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Post by ricardo on Aug 23, 2023 22:02:05 GMT -5
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Post by donjohnson on Aug 30, 2023 8:10:11 GMT -5
Went to the scrimmage last night...man, Hache is going to be fun to watch this year...he's not afraid to hit anyone. He'll probably be the most physical defenseman we've had since I'm guessing Middleton.
Pace seemed very fast last night, Haight, Willis and others looked strong...I didn't notice Misa all that much but he'll be around for sure. Parekh was his normal self...extremely gifted offensively and very chippy even with his own teammates. He's definitely the Pat Verbeek or Claude Lemiuex type...love him when he's on your side and hate him when he's on the other team.
I found myself thinking back to a couple years ago when these guys were in their first training camp and how slow and sloppy the play was since we were so young and everyone missed their covid year. Fast forward to yesterday and it was high-pace, high-energy and I really don't see any randoms making the team this year like a Storch has in the past or something like that.
Neither Oke nor Fullerton played last night so I'm guessing they're trying to see who could be a 3rd goalie. From what I saw last night, I'd give it to the hometown boy DiBlasi...he was the only one with any size and he looked relatively comfortable in the net. The others were all just OK although there were a few great saves.
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Post by aj0512 on Aug 30, 2023 8:15:23 GMT -5
I attended the first Blue vs. White game last night at the Saginaw Bay Ice Arena. It was a pretty fun night and a really good crowd, too. Team White won 7-6 in overtime, although I think the actual final score was 7-5 for Team White in regulation because the scorekeeper seemed to not have a clue what was going on all night, or maybe they just purposely wanted to play 3-on-3 overtime.
Oke and Sapovaliv did not play last night. I don't think Mancini or Codd did either, unless if I completely missed them. For me the best player on the ice was Parekh. 2 goals (in the first 8 minutes of the game, fittingly) and he probably could have had a whole bunch more. He and Cloutier (the recent 2nd round pick) got into it a couple times, but nothing really escalated from there. I wouldn't say the defense was great, obviously, but Parekh and Hache seemed to already have some good chemistry on the powerplay unit, and honestly, we'll probably need Hache to cover for Parekh when he's off on a breakaway or something.
Aiden Young had two goals. I thought Misa seemed to have a quiet night, but then I looked at the scoresheet and he had a goal and three assists, go figure. Young definitely has some skill and fits well into the system, and I'm looking forward to seeing how he does in the regular season.
Another player who I thought stood out was Graydon Jones, a defenseman and a 7th round pick in the most recent draft. I'm assuming the odds are against him on making the team and he is a bit undersized, but he was not afraid to be aggressive in the corners or mix it up with the big names on the team. He was pretty solid and rarely seemed to be out of position.
Overall it was nice to be back at a hockey rink again, and I'm glad the Spirit had a night game that was accessible to fans. Seems like a lot of other OHL teams have just one scrimmage at like 9 in the morning or something. The team has one more scrimmage today at 10am, but with work I won't be able to attend. Less than a month until the season opener at Kitchener.
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Post by donjohnson on Aug 31, 2023 8:12:02 GMT -5
I was able to sneak in and check out the second half of the morning scrimmage yesterday so I got to see Oke in the 3rd period. Maybe it was comparing it to the other goalies but he looked incredibly comfortable and poised in there. He took a high shot and went down for a bit but stayed in and made 10/10 saves and never looked rattled at all. I have no idea who is going to be the 3rd goalie...none of them look like they're ready to play and like I said in my previous post, DiBlasi seemed to have the best fundamentals in there. Not sure if he has plans to go to NCAA or is hoping to play for the Spirit but it definitely wasn't just a hometown pick, he looked like he could be ready someday.
Has anyone heard if they are keeping any other random players from camp? I thought Glavin has looked improved from last year and I'd expect him to start with the team on perhaps the 3rd pairing. There was a bit of a dustup between Forgione and Loukas...not sure how it started but they were legit wrestling (not necessarily fighting) and were ticked about something. If Forgione can play physical and stay out of the box, he'll be a valuable member of the team...if he can't and takes bad penalties like last year, I think we need to deal him to a rebuilding team.
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Post by donjohnson on Sept 1, 2023 8:04:31 GMT -5
The Spirit preseason roster is posted...https://chl.ca/ohl-spirit/roster/34/75/. I'll list the positions in my order and then some comments below:
Centers:
1) Sapo
2) Haight
3) Willis
4) McNamara
5) Harmer
Right Wing:
1) Loukus
2) Mangone
3) Sima
4) T-Bone
5) Moore
6) Storch
7) Cloutier
Left Wing:
1) Misa
2) Zhugin
3) Gervais
4) Brown
5) Young
Defense
1) Parekh
2) Hache
3) Mancini
4) Guo
5) Glavin
6) Forgione
7) Bishop
8) Jones
Goalies
1) Oke
2) Fullerton
3) Papineau
Send-Downs: Harmer and Papineau...at least these two will be sent down. With the signing of Graydon Jones just announced, I think he will be a back and forth guy as well. I expect that Hache and Mancini will be at NHL camps and he could see some preseason action.
Trades: I think Brown and Forgione will be traded. Brown has some good upside and should be part of a big deal. Forgione will not be an overager next year and will be packaged as a part of a deal where he can get ice-time. T-Bone will be traded to someone like Windsor or Sarnia.
Rookies: I think that it will be tough for Young and Cloutier to get ice time but they all (including Harmer) showed that they can hold their own on the ice in the scrimmages. They will be really solid depth players and after this year, I can see them playing major roles for us.
Goalie: I thought Oke looked solid in his period and while Fullerton looked confident, he's not an every-day goalie. I would expect Oke to play 75% of the games this year which will be a big workload for him despite him being 19. Papineau will be around during the preseason and I expect him to be sent down.
Here's the lines I'd like to see:
Misa - Haight - (Trade for New Right Wing)
Zhugin - Sapovaliv - Mangone
Young - Willis - Loukus
Gervais - McNamara - Sima
Extras: Moore, Cloutier
Parekh - Mancini
Hache - (Trade for New Defense)
Glavin - Guo
Oke
Fullerton
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Post by aj0512 on Sept 1, 2023 10:20:20 GMT -5
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Post by donjohnson on Sept 1, 2023 10:42:34 GMT -5
aj, I think it will depend on the type of trade...seems like the trade deadline deals are often picks-only and the earlier season deals more often include players because teams want to get more value with the player in their lineup. I think we definitely have quality bodies and a multitude of picks that we can send out at any time but I agree with you that we may be done dealing for a little while at least. I think they'll want to see how the goaltending situation is before making too many other moves because that's such an important piece of the puzzle. |
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Post by MidlandSpiritFan on Sept 27, 2023 19:02:25 GMT -5
Well, the first top goaltender available Michael Simpson just got traded back home to London. That leaves Gaudreau (Sarnia OA) and DiVententiis (North Bay 19 yr old) as the top goaltenders that might be available.
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