Oklahoma City Barons 2011-12 Season Thread (& STK Thunder) Part 2
Oklahoma City Barons AHL Affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers 2011-2012 Season
Recent regulars on the roster:
Goalies: Yann Danis, David LeNeveu
Defense: Colten Teubert, Alex Plante, Bryan Helmer, Kevin Montgomery, Taylor Chorney, Kirill Tulupov, Dylan Yeo, Dan Ringwald.
Forwards: Teemu Hartikainen, Gilbert Brule, Tyler Pitlick, Curtis Hamilton, Antti Tyrvainen, Linus Omark, Philippe Cornet, Magnus Paajarvi, Tristan Grant, Ryan O'Marra, Tanner House, Chris Vandevelde, Lennart Petrell, Josh Green, Ryan Keller, Hunter Tremblay.
The Barons game broadcasts can be heard on:96.1 KXY
From the roster sheet it looks like the same roster as yesterday.
I have no clue why they sent down Hartikainen and Green if they were not going to play today. Did they have travel issues and did not make it in time for this game? EDIT - The announcer said it was lack of flights for the reason these two are not there in time to play.
Injured scratches include Linus Omark, Dylan Yeo, Ryan Keller, Kirill Tulupov, Andrew Lord, Tristan Grant, Ryan Keller.
Healthy scratches are Dmen Darcy Campbell and Sean Erickson.
David LeNeveu gets the start this afternoon.
OKC once again going with only 5 D since their defense is so thin and crappy right now. They are double shifting the good D in the line up and rotating them.
The Bulldogs score on I think their first shot of the game less than 60 seconds into the game to take a 1-0 lead.
Taylor Chorney takes a penalty. During the kill Barons Dman Kevin Montgomery shoots the puck over the glass for a 5 on 3 chance against the Barons weak D corps and two of their better defensemen in the penalty box. Should be an easy goal for Hamilton.
Some strong play by Ryan O'Marra on the PK helps kill the first part of the 5 on 3 off. Then Hamilton comes close to scoring. Barons manage to kill off both penalties. Big kill.
OKC goes on the power play. The Barons give up a shorthanded 3 on 1 break and then follow that up by giving up a partial shorthanded break away.
Antti Tyrvainen doing his usual thing hitting people and getting under some Bulldog players skin.
Shots are 8-3 for Hamilton at the halfway point of the period.
Barons with another power play but their only two chances went wide of the net. So they still sit at three shots on net. Not good enough. The Barons offense without Harski, Josh Green, Ryan Keller etc... is a little anemic lately.
Gilbert Brule breaks in and shoots the puck over the goal. Seems like all of their good scoring chances were shot over or wide of the net.
Shots at the end of one are 11-3 in favour of Hamilton.
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The Petrell line along with Chorney on the point with a couple early strong shifts where they kept the pressure in the Bulldogs zone the whole shifts.
This period has turned into a massive penalty fest. It is penalty after penalty all period long. Six power plays so far this period and I mean full power plays, not partials.
With all the power plays Cameron Abney has not yet gotten a shift in the game.
Lennart Petrell with another solid scoring chance. His 3rd shot on net of the period.
Hamilton scores on the power play to take a 2-0 lead late in the period.
It was a pass from behind the goal line by a Bulldogs player and they got a bit of a flukey goal as it went in off of Taylor Chorney's skate.
Shots are 22-20 in favour of Hamilton. So the Barons had 17 (!) shots that period. But just can not finish.
Petrell had 3 shots, Arcobello 3 shots, Chorney 3 shots, Martens with 3 shots as well... Paajarvi has 1 shot so far in the game.
Gilbert Brule has only 1 shot on net but I think he shot 2 or 3 decent scoring chances over or wide of the net.
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Paajarvi to Petrell for a dangerous sounding scoring chance but the Bulldog defender got a stick on the shot.
Hunter Tremblay and Tyler Pitlick with a 2 on 1 break and Pitlick gets a blast away the Hamilton goalie turns it aside. Good to see for Pitlick he has had a really quiet couple games here.
Curtis Hamilton and Antti Tyrvainen work it around in the Ozone keeping some sustained pressure and it force the Bulldogs to take a penalty on them.
The line of Paajarvi-Arcobello-Petrell has had a couple strong shifts now early in the 3rd.
Haha They must have one of their sound mics near the penalty boxes. Hamilton's Zack Fitzgerald you could hearing him clearly mouthing off to Helmer saying "nice job Helmer" and "yeah whatever old man" etc... Then you could hear him say something to the ref and he got a 10 minute misconduct. That whole exchange was funny and cool that you could hear it over the radio broadcast.
OKC now out shooting Hamilton 30-26 with six minutes left in the game.
Lots of offensive pressure for the Barons in the 2nd and 3rd period but just no finish and a lot shots going wide of the net.
Philippe Cornet who has been invisible today gets his first shot on net of the game.
OKC pulls the goalie. The Barons immediately score before the goalie even got to the bench to make the score 2-1.
Magnus Paajarvi with a shot from the point and Lennart Petrell picks up the rebound and scores. Dan Ringwald picks up the second assist.
Lennart Petrell right off the next face off nearly scores again.
Hamilton scores on the empty goal with nearly 1 1/2 minutes left in the game.
With one minute left the Barons go on the power play. Brule with a scoring chance, Petrell follows that up with another scoring chance.
The Barons lose 3-1 including the empty netter.
OKC with 36 shots on net and they probably fired another 6 shots in close wide or over top of the net.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 40oz
The Hamilton airport might be the most depressing place I've ever been, I dont blame them for the lack of flights.
We have to expect some depth on the back end before the trade deadline, it's been grim since day one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bryanbryoil
0 goals through 2 periods. Paajarvi and Brule need to take the bull by the horns.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oilerdiehard
Yeah I wish it would have been deeper. But I guess we have to keep in mind that Taylor Fedun got injured before even getting to OKC and Johan Motin decided to go back home to Sweden early in the season. So that did not help much either. Also I think Corey Potter was originally signed with the idea he would go to OKC and be a good call up option.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bryanbryoil
Petrell pots a Pajaarvi point shot rebound with the goalie pulled. Now 2-1 Bulldogs with 2:20 left.
They pulled the goalie again and they got scored on 3-1 for Hamilton.
Barons to the PP with 1:17 left Nelson with the TO, pretty damned eventful last minute.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bryanbryoil
6 forwards out on the PP with the goalie pulled Arcobello and Paajarvi on the point.
Goodnight nurse. 33 shots for the Barons in the last 2 periods but they still fall 3-1.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oilerdiehard
Depleted offense plus a lame D corps and it is just too much lately for the Barons to overcome and they are starting to drop games.
Too bad Green and Harski never made it for the game today. That would have been a nice boost for the team.
They are playing decently despite all of that and were as good or better than Hamilton and Toronto in these last two losses.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bryanbryoil
Hopefully they get healthier and get back to their winning ways. I'd obviously like to see more from Paajarvi in the goalscoring department, but it'd be nice to see Pitlick and Hamilton make some strides in their games.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oilerdiehard
Yeah hopefully so. Amazingly they are still in 1st place in the AHL after this game. But there are a few teams nipping at their heels and those teams have 1 to 3 games in hand.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Baronsfan
You know, after the preseason game against Houston I was convinced Pitlick would be playing a real important role this season. He was a standout, but then I remember he was playing against training camp fodders for the most part, Houston iced an all ECHL team for the most part.
Pitlick is at his best when he is playing physical, but outside of one or two games he hasn't brought it on a regular basis. I'm not trying to sound ollie-esque but after watching him for awhile he seems to have hit a wall, and if we were healthy I wouldn't mind seeing him maybe get a night off if he is fatigue. Hamilton played his best hockey when Teemu went down with injury, maybe it was his extra ice time he was getting but he too has been tapering off as of late it seems too, just not getting much going.
Hamilton when he isn't producing still is pretty defensively conscious, whereas Pitlick seems to be somewhat suspect defensively. Has this been a concern before now in his career or is it merely a case of him adjusting playing against men and just growing pains?
Was at Copps Coliseum to catch the game. My notes:
- What a horrid first period! Gong show in front of LeNeveau and missed assignments by Brule + Cornet lead to the rebound goal. Might as well put out pylons out there because nothing went right in the first 20.
- Second period favoured Barons. This is when the Petrell-Arcobello-MPS line started pushing back. Best line on the ice tonight and most of that can be attributed to Petrell. Their goal in the third was well deserved after all the chances/shots up until then. OTOH, even though the second goal unluckily bounced off Chorney's foot(?), No.4 was probably our worst D. He's weak on the boards and is rather slow in his decision making.
- Third was more Barons. House, Hamilton, Martens had solid outings. Hamilton was physical and House had some nice looks that could have easily went in. Martens was named third star in the Marlies game, but I finally took notice of his effective puck moving. Who is this guy?
- Game was a penalty fest and most of them deserved: pucks over glass, roughing, obvious hooks, too many men, etc. Bulldogs had plenty of screened shots that could have went in. Barons's PP emulated that and looked better in the third.
- For most of the game, it was a crest shooting competition. I don't recall any posts or glove saves. Both teams lack snipers or it was the bad ice. Brule was the only one I saw (directly) shoot to the high blocker side.
- Not sure why the Barons pulled their goalie so earlier after they scored. At least 2 minutes left on the board.
Cornet, O'Marra, VV were all non-factors in this game. And Brule, outside the third period, was also useless. Omark, Keller, Arcobello are definitely the 3 best playmakers on the team and the Barons suffer without them. Pitlick had an awesome two shifts in the second (and a 2-on-1) but otherwise a non-factor. If had scored or played more physical, I'd be praising him, but I'm beginning to wonder about him myself. All the skill and no finish.
@ Baronsfan-I haven't seen much of Pitlick to determine his worth defensively, however he is a guy that has a lot of tools, good size, speed, shot, etc. I would like to see him up his game, translating to the pro game can take awhile.
@ voxel-How was Paajarvi for the most part? Any different than the guy that we saw fighting it for 30ish games in the NHL this year?
__________________ Treat Others As You Would Like To Be Treated
Pitlick has been one of the more highly touted forward prospects so it's unfortunate to hear that he has been having difficulty adjusting to the pro level. I mean I know that it can take even the brightest players two or more AHL years to get into the groove, but it would have been nice to see him up here next season (although it doesn't look like that will happen).
Regardless, I'm confident he'll pick it up next season at the latest.
If I had my way both Pitlick and Hamilton won't see NHL for another year and a bit. They need to play every day for a full year before they make the jump
You know, after the preseason game against Houston I was convinced Pitlick would be playing a real important role this season. He was a standout, but then I remember he was playing against training camp fodders for the most part, Houston iced an all ECHL team for the most part.
Pitlick is at his best when he is playing physical, but outside of one or two games he hasn't brought it on a regular basis. I'm not trying to sound ollie-esque but after watching him for awhile he seems to have hit a wall, and if we were healthy I wouldn't mind seeing him maybe get a night off if he is fatigue. Hamilton played his best hockey when Teemu went down with injury, maybe it was his extra ice time he was getting but he too has been tapering off as of late it seems too, just not getting much going.
Hamilton when he isn't producing still is pretty defensively conscious, whereas Pitlick seems to be somewhat suspect defensively. Has this been a concern before now in his career or is it merely a case of him adjusting playing against men and just growing pains?
Pitlick hasn't produced ofensively, but therefor he is weak defensively and -9? Interesting combination...
But I am sure it is just me and my hate on Pitlick...
is there a site where i can see the minutes the AHL Players plaed?
Well just when you thought the Penner pancakes story was hilarious. The Oilers organization is not to be out done.
I finally found out what was up with Gilbert Brule in a Todd Nelson interview. The personal issues and hand injury Brule had were because during the Christmas break he burned his hands with the jelly from a steaming hot Pop Tart and received 2nd degree burns.
Well just when you thought the Penner pancakes story was hilarious. The Oilers organization is not to be out done.
I finally found out what was up with Gilbert Brule in a Todd Nelson interview. The personal issues and hand injury Brule had were because during the Christmas break he burned his hands with the jelly from a steaming hot Pop Tart and received 2nd degree burns.
I am not joking with this post either.
Oh wow someone mentioned that elsewhere and I thought it was just a joke.
Well just when you thought the Penner pancakes story was hilarious. The Oilers organization is not to be out done.
I finally found out what was up with Gilbert Brule in a Todd Nelson interview. The personal issues and hand injury Brule had were because during the Christmas break he burned his hands with the jelly from a steaming hot Pop Tart and received 2nd degree burns.
I am not joking with this post either.
These things are death traps. Can you imagine if Brule had gotten some in his eye? Best not to think about it.
Well just when you thought the Penner pancakes story was hilarious. The Oilers organization is not to be out done.
I finally found out what was up with Gilbert Brule in a Todd Nelson interview. The personal issues and hand injury Brule had were because during the Christmas break he burned his hands with the jelly from a steaming hot Pop Tart and received 2nd degree burns.
I am not joking with this post either.
The part I don't get is it was the ******* Christmas break. Didn't the guy have more time to cook something else? Guess the burns could have been more severe if he tried frying up a couple eggs.
The part I don't get is it was the ******* Christmas break. Didn't the guy have more time to cook something else? Guess the burns could have been more severe if he tried frying up a couple eggs.
Maybe that's why he was injured last year? Tried to deep fry a turkey, but there was too much Oil and the turkey was frozen?
I finally found out what was up with Gilbert Brule in a Todd Nelson interview. The personal issues and hand injury Brule had were because during the Christmas break he burned his hands with the jelly from a steaming hot Pop Tart and received 2nd degree burns.
What, who, how?!!!
Is my sarcasm-radar off again??? Please tell me that it is so.
If not, who the hell does something like that?... Maybe I am being an ass about this but if anyone I know would get 2nd degree burns off the freaking jelly from a steaming hot Pop Tart, I would label him a 1st degree moron or worse...
Given what has happened in the NHL with guys like Grant I don't see him signing anywhere.
Honestly, he's got a nose for the net. Way more offense than meatheads like Colton Orr. I'd offer him a NHL contract next season if he can maintain over 0.5 PPG in the AHL.
Without MPS, Brule, O'Marra, the team might go into a tailspan with all the injuries.
MPS played better in the AHL - shooting more and cycling better, but I suspect he still needs a playmaker type on his line and/or work with other cyclers and muckers (say Smyth, Jones, etc). A bit more time on the PP in the AHL wouldn't hurt.
As for Pitlick, he's like Hemsky - often the most skilled player on the ice but frustrating to watch.
Omark remove his cast today. Article from the local paper in Lulea. NSD. Made a quick translation, sorry for ****** english, hopefully better then the google one:
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Omark: No chance playing in Lulea this year.
Lulea Hockey has been hoping for a dream recruitment.
But now, Linus Omark says he will not finish the season in Luleå.
- Should I be completely honest, there is no chance, says Omark to NSD.
The former Lulea Hockey star Linus Omark has spent much of the season in the AHL team Oklahoma City Barons. It was also during a game with the Edmonton Oilers farm team, in the middle of November, he suffered a fracture in his foot when he crashed into the boards.
Since then, Omark in plaster, battling hard to get back in game shape
- I'm in Oklahoma now and we'll see tomorrow how much longer I'll be gone. I will do a physical examination. If it turns out that it is good then I can probably remove the cast, said Omark to NSD on the night of Wednesday.
The nearly two-month injury absence has been though for a 24-year-old.
- When you've been gone so long, you realize how much you like hockey. It is hard to see the other guys play.
Have you driven a lot of strength training for upper body instead?
- I´ve been doing that almost every day and I've tried to improve my shot too.
Any progress?
- We'll see when I step on ice. I could not practice shooting on ice so I had to put my leg/foot on a plank (on the ground I guess, quit weird sentence in swedish to)
Does strength training paid off, then?
- I notice a difference and think I have become stronger. I´m not sure how much that improve me as a player though.
Omark's goal is to play in the NHL
On 26 September last year NSD reported that Linus Omark has a clause in his contract that allows the star to break his contract with the Edmonton Oilers, if he gets sent down to AHL.
He also spended most part of the season in OKC before he injured his foot.
Many Lulea Hockey fans had a hope that Omark should finish the season in Lulea Hockey.
And there were even more rumors when Linus Omark, during their rehabilitation has been in meeting with Luleå's sports director Lars "cheese" Bergstrom. ( according to Omark himself it was a friendly visit, and nothing more)
Now, says Linus Omark:
- My goal has always been to play in the NHL - and it still is.
So how big is the chance of playing in Lulea Hockey this season?
Best not to think about it.
