Smiths Falls Bears AAA vs Brockville Braves AAA, October 30, 2017

Smiths Falls Bears AAA vs Brockville Braves AAA
October 30, 2017
HEO AAA Regular Season

SMF #4 D Seed, Nolan (2018) – Seed played top minutes again for Smiths Falls in this game. He showed flashes of a high-end skillset and an ability to contribute offensively throughout the game. In the first period, he made a nice move with the puck and adjusted his speed on the rush to step around a forward at the offensive blueline. He carries the puck well on the rush due to his agile skating ability and strong, smooth stride. He made a few questionable decisions with the puck when under pressure in the second period, but overall played a strong game defensively in terms of his positioning and minimizing turnovers. In the third period, he made a perfecttape-to-tape slap-pass backdoor to his teammate for a scoring chance, but the goalie pulled off an incredible save. In overtime, he used his speed to lead the rush and made a pass off of the boards to himself to get around a defender. He finished the play with another perfect tape-to-tape pass in front to Grant Eastwood for the tap-in goal.

SMF #10 F Eastwood, Grant (2018) – Eastwood is a smaller-sized player who shows some upside offensively and has exhibited a high work ethic in each game I’ve seen him in. In the second period, he did a good job of controlling the puck below the goal line, absorbing two checks to get a clean pass out to a teammate along the sideboards. At one point in overtime, he picked up the puck on a breakaway and separated himself from the defenders with his speed, accelerating very quickly from the still position. He wasn’t able to capitalize on the opportunity as he missed the net with a shot far side. However, he capped off the night by scoring the overtime winner on a nice set-up by Nolan Seed.

SMF #12 F Maybury, Callum (2018) – Maybury is a strong offensive forward for Smiths Falls that is used in all situations. In the second period, he showed high offensive awareness and vision to pause when necessary and make a clean pass to his teammate. He plays a physical game when the opportunity arises, and threw the body on the puck carrier on multiple occasions throughout the game. He demonstrated high skill to control the puck in small areas with little room by positioning his body well in between the puck and the defender’s stick and using his quick hands. He also possesses an ability to accelerate quickly, which makes him very useful on the breakout with the puck.

SMF #20 D Caulfeild, Alexander (2018) – Caulfield played a strong two-way game for Smiths Falls, and shows flashes of offensive skill throughout his game. He skates well, and has a long, smooth stride which allows him to get around the ice quickly, expecially on the backcheck. In the third period, he made a nice move with the puck to evade a defender in the offensive zone and skate the puck to the top of the point on the Powerplay, where he took a strong, accurate wristshot off the crossbar and in. He was also killing penalties throughout the game for Smiths Falls, and showed good defensive positioning and strength to box out forwards in front of the net in his own end. He played top minutes and in important situations for Smiths Falls in this game, playing with less than 3 minutes left and a pulled goalie. Given his speed and hockey IQ, I’d like to see him be more aggressive with his stick to cause turnovers and block passing lanes on the penalty kill.

BRO #40 D Brisson, Robert (2018) – Brisson is a large, stay at home defenceman for Brockville. He plays a physical game and is an above average skater at the AAA level. He showed a willingness to jump in the rush when the opportunity presented itself and he shows great strength and aggressiveness in puck battles. At one point in the third period, he threw a big hit on the puck carrier in the neutral zone along the boards.

BRO #28 F Stacey, Colin (2018) – Stacey showed soft and quick hands to deke through multiple defensivemen coming across the blueline on the rush. He saw time on both the Powerplay and Penalty Kill for Brockville in this game and played a strong two-way game overall. His skill level is above average in the HEO AAA and he does a good job of using his size to take the puck to the high scoring areas in the offensive zone before shooting. For example, on a Powerplay in the second period, he accepted a pass from the corner at the point and skated the puck in close for a shot on net from the hashmarks. His speed gives him the ability to catch puck carriers on the backcheck, and at one point he skated himself in position to throw the body on a forward carrying the puck through the neutral zone, causing a turnover. He finished off the night with the second assist on the tying goal late in the third period.