I'll take that win after just a week of practice and only 15 shots. Sounded like Lee played great and the ffreshmen adjusted well. PP needs some work though.
Lee was the reason it finished a tie and not 6 or 7 to 3. We are a work in progress, especially on D where on Saturday we suited up 1 Junior, 2 Sophomores and 3 Freshmen. They'll get better and Lee settled in nicely Saturday. We are getting balanced scoring right now as 6 guys have 2+ goals. Friday some of our fans want to blame Lee but 2 goals were off LeBlanc's skates and 2 were deflections off someone right to a Wildcat who was wide open. They adjusted Saturday and so did Lee. Hopefully we can continue to build and get better this weekend in Grand Forks.
Absolutely shocked by the performance by Faragher last night. D blocked a ton of shots too but we've got to stay out of the box tonight. I don't see the Sioux going 0-7 on the PP again.
I had a chance to see this game, so I finally got my first look at SCSU. The game was actually quite entertaining, so here are some of my thoughts on the Huskies. Feel free to comment.
IMO, the Huskies' best period was the second. Really created some good scoring opportunities and they really matched UND's intensity. Two things that I felt really led to the Huskies' loss were their turnovers and penalties. Some of the calls may be disputed, but give the Sioux credit, they did what they had to do to win.
I thought Faragher played really well. I was sorry to hear that Lee went down with an injury, and even more to hear that he could be done for the season, let's hope not. It looked like he was just beginning to hit his stride when he went down.
I like the fact that Hanowski is starting to add some grit to his game. I think in the long run, this is going to make him a much better player. He already has the tools to be a top player, adding the grit factor IMO just makes him more dangerous.
I also liked seeing Gravel getting more involved offensively, although I seriously doubt that he'll put up Justin Schultz-type of numbers. Nevertheless, it's always good to get some offense from your defense.
Two players that really stood out to me as far as their play throughout the game were Zabkowitz and Rabey. I thought both did a really good job of going up against the Sioux's top players. If they weren't shutting them down, they did a nice job of making things difficult for them. Rabey made a couple of mistakes, but nothing that I would deem glaring and nothing that can't be fixed.
Leblanc continues to impress me a lot. And what I like most about watching him is that he's not just creating scoring opportunities, he's blocking shots and helping out the defense too. IMO, this is one reason why NHL teams are looking at him closely. He's a really smart player and more often than not, he makes the right decisions....with and without the puck. His game isn't always flashy, but it's effective. Drew certainly isn't one-dimensional and I think those in the scouting community and around college hockey who've seen him play know that.
Finally, the two things that SCSU does really well, but needs to do more consistently is utilize their speed and puck-pressure for 60 minutes. In the past, when they've done that for all or much of the game, they were successful.
Nice job by your boys last nite. Looks like they may have found a diamond in the rough in Faragher. Made some huge saves last night. Oh how a sweep would be nice. The arrogance out of some of these gopher fans is nausiating.
Mitch MacMillan has left the team, likely due to an inability to crack our top 6. No idea where he goes from here. David Morley will not play this year due to concussion symptoms from last year's BCHL playoffs. Drew LeBlanc's bones are almost healed, he will have another x-ray Jan. 13th and I wouldn't be surprised if he's back before Feb.
Waterloo forward Joe Rehkamp has joined the Huskies for the 2nd half of the season. He is eligible to play right away and could see time against Western Michigan this week.
Cam Reid has left St. Cloud for Portland of the WHL. As a Husky fan, this pisses me off to no end. I'd understand it if he was an 18 year old freshman who wasn't getting playing time but he's 20, has missed one game in his career and was producing at the college level. His grades were not great but he was still eligible so in my opinion, he did nothing more than quit on his team to play for another for a maximum of 5 months. This after St. Cloud took him when he couldn't get in to UNH. Congrats Cam, you just screwed a locker room full of guys counting on you for totally selfish reasons.
Cam Reid has left St. Cloud for Portland of the WHL. As a Husky fan, this pisses me off to no end. I'd understand it if he was an 18 year old freshman who wasn't getting playing time but he's 20, has missed one game in his career and was producing at the college level. His grades were not great but he was still eligible so in my opinion, he did nothing more than quit on his team to play for another for a maximum of 5 months. This after St. Cloud took him when he couldn't get in to UNH. Congrats Cam, you just screwed a locker room full of guys counting on you for totally selfish reasons.
Just read about this in the WHL thread. He apparently has been promised 1st line time, between Ty Rattie (32nd overall St. Louis) and Sven Bartschi (13th overall Calgary). But like you said, he's already 20. Makes no sense from a development stand point, and while Portland is in the top four of the Western Conference, they're by no means the favourite to win the WHL.
Cam Reid has left St. Cloud for Portland of the WHL. As a Husky fan, this pisses me off to no end. I'd understand it if he was an 18 year old freshman who wasn't getting playing time but he's 20, has missed one game in his career and was producing at the college level. His grades were not great but he was still eligible so in my opinion, he did nothing more than quit on his team to play for another for a maximum of 5 months. This after St. Cloud took him when he couldn't get in to UNH. Congrats Cam, you just screwed a locker room full of guys counting on you for totally selfish reasons.
I think what's disturbing here isn't so much that he decided to bolt from SCSU to play in the WHL but WHY he decided to do so and his timing thereof. It's bad enough that the Huskies are without Leblanc and Morley, not to mention Mitch MacMillan has decided to transfer to UND to play with his brother, but to lose a player like Cam for the reason he has stated, is of concern to me. I was reading about this on Mick Hatten's Blog and this line stood out to me:
“They offered to have me play center on the first line with their top two players,”Reid said. “I talked it over with my parents and it was something I couldn’t pass up or say no to."
So what happens if he doesn't mesh well with his new line mates or his new coach decides to shake up his lines and ends up putting Cam on the 2nd, 3rd or 4th line and/or move him to wing like Motzko did at SCSU? Will he be ok with it or demand a trade? As Rocko mentioned, being 20 years old, this would make it his one and only year in the WHL. Will he be that much more pro-ready at the end of this season than say had he stayed at SCSU for the duration of his eligibility? (which would another two years).
