Hamilton Bulldogs at Barrie Colts, October 26, 2017

Hamilton Bulldogs @ Barrie Colts, October 4, 2017

Final score: 6-0 Barrie

Barrie Colts

BAR #2 D Tucker, Tyler (2018) – He wasn’t his usual self throwing the body around and landing hits, but he was positionally sound and used his body to knock players off the puck when he could. He did not hesitate to jump into the rush, although with mixed results (he turned the puck over a couple times, and also contributed with a pair of assists on shot-passes. He did miss a couple outlets throughout, one of which resulted in an icing and a bad penalty after the ensuing faceoff.

BAR #21 C Douglas, Curtis (2018) – Douglas struggled to create his own shot in this game as defenders weren’t at all biting on his one-vs-one moves and he didn’t have the speed to skate by them. He did still make an impact as he was effective working down low in the cycle game and he made life very difficult on the opposing goaltender while screening on power plays. He scored a goal but it was very fluky as a defender attempted to make an outlet, it hit his shin-pads, and bounced into the net.

BAR #61 LW Suzuki, Ryan (2019) – Suzuki was noticeable early and often. He made a nice play early in the 1st slipping past a McCloud hit attempt, gaining inside position, and centering the puck for a goal. He made smart decisions with the puck throughout and always seemed to find an open man. He did a nice job of using stops, starts, and cuts to change angles and open up lanes that otherwise wouldn’t be available.

BAR #71 RW Nizhnikov, Kirill (2018) – Nizhnikov played in the bottom-6 and had to serve a seven-minute penalty for Justin Murray so he didn’t see a lot of ice in this game. When he played, he was mostly quiet. He had a couple good shots but didn’t generate much offensively. The most notable thing he did was drop the gloves in what was a surprisingly spirited tilt against Ben Gleason.

Hamilton Bulldogs

HAM #10 LW Zachary Roberts (2018) – Roberts made some smart decisions with the puck that led to changes but struggled to create offense on his own. On a couple occasions he lured defenders into him before dishing the puck to an open man and driving the net to try and create a screen or jump on a rebound. He struggled in one-on-one situations, though, and wasted some possessions by trying to beat his man rather than moving the puck. His line was outplayed quite a bit in this game and he spent a lot of time chasing play in the defensive zone as a result.

HAM #27 D McCourt, Riley (2018) – McCourt had a hit and miss game. He made some nice outlets and effortlessly walked the line while firing pucks through traffic in the offensive zone. He was very confident with the puck on his stick and effective skating up ice when there was some room for the taking. He did have some issues without the puck. He lost inside position, and a board battle, to Ryan Suzuki, which led directly to a goal. He also had problems picking up rotations in the cycle and was hemmed in the defensive zone for extended periods too often.

HAM #34 RW Kaliyev, Arthur (2019) – Kaliyev didn’t score, but he had a really strong game and was arguably Hamilton’s best player. He was a shooting machine firing eight pucks on net from anywhere and everywhere, be it along the wall or in the slot. He had no problem creating lanes to get his shots to the net and had some good zip on many of them. He wasn’t very noticeable without the puck, but he was a consistent threat with it.