Smiths Falls Bears U18 AAA at Navan Grads U18 AAA,
December 16th, 2017
HEO U18 Regular Season
SF #4 LD Seed. Nolan – Nolan played a smart and reliable game today, he had a good first pass out of the zone, he was good at slowing down the play in front of him and make the right plays or the simple play. There were 2-3 times in the game where Nolan would be in the defensive zone and would try and make that long cross ice stretch pass which led to some icing calls, would like to see him either carry the puck up because there was a lot of space given to him, or to make that quick touch pass to the center curling in the zone. He made a couple smart plays at point waiting for traffic in front of the goalie and taking a shot and getting through for tip and second chance rebound. Nolan game was really effective tonight rushing the puck up the ice, with his skating ability and good edges he makes it look easy and with his smarts was able to find the trailing forward coming into the zone and passing the puck over to him for the scoring chance. He had good positioning on the Penalty Kill as well keeping the forward in front of him and not allowing the forward to get to the net for second or third chances.
SF #15 LW Russet, Reid -Reid had a strong game this afternoon, he ended the game with 1 goal 1 assist. Reid competed every shift today, his line was excellent today , seemed like they were always generating chances when they were on the ice, he skated hard today, his feet were always moving and was consistently in the play, he had a strong game on the forecheck aswell, he was physical and finished his checks which led to turnovers. Reid was able to push the defensemen off in front of the net, which gave him space to go after the rebound from the point shot and put the puck passed the goalie. He had assists as well which all started from him, as he was coming up the ice on a rush he made an inside out move on defensemen took the contact but was able to pass to teammate cross ice for goal. Reid competed every shift, his line was excellent today , seemed like they were always generating chances when they were on the ice, protected puck well down low or along the boards, big body forward and was hard to knock the puck off.
SF #17 RW Richardson, Ryan – Ryan had a good cycle game today, created a lot of chances of the cycle, was good at using his size and frame to protect the puck and take it to the net, works hard, stole a couple pucks down low from the defense and took the puck to the net for a scoring chance. When Ryan is constantly moving his feet his could be a dominant player in this league, he was good in his own zone tonight as well, stayed with his man and always had his head on a swivel consistently looking for the puck. His game along the boards in both ends of the rink was good tonight as he was able to get puck out easily in his own zone, and he was good at coming off the board and getting away a couple good hard shots on net that turned into second and third chances.
SF #18 C Ierardi, Anthony (2018) – He was arguable Smiths Falls best player, he ended the game with 2 goals and 1 assist but he could have had 4 goals tonight, he competed hard, he was good on the forecheck, he finished his checks, he drove hard to the net on a number of occasions, his second goal he went hard to the net stick on ice for tap in, one shift in third his line had the puck in the offensive zone for about 2 min, creating chances after chances, he was good at coming/off the half wall for a shot, he went inside out on the defense a number of times, every time he was on the ice it seemed that something happened or the puck was always around him. Anthony also had a strong game in the faceoff circle, winning a couple defensive faceoffs on the penalty kill which led to his defense putting the puck down the ice, or winning some draws on the power play which gave his team more time to set up and start to work on there powerplay.
SF #20 LD Caulfeild, Alexander – Alexander is a good skating defensemen that moves puck well, has a good breakout pass, keeps a lot of things simple, he made a bad pass on 2nd goal, he tried going cross ice in dzone it got picked off and they scored, but other that that mistake in his own zone he played a smart game and made simple plays. He was really good at slowing the play down in front of him and making that touch pass out on break out or hitting his forwards with a pass when they were in full stride and didn’t have to slow down to accept the pass. Alex made a nice move at the blue line on the power play right on the line on the forward and had the patience to wait for some traffic in front of the net to shoot the puck, played a simple game in the defensive zone as well, and was good positionally keeping the forwards in front of him and not allowing forwards to the net for rebounds.
NAV #35 G Cummings, Carter (2018)- Carter played a solid game today in nets for Navan, he struggled to start the game and let in a bad goal, but he settled down and was solid the rest of the game, there wasn’t a lot of movement in the crease, he was more of a positionally sound in the net allowing pucks to hit his chest and he would cover up the puck. His rebound control was good, he didn’t allow that many 2nd and 3r chances, he was also good at aiming pucks into the corners or deflecting them up into the net. Carter was strong down low, he covered the bottom of the net really well, where Carter struggled was going post to post it took him a couple pushes to get to the other post, he needs to be quicker.
NAV #47 RW De Kemp, Noel- Noel had an up and down game for Navan today, he had a good first period where he was using his size and physicality punishing defense in the corners, he was able to retrieve a few pucks of the forecheck by using his size. He scored a really nice one timer goal from the right faceoff dot going cross bar and down, the goalie had no time to react as the puck was off his stick quick. He struggled along the boards in his own zone today trying to get the puck out of the boards, but he was either losing the puck in his feet or wasn’t able to corral the puck on his stick from the outlet pass of his defense. Noel needs to compete every shift out there to be more effective on the ice, when he’s moving his feet he is hard to play against, but if he ends up not be too engaged in the game it’s sometimes hard to find. He had some good shifts throughout the game, but he just needs to be more a more consistent player to be effective.
NAV #65 LW Frechette, Alex – Alex was Navan’s best player today on the ice, he was moving his feet and was always around the puck all game or the puck seemed to always find him. On his first goal he made a good read 4on4 picked of pass in offensive zone, and took a nice shot low blocker side on goalie, on his second goal he gained good speed in neutral zone he was able to beat the far side defensemen to the middle of the ice and drove the middle lane with his stick on the ice and was able to tap the cross crease pass. Alex showed good hockey smarts carrying the puck in the neutral zone by not carrying into traffic, he was good at using his speed and finding open lanes on the ice, which gave him more space to either find a teammate or drive to the net for a scoring chance. Alex is reliable in the defensive zone, he was always in right position knowing where his man is on the ice, or always having his stick on the ice in case there’s a quick turnover and he can counter up the ice on the offense.
NAV #74 C-Bush, Chazka – He had an up and down game today, you noticed him on some plays and then he would go a couple shifts not generating anything, he had a good couple shifts in the first period using his speed and skill beating a couple defensemen wide and attempting a shot on net. A lot of Chazka rushes he tends to stay on the perimeter on the zone instead of driving to the net taking the defense with him to open more space or to create more chances. He showed a quick release with his shot, he was able to get the puck off his stick quick in tight areas, and was able to score a goal in tight on the goalie just sliding the rebound under his pads. Chazka has the skill and skating ability he just has to come out every shift and compete and skate and he will be that more effective on the ice. I think that would give me more confidence offensively, his defensive zone positioning was ok, he needs to be more supportive with his defense down low in his own zone he was to high on a couple shifts looking to leave the zone early too try going on the offense instead of helping his defense and giving them an outlet if they want to break the puck out.
Final Score: Smiths Falls 3 Navan 5