The Rivermen lost 3-1, but dominated most of the game.
I said that I was going to focus mostly on Junland (#44), Palushaj (#8) and Sonne (#29).
Junland was the best player in this game by far. I was really impressed by his awareness level and how he can keep the play in front of him. He was on the 1st and 2nd PP units. Junland is so good. He's big, fast enough and very aware. Quite a presence. You get the picture. The best player on the ice tonight.
Palushaj was really fun to watch. He was tenacious early and tenacious to the very end and wound up creating a couple of The Rivs best scoring chances, which were few. They had 41 shots on goal, but relatively few were real scoring chances.
Anyway, Palushaj was very good on the forecheck throughout the entire game. Energetic all the way through. He missed the net a few times, once on the PP, which was way wide and caromed off the board to a Wolves players. He usually finishes his hits. Fast.
On one shift in the 2nd period Palushaj made three excellent plays: he knocked down the puck from mid air to create a scoring chance (that counts for two) and then later that shift dominated behind the net with some nifty moves and squirted out for another one of The Rivs' few scoring chances. He also made this great play on the PK by alertly kicking the puck out of the zone as he was falling away from the play.
Sonne was a complete non-factor. He looked totally confused out there. Except for one nifty shot on goal he was inept and slow. He did not move his feet and got burned for a goal. He was very easy to forget. Sonne had the puck at mid ice with room to carry it in at least a couple feet. I was sitting the third row, so my view of his face was awesome. He looked like he needed to take a crap. Very hesitant and indecisive. The winning goal was Sonne's fault as he let Pohl break in alone on Toivonen.
The Rivermen goal was just a simple pass in front by Palushaj from the behind and to the side of the net and a bunch of guys crashed the net with Drazenovic pushing in a rebound. Drazenovic is very, very good defensively, but fanned big time on a PP late in the 2nd.
The defensive pair of Lampman and Richmond worked well.
Toivonen bolted for the bench toward the end of the National Anthem. Kinda strange, but maybe normal for some goaltenders. Fairly light work for Toivonen until the end of the 2nd period and the 3rd period, when the Wolves kind of picked up their game.
Richmond was a minus -1, but I thought played a decent overall game.
On The Riv's 1st PK Strachan let a forward get behind him and did a great job catching up and with a stick check. Strachan also gave up the puck right in front of Toivonen and Ears had to make another amazing save. Toivo was pretty good. Wagner and Sonne ****ed it up. But Toivonen gave up a big rebound late in the game for an excellent Wolves' scoring chance.
Not much hitting at all, except on big one on Cracknell.
Paddock made a couple dangerous passes that luckily were not handled very well by opposing forwards.
Talbot was okay. Made a good hit and gave the puck away in a bad place.
Eller made a terrible giveaway near the net and Toivonen made a huuuuuuge stop. Eller's passing, otherwise, is excellent. He took a beating down low in front of the net, but was very determined to remain in place. But then The Wolves' goons would try to fight him. Eller went back for more. He is tough, tough, tough! He was called on a bogus penalty for Unsportsman...
Eller plays great defense too. A couple times he took away the puck as a Wolves player neared Toivonen and took it right back up the ice. Very impressive!!
Wagner was a lazy bum on multiple occasions and was responsible for the tying goal by Stapleton. Once he made a lazy one-handed swipe at the puck in his own zone. Mind boggling!! Wagner took a hard slap shot to the mid-section or chest. He left immediately. Hope he's fine. Apparently the shot hit his wrist, but it happened so fast that I thought it his his chin or chest.
Bell was tentative, but played fairly well paired with Junland.
Porter was lazy on the PK in the 2nd period and was quickly yanked off the ice by Coach Payne.
Overall, Peoria's PK was just fine because they communicated well with each other about where the puck was at all times. Toivonen was key to this. The Rivs had a few great short-handed shots.
The Rivermen gave away the puck a lot in their own zone, especially near the net. NOT GOOD!!!
Chicago's PP was terrible.
Chelios was playing. Whatever.
Esposito was checked by Lampman and he went down hard and into the boards. Looked like a right leg injury of some kind.
Wolves tried to fight all game long, but The Rivermen kept their cool. The Wolves have two very, very large players.
By the 3rd period the ice was terrible, but All State Arena was rockin'! Very loud at times.
The "Kiss Cam" spotlighted Tallackson and Drazenovic on the bench, but they did not oblige the crowd.
Last edited by ChicagoBlues: 11-22-2009 at 05:31 PM.
Reason: corrections
Peoria goaltender Ben Bishop (upper body), defensemen Danny Richmond (upper body), Adrian Veideman (upper body), Justin Fletcher (broken wrist), and centers Lars Eller (upper body) and Derek Armstrong (concussion, conditioning) all remained shelved with injuries. ...
That's hard to believe, one goal in 21 AHL games for a skilled player sounds terrible.
Not hard to believe at all. Who says he is a "skilled" player? He was somewhat of a scorer at the college level. Big deal?!
When I saw him play he was amazing. I wish that he would focus more on shot accuracy. Granted, I've seen only one game this season, but he was probably the second best player on the ice for the Rivermen that game, next to Junland.
If Palushaj does not develop his scoring touch in the pros, then that's okay because he's definitely got the energy/checking role down to a T already.
My prediction at this point of his young career is that he will definitely be an NHLer; probably a 3rd liner.
Too many minus players. Wagner has been terrible this season and Sonne needs to sit a few games and get his head straight. I think Sonne should be sent down to Alaska for a few games so he can get back some confidence.
77 goals allowed in unacceptable. The Rivs have too many offensive defensemen. And they thought that was going to help them. hmmm
Too many minus players. Wagner has been terrible this season and Sonne needs to sit a few games and get his head straight. I think Sonne should be sent down to Alaska for a few games so he can get back some confidence.
77 goals allowed in unacceptable. The Rivs have too many offensive defensemen. And they thought that was going to help them. hmmm
Has the bad defensive play made the goalies look worse than they actually are? Or are their stats reflective of their play?
Too many minus players. Wagner has been terrible this season and Sonne needs to sit a few games and get his head straight. I think Sonne should be sent down to Alaska for a few games so he can get back some confidence.
77 goals allowed in unacceptable. The Rivs have too many offensive defensemen. And they thought that was going to help them. hmmm
I've felt bad for the goalies all year they tend to get hung out to dry far too often to be good for either of their development. Now Bishop does get himself into trouble with his rebound control so he's not 100% without fault. Hannu on the other hand I felt has played fairly well(but not great) outside of a game or two.
Has the bad defensive play made the goalies look worse than they actually are? Or are their stats reflective of their play?
Very bad defensive play as a team. It's not just the d-men, but a couple forwards as well, namely Sonne and Reaves.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueBeard
I've felt bad for the goalies all year they tend to get hung out to dry far too often to be good for either of their development. Now Bishop does get himself into trouble with his rebound control so he's not 100% without fault. Hannu on the other hand I felt has played fairly well(but not great) outside of a game or two.
Bishop is too big to be an effective goalie. He takes up lots of space, but once he's down in the butterfly position and gives up a rebound he gets beat five hole as he tries to recover or cannot snag it with his glove. Too many rebounds from Bishop.
Toivonen has looked better than Bishop, imo. Better rebound control and better positioning.
Very bad defensive play as a team. It's not just the d-men, but a couple forwards as well, namely Sonne and Reaves.
Bishop is too big to be an effective goalie. He takes up lots of space, but once he's down in the butterfly position and gives up a rebound he gets beat five hole as he tries to recover or cannot snag it with his glove. Too many rebounds from Bishop.
Toivonen has looked better than Bishop, imo. Better rebound control and better positioning.
I have to agree that Bishop has been overhyped as a prospect.
