I can't argue with the Winter Classic OHL double header match-ups or our place on the undercard of the London vs Plymouth main event. Knights and Whalers should be two top teams next season not just in the OHL but in the CHL and should further entice London fans to make the trek down the 4o1. Spits vs Saginaw should be a win for the good guys as Saginaw will probably be in a rebuild - depending on who comes back I guess.
I think most people have been pretty fair with their observations concerning Rychel, the good and the bad. I think it almost unanimous as far as his offensive game that most are pleasantly surprised how well he has done and with the exception of a few most have similar concerns on his play on the defensive side of the puck.
I already stated that he has shown signs of improvements IMO but needs to do so consistently.
As for the name drawing undue criticism? Well it comes with the territory. Most has been justified but what it may be is that it is pointed out more than with others. Some may be due to his name while some may be due to the fact that he is out there in all situations and he receives as much if not more ice time than anyone else on the team. Higher ice time will show the good and the bad more so then a fourth liner sitting on the end of the bench will likely be remembered for.
The owners son and fairly or not it comes with the territory.
I can't argue with the Winter Classic OHL double header match-ups or our place on the undercard of the London vs Plymouth main event. Knights and Whalers should be two top teams next season not just in the OHL but in the CHL and should further entice London fans to make the trek down the 4o1. Spits vs Saginaw should be a win for the good guys as Saginaw will probably be in a rebuild - depending on who comes back I guess.
Agree. Windsor and Saginaw should be a decent match even if Windsor is slightly ahead in the rebuilding/development cycle while, like you said London and Plymouth should be two of the top teams in the entire CHL and as such headlining duties would be well deserved.
Regardless, those 4 teams should make for some good hockey when put together as a double header.
Coming from the king of horse **** this post is funny.
If your not bothered by his lack of back checking, then all the more power to you. It's a very big flaw to his game. You criticize us "arm chair GM's" and claim "he'll never meet expectations". That's a load of crap... is it too much to expect a player to consistently back check? Any of the criticism I've seen posted here is in regards to his on ice play has been reflective of just that...his on ice play! It's had nothing to do with the fact he is the owners son. Why is it people like you want to insist any time a person criticizes Rychel it's solely because he's the owners son?
I've said my peace. I've complimented Rychel on the things he does well lots of times. Why is it so taboo to criticize him on the flaws of his game? It's not just Rychel... we criticize a lot of the players for area's they are lacking yet Rychel deserves and exemption? I don't think any of us have been out of line with any of the comments. Sorry if I don't see the use of handling Rychel with kids gloves like a few posters like to do and expect the rest of us to follow suite.
I base my opinion of Kerby on the fact he's a top scoring player in the league as a 17year old. If he was a 19yo player and he was lollygagging back all the time then fine, crucify him for being lazy or whatever ******** you want to say about him. However he's 17 and he's no more lazy than any of these other players you want to give free passes to. I don't see anybody ripping on Johnson or MacQueen or any of the countless other players on the team who may have coasted for a shift during the season. But every time somebody wants to talk about Kirby they float this myth about him being lazy because they one time saw him dragging his ass a bit. It's not taboo to criticize him, but at least make sure your criticism is deserved if you do. I don't think the criticism of his defensive game is deserved, simply because he's still such a young player and he's doing so many other things that are impressive. He lays the body pretty good and seems to be the guy who spearheads most of their come backs this year. When I watch him I see a phenomenal player who can admittedly improve in some areas, but I don't see a player who is lazy. That is complete and total horse ****.
Pavelka has really given up some softies recently that 3rd goal against Mississauga and to start the game against London. I try and watch the game before I go out and see that.
Pavelka seems to be coming back down to earth. He had looked good for a while but now seems to be looking average at best most nights. Team has to take responsibility for quite a bit of it but he has some responsibility in it as well.
DeKort, looked a bit shakey at times but for the most part just needs to adjust to the speed a bit. Looked slow at times but there will no doubt be an adjustment period. Would like to see the kid get some more time and Saturday would be an ideal situation for him. If it was his first time on the ice I would say start him on the road but he came in to relieve Pavelka and for the most part held his own.
Bilcke, night in and night has become one of the hardest working kids on the ice. Does not have the most talent but the effort along with improvement is there. Like Otto said, the kid deserves to see a regular shift.
While the whole team looked rough at times tonight Kerby was putting more effort into his defensive game tonight. He was not going through the motions but actually working at it and I said before he has been showing some improvement lately. Hopefully this continues. He can be effective at both ends of the ice when the effort is there. Doing so did not take him out og the offensive zone opportunities, even though there weren't a lot tonight he was still out front a when there was a chance to be.
A night like tonight highlights the lack of experience surrounding Khokhlachev. He was in a position where he was having to try a lot on his own. When he tried to make a play no one was there most of the time. Experience will change that down the road but playing against a team like the Knights it really showed the different levels of experience we have on this team.
Not a lot of bright spots tonight but after being down 3 - 0 after the first I thought the game was going to get real ugly, kudos to kids for at least hanging in there and keeping the second and third respectable even if the first wasn't.
Lasalle plays in Sarnia on Saturday night so Dekort will be unavailable. Missy did get curb stomped tonight against Niagara so maybe bring him along to start Sunday?
i donno but cfaub your saying we're hard on rychel but you come out and say that about dekort thats a COM'ON MAN
i think dekort looked great in hes first time playing a real ohl game against the top in the chl play they have 3 lines that all will play in the show ,,
he had a great game
i think our best player in tonights game was johnston hell of a game
its sad when ty was getting more shifts then czinder and some on these board want him back as an O/A
You need quality goaltending to beat London. It's a fact. Pavelka couldn't have won a Jr C game tonight. He struggled early, struggled often, got the hook.
DeKort, despite two goals against, looked very good. I'm impressed and I think he'll settle in nicely when the time truly comes. Neither goal was his fault - a blast that nobody could have stopped, and a defence that decided to get away from the puck as fast as possible, leaving the guy with a wide-open glove shot.
Ebert was shown the finer points of fighting by Rupert. Props to Nick for defending Johnson, but man, that was not pretty.
I think everyone and his brother knew what was coming next. Nobody (not even FG ) can deny that the arena gets rocking when you see one fight happen, then the enforcers come out. Great tilt by Bilcke, going toe-to-toe and taking the decision over Flemington. Bilcke did what was needed - got the W, got the crowd back into it, and fired up his team. While they didn't score, they out-shot London heavily in the second frame, which shows me momentum swung a bit with that fight.
I think the last 30 min of the game, though, was London slowly easing off and not letting it get out of hand. I don't want to say "toying" with us, but they certainly didn't look like they put the game on full-speed-ahead.
As for the officiating - the only really questionable situation was the MacQueen hit-from-behind, followed by Posa two-handing Watson. I agree that there's no point in harassing the officials constantly, but you gotta make the first call, and certainly shouldn't make the second one without the first one, too.
Erie on Saturday, start Pavelka to see him rebound. Get the confidence back up against a struggling Otters squad. The rest of the guys should be in the line-up, so that'll be a nice boost. Sunday, all bets are off goaltending wise.
I'll be interested to see how Mississauga responds after the sh!tkicking the got tonight. They have Oshawa at home tomorrow before we head there Sunday.
I don't think you can bring Pavelka back next year. Ever since the Belleville game Pavelka has been extremely up and down and those downs have been so bad he's been getting pulled in games. He's done a decent job this year but they need to upgrade the talent on this team and if you keep Pavelka as an import your hands are being tied. The concern with Maletta now has to be his durability going forward legend mentions he can't catch a break but maybe some players are just injury prone and ignoring the time he fell we are talking about a concussion, knee injury/charley horse and now a shoulder.
I don't think you can bring Pavelka back next year. Ever since the Belleville game Pavelka has been extremely up and down and those downs have been so bad he's been getting pulled in games. He's done a decent job this year but they need to upgrade the talent on this team and if you keep Pavelka as an import your hands are being tied. The concern with Maletta now has to be his durability going forward legend mentions he can't catch a break but maybe some players are just injury prone and ignoring the time he fell we are talking about a concussion, knee injury/charley horse and now a shoulder.
Dont disagree about about Pavelka,despite what the Spits say publicly I feel he
will be moved allowing the Spits to grab a big time Euro with their pick
As for Maletta I am willing to wait until next year before I draw any definitive
conclusions as to whether he is brittle or injury prone
Dont disagree about about Pavelka,despite what the Spits say publicly I feel he
will be moved allowing the Spits to grab a big time Euro with their pick
As for Maletta I am willing to wait until next year before I draw any definitive
conclusions as to whether he is brittle or injury prone
No doubt I do have some concerns
I think if Maletta just changes his number he'll be fine. Pick something like 4. The last guy to wear that number used to go head first into goal posts and the end boards and never got hurt......
I think if Maletta just changes his number he'll be fine. Pick something like 4. The last guy to wear that number used to go head first into goal posts and the end boards and never got hurt......
Funny you would suggest #4 for Maletts as wore that number all the way
till this season
Guess with the Hall legacy we will never see that number again
#13 has been a bad number for him maybe switch to #40
Well lets just say on Thursday that BB knows how everyone felt playing against Windsor for 2 straight years as one of the top teams in the OHL.
Dekort in my mind play pretty well for a 16 year old in what might be his only game action this season as Cully only got 2 games but if he would of gotten 3 my guess is Dekort would of started Saturday, Looked like he had alot more confidence then at camp and covered most of the net well with good angle judgement. The 2 goals he let in were high glove both by Griffith who as a very quick shot. Would like to see him play in 2-3 more games before seasons end
Studnika and McNaughton look like they have a good shot at making the team next season, Studnika played really well his last 2-3 games as BB was able to give him some ice time witch will help him in the Off-season while McNaugton has looked good sence game one with the big club.
Ebert well lets just say when your skating up the middle and have a guy open on the wing who has speed you dont walk in just to take a sot from 50 feet out, but i like the fact he is skating with the puck up ice alot more now then say 2-3 months ago.
Pavelka needs to start playing better and not give up a soft goal every game.
At this point of the season we need wins against teams or at least get a point against a team like London or Plymouth as Saginaw and Guelph have picked up their play of late and it wont matter as i still believe come game 68 in SSM we will be tied in points with them and the winner will make the playoffs while the loser will get a top 4 pick in the OHL draft and also a top 15 pick in the Import draft.
I was told by someone that they might retire both Halls and Ellis come next season
Meh, can't say I'm a fan of that idea. Wait until they're in their mid-30's and can really appreciate what they did and bring most of the old teammates back for the honors.
) can deny that the arena gets rocking when you see one fight happen, then the enforcers come out. Great tilt by Bilcke, going toe-to-toe and taking the decision over Flemington. Bilcke did what was needed - got the W, got the crowd back into it, and fired up his team. While they didn't score, they out-shot London heavily in the second frame, which shows me momentum swung a bit with that fight. 
