2024 Western Conference Finals vs London Knights

[swoopster]

The names missing in my post are Sapovaliv and all the players we traded for.

[partyroy]

I think they only took one shift last night. At the end of which they had both been thrown out of the game. I wish the suspension list stayed up because Sawyer's gotta be up to at least 3 or 4 suspensions this year.

[donjohnson]

May 2, 2024 10:29:34 GMT -5 swoopster said:

The names missing in my post are Sapovaliv and all the players we traded for.

I don't think that's a fair argument...6 of 7 are from North Bay or Oshawa where they thumped on weaker competition and crappy goalies throughout the playoffs.

Saginaw has now played the last 11 games against teams/goalies that are very skilled especially defensively. They have the personnel to key on our top guys and were able to play a physical game against them. Actually watching the game instead of reading stats I know that Sapovaliv has been one of the best players on the ice and London is struggling to take it away from his stick.

You can say that those guys aren't producing but analytics are showing that scoring in hockey is over 50% luck compared to skill and we, frankly, haven't had a lot of "puck luck" in this series or in the Soo series for that matter. How many times is the puck going to roll through the crease, hit a post, be a millimeter away from a scorer's stick and not go in. Take the game winning Bonk goal last night...there is a massive group of humanity fighting for that puck and it squirts to Bonk's forehand and then a quick backhand flip over the net. Is there skill involved to score...sure but it's lucky that the puck came right to him.

This series shows how big of a deal it was to finish 1st in the conference. Whoever was going to play the Soo in the 2nd round was going to get beat up and unfortunately it was us. We lost our goalie to a head injury, captain to a slewfoot, top 6 dman to a silly slash (can't believe it was only 5 gms) and league defenseman of the year for a few games. That's not even counting the bumps and bruises that others are battling as well.

[aj0512]

Sawyer Boulton timeline (dates are when the games took place, not the date of the ruling):

October 14, 2023: Signed with London
November 4, 2023: Suspended 3 games for a staged fight
November 24, 2023: Suspended 2 games for a check to the head
December 10, 2023: Suspended 10 games for a check to the head (gave Bryce McConnell-Barker of the Soo a concussion)
February 24, 2024: Suspended 2 games for instigating a fight in the final five minutes of a game (London lost this game 8-2 to the Soo)
March 2, 2024: Suspended 2 games for exceeding the fighting major threshold
March 15: Suspended 2 games for slew-footing (also against the Soo)
May 2: ?

Man. If only we won an extra game so London had to play the Soo in Round 2 based on this history alone.

[partyroy]

Sapovaliv has been great in the circle, at possessing the puck, and in defensive coverage. I have no complaints about him at all. Donovan has been outstanding outside of the bad turnover for London's 2nd goal last night. He's been worth every cent.

[swoopster]

Justified excuses all, but it does not hide the fact that the 7th highest goal scorer during the regular season is the #1 playoff goal scorer for the team and positioned at #15 in OHL playoff total goals. The rest are not in the top 10. We came out of the first round with a 4-0 over Owen Sound so don't give me padded stats gained by other players against weak goalies and teams. It is what it is. Many of the "supposed" goal scorers we have are absent ... that is a fact.

[donjohnson]

How is Denver Barkey doing this series? He was the 5th leading scorer in the entire regular season and he's been invisible on the ice...does that mean he's "absent"? Of course not.

Oh, and how quickly we forget about how Carter George played during the season and in the playoffs.

Playoffs aren't about stats, they're about wins and right now we need 3 more and if we win them all 1-0, we still won't have any statistical leaders but we'll advance.

[swoopster]

Well is Barkey invisible with 13 points in 12 games? BTW Own Beck and Mangone both have 13 points in 15 games... no doubt invisible also.

Here is a quote from Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery:

Boston’s head coach Jim Montgomery lost no time in calling out the player who, in his eyes, needs to level up ahead of the final game of the series in two days if the Bruins want to advance to the second round instead of collapsing for the second year in a row.

“Your best players need to be your best players this time of year,” Montgomery told reporters in his postgame press conference on May 2. “They need to come through with some big-time plays in big-time moments. [Brad] Marchand has done this throughout the series. [David Pastrnak] needs to step up.”

Pastrnak felt the heat coming from his coach on Thursday having produced 4 points (2 goals) through six first-round games against Toronto.

[swoopster]

Apr 29, 2024 14:02:19 GMT -5 Bthumme said:

We need our big guys to step up and make a noticeable appearance - bloom, beck, christo, sapovaliv - and parekh (if he plays) - we've been holding down the fort without offense from them. We traded for them for a reason, and if we want a shot at winning, they are going to have to contribute on the scoresheet.

It seems somebody else agrees with me!

[spiritfan8]

None have been playing badly—Sapo in particular—but we do need them to score. Absolutely.

[donjohnson]

HUGE win on the road tonight!

Pretty sad the way the TV announcers were blaming the officials for Lawrence cross checking parekh in the head... Guy is a goon and shouldn't be in the league when you can't control your actions.

Hope we can keep it going and force a game 7!

[kingpin794]

Conrad Hache. Conrad Hache. Conrad Hache.

Hey guys! Did you know Conrad Hache is the head of officiating?

[swoopster]

Nice job team, that will get them thinking... do me up another! Big time Mr Haight... and the Drinkill trade of the season... Nolan Lalonde.

I forgot DONICIO! edit

[spiritfan8]

Big time win last night. But are we looking at another Parekh injury? And there was one time when LaLonde was slow to get up. My heart almost stopped.
Haight and Dionicio in particular were studs. Loved how the announcers never once mentioned that Rodwin had 4 assists. Their approach last night was certainly, um, NOT THE SAME as it was in the first two games. I wonder what was different about last night???😂😂
OMG the Facebook page. Somebody posted the OHL phone number, and now a mob of people are planning to call Monday morning and complain about Hunter, or the Knights, or the refs, or whatever. Yep, that’ll do the trick all right. 🙄🙄🙄🙄
That said—the Knights were pretty much an embarrassment the last teo games with their antics.
Have to bring the same desperation for TWO more games. Can be done but a tough call.
Meanwhile North Bay has crept back into that series. Down 3-0 they’ve won the last two, in OT and 2OT.

[aj0512]

Made the trek to London last night and those refs may never be allowed back there for their own personal safety. Yikes. I sat next to the London scratches and the only time they got out of their seats to cheer was when Parekh got laid out. Go figure.

I don't know what more the officials could have done, honestly. Saginaw came to play actual hockey and London was only there to play Hunter hockey. I thought Guo should have gotten a holding/interference call early in the 2nd, which likely means the checking-from-behind penalty never happens (and thus Saginaw's second goal on the powerplay). Other than that, I thought the penalties were mostly warranted. Maybe I'm biased. My thought is, however, that London will be far more disciplined in Game 6.

There were two occasions were Lalonde was slow to get up, but he looks to be okay. I haven't heard a thing about Oke lately, so I'm guessing he's not close to a return.

Curious as to why Landon Sim got ejected midway through the second. I was glad we didn't score on the empty net, because you know the other useless Boulton Brother would have come onto the ice in the final seconds and done something stupid. What a waste of a roster spot.