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Turd Ferguson · 04-20-2020, 06:16 PM

GAME SUMMARY
While one part of the SMJHL’s Eastern Conference seems to be settled, as the Detroit Falcons are cruising to a first-place finish, the other end seems to be more in doubt. The Maine Timber, and Carolina Kraken are currently locked in a battle to not only avoid last place but also make it into the final playoff spot in the conference. In this Post-Game Show we’ll be covering one of these teams’ matchups to happen this season. This game was a home game for the Kraken, taking place in the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina with 6,685 people in attendance.

This game opened pretty quickly out of the gate, as the visiting Timber were able to negate the home advantage with an even strength goal scored by Konrad Danke nearly five minutes into the period. Danke’s opening goal came on the breakaway after a breakout pass from defenseman Valentin Kalashnikov. Carolina was able to tie it back up just under five minutes later. Winger Dwight Knight received the puck behind the net and gave the puck to defenseman Ambacas Cuddles, who gave it right back to him for a slap shot from the blueline that got past Timber goaltender Leo Bloomfield.

The deadlock didn’t last for long, however. Only thirteen seconds later, Valentin Kalashnikov retrieved the puck in his own zone and gave it up to Kyle Sutton who broke into the offensive zone and scored a spectacular goal, his first of the season, to give Maine the lead. That lead would hold for the rest of the game, as the penalties (which included a second-period fight between Adam Friedland and Jack von Arx) ended up being the only notable events in the second and third.

THREE STARS
3rd Star: C Konrad Danke Timber

- 1 G, 0 A, 1 P
Danke’s goal opened up the scoring in this game, and the centerman was solid on both ends of the ice. One of the Timber’s many rookies this season, Danke will look to be an important factor for this team.

2nd Star: LW Dwight Knight Kraken

- 1 G, 0 A, 1 P
Another rookie, this time on the Kraken, winger Dwight Knight has quickly established himself on the first line thanks to the Kraken’s depleted forward corps and has also placed himself in contention to be a likely first round pick in the upcoming SHL draft. He showed why in this game - even if it was a loss, Knight’s goal kept Carolina in the game.

1st Star: D Valentin Kalashnikov Timber

- 0 G, 2 A, 2 P
Meanwhile, Tampa Bay Barracuda prospect Valentin Kalashnikov was comfortably the best player on the ice in this game. The Russian defenseman was the spearhead of Maine’s offense, providing the primary assist on both goals and showing a real ability to make the breakout pass and start a rush in the offensive zone.

**.bojo** · 04-20-2020, 07:02 PM

Snoozefest
This matchup between the Maine Timber and the Carolina Kraken looked to be promising, and started off strong a 2-1 bang in the first period. But afterwards there was no signs of life from either team. The Timber would take three penalties int the last two periods, but succesfully and easily kill of all of them. There was a small spark of life as Friedlan and Von Arx dropped the gloves, but the wow factor was quickly over as an average game of shooting and low hits provided nothing but mediocre hockey to watch. The Timber at least played well enough to hang on and survive, but the Kraken didn't put up much of a fight either.

Roach Spray (and Pray)
A tough outing for both teams, but none tougher than Alexander Roach. Even though his team won, it wasn't because of Roach's goal scoring. He definitely tried though, putting a game leading 6 shots on net against a struggling Kraken team. Either the goalie was play especially hot today or Roach was just giving him softies, but he'll need to get some coaching on what he did wrong that game. Hellquist was right behind him at 5 shots, and actually missed four of those shots. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take, but between these 11 shots they should have probably passed it out instead.

Dud of the game
The award for dud of the game goes to Michael Lee. The right defenseman for the Carolina Kraken had the second most time of attack on the team, but couldn't really contribute much for the Kraken other than just eating up some clock on the power play. Ambacus Cuddles was also pretty bad, but he at least got an assist on the lone goal. He also had 5 shots either missed or blocked as well as 2 giveaways, whereas Lee played just as long and did basically nothing with his -1 plus minus. They're at the mercy of their offense, but they really need to step it up as quarterbacks during the power play and help drive some offense when needed.

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asts · 04-21-2020, 08:22 AM

Underdogs came stronger
We all know that Maine Timber is underdogs this season and maybe even next season. Carolina Kraken is not much better either as well but this was important game for both of teams and Maine Timber climbed the mountain faster and won this game. 2:1- not many goals but interesting hockey. We all know that sometimes it is interesting more if there are not many goals but similar game. Valentin Kalashnikov assssisted all two Maine Timber goals which helped to win and Maine Timber still fights for opportunity to play in second round play-Offs not the first one. That will be some hard fight for them but best of the luck

How similar they are
Statistics just showes how similar these two teams is. Almost tied result in face-offs. Tied in giveaways. Similar in hits. Most important how close is the ending resultyMaine Timber had more shots which is interesting because Kraken had twice less penalty minutes but this game and statistics just showes how similar these two teams is and that they will have similar meetings each game. This will be some type of rivalry which everyone will love to watch and nobody will want to lose because of how strong is this crazy rivalry which can turn in to historically interesting and in general amazing rivalry

Rabidsponge21 · 04-21-2020, 09:13 AM

3 Stars

1st Star - Valentin Kalashnikov (MET) - 2 Assists

- In what was an absolute textbook night for the Main defenseman, Kalashnikov could be seen all over the ice completing both his defensive assignments and contributing on both goals. Valentine made this a statement game to show the hockey world Maine was going to nab that last playoff spot and not carolina.

2nd Star - Dwight Knight - 1 Goal

- In an effort to keep the game close and almost have it end up in a tie early, Knight did what he could offensively to make this a game, but his team unfortunately fell short.

3rd Star - Konrad Danke (MET) - 1 Goal

- The opening goal in this game wasn't the winner, but set the pace early for the Timber and get the winning %'s on their side as the first goal normally ends up with a happy ending for a team.

Recap

In what seemed like a close game on paper, was actually a more dominant performance by the Timber than many might be lead on to believe with the final score. Out shooting their opponents by over 10, as well as controlling the take away category had the puck on the timbers ticks the majority of the game. Props had to be given to the Krakens goaltenders as they were faced with a large volume of shots, but still wasn't deemed a 3 star sadly. This game might have bigger implications than many would think as the season keeps playing out with each point for that last playoff spot becoming more and more important with each passing day.

SAwful · 04-22-2020, 02:06 PM

More Shots, More Goals

In what was a very close game, details start to matter. And looking at the shot total, it's a no brainier to have picked Maine over Carolina in this contest. Putting 11 more shots on frame over the course of the game just gives you an edge that can't be replaced by any other metric. Hits, penalties, face offs, they're all important and can lead to opportunity, but none of them are as direct as shots on net. These two teams played a very close game but a 2-1 win for the Timber is still a win and the likely deciding factor was their willingness and ability to get the puck to the net and test the Kraken defense and goaltending.

Power Plop

Both teams took penalties throughout the game and neither took advantage of the man advantage situation. Specifically, several infractions committed by the Timber through the second and third periods resulted in nothing but hot air for the Kraken. In what appeared to be a close game, the inability to put pucks on net during these situations cost Carolina the game. While the Timber were equally ineffective in potting their own power play points, they had much less time on the man advantage. For having as much time as they did on the power play, the shot totals feel lopsided in favor of the Timber when the Kraken should have been piling it on and giving themselves a chance to get back into this game.

Fight Smarter

Adam Friedland takes himself off the ice after a tilt with Maine's Jack Von Arx. I understand trying to spark your team and give them some energy, but maybe try to pull a player that's having a larger effect on the game than you are? It's a trade off. If I go off the ice, is the other guy going of the same or greater value to the game as I am? it's a simple equation. When you're arguably the better player, maybe don't fight? Adam, you're doing more damage to your team taking yourself away from the play when you choose to throw hands with a guy like Jack Von Arx. No offense to Von Arx, but it's just an objective fact that Friedland has more experience and provides more to his team. This feels like a dumb fight from Friedland, one he should hope to avoid in the future.

Bongo · 04-22-2020, 06:08 PM

04-22-2020, 02:06 PMSAwful Wrote: More Shots, More Goals

In what was a very close game, details start to matter. And looking at the shot total, it's a no brainier to have picked Maine over Carolina in this contest. Putting 11 more shots on frame over the course of the game just gives you an edge that can't be replaced by any other metric. Hits, penalties, face offs, they're all important and can lead to opportunity, but none of them are as direct as shots on net. These two teams played a very close game but a 2-1 win for the Timber is still a win and the likely deciding factor was their willingness and ability to get the puck to the net and test the Kraken defense and goaltending.

Power Plop

Both teams took penalties throughout the game and neither took advantage of the man advantage situation. Specifically, several infractions committed by the Timber through the second and third periods resulted in nothing but hot air for the Kraken. In what appeared to be a close game, the inability to put pucks on net during these situations cost Carolina the game. While the Timber were equally ineffective in potting their own power play points, they had much less time on the man advantage. For having as much time as they did on the power play, the shot totals feel lopsided in favor of the Timber when the Kraken should have been piling it on and giving themselves a chance to get back into this game.

Fight Smarter

Adam Friedland takes himself off the ice after a tilt with Maine's Jack Von Arx. I understand trying to spark your team and give them some energy, but maybe try to pull a player that's having a larger effect on the game than you are? It's a trade off. If I go off the ice, is the other guy going of the same or greater value to the game as I am? it's a simple equation. When you're arguably the better player, maybe don't fight? Adam, you're doing more damage to your team taking yourself away from the play when you choose to throw hands with a guy like Jack Von Arx. No offense to Von Arx, but it's just an objective fact that Friedland has more experience and provides more to his team. This feels like a dumb fight from Friedland, one he should hope to avoid in the future.

you know nothing about the fight game. kick rocks

***honkerrs*** · 04-22-2020, 08:51 PM

1) The most surprising stat of the game to me was that the Maine Timber gave up 13 penalty minutes, the Carolina Kraken received 4 power play opportunities because of this, but they still out shot the Kraken by 11 shots and won the game. The Kraken here really need to start taking advantage of dumb penalties taken by their opponents and is probably a main reason why they sit at the bottom of the standings. As a heavily penalized team themselves, they really need to take advantage of games when they aren't in the box too much in order to win some more games.

2) The unsung player of the game was definitely Thicc Cheezy, Right Winger on the Maine Timber. When the Timber win games it is because of their amazing depth they have as a team. They really don’t have any superstars yet but lines 1 through 4 of their line up are all very solid players. Thicc was definitely the one to shine tonight, who is relied upon on the 2nd units of both sides of special teams. He came away with a +1, 1 blocked shot, 1 hit, and 2 takeaways. One of the takeaways led to the go ahead goal of the Timber.

3) The turning point of the game in my opinion was the goal by Maine Timber’s forward Kyle Sutton in the first period. This goal quickly erased Dwight Knight’s goal 10 seconds before and you could kind of see the Kraken’s defeated look on their faces when this went in. The Timber went on to out shoot the Kraken the rest of the way and never get into too much of danger of losing their 1 goal lead. Adam Friedland tried his best to awaken the Kraken, as they say, but the heavy hitting style Kraken just didn’t want to get going against the Timber this night.

SAwful · 04-23-2020, 09:11 AM

04-22-2020, 06:08 PMBongo Wrote:
04-22-2020, 02:06 PMSAwful Wrote: Fight Smarter

Adam Friedland takes himself off the ice after a tilt with Maine's Jack Von Arx. I understand trying to spark your team and give them some energy, but maybe try to pull a player that's having a larger effect on the game than you are? It's a trade off. If I go off the ice, is the other guy going of the same or greater value to the game as I am? it's a simple equation. When you're arguably the better player, maybe don't fight? Adam, you're doing more damage to your team taking yourself away from the play when you choose to throw hands with a guy like Jack Von Arx. No offense to Von Arx, but it's just an objective fact that Friedland has more experience and provides more to his team. This feels like a dumb fight from Friedland, one he should hope to avoid in the future.

you know nothing about the fight game. kick rocks

Matty7478 · 04-23-2020, 03:15 PM

You'd Have to Pay Me to Score!
Scoring efficiency is a very fun thing to look at. How efficient are a team at putting the ball in a small net on the other side of the rink? And is that efficiency, or lack of at that, down to the defence or the offence either way? Today, with the number of shots being directed on both nets, it is safe to say offensive efficiency was out the window entirely. 59 shots were taken between the 2 teams; 35 for Maine, and 24 for Carolina. And yet, with all these shots, only 3 goals hit the back of the net. For the defencemen around us, it was a great day, while the opposite could be said for those of us who love our goals. Is this just a tough game for both in front of the net, or a sign of the performances we will expect in the run up to seasons' end? We'll find out soon enough.

Hit Me With Your Best Shot
This, surprisingly, will not be a section about fighting. Although, there was a fight tonight - between Friedland and Von Arx - something I want to focus on more is the in-game hits. Both teams played a very physically game, with the Kraken racking up 14 hits and the Timber rolling along to 10 hits. The character shown by both teams to keep playing hard as the season quickly runs on tells a lot about how motivated each team continues to be even during their similar hard stretches. If they can keep their strong and motivated cores rolling into next season, there is a chance the Timber and the Kraken could perform a lot better when we start over once again.

Let Me Take That From Yo- Oh... I Guess Not Then...
The Maine Timber racked up 6 takeaways tonight. That's enough of an order at the Chippy to feed a whole Bobsleigh team and 2 of their coaches. Safe to say, they will be very happy with this tally. On the other side of the ice however... the Carolina Kraken will be kicking themselves. They went through this game with a heartbreaking total of 0 takeaways. Whenever the Timber came forward, the Kraken were almost unable to take the puck away, no matter how hard they tried. And with 14 hits, they sure tried. We'll see if they can turn this around coming towards the final weeks of the season, but something tells me this issue is more systematic than many may notice.

*JURT* · 04-24-2020, 06:05 PM

The Faceoff Circle

Just as the scoreboard, the faceoff summary is very tight in this game : a one goal difference and a one faceoff-win difference, both in favor of the Timber. 2-1 on the scoreboard, 30-29 in the faceoff circle.

Faceoff Hero
Lucas Hellquist Timber

As a winger, Hellquist isn't used to taking faceoffs. He had to step in three times during this game, and won every single one of them. He might think about switching position, he's had a 54.1% success rate so far this season when he's had to step in.

Faceoff Zero
Rinako Yukikami Kraken

Yukikami had the highest number of faceoff attempts in this game with 19. He won only six of those, barely over 30%. There's nothing more that needs to be said about the choice for this game's faceoff zero.

Renomitsu · 04-27-2020, 02:45 PM

#1 Possession Is Important, Y’all
Maine and Carolina aren’t the far-and-away best teams in the SMJHL – in fact, they presently line the bottom of the East. But this coastal matchup did show one of the finer concepts in hockey (that is, one beyond “points vs. no points”): possession wins games. The teams were almost dead even in faceoffs, with the Timber winning 30 versus the Kraken’s 29, but the fact that Maine managed 6 takeaways to Carolina’s zero was likely a deciding factor in a game decided by a single goal. Throw on to that the six-minute penalty advantage for Carolina and this possession game becomes that much more important. Being able to start a counterattack without corralling an errant pass that sails past the net is a significant bonus, as defensive pairings like to have the few seconds to set up after a change in possession.

#2 Rookies Gone Wild
No, no, the rookies didn’t go wild like that – calm yourself. But two of the three stars in this game – Maine center Konrad Danke and Carolina winger Dwight Knight – aren’t even done with their first season of SMJHL play. Although this season’s SMJHL draft went 69 picks/passes (nice), it doesn’t hold a candle to 130-ish selection affair. And as a result, some pundits were expecting to be underwhelmed by this class, even ones like eleventh-overall pick Danke. But these two rookies showed up to play in PGS Game 10 – where they each managed their teams’ respective first goals in seasons that have demonstrated limited success.

#3 Who’s More Promising?
With seasons like these, sometimes SMJHL fans only have the future to look forward to. Unfortunately, the Timber and Kraken won’t both make the playoffs this year – so we need to examine instead who has the more promising future, especially among the S53 SMJHL class. With four of the top twenty picks, the obvious answer might be the Timber, especially provided the performances of players like Sondergard and third star Konrad Danke. Danke in particular has the sixth-most points on his team this season at 17 (7 goals, 10 assists), while Sondergard has the third-best defensive grade. On the other hand, Carolina has had to make do with picks exclusively outside the top 20 plus traded players like Dwight Knight. The fact that the Kraken could muster 24 shots and 14 hits against a slightly-better Maine Timber team spells good omens for the future.

Steve · 05-06-2020, 05:46 PM

9/15

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