stardog
11-03-2004, 03:03 AM
and he didnt look all that impressive. But, to be honest, it wasnt his fault. Gomez as an individual looked very good. He made great passes, skated hard and played solid all around hockey.
He did look however, out of sync and that was simply because his passes were lost on the guys who really werent used to playing with a player of that level.
It also looked like they were intimidated to be playing on his line and they all just didnt mesh all that well together which is understandable on many different levels.
So I just wanted to stop by and say that I saw (and met him) him play and that his skill set was lost on his linemates. He wasnt dominant like I expected, but then again his game is predicated on distributing and when your passes are lost on lesser players then how great can you look in the first place?
It may take awhile for them to get used to eachother but it was still cool to see him play in the old "Garden" tonight and of course it was great to see some live hockey (even if it is ECHL) again.
The Condors (Bakersfields team name....kinda lame huh?) merged with Gomez's team into the ECHL when they were brought into the ECHL from the old WCHL (which was like 3 levels below the old ECHL) so the level of play on the west coast isnt as competitive on the East as far as prospects go, but with the lockout the West coast teams are starting to catch up and the Condors actually have a couple of drafted prospects and legitimate prospects as well, but nowhere near an Eastern ECHL team. So the level of play Gomez will go against is guys who had succesful junior careers but for some reason (size, skating) were never drafted. They have some guys who will make the NHL (most likely as a goon as the Condors have 2 of the best in John Mirasty and Ashley Langdone) but most are just guys who want to keep playing to keep the dream alive.
Anyways Gomez skated hard tonight as he always does and played quality minutes. If his goal is to stay in shape and keep sharp then he is going to get that. If it is to hone his skill against a quality opponenet, he is better going overseas cuz he wont get that in Alaska (as they play mostly the western ECHL teams).
Thought you all may wanna know about that as news is slow.
Later all.
He did look however, out of sync and that was simply because his passes were lost on the guys who really werent used to playing with a player of that level.
It also looked like they were intimidated to be playing on his line and they all just didnt mesh all that well together which is understandable on many different levels.
So I just wanted to stop by and say that I saw (and met him) him play and that his skill set was lost on his linemates. He wasnt dominant like I expected, but then again his game is predicated on distributing and when your passes are lost on lesser players then how great can you look in the first place?
It may take awhile for them to get used to eachother but it was still cool to see him play in the old "Garden" tonight and of course it was great to see some live hockey (even if it is ECHL) again.
The Condors (Bakersfields team name....kinda lame huh?) merged with Gomez's team into the ECHL when they were brought into the ECHL from the old WCHL (which was like 3 levels below the old ECHL) so the level of play on the west coast isnt as competitive on the East as far as prospects go, but with the lockout the West coast teams are starting to catch up and the Condors actually have a couple of drafted prospects and legitimate prospects as well, but nowhere near an Eastern ECHL team. So the level of play Gomez will go against is guys who had succesful junior careers but for some reason (size, skating) were never drafted. They have some guys who will make the NHL (most likely as a goon as the Condors have 2 of the best in John Mirasty and Ashley Langdone) but most are just guys who want to keep playing to keep the dream alive.
Anyways Gomez skated hard tonight as he always does and played quality minutes. If his goal is to stay in shape and keep sharp then he is going to get that. If it is to hone his skill against a quality opponenet, he is better going overseas cuz he wont get that in Alaska (as they play mostly the western ECHL teams).
Thought you all may wanna know about that as news is slow.
Later all.