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Post by moosefan902 on Oct 3, 2014 7:42:29 GMT -4
Our forwards weren't bad when they actually got the puck in RNs zone. But our breakouts are absolutely god awful. I guess it's just the rookie Dmen but they just seem to throw it to the middle of the ice and then if we're lucky we had a 1 on 2...There was some moments where RN cycled it on us so bad it looked like beer league out there. Our Dmen just looked lost chasing people around...Not very good hockey to say the least.
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Post by Porkchop on Oct 3, 2014 7:57:51 GMT -4
Even with everyone healthy the defence is shorthanded. Fucale has to be better. He hasn't looked good since last season. Ducharme may need to instill a system that will allow them to compete. NJ Devil style hockey isn't sexy but it works when you don't have the horses. Tight team D and wait for an opportunity...boring but effective. Don't be too hard on your poor ole goaltender...a goalies numbers are probably the worst hit by the quality of the team in front of him...anyone can win on a great team. On Ducharme, this is the type of team that will determine what kind of a coach he really is. Much like Gallant that was in Saint John with a top team each year, I would have loved to see him with a rebuilding club to see what he could really do. It's easy to be coach of they year when you clearly have the best team in the country that tears up every opponent it faces.
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Post by Porkchop on Oct 3, 2014 7:59:56 GMT -4
We actually looked good until Rouyn's first goal. Then we had zero game after that. Could've been karma after Vuic blatantly snowed the Huskies' goalie in the first few minutes. No need for that stuff. ACTUALLY, I'll defend Vuic on that because that was 100% Belanger's fault. Belanger saw that Vuic was coming at him and there was no white sweaters anywhere near him, but he had his glove hovering over the puck and wouldn't cover it. He waited until Vuic was right on top of him to cover the puck. Vuic stopped as soon as the glove went down... just so happens that was 2 feet from his face and he got snowed. If he put the glove down when he was at the hash marks he doesn't get snowed. that's the worst excuse I've ever seen.....are you telling me that he had to stop there, or is he not able to turn like most other major jr players? He snowed him because he wanted to, lol...no other reason.
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Post by Citris on Oct 3, 2014 8:01:52 GMT -4
Don't be too hard on your poor ole goaltender...a goalies numbers are probably the worst hit by the quality of the team in front of him...anyone can win on a great team. It's not numbers we're talking about. It's the fact he's sucked. He just... misses pucks. Ever since the Val'd-Or series last year Fucale has been terrible and it has nothing to do with the team in front of him. Looks more like he's lost depth perception or something.
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Post by Citris on Oct 3, 2014 8:14:17 GMT -4
that's the worst excuse I've ever seen.....are you telling me that he had to stop there, or is he not able to turn like most other major jr players? He snowed him because he wanted to, lol...no other reason. You've seen Vuic play right? Kid turns like a cement truck. Regardless, even if he could, if the goalie wants to taunt him with the puck until he's right on top of him, fk it, snow him, he deserves it. And if the other team is pissed off about it, who gives a shit just play better hockey than them. We failed to do that and now it looks bad on us.
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Post by DropThePuck on Oct 3, 2014 8:26:35 GMT -4
that's the worst excuse I've ever seen.....are you telling me that he had to stop there, or is he not able to turn like most other major jr players? He snowed him because he wanted to, lol...no other reason. You've seen Vuic play right? Kid turns like a cement truck. Regardless, even if he could, if the goalie wants to taunt him with the puck until he's right on top of him, fk it, snow him, he deserves it. And if the other team is pissed off about it, who gives a shit just play better hockey than them. We failed to do that and now it looks bad on us. I have to agree with Raimu here.....if Vuic is going after the puck at full speed and the goalie chooses to hover over it rather than simply cover it....if I am Vuic I'm thinking there still may be a chance that puck slips out or something.....Vuic also does turn like he should have a sign on his back that says "Wide Turns"
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Post by CrazyJoeDavola on Oct 3, 2014 8:52:04 GMT -4
Uhg. You know at least in 09-10 and 10-11 I could come home from the games and know the boys at least worked their tails off when they lost. These last 2 games have just been depressing. Just frustrating to watch the team skate around with 0 energy Yeah I'm all for giving the young kids ice time. But it's really early in the season, and guys like Ford, Nauss and Taillfer aren't used to this much ice time at this level. I guess like most things balance is key. We actually looked good until Rouyn's first goal. Then we had zero game after that. Could've been karma after Vuic blatantly snowed the Huskies' goalie in the first few minutes. No need for that stuff. Last year we started slow, and we said it was almost like we were waiting for Drouin to come back. Weird that the same thing is happening with Ehlers out. We're better than we're playing, but we aren't that good. So we'll have to deal with losses like this sometimes. Are we though? We aren't very good on paper full strength, then you take out Moynihan, Ehlers, Watt, Leblanc (the experienced guys) and the injured D on a core that is already weak - and I think this is the team we have. Right now, we have 1 very good offensive player (Gadoury), a couple decent offensive guys (Meier, Falkenham) and then pretty much all rookies and grinders at best. Murphy is trying to take on Weegars role, but its a learning process. Hardie is at his best when he can just focus on being a stay at home, rough defenseman. I think people will need to temper expectations - especially right now with the missing guys - and basically expect a last place team early on. It will be a long season on this board if we start panicking and saying everyone sucks already etc. Just sit back and let these inexperienced guys get their feet wet, as ugly as it may be at times early on. Some of these guys didn't even make the team and we are now relying on them to play regular minutes. We can be better, sure, but so can most teams as everyone is just figuring out systems and missing guys. We need Ehlers back, and help on D, and we will trade some wins with losses. But right now we will probably lose 3 out of every 4 games with this lineup honestly. I don't agree with a poster above who said we need to buckle down into a NJ trap and win some games. Of course we do have to take care of our own end better right now, but at the same time, wins are not that important right now and I would rather see guys learn the systems and develop their skills. That was a huge strength in recent years, where we could fairly easily replace somebody in a bigger role with a depth guy because everyone was on the same page as far as the systems. Again - we need to recognize this lineup we have, and understand they are overall an inexperienced bunch that are playing big roles probably over their heads in many cases. Things will get better, players will get better, and of course Ehlers return will give the offense/PP a big boost. But no sense throwing these guys under the bus 7 games in. It will be ugly and frustrating at times. Fucale will have to steal some wins along the way too and is off to a slow start although the last two games we were badly outplayed.
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Post by Citris on Oct 3, 2014 9:28:47 GMT -4
As painful as this season is so far, it does put things into perspective. And maybe will encourage Cam to sell. We have are first round pick this year too, so, getting a guy like Shane Bowers or Adam Dawe would help quite a bit (I don't know many prospects for this draft, but those guys look good so far.)
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Post by seαωo|f on Oct 3, 2014 10:22:00 GMT -4
I thought the Mooseheads played really well in the first 10 minutes or so. They were horrendous after that however.
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Post by Citris on Oct 3, 2014 10:35:38 GMT -4
I thought the Mooseheads played really well in the first 10 minutes or so. They were horrendous after that however. Yea the weak goal deflated them. The first powerplay looked really good too. Brand new set play we've never seen before.
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Post by seαωo|f on Oct 3, 2014 10:41:07 GMT -4
I thought the Mooseheads played really well in the first 10 minutes or so. They were horrendous after that however. Yea the weak goal deflated them. The first powerplay looked really good too. Brand new set play we've never seen before. Yeah, they looked great. Meier especially. If it wasn't for Belanger, the Moose would have opened the scoring.
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Post by Jack Bauer on Oct 3, 2014 10:43:46 GMT -4
We had a weak defense to start the season - and now its even weaker with injuries, and filled with guys who couldn't crack the weak roster to begin with. Not just defensively, but moving the puck up ice to generate offense etc. We will be on our heels for most of this season, especially early on. Blame the defense and goaltending all you want - but ya can't win games without scoring some goals! You can't score goals without the puck and it's much harder to retrieve and maintain possession with a crew of inexperienced defencemen who would be in over their head even as depth defencemen on good teams. It doesn't matter if you have the 12 best defensive forwards in the league if the majority of your D is below average. Even with a great top pairing you're on your heels for half the game.
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Post by hfxfan09 on Oct 3, 2014 10:43:55 GMT -4
Stick with them guys, then we know who the real fans are I couldn't care less about the fairweather fans there only there when your winning we knew this was the start of a rebuild.(I still think with some guys back and Ehlers back will be a a mid pack team; we started of this slow last year and got away to the Semis). Interesting point on the herdcast podcast last night, I wonder if Fucale's timing is off they made that point last night after playing in the NHL. (I expect us to be better Sunday, Dom said on the post game last night they all know they can be better including Fucale).
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Post by Citris on Oct 3, 2014 11:02:31 GMT -4
Blame the defense and goaltending all you want - but ya can't win games without scoring some goals! You can't score goals without the puck and it's much harder to retrieve and maintain possession with a crew of inexperienced defencemen who would be in over their head even as depth defencemen on good teams. It doesn't matter if you have the 12 best defensive forwards in the league if the majority of your D is below average. Even with a great top pairing you're on your heels for half the game. That's a very good point. So many inexperienced D leads to poor breakouts, tons of turnovers, no puck possession. Then we have situations where Ryoun was just cycling the puck for minutes on end and our guys didn't know where to be on the ice or how to handle it.
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Post by mooseinfo on Oct 3, 2014 11:44:07 GMT -4
Someone mentioned another 19yr old D. I dont think that matters much since 2 of these guys will be bumped once a fitz and Lussier are back. Yes not superstars but both practiced/played the systems last year which will take strain off rookies.
With most rookie type teams what you are looking for is progress which usually takes until around Xmas. They got 8 D on the roster which usually is 7 so that is a factor in this as well.
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