gruntsplatter
09-24-2003, 09:54 PM
Just got home from the game... my notes are largely illegible, because the guy sitting to my left was HUGE, and I'm a lefty so my writing was impeded by his mighty girth... Nice guy though :)
The game was treated as a Sharks home game, all of the jumbotron stuff was SJ related with some Marleau and Nabby specific Highlight reels, as well as a couple general ones. All of the graphics were Sharks graphics, Sharkie was their camping it up, and so on. There were actually a lot of Shark jerseys in the crowd and they were definitely the favorites of the people there and the turn out seemed pretty solid.
Where to start... Guys that dressed...
Carkner, Cheechoo, Clowe, Davison, Dimitrakos, Disalvatore, Erhoff, Ekman, Goc, Hannan, Harvey, Loyns, McCauley, Nabakov, Parker, Preissing, Rathje, Smith, Vallette
General impressions, the Coyotes seemed noticeably bigger as a team than the Sharks did. It was a tenacious, physical game from both teams, there was a copious amount of fights and scrums with half the guys on the ice all crowding in on each other, to the point where it was almost getting silly. There were also a lot of penalties in general and particularly as a result of that kind of stuff.
Parker got a double minor for roughing 25 seconds into the first period, actually a little surprised it wasn’t called a fight. Davison, was tough throughout, and stuck up for a couple different guys that got really drilled, Dimitrakos was one, and Loyns or Smith may have been the other, both got drilled, I just can’t recall which one it was at that time. That said though, the Sharks were hitting and being aggressive as well, I just think in many of the instances they were outsized. Simpson for the Coyotes was particularly aggressive and I saw the Yotes guys do a few things that were borderline shady.
The line combinations were difficult to keep track of because they were changing and there were so many damn penalties that it was difficult to tell what was intended and what was making die. Harvey/Smith/Parker was a pretty consistent one though. DiSalvatorre/McCauley/Loyns was another I wrote down, but that was less consistent.
The PK looked really good, and Davison was really strong in front of the net. Him and Erhoff both were both really strong in general with positioning etc. Davison was clearly much more physical as is to be expected. Hannan was pretty aggressive offensively and his skating looked really good as well as his speed. Rat was Rat. Preissing seemed pretty good as well, bnut didn’t quite stand out the way that Davison and Erhoff did. Carkner didn’t seem to get a lot of minutes, and went to the box a couple times, at least once for a fight.
As far as the forwards go, Cheechoo played a great game, and his goal was a beautiful thing. McCauley set him up with a gorgeous cross ice pass entering the zine. The kind of pass you know is going to lead to something good. Cheech goes down the right side and cuts in front of the net through traffic and lifts a perfect backhander past Shawn Burke. It was a goal scorer goal. Yep Burke was in net for the whole game. Harvey was playing like Harvey should play, he was feisty and aggressive all night, and kicked off the scoring. Him and Smith both played a really agitating game and were among the standouts all night. Parker seemed good with his defensive positioning as well. Loyns was crashing the net and pissing people off. He got his helmet torn off on one play crashing the net and the Yotes player threw it back at him directly in his face… Then Davison started shoving the guy around etc. McCauley was pretty visible as well, and made some nice plays. Dimitrakos wasn’t obvious for a lot of the evening, but his was a nice goal that showed really good awareness. Goc and Ekman really didn’t stand out much. DiSalvatorre and to a lesser extent Clowe were in the action and getting involved, but not a lot specifically came from it.
Nabakov, yes he got the shut out, but Nabby looked GREAT, his positioning was awesome, he was seeing stuff in traffic, and he was aggressive on the puck. He played a really outstanding game, it was really encouraging to see him seeing things so well so early. Toskala was dressed as the back up.
Hannan, Rathje and McCauley wore the A, but McCauley clearly acted like the Captain dealing with the Officials and so on because so many of the fights were pile ups it took time sorting out who was getting what and he was always the one seeing what the deal was.
I tried to take it all in because I knew there would be questions from everyone about everyone, so I hope I have answered anything, if not ask and I’ll see what I can come up with. The main things I came away with, Cheechoo has picked up his game, Harvey seems back to form, the young D we keep talking about deserve to be talked about. The defensive positioning was pretty good throughout, and the PK looked strong. Nabby looked great… I hope Loyns gets some big league time because I love watching him. There was passion and guys sticking up for and watching out for each other. It was an encouraging game, especially since a majority of our veterans weren’t playing, and Phoenix had guys like Lankow, Ference, Nagy, Doan, Nazarov out there and Burke in net.
Ok that’s it… Nabby looked great.
The game was treated as a Sharks home game, all of the jumbotron stuff was SJ related with some Marleau and Nabby specific Highlight reels, as well as a couple general ones. All of the graphics were Sharks graphics, Sharkie was their camping it up, and so on. There were actually a lot of Shark jerseys in the crowd and they were definitely the favorites of the people there and the turn out seemed pretty solid.
Where to start... Guys that dressed...
Carkner, Cheechoo, Clowe, Davison, Dimitrakos, Disalvatore, Erhoff, Ekman, Goc, Hannan, Harvey, Loyns, McCauley, Nabakov, Parker, Preissing, Rathje, Smith, Vallette
General impressions, the Coyotes seemed noticeably bigger as a team than the Sharks did. It was a tenacious, physical game from both teams, there was a copious amount of fights and scrums with half the guys on the ice all crowding in on each other, to the point where it was almost getting silly. There were also a lot of penalties in general and particularly as a result of that kind of stuff.
Parker got a double minor for roughing 25 seconds into the first period, actually a little surprised it wasn’t called a fight. Davison, was tough throughout, and stuck up for a couple different guys that got really drilled, Dimitrakos was one, and Loyns or Smith may have been the other, both got drilled, I just can’t recall which one it was at that time. That said though, the Sharks were hitting and being aggressive as well, I just think in many of the instances they were outsized. Simpson for the Coyotes was particularly aggressive and I saw the Yotes guys do a few things that were borderline shady.
The line combinations were difficult to keep track of because they were changing and there were so many damn penalties that it was difficult to tell what was intended and what was making die. Harvey/Smith/Parker was a pretty consistent one though. DiSalvatorre/McCauley/Loyns was another I wrote down, but that was less consistent.
The PK looked really good, and Davison was really strong in front of the net. Him and Erhoff both were both really strong in general with positioning etc. Davison was clearly much more physical as is to be expected. Hannan was pretty aggressive offensively and his skating looked really good as well as his speed. Rat was Rat. Preissing seemed pretty good as well, bnut didn’t quite stand out the way that Davison and Erhoff did. Carkner didn’t seem to get a lot of minutes, and went to the box a couple times, at least once for a fight.
As far as the forwards go, Cheechoo played a great game, and his goal was a beautiful thing. McCauley set him up with a gorgeous cross ice pass entering the zine. The kind of pass you know is going to lead to something good. Cheech goes down the right side and cuts in front of the net through traffic and lifts a perfect backhander past Shawn Burke. It was a goal scorer goal. Yep Burke was in net for the whole game. Harvey was playing like Harvey should play, he was feisty and aggressive all night, and kicked off the scoring. Him and Smith both played a really agitating game and were among the standouts all night. Parker seemed good with his defensive positioning as well. Loyns was crashing the net and pissing people off. He got his helmet torn off on one play crashing the net and the Yotes player threw it back at him directly in his face… Then Davison started shoving the guy around etc. McCauley was pretty visible as well, and made some nice plays. Dimitrakos wasn’t obvious for a lot of the evening, but his was a nice goal that showed really good awareness. Goc and Ekman really didn’t stand out much. DiSalvatorre and to a lesser extent Clowe were in the action and getting involved, but not a lot specifically came from it.
Nabakov, yes he got the shut out, but Nabby looked GREAT, his positioning was awesome, he was seeing stuff in traffic, and he was aggressive on the puck. He played a really outstanding game, it was really encouraging to see him seeing things so well so early. Toskala was dressed as the back up.
Hannan, Rathje and McCauley wore the A, but McCauley clearly acted like the Captain dealing with the Officials and so on because so many of the fights were pile ups it took time sorting out who was getting what and he was always the one seeing what the deal was.
I tried to take it all in because I knew there would be questions from everyone about everyone, so I hope I have answered anything, if not ask and I’ll see what I can come up with. The main things I came away with, Cheechoo has picked up his game, Harvey seems back to form, the young D we keep talking about deserve to be talked about. The defensive positioning was pretty good throughout, and the PK looked strong. Nabby looked great… I hope Loyns gets some big league time because I love watching him. There was passion and guys sticking up for and watching out for each other. It was an encouraging game, especially since a majority of our veterans weren’t playing, and Phoenix had guys like Lankow, Ference, Nagy, Doan, Nazarov out there and Burke in net.
Ok that’s it… Nabby looked great.