USA U18 v Sioux City Musketeers, September 21, 2012

 

September 21, 2012, USA U18 v Sioux City Musketeers (USHL)

 

USA #4– Butcher, Will (2013) – The further away from his own net Butcher gets, the more reliable he is with the puck. Butcher rushed the puck effectively on the power play and moved it well in the offensive zone in general. He made some mistakes with the puck in the neutral zone as well as his own zone trying to do too much in areas he should be making the smart simple play. He did well late in the game with a one goal lead not…

[sociallocker]forcing anything and using his skating ability to skate the puck out of trouble and getting the puck deep. It was held deep by a forward and killed a lot of time, but it all started with Butcher’s play out of the zone.

USA #7 RC Compher, J.T. (2013) – Compher came out flying in the first few shifts really showing his skill. He scored the first goal of the game as he was well positioned, took a bouncing rebound, quickly calmed it down and put it in while under heavy pressure. Compher’s play declined throughout the game and re-emerged late in the game winning a number of big draw’s for the USNTDP. One of these went right to Tyler Motte breaking up a tie game in the final 10 minutes giving USNTDP a 5-4 win. He also came up big very late as Sioux City pressured for the tie game forcing turnovers.

USA #10 RW Allen, Evan (2013) – Allen showed good skating and elusiveness for a player at 5’10” and over 200 lbs. He made some nice passes throughout the game. One frustrating part was watching him dive pretty blatantly when the opportunity came up, however he was successful in drawing the penalty but it was pretty clear.

USA #11 RD Hamilton, Trevor (2013) – While Trevor wasn’t very flashy at all, he impressed throughout this game. He made a great play on a 2 on 1 when his defensive partner jumped up. He showed great lateral movement to get in ideal positioning then made a textbook play to break up the chance. He was excellent making smart plays with the puck all game long. A solid first pass, and also hit tape to tape on long distance passes as well. He uses the glass to clear the zone very well when under sustained pressure.

USA #12 RC Labanc, Kevin (2014) – Labanc is a good skater who showed some elusiveness through traffic. He moved the puck well and made good decisions around this. He was great shorthanded forcing a lot of turnovers, got a partial shorthanded break and generally was effective defensively as a whole.

USA #14 LW Motte, Tyler (2013) – Motte was good on the penalty kill. He provided great pressure and found ways to kill a lot of time off the clock. Overall he was pretty quiet throughout the game, but he scored the game winner going right to the net off the draw, stick on the ice and he made no mistake. In the final minute he tried to dive to draw a penalty. It didn’t work and lead to a Sioux City rush up the ice and scoring chance.

USA #16 RD Santini, Steven (2013) – Santini possesses a very good skating and size combination. He likes to use his size to impose himself along the boards and towards oncoming skaters. He has the skating to execute reads on passes to intercept and also to rush the puck up ice when the option is available. Santini constantly moved the puck up ice intelligently throughout the game. He makes hard accurate passes and constantly making the right decision. He, along with a lot of players on his team appeared to get lazy later on in the game, especially with the puck. This resulted in a number of turnovers and allowed Sioux City to get back into the game. Took a really bad penalty getting way too excessive defending his goaltender, by knocking the forward down then dragging him all over the slot forcing the official to call him.

USA #22 RW Fasching, Hudson (2013) – Fasching is easily at his best when he’s below the circles in the offensive zone. He controls the puck and cycles extremely well. He regularly won battles along the boards, this included battles against some big players. He used his physicality in open ice and along the boards to force turnovers. Fasching is very difficult to move from the front of the net. He did a great job killing the clock in the final minute with a 5-4 lead in Sioux City’s zone preventing them from being able to pull the goaltender.

USA #24 LW McCarron, Michael (2013) – McCarron is a pretty solid skater with very big size at 6’5” – 228lb. McCarron goes for the hit whenever possible and is consistently a factor playing a very physical game. He goes hard to the net and sets up shop at the top of the crease which gave Sioux City fits. It also resulted in an eventual goal for McCarron. His temper got the best of him after he got rocked by a clean hit and took away his focus for a little while in this game. Not many players can really give him a hard time physically, but he doesn’t seem to handle his emotions too well when there is a player who can. Overall he played better than we have seen out of him in the past.

SCM #22 RW McGlynn, Connor (2013) – Showed good puck movement on the rush. McGlynn was a force all night long in front of the net. He was constantly and reliably going hard to the net with his stick on the ice. This saw him score three goals in this game (although one was negated). All due to him driving to the net, stick on the ice and not giving up on the play. In addition to this, he made a great play behind the net showing great patience to set up a teammate for another goal. Connor was directly involved in 3 of Sioux City’s 4 goals and was really the main reason they had a chance in this game. He also had a few great opportunities he just missed on late in the game to try and tie things up.

SCM #26 LD Heinrich, Blake (2013) – Heinrich had an overall solid game with a few hiccups. He was good on the penalty kill and was particularly efficient clearing the zone. He moved the puck well on the powerplay and has a good shot from the point. He made a few turnovers, one was particularly bad in the neutral zone and just looked lazy on the play. He showed some nice moves rushing the puck on occasion beating opponents on the rush giving himself a good scoring chance.

 

Game Report: This game looked like it was going to be a blowout when USA took a 3-0 lead over Sioux City. The USNTDP dominated early on however took their foot off the gas and allowed Sioux City, who never gave up right back into the game. The Musketeers overcame 3-0 and 4-1 deficits to tie the game at 4-4. However Tyler Motte (2013) scored the winner. Dawson Cook (2013) looked good early on for the penalty kill. However he was knocked down and went awkwardly into the boards. He left the game and did not return. Anthony Louis (2013) wasn’t very noticeable tonight but he did a great job going hard to the net over and over again. This eventually resulted in a goal for him. Sean Malone (2013) caught Sioux City on a bad line change, showed good hands and scored on the break. Michael Babcock (2013) isn’t a regular with the U.S. Development Program, in fact he is Canadian. However having lived in the U.S. for the past 10 years or so due to his father being the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings allowed him to play with the program at the fall classic. He showed great forechecking ability and really appeared to want the puck more than those he battled with on a regular basis.

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