Thought I would jump on here and add a few comments about the Sea Dogs win from a Rocket fan’s perspective.
Firstly I want to say that I enjoyed watching the Sea Dogs yesterday. Some of those young players are starting to hit their potential and it was a nice blend of speed and grit.
Players who I thought looked very good were obviously DiDomenico who showed great speed and really drove the net well all night. All three of his goals were great ones especially the first one where he scored while getting hauled down.
Sparling looked like a seasoned veteran, very patient with the puck and made nice plays although a little lazy at times. Liske was one of the guys who impressed me the most with his strong puck control and thought he looked like one of the game’s stars.
Grant and Sauve really controlled the play both offensively and defensively and looked great. Sauve especially who is a great skater for such a big defenseman. Despres although certainly a rookie impressed me with his obvious potential.
Other players who really caught my eye were Leduc who really made that second line effective and MacNeil who was much better than my impression of him from last season.
Having said that to put things in perspective some negative comments would be:
I was expecting more from Knox and don’t understand why: 1) he was buried on the 4th line with grinders, 2) he still only got limited ice time even in a blow out game. After watching Knox dominate with the Capitals I was looking forward to seeing him but he looked out of place last night.
Anthony didn’t impress me at all and I may know understand why Halifax and others passed on paying his ransom. Don’t get me wrong Anthony showed flashes of top level skill but he didn’t really look like a standout 16 yr old, although it was obviously only 1 game.
And Gallant looked like an idiot last night. The first couple of shifts before he got kicked he ran around not even interested in the play. Then as Main was circling the Rocket’s net, Gallant took a 1-arm swing at Main from behind and caught him in the head. Main obviously went down and Southorn (a complete non-fighter) grabbed him and Gallant started throwing punches. Southorn threw some back with the linemen between them and Main jumped up and got involved. It was not some big 1-2 fight as some described it. Simply 3 players involved each throwing a few punches with the linesmen inbetween, nothing special. And a match was the right call on the play as it was clearly reckless use of Gallant’s stick and Main is lucky Gallant didn’t swing his stick harder.
As well, the Rocket didn’t goon it up. Here were the other fights:
1) 160 lb rookie DesRoches grabbed Stich after he hit Walker dirty from behind. Full credit for DesRoches sticking up for Walker but he got overpowered Stich.
2) Walker went after Stich (who was more than willing) late in the 2nd which is why Stich got out.
3) Grant had a bad hit (although I don’t believe intentional) on I think Kana. The next shift during the play Walker said something as he skated by, Grant slashed him and when Walker stopped they basically dropped their gloves at the same time and Walker threw him down. Few punches were actually thrown but Walker got kicked out for his 2nd fight.
4) Not 100% exactly how this started but it was right off the face off and Leduc looked more than willing to go as both players backed up dropped their gloves and went. Paynter got the clear victory.
So I am not really sure what the comments about gooning it up come from, especially when the Rocket’s real fighters (Main, Wright, Gervais) didn’t go and the whole team didn’t even play physical. Beaulieu might have been pissed that Walker took it to both Stich and Grant but those guys were willing combatants. Paynter/Leduc was a little bit of a mismatch but I don’t think that Jean lined it up it appeared to simply happen.
As well, not to take anything away from the Sea Dogs win but from the Rocket’s point of view that was probably the worst effort I have seen from the Rocket in at least 2 yrs maybe ever. The first period of 18-3 told the story as no one on the Rocket was even skating and everyone was taking dumb penalties. And in reality the game was way more lopsided than the stats showed as there were 2 or 3 scrambles where the Rocket probably got 6 - 9 shots and Lafleur probably saved 2 or 3 almost sure goals. In reality this should have been an 8-2 game with the Rocket outshot something like 35 - 15/20.
Very very ugly performance by the Rocket which is why so many fans are angry on the Rocket board. Again I enjoyed watching the Sea Dogs team but unfortunately they were the only team who decided to show up yesterday.
