A few musings to ponder and consider as the Mississauga St-Mike's Majors come to town to take on the Ice Dogs for the final time in Niagara in the regular season:
-The OHL continues to baffle me with its ruling/lack of ruling. No suspensions, it appears, for either Alex Friesen or Tyler McCarthy. Friesen, I thought, would get a 3-5 game banishment. I would not have agreed with the ruling, but from what the OHL is trying to promote this year, and the fact Friesen was assessed a game misconduct, I thought they would give Friesen a little supplemental attention. Tyler McCarthy getting nothing for his blatant head shot to Tom Kuhnhackl also goes unpunished, astonishing in a year in which 10 games has been the norm for contact to the head. It's almost like the OHL wanted to give a free pass to the teams, considering the circumstances of the game itself.
- Mississauga has returned Leaf 1st round draft pick Stuart Percy, and veteran D-Man David Corrente to the line up and that makes them a difficult team to play against. Along with Oshawa, I consider Mississauga to be something of a sleeper team in the playoffs, should both teams make it. The Majors can boast veteran Brandon Maxwell in net and he had a deep run with Kitchener a couple of years back where he played 20 games in the post-season. Caveat Emptor to all teams that may face Mississauga in the 1st round
- Erie, with G Adam Wood, between the pipes lost 10-6 to Plymouth last night. This should put to rest the fact that the Ice Dogs were running up the score versus Erie. If you actually watched the game, you could see the Ice Dogs only put the pedal down after McCarthy felled Kuhnhackl with a head check. More people would criticize the Ice Dogs for having key personnel out when the issue had long been decided. The Dogs were down to 10 forwards in the third period, after Friesen's ejection and Kuhnhackl's injury. With all the mixing and matching that the Ice Dogs had to to do, you were guaranteed to see Strome, Hamilton, Agozzino and Ritchie every other shift.
- The Otters are on the verge of a two year least at Tullio Arena, according to various reports. I myself have visited the Tullio arena and have a lovely picture somewhere of myself in front of the Louis J. Tullio plaque/statue (can't remember which). How many people can claim that?
- The idea of saluting Connor Crisp after the game on Sunday came from the Ice Dog players themselves, who then suggested it to Marty Williamson. It was a classy move by a team that has been unfairly bashed on some of the social media sites.
- Our TV Cogeco video of the Erie game has been everywhere, from the National Post to Deadspin. Happy to report that only two people made reference to "idiot Niagara TV broadcasters", which I'm guessing is about average.
- On a different note, the Nazim Kadri I saw in junior hockey had speed to burn, creativity and an edge and aggressiveness to him. Now the Leafs have misused him to the point that he does not rate a call-up when the team is floundering, instead the Leafs called up journeyman bruiser Jay Rosehill, who save for a couple of foolish penalties, has made zero impact. Baffling.
- Ed and I will have the in-arena pre-game show at about 6:40 today. We went on the "road" for our last vignette, and did it from the Ice Dog merchandise store. Who knows where we will end up next? Maybe we will try and do it from the Mississauga bus. After all Dave Cameron is not around to give us the death stare.
Steve Clark
www.twitter.com/SteveClarkMedia
No comments:
Post a Comment