Ulmer – Lundmark – Balej
Lawson – Moore – Hollweg
Wiseman – Betts – Gernander
Giroux – Helminen – Ortmeyer
Don’t read those lines as really meaning much in terms of order – McGill rolls all four lines and I’d be willing to bet the ice times don’t vary more than a few minutes in any way. Finally relieved of the burden of a goon weighting down each line, the scorers are flying again with 10 goals in the last two games.
I’m not wild about putting Ulmer up on the top line – I think Giroux would be a much better fit as he can go to the net and finish off pretty passes from Lundmark and Balej. As friend Dan pointed out, though, Layne does serve one very important purpose on that line – he’s there to take face-offs. And Layne has been battling his way to the net the last couple of games, picking up goals both Saturday and Sunday of this week.
Besides, there’s no way Giroux makes the top line this year. For some reason, McGill has decided he doesn’t like Alex, and his response was to bench the team’s leader in goals (before this weekend) for Saturday night’s game. Last year it was Dom that McGill dumped everything on. Bad loss? Dom’s fault. Team bus break down? Blame the Moore kid. Earthquake in China? …you’ve got the idea. Dom seems to have escaped the hot seat this year, but now Alex is in it. Every game I’ve seen Alex play he runs around the ice crashing into people, drives the goalie nuts in front of the net, and is willing to drop the gloves when needed. And he scores – like he did tonight.
Anyway, Jamie looks good. He even wanted to fight tonight, infuriated by a trip that sent him skidding across the ice on his butt until he slid (slowly) skates first in the boards. Getting back to his feet he took off across the ice at top speed, hunting the guy who took him down and delivering an elbow to the face as he checked him hard into the glass. This was after attempting to put the butt end of his stick through the spine of a guy for taking him hard to the glass earlier in the period. Fiesty is good, but when he got tangled up with former Pack player Jayme Filipowicz near the end of the game, I wasn’t so sure that was going to end well. That was one of the few encounters in this game that didn’t actually end in a fight.
Balej needs a goal, bad. This kid is hurting for one. He currently is suffering from Rico Fata disease, having forgotten that he is too small to successfully carry the puck across the blueline. Last year he showed his skill at the Pavel Bure method of disappearing into thin air and magically reappearing in the circles completely alone and with stick ready for the shot, and that would be most welcome right now. Speaking of Bure, can we get him in here to work with Jozef on keeping the dekes to a maximum of 3 or 4 per shot? But Balej is showing a lot of spirit right now, and while he’s not necessarily putting up the numbers of the score sheet at the moment, he is playing a remarkably physical game, and is starting to cut down on the sloppy penalties that plagued him at the beginning of the season. Although I kind of miss the spectacle - he has the guiltiest look I’ve ever seen on a player sent to the box.
Dominic Moore is rock solid this season, with 16 points in 19 games – 13 of which are assists. He’s also leads the team at +9 after tonight. With tonight’s shorthanded goal, he and Chad Wiseman showed how clean plays can be when two very hockey-smart forwards get sprung. I’d like to see those two together more often.
I love to see Ryan Hollweg run around the ice and smash people into the glass, but every time he drops the gloves we all cringe. After the famous Dr. Karen diagnosed his head injury as career-ending, we are afraid of what could happen with the next punch he takes. If he keeps fighting like he did tonight, though, I guess I’ll worry less – he completely destroyed the Bruin’s Hayward, and sent him to the locker room bleeding from several cuts on his face. Hayward never landed a punch, nor even really got one off from what I could see. Ryan is vicious on the ice, and fights with the same glee in causing pain to another human being that Richard Scott always showed. Scary stuff.
Blair Betts seems so much older than his actual age, as he’s just so damn dependable out there. Interesting coaching choice to put him and Kenny Gernander on the same line, as they really both bring the same style of play to the ice – defensively flawless, feisty in battling for the puck, and with a great shot from the slot. Chad Wiseman is here from some reason I’m not sure of. I say move Chad up to Dom’s line and bump Lucas Lawson (he of the Bee Gees hair) down to Kenny and Blair’s line.
This last line is out there for pure entertainment, I think. Helminen is a nasty little guy, and pretty good on the face-off. He is quite little, though, and shares Jed’s habit of playing with his mouthguard hanging out rather than actually wearing it as surely designed. Is this a Michigan thing? Giroux is just working his way back into the lineup, and I’ve already discussed his troubles elsewhere – but Alex is a great energy guy, and he shows the same glee in running into people that Jed and Dwight do.
Ah. Jed. Ummm… Jed was in a fight tonight. With Jay Henderson, who got suspended earlier this year for fighting under the stands after getting tossed from a game. I didn’t see the very very beginning of the fight, but Henderson got an instigator and a misconduct in addition to the fighting. By the time I saw it, Jed still had his gloves on while Jay was rapidly throwing – and connecting. Jed finally dropped the gloves, but more I think to get a firmer grip on Jay’s jersey than to try to throw anything in return. Jay went to town, landing dozens of punches to Jed’s head and face while Jed just struggled to stay on his feet.
It was so painful, I couldn’t even watch the rest of it. I like to think that Ryan’s fight was for Jed. Raw steak is good on those black eyes, Jed, and Advil for the swelling. Take it easy, big guy.
Hamilton is out for another week or two, and Murray should be back soon – he’s been practicing full out for the last couple days.
Lampman – Nycholat
Pock – Weller
Liffiton – MacMillan
Bryce Lampman continues his offensive dominance this season, second only in scoring to Craig Weller. Apparently Bryce fought this weekend as well. Tonight he continued to show his sudden maturity as a defenseman in addition to his offensive jump as he added two assists and a number of great plays in his own zone.
While I’m pleased that Lawrence Nycholat is scoring (and apparently fighting – he had the remains of a black eye tonight), it would also be nice if he could remember how to play defense occasionally.
I like Pock, I think he adds a lot to the team at even strength as well as on the power play. He’s very smart with the puck, and always calm. He’s starting to range a little further from his zone, though. This isn’t a bad thing by itself – he’s got a great wrist shot, and it would be nice to see it a little more. The only problem is that we have him paired with Weller due to Grenier’s injury (another month, at least) and Craig isn’t so good at remembering that he’s playing defense now. Personally, I would shuffle MacMillan up to play with Thomas, and move Craig down to play with Liffiton.
That brings me to my two personal stars of tonight’s game. I’ve always loved defensive defensemen, and they don’t come any more defensive than our two red-headed rottweilers, Mac and Liffiton. Between the two of them they had three fights tonight, and at least two of those were directly a result of a Bruin getting too close to our goalie. One thing McGill has brought to this team is that the second the whistle is blown, 5 blue jerseys materialize around the crease, glaring at anyone even looking at our goalie.
MacMillan went with Van Oene, who’d been spoiling for a fight most of the game and finally pushed Mac too far. I’ve been wondering for awhile whether Mac was this year’s version of John Jakopin not only in size and style of play, but also in that while he could fight, he really didn’t want to. Although Mac and Van Oene fought like two bears wrestling, I’d give Mac the upper hand for landing more punches.
The barely 20 year old Liffiton was the real star, though. Since his call-up and subsequent loss of Charlotte partner Jake Taylor to a Ryan McGill shot in practice (broken orbital bone and nose, out indefinitely), Dave has been nothing short of very impressive. He plays very solid defensive hockey. His breakout passes are crisp and accurate. He protects the goalie like a brother. He puts opponents into the glass, boards, or bench with ferocity. And tonight we learned that he fights like a pit bull. He took on the obnoxious Brendan Walsh, and handed him what had to have been one of Walsh’s worst losses in a fight. With his jersey all array but apparently barely out of breath, Liffiton skated calmly to the box. When Walsh wanted to go again with seconds remaining in the game, Liffiton obliged him. If this kid’s skill set is this complete at only 20 – and we’ve got him in the pro system to develop along side the other kids – he is going to be one to watch for years to come.
After a five game slump, the Pack are back. The difference? Mostly I think it is that McGill has stopped experimenting with the lineup. We’re down two of our big defensemen and a couple of our forwards, but the team is still playing their system of airtight defense-first hockey. They can do this.
Just don’t mess it up, McGill, okay?
eMail this entry!
|
Recent Articles
|
|
|