Post by Deer on Oct 1, 2007 23:02:06 GMT -4
Wish I could see this one, a battle between two teams of similar hard-working and gritty styles............ and two teams who have gotten off to great starts to the season. I'm sure the Eagles will be happy to be back within the friendly confines of C200 after being on the road for something like 11 days.
Both teams could be pretty tired. Cape Breton, as mentioned, just got home from a very lengthy road trip.......... while Moncton just finished a three game in three night weekend and will be playing their fifth game in seven days overall. But few teams in this league know how to empty the tank like these two, so hopefully it'll still be a good one.
We'll be missing Lamontagne and Vincent thanks to the "jumping off the bench" incident in St. John's (see another thread on the topic for those who don't know what's going on here), and will of course also be missing goaltender Marek Benda........... does anyone know the status of the freak injury he suffered in St. John's? The rumours were that it was a shoulder injury, and that seemed to make sense based on what I saw on the replay........... but I haven't heard any confirmation.
This means that Durocher will man the bench, and that Bellavance-Roy will start in goal. Who will be backing him up is anybody's guess? Kyle Downer served as backup on Saturday night in St. John's, but I don't think he's willing to leave the Rock what with his commitment to school. Obviously Davenport is now in Owen Sound, and Paul Dorsey who tried out for the team is als likely back in Ontario. Who the hell are we going to call up to back up? The only guy left I can think of is Justin Collier, the first goaltender cut from training camp this year and a 10th (or something like that) round pick of the team in this past year's draft. He's Nova Scotian so should be able to make the trip up to back up. Unless of course the Eagles have some other goalie up their sleeve.
The absences of Benda, Lamontagne, and Vincent is the bad news.................... but there is some good news.
Chris Culligan makes his return to the lineup tomorrow night after being out since the season opener. He'll return to the top line with Slaney and Ouellet, which will bump Nicholas Chouinard back down to likely line 3 or so. Maybe he'll take Gouchie's spot on the third line with Quesnel and Gauthier, as Gouchie got a match penalty in our last game....... and doesn't one of those come with an automatic game suspension?
Anyway, Culligan returning with Ouellet and Slaney obviously really strengthens our top line............. and takes a bit of the pressure off of perhaps the team's most productive line to date in MacNeil-Laberge-Haddad.
Chris will also be playing the point on the first PP.............. the last time I remember the team trying Culligan on the point on the powerplay was about this time two years ago. Some fans felt at the time that that experiment wasn't given enough of a chance, so it'll be interesting to see how it works out this time. Our PP has been surprisingly productive so far considering we don't really have any proven/veteran offensive defencemen on the team to run either unit.
Speaking of defencemen, more good news comes in that Spencer Corcoran and Francis Meilleur are reportedly good to go for tomorrow night. Meilleur had missed the last couple of games with injury, and Corcoran left the last game early according to some reports, so both were question marks........ but apparently they'll give it a try.
As said, both teams are scrappy and hard working......... play physical and employ a relentless forecheck........... fatigue could be a factor for both (and therefore an excuse for neither). A lot of teams lose to Moncton because they take them lightly/aren't willing to work as hard as they......... but I think we're one of the few teams that isn't overly likely to fall into either trap. I can't say who I think will win. A Cape Breton victory would be a nice confidence boost heading into another tough test in this weekend's back-to-back home dates against Le Titan.
Go Eagles!
Both teams could be pretty tired. Cape Breton, as mentioned, just got home from a very lengthy road trip.......... while Moncton just finished a three game in three night weekend and will be playing their fifth game in seven days overall. But few teams in this league know how to empty the tank like these two, so hopefully it'll still be a good one.
We'll be missing Lamontagne and Vincent thanks to the "jumping off the bench" incident in St. John's (see another thread on the topic for those who don't know what's going on here), and will of course also be missing goaltender Marek Benda........... does anyone know the status of the freak injury he suffered in St. John's? The rumours were that it was a shoulder injury, and that seemed to make sense based on what I saw on the replay........... but I haven't heard any confirmation.
This means that Durocher will man the bench, and that Bellavance-Roy will start in goal. Who will be backing him up is anybody's guess? Kyle Downer served as backup on Saturday night in St. John's, but I don't think he's willing to leave the Rock what with his commitment to school. Obviously Davenport is now in Owen Sound, and Paul Dorsey who tried out for the team is als likely back in Ontario. Who the hell are we going to call up to back up? The only guy left I can think of is Justin Collier, the first goaltender cut from training camp this year and a 10th (or something like that) round pick of the team in this past year's draft. He's Nova Scotian so should be able to make the trip up to back up. Unless of course the Eagles have some other goalie up their sleeve.
The absences of Benda, Lamontagne, and Vincent is the bad news.................... but there is some good news.
Chris Culligan makes his return to the lineup tomorrow night after being out since the season opener. He'll return to the top line with Slaney and Ouellet, which will bump Nicholas Chouinard back down to likely line 3 or so. Maybe he'll take Gouchie's spot on the third line with Quesnel and Gauthier, as Gouchie got a match penalty in our last game....... and doesn't one of those come with an automatic game suspension?
Anyway, Culligan returning with Ouellet and Slaney obviously really strengthens our top line............. and takes a bit of the pressure off of perhaps the team's most productive line to date in MacNeil-Laberge-Haddad.
Chris will also be playing the point on the first PP.............. the last time I remember the team trying Culligan on the point on the powerplay was about this time two years ago. Some fans felt at the time that that experiment wasn't given enough of a chance, so it'll be interesting to see how it works out this time. Our PP has been surprisingly productive so far considering we don't really have any proven/veteran offensive defencemen on the team to run either unit.
Speaking of defencemen, more good news comes in that Spencer Corcoran and Francis Meilleur are reportedly good to go for tomorrow night. Meilleur had missed the last couple of games with injury, and Corcoran left the last game early according to some reports, so both were question marks........ but apparently they'll give it a try.
As said, both teams are scrappy and hard working......... play physical and employ a relentless forecheck........... fatigue could be a factor for both (and therefore an excuse for neither). A lot of teams lose to Moncton because they take them lightly/aren't willing to work as hard as they......... but I think we're one of the few teams that isn't overly likely to fall into either trap. I can't say who I think will win. A Cape Breton victory would be a nice confidence boost heading into another tough test in this weekend's back-to-back home dates against Le Titan.
Go Eagles!
