However, this is a Chicago sports team we're talking about, so Murphy's Law took over, and things did go wrong simply because they could. By the time the final buzzer sounded on Sunday afternoon, the Steel had been outscored 7-2 on the weekend and had nothing to show for the weekend, save a couple of potentially big injuries.
With Tyler Hill back at Hotchkiss to finish up his high school season there, Mackenzie MacEachern still on the IR, and Tobias Ruelykke presumably dinged, the Steel were already at a disadvantage heading into the weekend. It's December, at they STILL haven't had a fully healthy team for one game this season.
SATURDAY VS. DES MOINES
Saturday night saw third-year defenseman and second-year captain Joel Benson return from suspension, due to a major brawl against the USNTDP on November 17th. Benson was in the starting lineup, paired with fellow captain and third-year D-man Jaccob Slavin. Chris Nell started in net. The Steel only dressed 19 players on Saturday. Murphy was the ref, with Petterle and Spohn the linesmen.
The game started out somewhat slow and sloppy, with players on both ends falling constantly, as if each team was somehow playing their third road game in their third city in three days.
Nothing of note happened until current Buccaneer and former Steel forward Ali Thomas threw a nasty elbow to the head of Chicago defenseman Christian Neumann at the 8:17 mark in the first period, leading to a five minute powerplay, and Thomas being ejected from the game. It came at a price, though, as the Steel would play the remaining 171:43 of the weekend with only five defensemen, as Brian Leblanc was playing wing on the fourth line both games. Neumann would not return to the bench for the second or third periods of the game.
With fifty seconds left on the major penalty to Ali Thomas, Des Moines' Eric Martinsson got called for tripping, handing the Steel just under a full minute of five-on-three play, and a total of 6:10 of consecutive power play time. In proper fashion, the Steel managed to have nothing to show for nearly a full third of the period with a non-stop man advantage.
At the 16:10 mark in the first, Chicago's Johnny Wingels got a call that taught me something about the game of hockey: Apparently you don't actually have to make contact with someone to get a tripping call, so long as they fall in your general vicinity. The Steel couldn't kill the penalty, as the Bucs' Michael Marnell fired the puck past Nell on a beautiful one-time setup by Axel Wemmenborn, making the score 1-0 at the 17:09 mark in the first. This would conclude the action in the first period, with the score 1-0 heading into the first intermission.
Early in the second period, Des Moines had a great offensive push, which eventually lead to their second goal at the 1:48 mark by Ryan Galt. The Bucs had the puck right in on Nell who, despite making saves, couldn't seem to control the puck. Finally, on what appeared to be about a fourth chance opportunity, Galt got appeared to squeeze the puck between Nell's blocker and the pipe, making the score 2-0 in the favor of the Bucs.
A second Johnny Wingels penalty - this time a check from behind - would again lead to a Bucs powerplay goal. Wemmenborn fired a shot from the blue line which Martinsson tipped in at the 5:01 mark to make the game 3-0 Des Moines.
Following said goal, Chicago called a time out, and replaced Nell with Alex Sakellaropolous. Nell finished the game (and weekend) making 11 of 14 saves and surrendering those three goals in only 25:01, leading to a rough .786 save percentage and 7.20 goals against average on the game for Nell. I felt all along he probably should have started Sunday afternoon and Sak Saturday night, but, it is what it is. He'll be fine.
The move worked, as the Steel seemed rather fired up upon Sak going in net. To the point that, at the 6:52 mark in the second, Bucs head coach Jon Rogger called for his time out.
13:26 into the second period, Des Moines' Jack Jenkins got called for tripping. Only twenty seconds into the power play, Jeff Kubiak just missed a goal, with half the net open, as Des Moines' Billy Christopolous was stretched the opposite way.
Later in the same power play, this time at the 15:19 mark, it appeared as if Alex Roos had a goal. Christopolous appeared to have pulled the puck back after it had crossed the goal line, but the refs apparently didn't see this - or argued he was reaching for his stick, which he never grabbed. This lead to a small confrontation, as Charlie O'Connor and Garret Cockerill got offsetting delay of game minors. James Roll also got a roughing in the brawl, giving the Steel another small window of 5-on-3 play.
Again, they failed to capitalize, and the second period ended with Des Moines leading 3-0, looking to get their first road shutout since about 1927.
The third period didn't have much action one way or another. Some scoring chances on each end, but nothing too spectacular. With 1:05 left, Scott McConnell pulled Sak and sent out Joseph Widmar as his extra attacker. At about the 19:14 mark, a Des Moines shot at the empty net missed by no more than six inches, and lead to an icing call. The Steel tried to break the shutout, sending out Landon Smith, Jeff Kubiak, Patrick Polino, Charlie O'Connor, Tim Davison, and Jaccob Slavin for what would wind up being the final shift. They couldn't deliver, and Billy Christopolous got a shutout, making all 30 saves.
LINES:
Pigozzi - Ebbing - Roos
Smith - Kubiak - O'Connor
Polino - Widmar - Dodero
Leblanc - (see below) - McNamara
Slavin - Benson
Davison - Neumann
Piazza - Wingels
PP Units: Roos - Ebbing - Pigozzi - Slavin - Wingels; Smith - Kubiak - O'Connor - Piazza - Benson; Polino - Kubiak - O'Connor - Davison - Benson
PK Units: Ebbing - O'Connor - Piazza - Benson; Ebbing - Pigozzi - Slavin - Piazza; Ebbing - O'Connor - Davison - Slavin; Smith - Pigozzi - Benson - Piazza
The fourth line center rotated, as the Steel only dressed 11 forwards. Polino, Smith, and Kubiak all saw time there. The defense started getting rolled when Neumann went down.
SUNDAY VS. YOUNGSTOWN
The Steel came out for about the first five minutes looking strong, dumping the puck and going to work on the forecheck, hoping to take advantage of what had to be assumed to be bus legs for Youngstown. However, things seemed to fall apart after this part for the Steel, as Youngstown started wanting the puck and win more.
6:22 into the first period, Sam Anas flipped a backhander high on Sak, who couldn't block it, with the scoring again opening for the visitors this weekend.
Around the 14:45 mark, Tim Davison found himself unable to corral a pass from inside the zone, which squirted all the way to the Steel's defensive end. Davison and Slavin found themselves caught out and seemingly a bit tired. Youngtown pressured, and Slavin eventually wound up taking a tripping call at the 14:13 mark. The Phantoms made the best of it, as Austin Cangelosi got in and got a shot off, which Sak made a great first save on, diving to his side. However, Sam Anas struck again, making the score 2-0 Youngstown at the 15:03 mark.
Again, some scoring chances back and forth, but nothing much, and the period ended with the Phantoms holding a 2-0 lead, and the Steel on a five-period run in which they'd been shut out, dating back to the third period of their win in Waterloo on December 1st.
The second period didn't start much better than the first. A Steel turnover on their first possession lead to the puck winding up on Cangelosi's stick, who fired a wrister glove side past Sak only thirteen seconds into the period, pushing the Phantom lead to 3-0.
At the 7:14 mark, Chicago's Danny McNamara slashed a Phantom to the point that their stick broke, and found his way to the box. After 1:20 of penalty killing, Sam Piazza joined McNamara in the box with a slashing call of his own, giving Youngstown forty seconds of 5-on-3 time, and then another 1:20 of 5-on-4. The Steel somehow managed to kill the penalty off, and clearly stole the momentum from Anthony Noreen's club.
Around the 14:15 mark, Youngstown turned over the puck on offense, which lead to a 3-on-1 rush by the Steel. Wingers Landon Smith and Charlie O'Connor made crisp passes, and their centerman Christian Heil scored, breaking the shutout, cutting the Phantom lead to 3-1.
16:00 saw Josh Nendal get penalized for a high stick to the face of Tim Davison. The only thing of interest from this was a scrum 58 seconds into the powerplay, which lead to Thomas Ebbing and Eric Sweetman heading to the box with offsetting minor penalties. This would end any notable action in the second period, with the Phantoms up 3-1.
An early Josh Nendal slashing call (2:06) didn't lead to much, but not long after the powerplay was over, Ray Pigozzi flicked a shin-high rebound from an Alex Roos shot, bringing the Steel within one.
In a case in which we are reminded that the USHL is a developmental league for refs as well, the play was whistled dead 8:31 into the third, as it was presumed Sean Romeo had the puck. He didn't, and before everyone could react to the whistle being blown, the puck squirted out, and Alex Roos got the puck in the net. Since the play was whistled dead, it didn't count, and the Steel didn't tie the game.
14:36 saw Markus McCrea of Youngstown take a slashing call. Noreen took exception, and argued with the ref to the point of making a 5-on-4 into a 5-on-3 as he racked up an abuse of officials bench minor. The Steel found themselves without anything positive to show for this.
The dying seconds of that power play did include something that could wind up being a very big negative, however. Heil, the Steel's leading goal scorer (12 goals in 15 games, Roos is second with 10 goals in 21 games), took a nasty, uncalled slash to the wrist at about the 16:40 mark. Heil, coming off a six-game suspension, skated back to the bench doubled over, holding his wrist. The obvious hope is that it's just a contusion or possible bone bruise, but a broken wrist is a realistic possibility. Heil didn't return, and the Steel again found themselves down to 16skaters for the second time in two games.
The Steel killed a checking from behind penalty by Thomas Ebbing (15:09), and time was clearly running out on the team getting at least one point on the weekend. At the 19:22 mark, McConnell called for his time out, and sent out six skaters: Roos - Ebbing - O'Connor - Pigozzi - Slavin - Davison. Fifteen seconds after the puck was dropped after said timeout, Nendal got an empty net goal, pushing the game to a 4-2 Youngstown advantage with onl 25 seconds left. The lead held, and Sean Romeo somehow managed to win while playing his third game in three days.
Sak blocked 28/31 Sunday, which when combined with his 13/13 in 33:54 on Saturday, were good for a .932 SV% and a 1.92 GAA on the weekend.
LINES:
Pigozzi - Ebbing - Roos
Smith - Kubiak - O'Connor
Dodero - Heil - Polino
McNamara - Widmar - Leblanc
The defense was rolled with no consistent pairings, and about midway through the second period, McConnell flipped Heil and Kubiak.
PP Units: Pigozzi - Ebbing - Roos - Slavin - Wingels; Polino - Kubiak - Heil - Benson - Davison
PK Units: Ebbing - O'Connor - Benson - Wingels; Smith - Pigozzi - Piazza - Davison; Ebbing - O'Connor - Wingels - Slavin; Heil - Pigozzi - Benson - Piazza; Smith - Pigozzi - Benson - Wingels
3-man PK: O'Connor - Wingels - Slavin
4v3: Pigozzi - Roos - Wingels - Slavin; Kubiak - Heil - Polino - Davison
WEEKEND GRADES
Grading explanations can be found here.
- Roster management: D-. The only thing saving this from an F is that Leblanc skated at wing, though he's supposed to be a defenseman. The Steel have a deep, and mostly local, affiliate list, and there's countless other players in major midget programs that could fill a depth role for a game or two. No reason to only dress 19 guys for two straight home games.
- Coaching: C+. For being short a defenseman and forward by game's end both days, the Steel managed to keep the goal deficit relatively close both games. Shorter shifts likely would have done wonders with this short bench.
- Forward performance: C. 63 shots in two games is somewhat okay, but not with this team's composition. There need to be more shots on goal, not passing and forechecking. Good things happen when pucks go to the net. There were also a couple of sloppy turnovers that lead to goals.
- Defensive performance: B. All things considered, the defense did well, being short all game. The loss of Neumann early Saturday put about an extra four minutes on each defenseman. That doesn't seem like much, but look at Duncan Keith at 25 minutes per game, and at 30 per.
- Goaltender performace: B+. Sak's weekend .932 SV% and 1.92 GAA bail out a rough start by Nell Saturday, who continues to struggle with rebound control. As we saw with Sak last season, I expect him to improve greatly as he continues to adjust from Wisconsin high school hockey to the USHL.
No comments:
Post a Comment