenses are better

[eaglei12]

I'm assuming that is me I'm not offended and you're probably right here too!

[bpfox]

Actually Comrie has played quite a few shifts at forward. It started awhile back after he had a couple of games in a row scoring goals. I think Watson was looking for someone who could hold his own in front of the net. Big kid, good skater with pretty good hands, so why not give it a try once in awhile.

[Sparky]

acwright84 said:

...I would also like to know why when eddie has a bad game he gets pulled but daniels doesn't i guess they wouldn't want to damage his ego too much.

I agree 110%

[hockeyfollower]

It has to do more with math than ego, specifically patterning and the number 4.
Follow along: EP games pulled
1) London 3-0 after 1, 4-0 approx 2 minutes into 2nd period-----pulled
2)Sarnia 4-0 aprrox 18 minutes into the game ---- pulled
See the pattern
3) Plymouth 3-0 after 1--- 3rd goal from center, maybe that counts as 2 or perhaps they realized he wasnt ready to come back from his injury
Now RD's game against Sarnia 3 -0 after 1 4-3 after 2 didnt give up the 4th goal til late in 2nd.

Perhaps a bigger statement made by the coaches that no one has mentioned was starting the 4th line in the 2nd period against Stamkos.
My take on that would be a message to the Whole Team , not just your goalies that the coaches were less than impressed with their first period effort. OR maybe he figured Stamkos' line would score and he could get Daniels out.
Now we know everyone reads this board I'm sure TW will now change his coaching tactics to blow my theory out of the water I knew my math studies would eventually pay off.

[donjohnson]

what is your math???

are you saying it's 4 goals in approximately 1 period?

I'm a little confused because by your math, in example (3) you say that in the case of the 3rd goal 1goal +0goals = 2goals

I tried that at the bank this morning...i gave the banker a dollar, they added nothing and i told them to count it as two dollars...they called for the rent-a-cop and i ran out (also, i was wearing a ski mask for effect)