07-23-2018, 11:54 AM(This post was last modified: 07-23-2018, 11:58 AM by I Am a Coupon.)
Vancouver Whaler (4) vs Kelowna Knights (1)
Game 28
These two teams are the strong favourites this season of the SMJHL. So far they have not disappointed, they came out of the gate blazing, both the Whalers and Knights coming into this match with astounding records of 7-1. It was only a matter of short order before the two were to meet and duke out it for top of the standings. Looking at the shots , hits, and blocks it would be indicative of close game. However, the tighter discipline and faceoff prowess of the Whalers dictated their decisive victory.
Period 1
In the first period it was very one sided with 17/32 Whalers’ shots made this period. Although it was the Knights who open the scoring in just a mear 2 minutes and 38 seconds in. A spectacular interception by Darren McCarthy, the big bodied, mobile defenseman, with a quick pass to Fenton Uriel who carried it into the Whalers’ zone drawin attention to open up a quick drop pass to Cash Savage for lone goal on Vancouver net-minder Greg Santos.
Cash Savage - 1st Period goal.
However, it does not take the Whalers very long to respond with Eriks Skalbergs, first of the game. Winning those defensive zone faceoffs are crucial however, the Whalers seemed to have the Knights number in the dot this evening. Benis Smol( 14/23 that night) wins the offensive zone face off passing to Skalbergs and the puck making its way to two other Whalers’ sticks before back to Skalbergs, finding the opening for their first goal. This is where you can see the experience of Vancouver really shine; with their patience and ability to find the kinks in the a defence, for the perfect shot.
3 of the 4 lines of the Whalers’ lines provided scoring this period, making them a challenge to cover defensively. The second Whalers goal come from the power player after a hooking call on Kevin Maddox. Again, you can see the composure and discipline from the power player unit. Despite the best efforts of the Knights PK unit, especially the valiant effort of Mike Fischer, Kristaps Ball was able to drive it home for Vancouver (11:41). In quick succession(11:53), 4th liner and rookie, Jack Kennedy is able to snipe his first career SMJHL goal, starting from an interception by veteran blue-liner,Tokek Takshak.
First Career Goal - Jack Kennedy.
Period 2
Bringing it into the 2nd period , the Knights come in looking for a response to the 3 unanswered goals during the later half of the 1st. The start of the period, the Knights come out playing to their game. With the second line , Uriel- Savage- Elias, start to generate offensive in the first few minutes of the period. However they are unable to sneak it past the wall of Santos. Unfortunately for the Knights the momentum gets kicked into reverse,a second goal by Skalbergs (6:27) deflating what energy there was.
To the Knights credit , they were still able to keep their defense tight, containing the Whalers to only 7 shots. Unfortunately, the offense could not get kick-started again in this period.
Tight Defensive play by Mike Fischer.
Period 3
The third period, while it can’t compete with the excitement of the first, it showed the character and composure of Kelowna. They were able to bring it back to the Whalers, out shooting them 12 to 8. However, Greg Santos was the Whalers savings grace this game. On all 12 shots, there were no rebounds or second chances to be had.
TSN Turning Point: For our TSN turning point we take you to the start of the first period, right after Kelowna's first goal. Cash Savage has just scored and the morale is low for Vancouver. Vancouver is being pushed around by Knights and have no answer. The pace stays hot when Cash Savage comes streaking into the Vancouver zone nearly clipped the Vancouver goalie.Well Geoff Moore has finnally had enough and rushes in to deck Savage to the ground, Savage gets ups to stand his ground and Moore throws him back down, and he gets two minutes for roughing. Well this was all that was needed to light a spark in the Whalers. The Whalers kill off the penalty and ride the momentum to scoring 3 goals in a 3 minute span.
This pick is a no-brainer, Eriks had a monster game, putting in 2 goals for his team. His first goal in the first period helped bring his team back into the game after the Knights took the lead early in the first. His second goal came in the second period, helping to secure the lead for the Whalers, making the game 4-1. With no goals for the rest of the night, Eriks commanded the ice, leading his team to the win. Having a +2 +/- and scoring 2/7 shots, Eriks is a big name for the Whalers.
#2 Greg Santos(VAN)
A great team with no goalie is a mediocre team at best. Luckily for the Whalers, they got both a great offensive team and defensive team, with the help of Greg Santos in net. Stopping 27 out of 28 shots that night, there isn't anything else to say about him, as you can see through his work. With a save % at .964, you can tell why the Whalers are 7-1 up to this point, with such a great team, they will be in the running for the cup this year
#3 Tokek Takshak (VAN)
Even with no goals tonight, Tokek is invaluable to his team. With 2 assists tonight and playing 22.44 minutes tonight, Tokek is one of the best defensemen that the Whalers have. Being able to defend properly and help on the offensive side, Tokek helped the whalers win by a 3 point lead. Playing in both of the PP and the PK really shows what kind of leader Tokek is to the team, a very deserving 3rd star.
Unsung Hero:
For me, the unsung hero tonight is Buck Maverick of the Whalers. Playing in the 2nd line of the D-Line, Buck got 2 assists tonight, a great stat for him to have, but for me, there was one more stat that is better than that. Buck had 3 Shots Blocked for his team. As a defenseman, his job is to defend against the offensive line, and he did just that. With a +/- of 1 and playing in both the PP and the PK, he is the unsung hero of the game. Not the perfect player, but he gets the job done every night.
Sometimes it takes just a few minutes to decide an entire game and this is exactly what happened here. A hockey game may take 60 minutes, but if you give up three goals in less than three minutes, then sometimes a game can be pretty much over for your team even before the horn sounds for the first intermission. The Kelowna Knights actually had a decent start to the game and took the lead on a goal by Cash Savage, the recent acquisition out of Colorado, but then it all started to fell apart nine minutes into the third period. First Eriks Skalbergs capitalized after a strong passing play, then Kristaps Ball added a powerplay goal two and a half minutes later after a bad hooking penalty by Kevin Maddox. And just as the Knights returned to full strength following the Ball-goal Vancouver struck again mere seconds later, this time through Jack Kennedy who put it top-shelf following an interception and a quick transition play. And with that goal, the game was pretty much over. Kelowna would never get quite back into it and the Whalers would add another one in the second half for the final score of 4-1.
07-24-2018, 02:41 AM(This post was last modified: 08-01-2018, 03:38 PM by Radsin.)
Rookie Spotlight
The Vancouver Whalers had a heck of a time out there on the ice against the Kelwona Knights, these are the top two teams in the SMJHL at the moment and, in some ways it didn't even look close! However this was a historic night for one specific young man. Jack Kennedy who scored his first SMJHL career goal after a quick interception and great set up from his fellow teammates Tokek Takshak and Soren Kierkegaard. That would make it three straight unanswered goals against the Knights in the very first quarter. Shortly before this he also landed a bone Crushing hit on Daddy Mack freeing up the puck. Kennedy made a killer impression even with less than double digits played in this game which is easier said than done, especially when the majority of players out there were veterans in the juniors. I think if Kennedy is able to keep this up we may see much more out of him in the near future.
Kennedy effortlessly dropping an opposing player.
(172 Words)
Bonk Registered
S25, S37 Challenge Cup Champion and a pretty pretty princess
07-24-2018, 09:28 PM(This post was last modified: 07-24-2018, 09:29 PM by Bonk.)
My unsung hero for the Game 28 of SMJHL S42, Vancouver Whalers vs Kelowna Knights is the second line defenseman for the Vancouver Whalers, Buck Maverick. Mr. Maverick had an amazing game, granted he did not receive a star for the game nor did he even score a goal. Buck had two assists including an assist on the game winning goal. In addition to Mr. Maverick’s two assists, he contributed to Vancouver win by shutting down the Knights offense. Buck had a fantastic defensive night consisting of three blocked shots, two hits and being one serious pain in the ass to Kelowna. Mr. Maverick had an amazing game and he deserves some recognition for it. So hats off to Buck Maverick!
Ryan Gardiner opened the night off with a huge hip check on Kristaps Ball in the first period. It was an old time, solid hip check that sent Ball head over heels. Gardiner read Ball perfectly, and had him in a position in which Ball would have to try and squeeze past Gardiner. When Ball did try to squeeze by, Gardiner made him pay. A perfectly timed hit, Ball was sent up and over and loss possession of the puck. Unfortunately for Gardiner, this hit seemed to fire up Vancouver more then Kelowna. Honestly, this is the type of hit more people should be seeing during the game, not cheap shots or head hunting hits.
Vancouver Whalers - David Kastrba
Not to be out done by Gardiner, Kastrba decided to lay out his own brand of toughness on the ice. Instead of a hip check, decided to stand up Oliver Dahl in the Kelowna corner. Kastrba saw that Dahl was coming, so he hunkered down and just dropped him when he went to get the puck. Kastrba was so focused on the hit, that he lost his stick as soon as he made contact with the Knights winger. This really was just a solid hit, with Dahl landing hard on his butt because of it. Kastrba could have been more focused on the play, but in the end he threw a big hit. A big hit that could have possibly fired up his team even more.
The matchup between Kelowna and Vancouver being as good as it gets in the SMJHL this year, we couldn't find any fail worthy of this bit from any of the players. We were gifted a gem, however, by one of the referees on the ice tonight. Midway through the third period, Knight's goalie Kata Vilde made a stop on Totek Takshak and froze the puck with everyone around. As the referee came in to put things in motion again, he would come to realize he was himself in a way too fast motion and tried to stop, but it was to late. He fell and took Takshak's legs from under him. Neither got hurt, thankfully.
Today we take a look at Vancouver Whalers vs Kelowna Knights game 28.
First Period
-Geoff Moore of Vancouver gets called for Roughing at 3:28. Kelowna manages to get two shots on net but both are stopped by goalie Greg Santos. Kelowna PK unit is on the ice in full force knocking Vancouver's PP unit around like a bunch of bowling pins. They do a great job of clearing the puck and keep the shots limited.
-Kelowna first penalty comes from Kevin Maddox for hooking at 10:39. Vancouver's power play unit absolutely dominates on the man advantage. Producing a total of 4 shots on net, and about 3 that miss or are blocked. Kristaps Ball pots a rebound in to score on the power play! Kelowna's PK unit could not clear the puck and had little to no possession for the whole 61 seconds of ice time.
The first period ends with Vancouver ahead, 3-1.
Second Period
-Kevin Maddox once again finds himself in the penalty box, this time for Holding at 14:00 ; Also at 14:00 Alex Andani is called for tripping. We have ourselves some 4 v 4 hockey. While both teams had a chance to score, both only produced 1 shot which, ended up being both blocked. While during this time, the puck was iced twice by Kelowna.
The end of the Second Period and Vancouver still holds the lead, 4-1.
Third Period
-Buck Maverick from Vancouver gets called for Hooking at 2:17. Kelowna's PP unit managed to get 4 shots on net this time, but Santos was not giving up his net. Stopping all 4, Santos showed his dedication to keeping the Whalers ahead on the board.
-Darren McCarty is called for Hooking at 8:14 and Vancouver finds themselves on the power play once again. With a total of 4 shots on net, the PP unit once again shows how strong they are. Although unable to score another goal, they did not stop peppering Kelowna's goalie, Kata Vilde.
-Michael Fisher is call for Tripping at 18:50, Kelowna is down a man again. This late in the game it is never a good idea to loose your head and take bad penalties. No matter if you are behind, you still have to give 100% and Fisher just took the easy way out. The only shot that the Whalers got came from Eriks Skalbergs, and that was wide.
The game ends with Vancouver winning, 4-1.
Vancouver Whalers Power Play 1 on 3 attempts (33.33%) Penalty Kill 2 on 2 attempts (100%) Kelowna Knights Power Play 0 on 2 attempts (0%) Penalty kill 2 on 3 attempts (66.67%)
Vancouver's power play unit played excellent and had a lot of chances to bury the puck. While Kelowna's unit felt lost at most times on the ice. Sometimes, it just comes down to luck, but Vancouver showed they had a lot of skill on there special teams with a goalie to back it up.
PIM Leaders of The Game Kevin Maddox 4 PIM Michael Fisher 2 PIM Alex Andani 2 PIM
Today's game write up will focus on Game #28 of the season
Vancouver vs Kelowna
Both teams are looking to start a win streak having each won their last games.
Key Moments
The key moment for Vancouver came at 11:53 of the first when Jack Kennedy scored what would become the safety blanket goal for the Whalers. The key moment for Kelowna was the 1st period hooking penalty from Kevin Maddox which would give Vancouver the game winner about a minute into the penalty.
Star of the Game
Eriks Skalbergs scored 2 goals in this one to ensure victory for the Whalers.
07-25-2018, 09:44 PM(This post was last modified: 07-25-2018, 10:45 PM by hats_4_days.)
Today's Barstool Player of the Game is Greg Santos, goalie for the Vancouver Whalers. You could make the argument that he wasn't deserving of this honor but lets look at his game stats and see why he was chosen. He faced 28 shots and stopped 27 of them for a save percent of .964. Now that's a good stat line but when you notice what team was on the opposing side of the ice, Kelowna Knights, you realize that most had them winning it all this year and Santos shut them down in ways that most opposing teams fall to do.
With that said let's take a look at today's Barstool Rookie of the game. Jack Kennedy, a fifth rounder in this past years SMJHL entry draft had a great stat line scoring a goal and having a huge hit on Daddy Mack separating Mack from the puck while seeing just 8:39 of ice time. With a performance like that it's hard not to see why he's not seeing more ice time.
DRAFTED 30TH OA S43
S42 WJC GOLD MEDAL
JESTER AWARD FINALIST S45
S45 ALL ROOKIE TEAM
S50 IIHF GOLD MEDAL
S52 CHALLENGE CUP CHAMPION
Tonight, we're going to review our pick for the player of the game for the matchup between the Vancouver Whalers and the Kelowna Knights.
It was quite an easy pick for us this evening with our choice going to Eriks Skalbergs of the Vancouver Whalers. Skalbergs played a stellar game with two goals! His first goal came at 9:05 in the first period, just a couple minutes after the first and only goal of the night from the Knights. Skalbergs was fed an excellent pass from Jean-Luc Picardin in the offensive zone to beat Kata Vilde glove side.
Skalbergs second goal of the game came at 6:27 in the second period a few seconds after a face off win by Fenton Uriel in Kelowna zone. Skalbergs let off a rocket from the point to beat Vilde stick side.
It wasn't a busy night for the D watch crew tonight as Vancouver has no rookie defensemen and Kelowna only gives limited ice time to the two on their roster.
Callum MacElroy.
The Scottish offensive D man went undrafted in season 42 and is perhaps still being bedded into the team. While not scratched MacElroy rode the bench the entire game. Kelowna is making a run at a threepeat and relying heavily on its vets but if he keeps training hard we're sure he'll get some ice time.
Oliver Dahl.
The ninth rounder out of Norway also have a tough time minutes wise tonight. Logging only 3:11 all at even strength. Nevertheless Dahl was tidy when on the ice going 5/5 in passing and making three interceptions. He'll want to work a bit on his shooting though as despite making three shots they were all soft wristers that were dealt with easily. Dahl will be looking to keep it tight and hopefully earn himself a bigger role in the near future.
Credit to Ml002, King, Wasty, Carpy, Bruins10, Rum_Ham, Turd Ferguson, Ragnar and Enigmatic for the sigs.
Faceoffs takes up a big role in today's hockey. Everytime you win a draw you get possession of the puck. The more your team have the puck, the more scoring chance you get and vice-versa. Which is why Centers take pride in winning them draws and why coaches love center men who do win them.
Vancouver Whalers: 48 wins on 90 faceoff taken ( 53,3%)
Kelowa Knights: 42 wins on 90 faceoff taken (46,7%)
Close game in the faceoff circle here. The Vancouver Whalers with quite a good advantage.
The winner and the loser for today's game:
Winner: Vancouver Whaler' center Guts O'Bigbers with 13 wins on 16 faceoff taken (81,3%)
Loser: Kelowa Knights' center Peter Walker with 13 wins on 33 faceoff taken (39,4%)
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