Last night the home town fans were treated to a show. A 5-2 win by the Blizzard, not a blow out but a spectacular win considering they held off the Stampeders and never really gave away the momentum after the first goal.
The Blizzard played the style that the coaching staff has been preaching about, agressive, fast and hard hitting hockey.
Head Coach Jim Mollard has told me many times that 5 on 5 he doesn't think there is a team that can skate with OCN -- after last night you would have to agree with him.
It is just one win, in a long schedule, but for an opening night game at home it was a statement game.
The Blizzard rolled all four lines, the top three getting the lions share of scoring chances and the fourth line put pressure on the puck and didn't look outmatched when on against the Stamps Valentino line.
Tim Kavanaugh looked very good, he's a great skater, works his edges very well.
Brendan Dusik was invisible (in a good way), until he bashed Valentino over the head with his stick.... then he was invisible for a little longer while sitting in the box.
I think, and hope that Blizzard fans can expect this level and style of play from OCN all season. This is a team of hard workers, with the skill to compliment the compete level.
The most impressive line for me last night was Gray, Grove and Valiquette. Speed, skill and physicality in abundance. If they aren't, they're going to be pretty damn close to the best second line in the league.
Chief, Baptiste and Cardinal played very well also.
This team can score with three lines --- that is depth, that is the depth needed to be considered an elite team.
Alex Henry impressive, starts off the season with a 0.935 sv% and looked great on a couple of chances, the Blizzard did a good job of keeping most shots to the outside.
And for those of you at the game I don't think I need to say what Santorelli did. The kid never stops working and it paid off for him last night.
Should be an entertaining night in Swan this evening.
Pre-game at 7:15
You are bang on here Brad.
ReplyDeleteI always look forward to reading your articles, but also look forward to reading other peoples point of view. Unfortunately with that comes the negative comments etc. I base my comments on opinion while trying to maintain positive outlook.
With Jamies blog he many comments from many people. I don't see any here.
I'm thinking it's not because people dont' care or have an opinion but because they may not be able to set up an account. At lest I hope that is the rational.
Can I suggest you put in some sort of step by step on how to create an account. I'm not a computer guru, so it took me a little bit to figure it out. No disrespect intended to anybody.
Looking forward to listening to tonights game.
Go blizz
Good call, I didn't realize that I had comments put on the wrong setting, I've opened them up to anyone. If things get out of hand like they did on Jamie's blog I'll start moderating and tightening the reigns. It's up to you the commenters to keep things flowing easy.
ReplyDelete